Just sharing Pellet picks from year to year

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md2002

Feeling the Heat
Oct 18, 2011
362
United States
Hello All,

I have been burning Maine's choice Pellets for about 2 years now. I like them allot for the price. Anyway, I bought about 25 bags this year and burned those for a good month at the beginning of the season. About 2 months ago I started using the ones I bought last year. I was pretty amazed by the color difference in the 2 pellet bags. The ones I bought this year are MUCH lighter than the ones I bought last year. Amazing the difference between pellet color from year to year. I just thought I would share.
maine pellets 2.jpg
 
More importantly for us is, which one was better? Or did they burn the same and give the same heat?
 
It's the one major drawback with pellets, your quality is really in the hands of multiple uncontrollable variables. I'm burning lignetics green label this year and they are not what I remember from 2 yeas ago. Lots of ash and fines this year. Ok heat.
 
It's the one major drawback with pellets, your quality is really in the hands of multiple uncontrollable variables. I'm burning lignetics green label this year and they are not what I remember from 2 yeas ago. Lots of ash and fines this year. Ok heat.

Not always the case. Many mills get fiber from the open market. But some mills use their own in house goods and they keep a better eye on it. Probably why the softwoods get rave reviews year after year. Couple other flooring companies likeTurmans are still locked in to their own fiber as well as Somersets.
 
with the amount of ash somersets are putting out, i would guess they are outsourcing some material

Could be, Market for lumber is still in the tubes. Unless your making pine 2x4's and sending em over to Europe.

Let's also not forget the log to chip mills that are springing up. As long as they debark them and get a fine chip to the press we should see decent consistency!
 
More importantly for us is, which one was better? Or did they burn the same and give the same heat?

I didn't do any scientific testing but if I had to guess I would say last years pellets seemed hotter than this years pellets. Ash was the same though...these pellets are worth the price but they put out allot of dark ash
 
Color can also be affected by the time of year. Most mills use a dryer to remove the moisture and it can take a lot more energy to remove moisture during the winter than it does during the summer. If that's the case, then the color should not have any impact on how they burn.
 
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