Dealers Explanation of Pellet Quality

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I bought a ton of MWP at TS a few weeks ago for $209.

Have to say I'm happy with them.
Not the best but as CT said not the bottom either.

My M55 eats them like popcorn and farts dry heat. :)

Gonna pick up another ton next month to keep me till fall.

BTW Manager at my nearest TS said TS is gonna get their own brand (re-bag) next year.
No info on what will be in the bags.

---Nailer---
 
  • Like
Reactions: mepellet
I don't entirely disagree with this dealer....for the majority of pellets I have tested the heat output was pretty much the same so long as they fed at the same rate. The are a few exceptions on both ends but not many IMHO.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bigjim13
Little birdy says its either going to be NEWP or Energex doing the filling.


I swung by Farmington tsc yesterday about 50 skids of instant heat...

I'm always doing a youEEEEEE, at tsc just hoping to snap up some hardwood heats
 
I sold MWP back in 2009 when they first came out. It was a difficult situation, as they were not a good pellet to puit it mildly. When I realized that I was sitting on several hundred tons of sub-par pellets, I reduced them to $199 and was in no way afraid to tell customers why they were cheap and that under no circumstances, are there any returns. But, asI have touched on in previous posts, companies that make bad pellets will find one of two things happen; either they improve or they go away. MWP is still around. I do not sell them any longer but i will tell you that last year, I grabbed 10 bags of them to try and gave them a shot- strictly out of curiousity to try and quench my never-ending thirst for wood pellet info! They were not the same pellet that I was stumbling over back four years ago. They were like the nerdy girl in 8th grade that grows up and becomes a beauty queen! Burned relatively clean and relatively hot. Not the absolute best pellet but far from the bottom where they had once resided.
As they were headed up in the right direction, Cubex was headed in the opposite direction. My guess is that as MWP was on its way up, it passed and waved to Cubex on its way down somewhere in mid 2010 or so. Not to say Cubex is bad, as it is not, but it is not what it used to be in 2006 and certainly deviates from the quality that a top-priced bellet should display. Today, MWP vs Cubex would end in a fourth round KO victory for MWP. That's just my guess and my opinion.

Guess you can make the analogy of a baseball team. The uniform (bag) doesn't change but the players (pellets) sure do! Great thread and thanks, CT Pellet for your candor!
 
Bottom line ya gotta pay to play
 
I have been burning pellets for about 6 years now and have probably burned most type pellets available in my area (southern NH). I had just finished burning through some Greene Teams and wanted to try Cubex so I went into Stove Keepers in Brookline, NH (they sell Ambiance, NEWP and Northern) and started talking to the salesman. I started asking about the prices, quality of pellet and heat output expecting to hear that they get progressively better as the price goes up.

I was told that basically, a pellet is a pellet. You may have more ash from one or a difference in pellet appearance and length but the heat output is pretty much the same. He said that a very poor pellet is about 8000btu while a high end pellet is about 8600btu. I explained that I had read several reviews about Cubex being great with his explanation being that the Cubex are a consistent pellet resulting in the good reviews but they are pretty much all the same pellets. He said that they sell 3 brands so that they can have one for everybody.

I understand that there are several factors regarding burning pellets with stove cleanliness being number 1. Stove Keepers is also a shop that has a pretty good reputation for knowing what they are talking about so here is my question to you guys. How is it that an expert can say that all pellets are basically the same with only a 600btu difference yet so many people on here can say that one pellet basically doesn't create any heat yet another will burn so hot that they can't burn them in their stove? It's confusing to go into a shop expecting to pay more for what I expect to be a better pellet but then have the salesman basically talk me out of it by saying that the cheaper one is just as good.
This has been my experience with my Harman. I have burned all types of pellets ranging from $200/ton on up. The only real difference I saw was the amount of ash and how often I cleaned.

This year j bought 4 tons of fireside ultras, a shoulder pellet from what reviews I read in here. This last Sunday it was -8 when I got up and my house was between 68-72.

This has just been my experience though!
 
Stove keepers sell Harman stoves by any chance? I am do not think many of the "super premium" pellets are worth the price they are getting. No one has been able to convince me. I bought a Harman. Might as well use it's brains and save my money.
Same here
 
Stove keepers sell Harman stoves by any chance? I am do not think many of the "super premium" pellets are worth the price they are getting. No one has been able to convince me. I bought a Harman. Might as well use it's brains and save my money.

They sell Harman, Enviro, Lennox and maybe others. Those are the ones I noticed.
 
When I originally went into Stove Keepers, which prompted this thread, I was only trying to do what everyone else wants to do. I wanted to find the pellet with the most heat output and least amount of ash which I thought would be Cubex (Northern). That was until the salesman (not the owner) gave his explanation... I think I am just going to go back to buying the cheaper pellets at Lowes if the EXPERTS are the ones saying that there is only a 600 btu difference.
 
I'm trying to do the same thing as you. I tried the Northern pellet and they worked well for me in my stove. Good heat (as good as any I have tried so far) and pretty low ash. Good luck in your search.
 
I think the BTU content of the pellets has more to do with the moisture content than with the species of wood used. I suspect that the BTU content of dry "crappy brand" pellets and dry "premium brand" pellets is not all that different. Certainly the ash of a pellet may depend more on the wood species used, but that is a stove cleaning interval difference, rather than heat output concern.

A pine or doug fir pellet will have higher btu's from the "pitch" that naturally occurs in the wood... and a good doug fir pellet will have substantially less ash... some time 50% less...
 
When I originally went into Stove Keepers, which prompted this thread, I was only trying to do what everyone else wants to do. I wanted to find the pellet with the most heat output and least amount of ash which I thought would be Cubex (Northern). That was until the salesman (not the owner) gave his explanation... I think I am just going to go back to buying the cheaper pellets at Lowes if the EXPERTS are the ones saying that there is only a 600 btu difference.

600 BTU's per pound. So a bag will have 24,000 more. and a ton would have 1,200,000 more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pelletdude
I have a Harman p61a.

I have burned: Premiers (from TSC 4 yrs ago), MWP, Instant Heat, North Americans, Vermont's, Fireside Ultras, and Northerns over the last 4 years.

The only difference I noticed was ash. I couldn't see that one was noticeably hotter than another. One brand did burn noticeably faster on the same settings (not sure I should mention the name).

Other than that all those brands have kept house warm, even when it's below 20* and even below 10*.
 
I have also burned NEWP from the NY plant.
 
I just finished the "Future Fuel" that came with the stove in my guest home. I am now burning the Lignetics in it. COMPLETELY different. The futur fuel had so many fines and barely kept the guest house warm on the highest setting. The Lignetics will run you out on Med. Low. I know some of it could be the handleing and storage of the pellets I got with the stove, but to me there was not only a visible difference in color and look but also a very real difference in heat output and ash in the stove. Those Future Fuels were clogging up the stove every bag. I will stick with my Ligentics. I am very happy with them for $188/ton.
 
Did the salesman know that Northerns and Cubex are the same pellet?

Not sure who you're refering to. The Stovekeepers guy did. In fact he called the Northern's "Cubex" pellets.
 
Not sure who you're refering to. The Stovekeepers guy did. In fact he called the Northern's "Cubex" pellets.
Good. I get a kick out of my "peers" in the industry when they do this stuff day in and day out and still don't know stuff like Cubex and Northerns or Enviro and Vista Flame being the of one and the same respectively.

Cubex are great pellets cause they are made 100% from flooring waste. For those of you who don't know, flooring lumber need to be very very very dry before they are milled if you want straight beautiful flooring boards....Very dry wood scrap = very hot pellets.

Which goes back to what I always say, the best pellet makers have a proprietory interest in making something else out of wood and therefore own the feedstock and the QC to make quality pellets with consistency.
 
The less the moisture content, the hotter the burn.Isn't that the old saying??
 
Good. I get a kick out of my "peers" in the industry when they do this stuff day in and day out and still don't know stuff like Cubex and Northerns or Enviro and Vista Flame being the of one and the same respectively.

Cubex are great pellets cause they are made 100% from flooring waste. For those of you who don't know, flooring lumber need to be very very very dry before they are milled if you want straight beautiful flooring boards....Very dry wood scrap = very hot pellets.

Which goes back to what I always say, the best pellet makers have a proprietory interest in making something else out of wood and therefore own the feedstock and the QC to make quality pellets with consistency.

He did know, it also says it right on the bag.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.