Curran Renewable Pellets

[Lesley]

Has anyone heard of these pellets. My usual supplier is offering them, no pricing available until April 2nd.
I've never heard of them.

 

[imacman]

They are made in upstate NY. The hardwood version is barely an average pellet. I would not burn it. The softwood version is supposed to be decent.

The nasty hardwood version is also sold at some Lowes as "North American" pellets....don't get them either.

 

[bollyRZ500]

made the mistake of picking up a couple bags, filthiest damn pellet around

 

[Chain]

I've never burned Curran's but have never heard a good thing from anyone who has. They're made in Massena, NY, which is located on the very top of New York state in St. Lawrence county right on the St. Lawrence river. One thing you may want to consider is suggesting to your supplier that if he's looking for another brand of pellet made in the upstate, NY area, he/she may want to contact Empire Brand Pellets which are manufactured in Lafargeville, NY and are a pretty good pellet and readily available.

 

[Lesley]

I've never burned Curran's but have never heard a good thing from anyone who has. They're made in Massena, NY, which is located on the very top of New York state in St. Lawrence county right on the St. Lawrence river. One thing you may want to consider is suggesting to your supplier that if he's looking for another brand of pellet made in the upstate, NY area, he/she may want to contact Empire Brand Pellets which are manufactured in Lafargeville, NY and are a pretty good pellet and readily available.

Thanks, I won't be getting them. They aren't offering anything I want to use this year, at least not listed on their web-site, so I guess I'll have to go looking elsewhere.

 

[imacman]

.....another brand of pellet made in the upstate, NY area, he/she may want to contact Empire Brand Pellets which are manufactured in Lafargeville, NY and are a pretty good pellet and readily available.

Chain, never heard of these before. If you have a bag of them, post a pic, and maybe include a burning "review" of them?

 

[Chain]

Chain, never heard of these before. If you have a bag of them, post a pic, and maybe include a burning "review" of them?

Well, I'm at work at the moment but should I remember, I'll take a photo and post it in this thread. I wouldn't say Empire's are the best pellet I've burned, but they burn pretty hot but have a fair amount of ash I would say. My biggest reason for buying them is that they're made 45 minutes from my house and so I'm supporting a local manufacturer. I'm not sure the capacity of the factory, but my local dealer located about 10 minutes from me never has a problem getting them. I think they're far better than the Currans based on what I've heard.

 

[midfielder]

Burned a ton of their softwoods last year - decent, but not great. Went to the Vermonts this year - better.

 

[PelletFiend]

Agree with Midfielder - softwoods are average. I'd burn them again in a minute at the right price. For the same price, I would jump to something else decent.

 

[Ncountry]

I agree the empires are a much better pellet. I have been burning the Currans for a few years now. My stove doesn't seem to care too much either way. My buddy's NE hates them though.

 

[jlupi]

decent heat. A LOT of ash

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

Ashy & plasticy crayon a smell when you torch them.. They suck

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

No thanks. Tried the Currans last year burned a tad bit better than the dreaded NEWP

 

[SmokeEater]

They are made in upstate NY. The hardwood version is barely an average pellet. I would not burn it. The softwood version is supposed to be decent.

The nasty hardwood version is also sold at some Lowes as "North American" pellets....don't get them either.

I put my PB105 in last winter and had the first fire in February. To feed this boiler I bought 10 tons of Curran's mixed softwood hardwood pellets for $225/ton. Curran's are the nearest manufacturer of wood pellets to me and provide a good source of wood pellets to the area. The company's sister wood harvesting company has been around for many years providing fuel chips for biomass plants and paper chips for paper mills. They have proven to be the premier wood harvesting company within 150-200 miles of Massena, NY. I notice some complaints here about the amount of ash produced by some of the pellets produced by Curran's and I can tell you that I have measured the ash content of the combination pellets. The bag advertises less than 1% ash and less than 1% fines. As far as the fines go, I have relatively none. I am no expert at this and can't compare other pellets, but I can verify that I have burned 13 tons since I've put the boiler in and fines are no problem and for all practical purposes, do not exist. I have also measured the ash content of these pellets and I keep track of the weight of the ash verses the amount of pellets burned. On average I'll get 8 pounds of ash for each ton of pellets burned. That works out to be .004 pounds of ash per one pounds of pellets burned, or 0.4%. The moisture content I have not measured, but that would not be difficult if one had a good scale that could measure to the hundredth of a gram. I don't have one or would have measured this moisture. It would be the greatest factor in determining the heat output of the pellets because most wood from any source will have a heat value of about 8,200 Btu/lb of bone dry wood. The amount of ash, or non-combustables can vary but is generally less than 2% for wood with bark and less than 0.5% for debarked wood. As far as cleaning my 105, I have burned 4 bags per day and gone a week without shutting it down to clean the burn pot. There is always a little glassy clinker on the sides of the pot and a few scrapes of the tool cleans it right off. The ash from Curran's pellets is a light gray to white and I took the vent apart to clean it last summer and didn't really have to, but I had only burned about four tons in the boiler. This winter I took the combustion fan out to clean it, and it had very little fly ash on it. My house is over 3000 square feet counting the basement and I heated that to near 80 all winter and the main floor thermostat was set at 74, the upstairs at 70. This was a colder than normal winter in NNY and I know that the Curran's pellets did a good job. I'll be buying more for next winter. I'd think that if anyone is having a problem with their stove burning a particular pellet, it may well be the settings on that stove. I would say the draft has a big part to play here in pellet stoves.

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

I put my PB105 in last winter and had the first fire in February. To feed this boiler I bought 10 tons of Curran's mixed softwood hardwood pellets for $225/ton. Curran's are the nearest manufacturer of wood pellets to me and provide a good source of wood pellets to the area. The company's sister wood harvesting company has been around for many years providing fuel chips for biomass plants and paper chips for paper mills. They have proven to be the premier wood harvesting company within 150-200 miles of Massena, NY. I notice some complaints here about the amount of ash produced by some of the pellets produced by Curran's and I can tell you that I have measured the ash content of the combination pellets. The bag advertises less than 1% ash and less than 1% fines. As far as the fines go, I have relatively none. I am no expert at this and can't compare other pellets, but I can verify that I have burned 13 tons since I've put the boiler in and fines are no problem and for all practical purposes, do not exist. I have also measured the ash content of these pellets and I keep track of the weight of the ash verses the amount of pellets burned. On average I'll get 8 pounds of ash for each ton of pellets burned. That works out to be .004 pounds of ash per one pounds of pellets burned, or 0.4%. The moisture content I have not measured, but that would not be difficult if one had a good scale that could measure to the hundredth of a gram. I don't have one or would have measured this moisture. It would be the greatest factor in determining the heat output of the pellets because most wood from any source will have a heat value of about 8,200 Btu/lb of bone dry wood. The amount of ash, or non-combustables can vary but is generally less than 2% for wood with bark and less than 0.5% for debarked wood. As far as cleaning my 105, I have burned 4 bags per day and gone a week without shutting it down to clean the burn pot. There is always a little glassy clinker on the sides of the pot and a few scrapes of the tool cleans it right off. The ash from Curran's pellets is a light gray to white and I took the vent apart to clean it last summer and didn't really have to, but I had only burned about four tons in the boiler. This winter I took the combustion fan out to clean it, and it had very little fly ash on it. My house is over 3000 square feet counting the basement and I heated that to near 80 all winter and the main floor thermostat was set at 74, the upstairs at 70. This was a colder than normal winter in NNY and I know that the Curran's pellets did a good job. I'll be buying more for next winter. I'd think that if anyone is having a problem with their stove burning a particular pellet, it may well be the settings on that stove. I would say the draft has a big part to play here in pellet stoves.

One guy with one stove with exceptional draft doesn't make it a good pellet either. Pellet stoves are designed for minimal draft and a good pellet should burn the same regardless.

 

[SmokeEater]

One guy with one stove with exceptional draft doesn't make it a good pellet either. Pellet stoves are designed for minimal draft and a good pellet should burn the same regardless.

I didn't mean to imply that a strong draft, or weak, was necessary in a pellet stove for proper, correct, and complete combustion, but the correct draft adjusted to the manufacturer's recommendation. Good quality control in the pellet's manufacturing to produce a uniform size throughout the industry is also imperative in how the stove will handle, feed, and burn the product. Curran's pellets in the Harman PB105 are handled well, feed well, and burn well, giving up their 8200 Btus per pound. I suspect any pellet of the same size, density, and MC will do the same. The wood is more the constant here rather than the maker.

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

I agree with your'e statement here smoke eater. Before I determine the quality of a pellet, I turn to this forum and compare my findings with there's. If the general consensus is the same as what I have found, than it is what it is

 

[jlupi]

I will agree w phil on fines. very clean pellet. burns dirty. Im burning O'malleys now (ok but not in love w them) and currans had 5X as much ash minimum

 

[boomhour]

I have been burning these pellets for three weeks. We have some soot buildup. After an initial cleanup, after a 2-week run, I consider the stove was relatively clean. I was told that you could possibly go 3 weeks before doing a shutdown and maintenance. Being new at this, I am about to lay out money for 2 tons of Curran pellets as they are an easy source. This stove does burn hot at setting 3 , after a 2 hour run was pulling temps around 580 f at front of heat exchanger,being that the fire pot is forced air may allow me to burn lower grade pellets. Running a hard soft mix.