So I bought a ton of Turmans

Been burning the three tons of Fireside Ultras I bought when we installed the stove in mid Nov. Have been happy with the results, pretty clean, not much ash pretty good heat. I had nothing to compare them with. Well all I can say is WOW. These Turmans burn much hotter, much cleaner and did I mention much hotter. Only been through 5 bags but even with the relatively warm weather I can certainly tell the difference. Also bought a ton of Barefoots to try out. Figure I'll run 10 bags of the Turmans then try the Barefoots for comparison. I did notice they appear to be smaller pellets than the FU's which may contribute to the additional heat (more exposed surfaces).

I had Hubbards Farm in Princeton deliver the Turmans and Barefoots. The delivery costs are quite competative and they are really great to do business with. We live a long three iron from the farm. Working on a cost comparative between the Turmans and the FUs. We have a pretty big space to heat and I was running the stove at 7 or 9 for most of this season with the FUs to maintain a steady 68 degrees. With the Turmans I'm down to running it at 2 or 3 and the temp never drops below 70. Granted it's been pretty warm and we get great benefit with the bright sun but this truly impresses me. A lot less carrying bags, a lot less ash, a lot less cleaning a lot more heat. Worth the price difference? You bet it is. And as for cost, my propane bill ran $5000 last heat season, this year I've had one fill up of 400 gallons at $2.89/gallon. My guess is if I had been burning the Turmans that would have been considerably less. With some cold weather coming I'll get a better feel for the difference.