Emerald (McFeeters)...worth the price?

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Melissa220

Feeling the Heat
Aug 10, 2012
360
central ME
Wood Pellet Reviews Rates this pellet pretty highly and i have been them locally for $250/ton. ($6.50/bag!!) is this a decent price for this softwood pellet and would anyone buy them?
 
In my area $250 is not to bad. Most of the softwoods are well over $285. What are some other prices on the other softies in your area?

McFeeters did pretty good for me, Nice heat and ash was decent. Ash was slightly more than the high dollar brands. I don't mind getting a bit more ash if I can save a little. I have a hardtime with pellets that don't throw heat unless you jack up the feed rate(over works the stove IMHO). Try some(couple bags to start with), I think you will like them and let us know what you think.

How did you like the MWP softwoods?
 
How did you like the MWP softwoods?
I haven't tried them yet. I probably should have the last few days when the nights were in the 20s and the days in the mid 30s. I will need to add more pellets later tonight so perhaps I will throw a bag in and see how warm they keep the house and the amount of pellets used.
 
Tried McFeeters Emerald and really liked them in the Quad. Have a ton in the shed.
Do you have an Aubuchon locally? They are $250 a ton BUT if you sign up for their "rewards" program (cost nothing) in a week or so you will get an online coupon for 10% off any purchase. That brings them down to $225. They are a really good pellet at that price.
Adivce is to try a few bags first.
 
I paid $274 per ton for mine.....very good pellet!
 
Really liked the Mcfeeters but having a hard time finding them. Great Works Biofuels isn't carrying them anymore. They had them for 250 a ton.
 
The Aubuchone in Dover will order for you if interesred but you have to pick them up. I have 2 tons of Vermonts so I passed on trying them this year
 
Aubachon in sanford had them in early fall, but I called this past Tuesday and they aren't getting anymore in. Maine Choice is their brand.
 
Tried McFeeters Emerald and really liked them in the Quad. Have a ton in the shed.
Do you have an Aubuchon locally? They are $250 a ton BUT if you sign up for their "rewards" program (cost nothing) in a week or so you will get an online coupon for 10% off any purchase. That brings them down to $225. They are a really good pellet at that price.
Adivce is to try a few bags first.

Great info on the "Rewards". I will make a point to go the Windham Aubuchon this weekend.
 
How did you like the MWP softwoods?
I put the bag of MWP softwood in last night after I cleaned, about 8:00. There was some nice heat output from them and they warmed up the house pretty quickly as compared to the Maine's Choice and even the MWP blend. Definitely blowing hotter from the distribution blower.

I'll be putting in the bag of Emeralds tonight and will see how those do.
 
oh oh......
She is hooked on the testing bug.

Good for you Melissa. See what works best for you this year and stock up.
Good Luck and have fun.
---Nailer---
 
UPDATE on Aubuchons: When I bought the one bag of McFeeter's to try, I asked how long the store would give me to pick up a ton as I do not have the ability to take it all in one load. The answer: one - two days, but they don't have much storage and they couldn't guarantee that once I opened the packaged ton, that some of the bags might not disappear!
 
Been running the McFeeters the past few days, what a great pellet! A tad ashier than the LaCretes but noticeably hotter. Funny thing, LaCrete makes a big deal about double vacuuming for less fines but the McFeeters have next to nothing for fines. Makes me wish I had bought more McFeeters than the LaCretes.
 
I paid $274 per ton for mine.....very good pellet!
fmsm - i also have a P35i, but I think the McFeeters are too long and are 'matrixing' and not allowing the correct amt of pellets to drop. Just had the stove annually-cleaned by the place I bought it, like a month ago....have had no issues with Okie's for the last 2 years, this year I got McFeeters and stove randomly shuts down while there are still pellets in the hopper, especially if I turn the stove all the way up, which I seem to need to do because the heat output is low...... when I look at the fire in the morning, after it's been going all night the fire looks like it is burning way at the back of the burn pot and is low...heat coming out distro blower is not really that hot and there is a pile (2" back or so) of ash at the front of the pot. All this leads me to believe it's not feeding right. I stuck my hand down in the hopper and rummaged around to see if I could clear a potential jam up, and could hear lots of pellets dropping... when I started the fire there was an over-abundance of pellets at startup so that some fell half burned into the ash pan....but after awhile it went back to pellets burning way at the back of the pot and pretty low.... I am going to try a different brand and see if there is any change.... I hope it's not the pellets because the 2.5 tons I have are neatly stacked in the basement...wasn't too hard sliding them down boards tacked to the stairs when I got them, but it's going to be a b***h to carry them all back up if I have to return them. Also feel like as previously stated, they make the glass dirtier faster, and the ash is light and fluffy yes, but I have noticed having to clean out the ignitor area more often I think because of that. At this point I am thinking I should have stuck with Okies
 
fmsm - i also have a P35i, but I think the McFeeters are too long and are 'matrixing' and not allowing the correct amt of pellets to drop. Just had the stove annually-cleaned by the place I bought it, like a month ago....have had no issues with Okie's for the last 2 years, this year I got McFeeters and stove randomly shuts down while there are still pellets in the hopper, especially if I turn the stove all the way up, which I seem to need to do because the heat output is low...... when I look at the fire in the morning, after it's been going all night the fire looks like it is burning way at the back of the burn pot and is low...heat coming out distro blower is not really that hot and there is a pile (2" back or so) of ash at the front of the pot. All this leads me to believe it's not feeding right. I stuck my hand down in the hopper and rummaged around to see if I could clear a potential jam up, and could hear lots of pellets dropping... when I started the fire there was an over-abundance of pellets at startup so that some fell half burned into the ash pan....but after awhile it went back to pellets burning way at the back of the pot and pretty low.... I am going to try a different brand and see if there is any change.... I hope it's not the pellets because the 2.5 tons I have are neatly stacked in the basement...wasn't too hard sliding them down boards tacked to the stairs when I got them, but it's going to be a b***h to carry them all back up if I have to return them. Also feel like as previously stated, they make the glass dirtier faster, and the ash is light and fluffy yes, but I have noticed having to clean out the ignitor area more often I think because of that. At this point I am thinking I should have stuck with Okies
What type of stove do you have? I have been having an issue with clinkers the past few days. I had switched my stove to manual to keep a fire going and I think it messed it up. Same type of issue, the burnpot was filled with what looks like unberned pellets but in reality is hard clumpy ash or clinkers. It was also suggested to turn down my feed rate. I am trying that and we will see.
 
I have a Harman P35i (I saw in your sig that you have one), zero clearance. My prob is not clinkers, it seems to be there are not enough pellets going into the burn pot, and sometimes it goes out.... I bought a couple bags of Dry Creek premium pellets today to see if things change at all.
 
I bet your pellets came from the same place, sswp?
 
I paid $235 for my McFeeters in July or August and I fracking love them. Dunno what the price will be next summer, but if it's reasonable, I'm going to load up on McFeeters and Vermonts.

Love the softwoods!
 
Wood Pellet Reviews Rates this pellet pretty highly and i have been them locally for $250/ton. ($6.50/bag!!) is this a decent price for this softwood pellet and would anyone buy them?

Where did you find these?
 
Just cleaned the stove and put these in. Very dark, not like any softwood pellet I've seen before. Seems to be a lot of fines in the bags.
 
Just cleaned the stove and put these in. Very dark, not like any softwood pellet I've seen before. Seems to be a lot of fines in the bags.
I found quite a few fines as well. But I did like the way they burned in my stove.
 
Half way through 1st ton. Happy with them so far. Some fines (not a lot), had some bags that had corners that must have gotten wet (but that was my fault).
Will buy again.
 
Seem to be burning very hot and clean. Like them so far. now if they could just teach me to type they would be perfect. this has taken me 5 minutes to write.
 
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