Best Pellets

Trainloads of pellets from British Columbia are now being bagged and distributed out of Mass. My earlier experience was that western softwood pellets were more consistent than eastern. They also may cost less - if Harrybacks prices are any indication.

I never made much distinction between them, preferring to just buy what is cheaper. Of all of em I only encountered one brand that really was poor though I forgot what it was. My stove is pretty forgiving though and will easily burn about anything as opposed to some of the more finely tuned units . I would say for the uninformed that the best thing is to pick up a few bags of whatever and see how they perform for you then if you like them buy them by the ton. About the only concern I would have is of getting stuck with a couple tons of crap pellets to dispose of. Stick with the premium ones till you get knowledgable. Just remember the word premium is just a word. The real crap ones I got last year were marked premium so beware of too much faith in lables.

mtalea said:

Ok all, I dont know if this has
been asked but I will ask anyway. On the eastern seaboard what is the
absolute best pellet to use?

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You don't really expect to get anything more than opinions do you?
That's like asking, what is the absolute best truck to buy. You're going
to get everyones opinion. Fact is, you need to try what is available
to you and form your own opinion and buy what suits you.
Good luck!

energex is actually a good hardwood pellet, they do however produce a 3% ash softwood that may not suit your unit unless it is one of the older less finicky types , so make sure if you are looking for a low ash pellet that you get the hardwood energex not the softwood one. as for the post about opinions, it was right on the money , ive taken the stance when asked , the best thing to do is shop around , try a bag or 2 of a different brand if you wish first and see how you like em, "one mans trash is another mans treasure" seems to be the norm. i'll get one customer who likes brand "x" and the next guy will say "they are junk brand "y" is the best" its all in what you like as a pellet user.

by the way , i burn lignetics , and have had really good results from them

we sell, lets see, 8 different brands, at one time or another thoughout the year. Ive burned them all. Cant really say that one brand in particular stands above the rest. Some seem consistently good, but pellets are like restaurants......very subject to user opinion. I will say Ive never been particularly thrilled with Energex, it burns, but seems to burn sooty and dirty, but not greatly more than its competitors. Cubex is good, but again, not greatly better than others. Allegheny? another good one, but no better than Cubex or New England.

There is no such thing as the best, only the worst......
Energex is not the worst i'll say that...... but from experience they leave alot of clinkers that you may need a pick axe to remove, they seemed to burn hot though.
so no matter what there is most likley a tradeoff between pellet brands and sometimes from year to year the pellets seem to change.
I'm doing an experiment with different pellets right now so far no difference other than the ash looks a tad fluffier, but not a big deal.......YET.

Keep this in mind from my visit to NE Pellet. A mills such as NE Pellets received raw material from a vast number of sources. The quality of the raw material can change.

My guess would be that western pellets vary less because some mills are producing from ONE giant sawmill and from a more consistent supply of similar trees.....

I think the lack of fines and dust can be important.

Are we to be the Consumer's Report for pellets? I vote for the one that works best in my stove. You'll need to buy my stove and duplicate my installation to get the BEST.

Here it is
East coast mills have Hard wood pellets Burn good but little bit more clinker and ash
West coast has Pine or Fir or Pine fir mix. Pine burns hot but higher ash.
Fir is just right but hard to get due to Pine beetle and mostly Pine is being harvested for Lumber.
I only sold the Fir pellet for the past 4 years but this year all we can get is the Pine I see little differnce on the heat but the ash is heavier build up in the pot is A little bit more but the glass on my stove(S) stay just as clean.

Pellets will change from Batch to batch depending on the mix of sawdust.
Moister content
Salt content
Silicate content
Iron Content

The only thing I know about Cubex is they are great guys and bought my wife and I Dinner at the Atlanta show 2 years ago.
The folks at Pinnacle Pellet and Cubex and some of their customers all when out to eat and they ate like 5 plates of Clams and Calamari. I think the bill was around my truck payment.
We played a Practical Joke on my Sales rep from Pinnacle pellet the next day and the guys Wrote me up a Fake quote for Summer pellets for 1000 tons at $110 ton landed from them. Boy way Brenda Pissed off when she seen that contract.

I've burned Energex and Dry Creek in my Thelin and Quad. I've yet to get clinkers in my Thelin even after a week of burning Dry Creek. Energex does seem to burn dirtier, but hotter than the Dry Creek, and does form distinct clinkers in my burn pots.

One other I've tried burning is Freedom Fuel - made from "dried Pine" in the South. I made the mistake of purchasing a ton earlier last year (my first pellet stove and experience in purchasing and locating pellets in desperation last winter). These burned hot - but extremely dirty. So dirty that within 10 minutes they would blacken the glass on my Thelin, and form enormous clinkers in the Quad.

I've had great luck with somerset pellets purchased from lowes. Cheapest I can find in southwest Ohio very little ash no klinkers for me.