Holy Pellet Usage Batman

  • 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.

ironpony

Minister of Fire
Jan 22, 2010
2,069
mid-ohio via St.Croix USVI
as posted in another thread, I bought a ton of easy heat pellets, and they are well lets just say disappointing. I have a Harman stove and while burning No Heat pellets the temp in the house steadily dropped.

At this point I realized that the stove was not feeding enough pellets to satisfy the ESP temp, so I bumped up the feed rate. Result, set at the same stove temp,. I woke up to a cold stove, it burned through a full hopper of pellets in 12 hours approx 60 lbs in one evening. Normally about 30 lbs.
There were NO unburned pellets in the ash pan which tells me they all fully combusted.

My Conclusion; there is no way burning cheap pellets during shoulder season makes any sense what so ever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CT Pellet and Xena
Iron pony, based on your results those junk pellets weren't cheap, they were actually very expensive.

A well performing inexpensive pellet is always a great thing.
 
There are many economical(I'm not calling them shoulders anymore) pellets that do very well. Some run with the good brands. In my area Somerset is an economical pellet(when I can find them) and they burn as well as pellets costing $50 to $100 more per ton!

Choosing the economical pellet is the tricky part.
 
I won't run cheap stuff anymore. Even if they're hot I don't like the huge ash that they leave behind.
Maybe some of you out there have access to pellets that run hot AND clean,
but some of us don't. Pellet house a mile down the road so in the long run
makes more sense for me to stock top shelf pellets. Gas money for my friends
truck would eat up any savings if I were to ask him to drive far so no point.

Oh, and just a clarification, the stove runs perfect no matter what crappy pellets
I've fed it, it's me that has an issue with ashy stuff cuz I'm lazy to clean the stove more than once every 3 weeks. :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: CT Pellet
I learned my lesson last year burning them.

Looks like you learned yours...

Somersets is by far the best pellet in our area (and the cheapest). Unless there is a fantastic sale on another brand, or some Super Premiums come through the area (Barefoot, Spruce Pointe, Etc) that demand a higher price point, I will stick with Sets.
 
Never tried somersets. Havent seen em in my area. Prestologs have done great. I suppose they are ashier than some but no big deal for my stove.
 
My Conclusion; there is no way burning cheap pellets during shoulder season makes any sense what so ever.
Whooo Hooo!........ Hells Yeah! .......That's what I'm talking about right there!.......Bam!

When its cold outside, burn great pellets, and when its "shoulder season", burn great pellets and turn your damn feed rate down. Bottom line.
 
Not to get off topic but I 'm getting the Hot Ukraine women ad on this thread with age, pic, Ht. & Wt. in metric and I'm not doing the conversion ;)
 
No beer goggles needed they were hot;)
 
Hmmm... Goggle Adsense keys off of sites you have visited to present ads that might appeal to you. >>
 
I hear ya :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: DexterDay
Whooo Hooo!........ Hells Yeah! .......That's what I'm talking about right there!.......Bam!

When its cold outside, burn great pellets, and when its "shoulder season", burn great pellets and turn your damn feed rate down. Bottom line.

I'm starting to think this is the way to go. This is my first full season with the stove and I have gone through almost 2 tons of GS. I guess I can't complain for the price. I paid less than $400 to heat my house since October, but every week I clean the heat exchangers that are covered with ash. And each week for the first day or so the stove seems to give off a lot more heat. As the week goes on, it seems to produce less heat. I am starting to think if the pellets I used had less ash, I would have greater consistency in heat throughout the week and burn less pellets. Obviously, how much less is the question. I think I might be visiting your place for some super premium pellets next summer since I am a town over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Xena
Status
Not open for further replies.