Looking for a good Shoulder Pellet

subsailor said:

Not many on here know what that means. Fortunately for me, I'm headed there next Thursday.

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I'm just a city boy myself but I know that and mudd season !

Oh and he knows all the Pellitiers !!

Can't say I know the Pelletier's, but I love it up there.

subsailor said:

Can't say I know the Pelletier's, but I love it up there.

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Their all on American loggers . He doesn't have many nice things to say about them !

That doesn't surprise me. I know them from the show, just not personally.

BrotherBart said:

"Shoulder" pellets fascinate me as much as "shoulder" cord wood. With the controls you have with a pellet stove why not just burn the best and burn it less.

Serious question from a pellet burning rookie.

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The name of the game is finding a reasonably priced shoulder pellet that gives approximately the same heat value as the high dollar stuff. . . One must test to find these needles in the hay stack as not every shoulder pellet cuts it. And even if the shoulder pellet is say 7900 BTU's per pound and the good stuff is 8500. Your really only burning a few extra pounds per day. With the dollar amount being cheaper it still makes sense for some.

The Math,
Breaking it down. Shoulder at $219/ton($4.38/bag) and good stuff at $289($5.78/bag) These are the current prices on what I have locally.

Good stuff is $0.1445/LB approx 8500 BTU's
Shoulder is $0.1095/LB approx 7900 BTU's

I burn about a bag a day(340000 BTU's approx). So as long as I don't burn more than $5.78 worth of the affordable stuff. I'm in the good. That's about 52 3/4 pounds of the cheap stuff. In theory 43.04 pounds of the cheaper stuff would equal the 340000 BTU's needed. Around $4.72

Even though you may burn a few more pounds per day its still cheaper overall. The draw back is generally more ash, So one might need to clean more. Back to the good stuff once the cold comes and the stove runs 24/7. Cleaner fuel allows longer burns between cleanings. With a multifuel stove, Its not as big a deal as they tend to handle higher ash fuels without fussin.

My fingers hurt!

subsailor said:

Not many on here know what that means. Fortunately for me, I'm headed there next Thursday.

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American loggers, I watched that show, Don't see it on any more?

You have to look at the "as received" BTU/lb too. Some places like to claim the ash and moisture free BTU/lb result which is 8800 to 9000. I'm kind of curious now what pellet would only produce 7900 BTU/lb.

Another factor is how you use the stove . I'm no expert but I've learned a lot here and by trial and error !
Running stove on its lowest setting with a good thermostat with a swing set of at least 2 will warm the house and everything in it slowly but maintain a more even temp .
I have a freind who got a stove ( his wife hated it was always either hot or cold ) we made these simple adjustment and now he can burn anything ! Yes sometimes more cleaning ! But he burns the cheapest stuff he can find . The extra 15-20 minutes a week is more than worth it to him .
I always remind myself my stove is only a space heater ( just so happens the space I want to heat is my house )

I look at it more so that I don't want to keep cycling my stove so much. and it only goes SO low. low in October with a good pellet = 80 degrees inside. and that's not fun for me at all. I like it 68, max. So, a good pellet would run for an hour, go off for an hour, and on and on and on killing my ignigtor, efficiency, and dirtying up the glass with all the restarts.
slow low and steady with a cheaper less heating pellet can idle along on low all day long and keep the place warm, not hot.

it saves energy (igniters are 400watts!), and wear/tear on the stove.

briansol said:

I look at it more so that I don't want to keep cycling my stove so much. and it only goes SO low. low in October with a good pellet = 80 degrees inside. and that's not fun for me at all. I like it 68, max. So, a good pellet would run for an hour, go off for an hour, and on and on and on killing my ignigtor, efficiency, and dirtying up the glass with all the restarts.
slow low and steady with a cheaper less heating pellet can idle along on low all day long and keep the place warm, not hot.

it saves energy (igniters are 400watts!), and wear/tear on the stove.

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Just the way I'm thinking !

Ash reduces the stoves heat transfer very fast requiring more elbow grease to keep clean. Piles up fast on my boiler insert requiring a quick brush twice a day when burning cheaper stuff. Not a real problem, but if leaving unattended for longer periods we burn better pellets. Burning ashier pellets in the Elena is inviting headaches as it blow cleans the firepot.

smwilliamson said:

Am I the only person that liked the North Americans? Burned about a ton last year and though ashy, thought the heat was great.

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very ashy. I also thought the heat was quite good

ScotL said:

You have to look at the "as received" BTU/lb too. Some places like to claim the ash and moisture free BTU/lb result which is 8800 to 9000. I'm kind of curious now what pellet would only produce 7900 BTU/lb.

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I'm guessing Instant Heatless and Infernals might fall into that category.

Around here 'shoulder ' pellets are around $175/ton. Those would be Michigan wood pellets, AKA the Inferno's of the Great Lakes region. Somersets are $209/ton unless we're lucky enough to get some at Menards. Uncle Jed's (supposed to be good, never tried them myself) are $249/ton. Pro Pellets are what I'm betting on for this season, and those are $189/ton.

I used to buy whatever was cheapest before I saw the light after messing around with Wood Fibers Inc and Michigan pellets for a couple seasons. I didn't know about ash content or what not. Heck, a pellet is a pellet, right?

If the price spread between good and fair pellets here was as big as it seems to be on the east coast then I could see going with a cheaper pellet for the not so cold days, but to save $20 or so on a ton or two of shoulder pellets isn't worth the extra effort for me, especially if the winter stays cold. Now that I have the furnace I'll just turn it down a notch or two if it warms up and let it keep eating the good stuff.

ScotL said:

You have to look at the "as received" BTU/lb too. Some places like to claim the ash and moisture free BTU/lb result which is 8800 to 9000. I'm kind of curious now what pellet would only produce 7900 BTU/lb.

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Many don't look at the received data. Moisture free is fictional IMHO! Alot of energy would be wasted trying to get them that dry.

7900 came from a Pennington twinport I saw in 2009. 8500 is from a twinport I saw on barefoot and both are from the received numbers. I have seen 8500(or better) numbers from some so called shoulder pellets.

subsailor said:

Not many on here know what that means. Fortunately for me, I'm headed there next Thursday.

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Beautiful area. Love it up there. Have fun!

mepellet said:

Beautiful area. Love it up there. Have fun!

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Can't wait. Hoping for 3 trips between now and the middle of Oct.

subsailor said:

Can't wait. Hoping for 3 trips between now and the middle of Oct.

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Any trips for moose?

Yeah, we have 1 permit coming into camp for the Oct. hunt. Can't wait. Not sure how many birds will be around this year after all the wet weather we had earlier. That's half the fun right there!

subsailor said:

Yeah, we have 1 permit coming into camp for the Oct. hunt. Can't wait. Not sure how many birds will be around this year after all the wet weather we had earlier. That's half the fun right there!

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Yes it is! Good luck! Be sure to post pics and a recap of the hunt.