Shoulder(cheap) vs Good Stuff(top dollar) What do you choose? :poll:

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Shoulder vs. Top shelf

  • I burn nothing but the good stuff. Even with the extra cost, The stove stays cleaner and I get mor

    Votes: 23 23.5%

  • The price of the good stuff is only a few dollars more(under $40/ton). Well worth the extra money

    Votes: 29 29.6%

  • I save ($50/ton range) on the shoulder pellets. The money saved is worth the little extra cleaning.

    Votes: 30 30.6%

  • I burn nothing but the cheap stuff. I bought the stove to save money and the cheap stuff heats just

    Votes: 11 11.2%

  • Aren't Pellets are all the same? I buy whats convenient/affordable.

    Votes: 5 5.1%
  • Total voters
    98
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This year I decided to go with the good stuff. 3 tons of Somersets for $218 which is the lowest price for any pellet found in the Hudson Valley. I will grab a few bags of other stuff to check out, but I plan on being warm this winter!:)

Schoondog
 
schoondog said:
This year I decided to go with the good stuff. 3 tons of Somersets for $218 which is the lowest price for any pellet found in the Hudson Valley. I will grab a few bags of other stuff to check out, but I plan on being warm this winter!
Schoondog
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If I could buy "good stuff" like Somersets for $218, I would. But that ain't happening in Central Maine. MWP and FSU for $219, Maine Choice for $230 something at Lowes. What would YOU do?
 
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good stuff

set the stove up for it and make minor adjs

burn less of it if it's a "shouldery" day

that being said , if they are super cheap....................
 
Hi

I use the Lowes Pellets like Maine's choice and Green Supreme, but that is why I got a better stove that can burn most anything. No fireside utras or nation's choice tho!
 
subsailor said:
If I could buy "good stuff" like Somersets for $218, I would. But that ain't happening in Central Maine. MWP and FSU for $219, Maine Choice for $230 something at Lowes. What would YOU do?
Click to expand...

I guess I would look for some of the Canadian softwood I can't get down here. I'd pay a little more for a ton or 2 of them and then get a ton or 2 Maine Choice to pass the time till it gets good and cold. I got kinda lucky this year with the sets, I've had years past of stove chow and Penningtons.

Schoondog
 
I used to care and be a real finicky pig...only the best of the best was ever good enough for me...now I just don't don't care anymore. I try a lot of different stuff and like the surprise of something good. Aren't pellets all the same anyway? They all say premium? What gives?
 
FSU also worked nice for me too!

smwilliamson said:
I used to care and be a real finicky pig...only the best of the best was ever good enough for me...now I just don't don't care anymore. I try a lot of different stuff and like the surprise of something good. Aren't pellets all the same anyway? They all say premium? What gives?
Click to expand...
I hear you can get Inferiors really really cheap now! :p
 
It's amazing the things you can't get in Maine ( I live in central Maine). We live in a logging state, yet the pellets produced here are middle of the road at best. Another thing I can't get is a decent piece of broiled fish. Every damn restaurant deep fries it to death, or it's a piece of haddock. What I wouldn't give to get a good piece of what's caught offshore.

Anyhow, I digress. My Accentra is only 48k btu - so burning the good stuff makes a huge difference in heat output when it's really cold. I use the stove to heat my entire house, and if burn the cheapies then I have to turn on the boiler as a backup for the upstairs. If my boiler is on, I'm definitely not saving any money. The extra cost of an Okie or other good softwood is worth it to me.
 
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movemaine said:
Anyhow, I digress. My Accentra is only 48k btu - so burning the good stuff makes a huge difference in heat output when it's really cold. I use the stove to heat my entire house, and if burn the cheapies then I have to turn on the boiler as a backup for the upstairs. If my boiler is on, I'm definitely not saving any money. The extra cost of an Okie or other good softwood is worth it to me.
Click to expand...

Have you taken acurate convection air discharge temp measurements while your stove has been running at a set dial position in stove temp for an hour or so with different pellets? They should be the same.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/how-your-harman-works-what-your-manual-doesnt-tell-you.91030/
 
i get the best pellet quality i can find at the cheapest price. it backfires sometimes with other issues (cleaning and heat), but so does buying the more expensive pellets as they don't perform as advertised every so often.
 
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SmokeyTheBear said:
Get with the program the only correct answer to that poll was the last one any one who visits a box store can answer that.
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Heck bear, even they are catching on. Only reason I say so is they are asking far more these days for the Green Teams than the other pellets they are selling. ;em
 
mepellet said:
Have you taken acurate convection air discharge temp measurements while your stove has been running at a set dial position in stove temp for an hour or so with different pellets? They should be the same.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/how-your-harman-works-what-your-manual-doesnt-tell-you.91030/
Click to expand...


Right, but there is a maximum burn limit - the Harman adjustment for heat output isn't an infinite range - so at a certain point, the stove is reaching it's max heat output or max burn output. Max burn output with a higher quality pellet will be a higher temperature than the max burn rate of a poor quality pellet.
 
The good stuff - Doug Fir pellets = less ash/more BTU's
The shoulder stuff - Mixed Conifer = much more ash/a few less BTU's $20/ton less than the premiums

I burn the premiums. I just love the look and smell of DF pellets.
 
I burn the good stuff.

cheaper pellets may save me some $$ but they usually cost me more in the time i need to spend cleaning the stove constantly.

soft wood pellets only too
 
The major question is: Is your stove heat output adaquate for the space you are heating ?

My stove is undersized for real season and oversized for shoulder (my house is my space ;-), so for the real deal I have no choice but purchase the pellet with the highest heat density (which for my area is Barefoot), the stove running at 4/5 or 5/5 feed rate. In theory I could use lesser pellets for the shoulder (running the stove at same feeder speed) - but its cost prohibitive if I have to order another brand from a second delivery guy (delivery usually being fixed or high for first ton) - so savings are marginal. Plus, the noise output at high feeding/fan speed is annoying too, so I rather run hot pellets in off season and enjoy slow feed/low noise or on/off cycles for as long as I can.

The cost difference between big box store and high end is ca. 25-30 USD/ton in my area - so whats the big deal ?
 
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RiddleMasterMorgon said:
My stove is undersized for real season and oversized for shoulder (my house is my space ;-), so for the real deal I have no choice but purchase the pellet with the highest heat density
Click to expand...

Same here. My stove is undersized for when it's under 20 degrees. Some of this is due to heat loss, which I'm correcting now - drafty door, poor attic insulation. If I burn cheaper pellets, I have to run the stove higher for longer - for me it makes more sense to burn the best quality pellet I can.
 
Although, I should also point out that by pure estimating using this tool I put together - http://jsfiddle.net/jasonday/zNxRQ/embedded/result/ - shoulder pellets make financial sense. But then I start weighing in factors such as maintenance, cleaning, parts failure, etc. that are increased due to cheaper pellets.
 
Caribfan said:
I burn shoulder stuff - MWP last year ($173/ton) and this coming year ($192/ton) - at the beginning and end of the season. Also I will use the shoulder stuff during the warmer days in the middle of winter. I burn higher priced (but not top-of-the-line) stuff in colder weather when the stove is running more consistantly. I burned Lacretes my first year because I got a decent price and liked them alot. I got Spruce Points ($270/ton) last year because Lacretes were bigger $$$ and although they were better for me than MWP, I was dissappointed. Cubex has burned well for me in the past. Bottom line is this.- 2 tons of shoulder stuff, 1 ton of good stuff and about 1/2 ton of misc stuff that I grab 2-3 bags at a time looking for a hidden gem.
Click to expand...

Were are you getting MWP for $173? The lowest I have seen is $207 at Walmart, then $214 and $225. This is for the mixed not softies.
 
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