2 questions- new stove guy

sommeset is the best I burned so far all though they were a little pricey they are the best put in and only had to stir the pot once a day. I burning some north country made hear in MI they burn good but I have to clean the pot more times a day.

A good brand of pellets will be able to keep you warm in winter time. NEWP are a good brand and abundant too. Stick with pellets that are a part of the PFI and you should be ok.

There's some debate about all this, but I measure the temperature of the air blowing out of my stove into the room at a specific spot, standing a specific distance from the stove, using an IR "gun" thermometer. I do this at a specific setting of the stove in terms of damper and feed rate, and then compare. Huge difference between brands, but very little between bags of same brand. I have also varied damper settings to see if I can increase / decrease temps to allow lower brands to perform better. You can have some effect, but overall the brands of pellets really do matter.

I also compare amount of ash and how "sticky / sooty" the ash is. Again, there's a difference...

This year, in order from best to worst, my approximate order from memory, and with paragraph separation as to what I would or would not buy again is:

Hamer's Hot Ones Ultra Premium (Not as good as first time I burned them 4 years ago, but still my overall "Go To" pellet because of great heat and relatively low ash)
Prestologs (close second - very respectable heat - very clean out of bag - might be pellet of choice at right price)
Cheat River (not bad, overall, but a "shoulder season" pellet for me due to only moderate heat output)


Lee Energy "Nature's Energy" (very crumbly/dusty pellet but reasonable heat - would not buy again due to dirtiness of pellet both into and out of stove)
American Wood Fibers (just not very hot, much ash, and not even labeled as to hard or soft wood that I see)
Green Supreme (not hot, much ash - about same as AWF for me)

In past, have tried Woodpellets dot com's CleanFire Premium Hardwood (just OK for me due to heat output - about like Cheat River) and CleanFire Pacific softwood blend (very good heat, but sticky ash for me - plus I have reservations about having pellets shipped across the entire country due to carbon footprint, etc). But their service was great and I would consider them again if I could know more about another blend before buying.

Hope that helps you or others...

Coronacross said:

Thank u all so much for ur help/advice. I e decided to go get a ton of press to logs at lowes today, after reading "madcogers" reply. There a close 2nd to him and others . I did try to locate a dealer near me for hamers! However I got a voicemail and left a MSG with no return call, then called back- spoke to a co rep, he said he would have the guy call me and still haven't herd from him, so I decided to try a ton of press. Thanks again guys.

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Ahh! Now I feel a sense of responsibility!! Seriously, I think you'll be happy with them. Definitely a contender for my pellet of choice next season, depending on what my dealer stocks and price, Keep us posted, please!

Coronacross said:

Thank u all so much for ur help/advice. I e decided to go get a ton of press to logs at lowes today, after reading "madcogers" reply. There a close 2nd to him and others . I did try to locate a dealer near me for hamers! However I got a voicemail and left a MSG with no return call, then called back- spoke to a co rep, he said he would have the guy call me and still haven't herd from him, so I decided to try a ton of press. Thanks again guys.

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The short answer is just keep trying whatever you come across and in time you will know which ones you like better. You will start to notice how much ash there is; how fast your glass gets dirty, how warm the house is on similar days, how big/small the pellets are; etc., etc., etc.

Trust yourself and keep reading the forum. You will learn and do fine. If I did, anyone can.

Coronacross said:

So true. And thus far I'm so excited. It's kinda funny, but as I sit here on the farm, just me and my bulldog! Watching the weather , were getting 4-8in and some ice. So I cleaned my stove (which I kinda like doing) filled it to the brim. Turned it on (4) high. And I'm loving it! I know I sound goofy but there's something so cool about these stoves and the heat.

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If your really impressed by the heat start doing the math on what you may be saving over propain. I used about 90 lbs of biomass today as we did not get above 0 F with the low of -14F. About 720k btus or about 8 gallons of propain. Cost locally now for gas is $5.20, or a pocketbook collapsing total of shy of $42 for A DAY. Makes the payback on the stove really fast.

I also get an "ash biscuit" in the burn pot on my Cumberland regardless of the pellet burned. At first it kind of bothered me but it doesn't seem to affect the performance of the stove. I empty the burn pot every day or two with a good cleaning weekly and everything seems to hum along nicely. It's something I've never seen discussed on this forum so I'm not sure what to make of it. I chalk it up to the way the stove burns.

Prestologs are good pellets. They're number 3 on my list but a definite buy. Prices in my area fall in a pretty tight range so for now buying #1 and #2 make sense.