Hardwood or Softwood,that is the question??

Somerset- 100% Hardwood

Shannon Hackenberg said:

Been on this forum for a short time but really enjoy it and the members are great,so thought we could play a game.Also will be great for new people with pellet stoves,lets list brands of pellets and if they are hardwood or soft,cause I am not sure of some myself.
Barefoot-Hardwood
Hamers-Hardwood
Energex- maybe soft not sure
Summerset-again maybe soft?
Truwood-def has to be soft
Lignetics-??

Iam sure some are mixed Hard and Soft

Click to expand...

Energex offers both hard and soft. Of the two I much prefer the all hardwood. Burning them now actually, nice clean flame with a blue base when not roaring high. Not bad on ash considering they are 1%.

Satisfaction - Mixed (*cough* stay away)
Lacwood - Soft
North Country - Soft

Shannon Hackenberg said:

Been on this forum for a short time but really enjoy it and the members are great,so thought we could play a game.Also will be great for new people with pellet stoves,lets list brands of pellets and if they are hardwood or soft,cause I am not sure of some myself.
Barefoot-Hardwood
Hamers-Hardwood
Energex- maybe soft not sure
Summerset-again maybe soft?
Truwood-def has to be soft
Lignetics-??

Iam sure some are mixed Hard and Soft

Click to expand...

I am in Lewistown.....
Where the hell are you finding all these different brands of pellets to try ?

I've found Hamers, TSC, energex.
BTW Hamers are cheapest @ Peachy's harness shop ($220) by Allensville....... Maybe not for you if you have to drive from Beavertown, but just thought I'd throw that out there.

alternativeheat said:

Energex offers both hard and soft....

Click to expand...

Pretty sure what you are calling soft, is actually a blend...

Dan

Wow....spell check and punctuation go a LONG way .......
Allensville is probably an hour from you, If your taking 30min to get to Lewistown ! Allensville is past Bellville but before Huntington. The pellets are Hamer's but bagged as "freedom pellets".

my experience is as follows;
Hamers, burn WAY cleaner, smoother and a bit hotter than the Energex.
Energex, burn absolutely filthy but seem to burn at about the same rate as the Hamer's.

Softwood is easier to start when the stove is cold.

wsar10 said:

Wow....spell check and punctuation go a LONG way .......
Allensville is probably an hour from you, If your taking 30min to get to Lewistown ! Allensville is past Bellville but before Huntington. The pellets are Hamer's but bagged as "freedom pellets".

my experience is as follows;
Hamers, burn WAY cleaner, smoother and a bit hotter than the Energex.
Energex, burn absolutely filthy but seem to burn at about the same rate as the Hamer's.

Click to expand...

Energex soft pellets are far from my favorite pellet, not even close to LG or LaCrete, IMO.. The Energex Hardwood is up there pretty good though, whole different experience, at least in my P61. I believe my P61 is not fussy about hard wood, it burns them great, two different brands so far.

We just bought our first home back in June (4400sq/ft colonial) and very quickly purchased our first pellet stove to help out with heating. At that time I knew very little about pellet stoves or pellets so we just went with the stove our installers suggested (Hampton GC60). Once it first started getting cold I experimented with many different pellets to figure out what worked best with the GC60. Long story short the stove seems to like softwood better in regards to heat output and ash buildup but there are a few exceptions. Below is a best to worst list of pellets I've tried here near the coast in NH.
1. Okanagan Douglas Fir (Softwood): Without a doubt the hottest and cleanest burning pellet I've tried (the only problem is finding the darn things in quantity). It sounds crazy but their truly worth every penny in my opinion!
2. Vermont Wood (Softwood): I'm just finishing up my 2nd ton of these and like them very much. The heat is excellent but they do have far more ash then the douglas fir pellets.
3. Cube Extra (Hardwood): A distant 3rd in my opinion, great heat like the Vermont Wood but again the ash is significant.
Keep in mind that my list is subjective and not based on any technical testing data, just simple seat of the pants observing.

Curran's blend of 20% soft and 80% hard. Burning them in a PB 105 and have heard on the forum here that a Harman will burn many different brands of pellets. Mine likes the Curran's and I have gone two weeks without cleaning the burner and burning 4 bags per day at that. I measured the ash and one ton of pellets yielded 8 pounds of ash, or 0.4%.

Burning New England premiums..nice heat, very ashy. Not sure of mix ...sorry.