Ok so call me OCD or whatever but I did a little personal study today . I posted a while back about Hamer pellets and what I thought were a high fines situation . Today was pretty cold with 32 as the daytime high so I spent some time in the garage. I made a sifting device out of a 4' ladder and some 1/4 " metal mesh attached on top and a catch bin at the bottom . Set it on my deep freezer and dumped pellets at the top and let em roll on down. My pelllets were 12 bags of Hamer Ultra premium and 12 bags of Old Dominion Ultra premium . Hamer claims <.5% fines and Old Dom claims <.5% fines . 480 lbs of Hamers = 13.125lbs fines which would be 2.7% of volume. 480 lbs of Old dominions =3.3lbs of fines which would be .69% of volume . I know I don't have laboratory but both pellet brands went through the exact same procedure. I purchased both pellets at the same price of $265 /ton. The fact is Old Dominion was very close to there claim of fine % but the Hamers were not even close. I did the math on cost impact and it seemed trivial but this test proved my perceived difference. When it gets really cold out Hamers are my choice but I seem to go through them faster than any other brand. Do the PFI ratings really mean anything ? Anyone done similar tests ?
