Hey folks. Just figured I'd share my recent experience with a new-to-me brand of pellet I have started using. I've burned through my entire 4 ton stash of Heatr's and needed a few more bags to keep the basement warm for my downstairs tennat, so I picked up 16 bags of Cheat River pellets from my local Lowe's @ $5.75/bag out the door. 16 bags is definitely most my quarter ton Chevy (2003 Impala) will handle. Anyways, I cleaned out my hopper and did a deep clean on the whole stove so that I would have a good performance comparison against what I've learned about the Heatr's over the burning season.
First, on visual comparison the Cheat Rivers are darker, and on the average a good 1/4" shorter than the Heatr's. They definitely don't have the strong wood/pine smell that the Heatr's have. They also aren't sticky - they feed great where-as the Heatr's could run stop feeding the auger with more than a bag left in the hopper because they would just cling to the sides and let a big hole erode though the middle.
So, man they are HOT. I started the stove up and left it on full power, where I usually run it. I have a temp gauge mounted on the heat exchanger exhaust. Typically the Heatr's could push that up to 225-230*F after about 4hrs of running at full power. After running for 2 hours with the Cheat River pellets I was reading 270*F, and it probably would have kept climbing. It did appear to be running a little rich, so I backed down to heat level 5 (of 9) - the heat stayed right around 250*F at that setting. I believe that the smaller size does cause things to feed quicker, but I know at heat level 5 I'm definitely burning less pellets and seeing significantly more heat. The only downside is that they do seem to produce more ash, but I guess with more output that is not unreasonable. I'm definitely really happy with them. Where were they in February when we broke the 118 year old record average low temp!?
First, on visual comparison the Cheat Rivers are darker, and on the average a good 1/4" shorter than the Heatr's. They definitely don't have the strong wood/pine smell that the Heatr's have. They also aren't sticky - they feed great where-as the Heatr's could run stop feeding the auger with more than a bag left in the hopper because they would just cling to the sides and let a big hole erode though the middle.
So, man they are HOT. I started the stove up and left it on full power, where I usually run it. I have a temp gauge mounted on the heat exchanger exhaust. Typically the Heatr's could push that up to 225-230*F after about 4hrs of running at full power. After running for 2 hours with the Cheat River pellets I was reading 270*F, and it probably would have kept climbing. It did appear to be running a little rich, so I backed down to heat level 5 (of 9) - the heat stayed right around 250*F at that setting. I believe that the smaller size does cause things to feed quicker, but I know at heat level 5 I'm definitely burning less pellets and seeing significantly more heat. The only downside is that they do seem to produce more ash, but I guess with more output that is not unreasonable. I'm definitely really happy with them. Where were they in February when we broke the 118 year old record average low temp!?
