what's burning good?

The Maine Woods pellets I got from TSC (red bag) are burning good enough. They're maybe a tiny bit ashier than the Okie Golds I burned last year, and they generate more than enough heat. I do not enjoy the hunt for the perfect pellet, and these were 2 miles from the house.

bcarton said:

The Maine Woods pellets I got from TSC (red bag) are burning good enough. They're maybe a tiny bit ashier than the Okie Golds I burned last year, and they generate more than enough heat. I do not enjoy the hunt for the perfect pellet, and these were 2 miles from the house.

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Pretty funny because I am unimpressed with the TSC red bag MWP's. Lots of ash and black soot. They do heat okay though and they certainly aren't the worst pellets I've ever run. And to be fair, I've only run those in the P43 - if I had them in the P61a, in which I burn my crappiest pellets (since it has a larger ash pan), I might be singing a different tune. They a better price than some chit I've run (especially with a coupon), so they aren't on my "do not buy ever again" list.

tiger said:

If I had been smart, I would not have stacked all the Lignetics I bought this year on top of the leftover bags of Hamers from last year -- I could have done a back-to-back comparison, which I've never done before. The Ligs seem to burn fine to my untrained eye, but subjectively I think I have somewhat more ash in the pan.. not to a problematic degree, however.

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You should be able to do this comparison in a month or two, no ?

Burned 20 bags of Hamers this year, seem consistent with last season, lots of heat and little to no fines. No complaints!

Green Letter Lignetics. Burned about 20 bags so far (started in October). Ash pan on p68 is not even 1/4 filled.

Burning these " hard to get Energex hardwoods...
great heat/low ash. slide down the hopper 100% so no pellets sticking.

miteclipse said:

Green Letter Lignetics. Burned about 20 bags so far (started in October). Ash pan on p68 is not even 1/4 filled.

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Same here. Picking them up at a small grocery store down the road a ton at a time. Nice heat, very low ash.

miteclipse said:

Green Letter Lignetics. Burned about 20 bags so far (started in October). Ash pan on p68 is not even 1/4 filled.

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Peterfield said:

Same here. Picking them up at a small grocery store down the road a ton at a time. Nice heat, very low ash.

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Weirdly my Pres-to's burn better (cleaner and with less ash) than the Lignetics green letter. Since I believe these are made by the same mfg, I am perplexed. The PTL were from a BBS and the Lig's were from a small grocery store down the road (but they were inside and seemed dry with no torn bags, and pellets looked fine coming out of the bag). This is the first time I've burned the Lignetics and I may have to get some more (if they have them) and see if those 5 or 6 bags were an anomaly.

Burning up the last of the Energex leftovers from last year. Threw a couple bags of the Lacretes I got this year and really like them. Also the white bag blue letter from TSC is burning nice this year. I picked up 5 bags of these to run and am pretty impressed.

okie df's , well what can you say about e'm, wicked hot, low ash, funny thing tho they do smell . newp out of the Jaffrey plant have been good a lil ashy, low fines so far has been a good shoulder pellet, now its been colder I've been mixing 50/50 , low ash good heat clinkers down to a min..

If I owned a big pellet mill, I would make up and copyright about 10 different brand names, catchy ones like "Stove Chow" and "Heats" . I would have a commercial artist design the the most eye-catching bags possible with all the popular buzz words, "High BTU", Low Ash, Clean burning" "Low Moisture Content", "Minimum Fine Content" "Even Burning" "Meets all recognized quality standards". This way, nearby retailers could all have their own brand of identical pellets and claim theirs were better than the guy down the street...Some could be labeled as "Super Premium" and given a higher, more profitable price point..How could you go wrong.?

Fairwind said:

If I owned a big pellet mill, I would make up and copyright about 10 different brand names, catchy ones like "Stove Chow" and "Heats" . I would have a commercial artist design the the most eye-catching bags possible with all the popular buzz words, "High BTU", Low Ash, Clean burning" "Low Moisture Content", "Minimum Fine Content" "Even Burning" "Meets all recognized quality standards". This way, nearby retailers could all have their own brand of identical pellets and claim theirs were better than the guy down the street...Some could be labeled as "Super Premium" and given a higher, more profitable price point..How could you go wrong.?

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Not sure you intended to do it but you are kind of describing what's going on today.

Husky said:

I'm burring straight barefoot this year. As earlier post they seem darker in color but are burning just as good as last year. No complaints. Anyone burning Dry Creek (Tan bag not the Ultras)? I had 2 ton last year and did not like them very much, compared to barefoot. Created nasty clinkers and the heat output was average at best.

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I ran Dry Creek last year as well and they were bad....LOTS of ash, and heat output was noticeably down compared to barefoots.

I got ahold of some okanagan douglas fir to try....I am going to rig up a probe of some sort to try and get data regarding heat output to compare vs what we can get locally. Its been killing me to know if these are as good as I hear relative to Barefoots (the best I have burned so far).

Also want to update I have been burning Platinum Pellet primarily so far this season...these put out a lot of heat, great shoulder season pellet but again LOTS of fines. I made the pellet vacuum this weekend specifically for these because there is so much. AWF Ultra was similar but *slightly better. Being so much cheaper than barefoots they are a great buy just a little extra work.

Also has anyone noticed, do softwood pellet vs hardwood pellets require different air/draft settings to burn at maximum potential?

Clean Energy (rebagged Hamers) are burning well for me, good heat and little ash.

#2 Fuel Oil at $1.779 a gallon is burning awesome

Clean Fire Pacific are also burning awesome but a lot more expensive than oil.

Vermont Wood Pellets-very clean -zippo for fines-great heat-very little ash.When I opened the first bag I must say I said to myself, self these things look perfect.

kniffin50 said:

Vermont Wood Pellets-very clean -zippo for fines-great heat-very little ash.When I opened the first bag I must say I said to myself, self these things look perfect.

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I bought two bags of infernos last night (garbage btw) and my wife walked in on me with my head in the bag smelling the pellets. I was told I have issues?

JRA said:

I have burnt through a 5 bags of energex nice heat average ash, 10 bags of spruce point fluffy ash good heat and a ton on fines, 2 bags of ambience ok heat average ash, 3 bags of cubex nice heat average ash, 1 bag of logike left over from last season good heat low ash, 1 bag of okie platinums good heat low ash
Now on to my 2nd bag of blazers awesome heat and literally no ash. I have three tons of these for the rest of the season. Great pellet!

So far 24 bags used from Sept up to now which isn't bad considering a few chilly stretches. My goal is to save a ton for next season seeing that oil is so low. I still have basically a full tank fron June. The wife loves the ambience and warmth of the stove and still wants me to burn even though oil is so low. Not going to argue there, what's that saying....happy wife happy life

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It's true ( the happy wife thing). And actually mixing pellets with central heat always works out good, we did that for years with coal and will a bit later on this winter as well with pellets. I start PT for my knee surgery next week so that plays into all this. It's good oil prices are down this year, perfect timing !

Husky said:

I'm burring straight barefoot this year. As earlier post they seem darker in color but are burning just as good as last year. No complaints. Anyone burning Dry Creek (Tan bag not the Ultras)? I had 2 ton last year and did not like them very much, compared to barefoot. Created nasty clinkers and the heat output was average at best.

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I've got 4 tons of barefoot and purchased a half ton of Dry Creek. The dry creek are better than last year but still too much ash compare to the barefoot. Barefoot ash seems heavier and darker this year but it's my third year burning them and have not found anything better so I will pick up one more ton of barefoot.

olmec said:

I bought two bags of infernos last night (garbage btw) and my wife walked in on me with my head in the bag smelling the pellets. I was told I have issues?

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Interesting. A colleague at work bought a few bags of what he thought would be a top notch pellet from Home depot. The same "Infernos"... They were also the highest priced out of the three brands that were available at the time. He said they created an absolute mess in his stove.

Cory S said:

Interesting. A colleague at work bought a few bags of what he thought would be a top notch pellet from Home depot. The same "Infernos"... They were also the highest priced out of the three brands that were available at the time. He said they created an absolute mess in his stove.

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Yeah they are $300 a ton and a huge waste of money. They are hardly pellets. More like pellet shards and fines. My exhaust Temps dropped from an average of 155F to 128 on the same setting that I've been using and couldn't keep the house warm. Good thing I only bought 2 bags.

OK, I just got 802 Wood Pellets at Stove Depot after burning LG's for two years. These 802's are great. Made in Windsor Vermont. More heat than the LG and about the same ash i think. Awesome pellets. I'm hooked.

Flammam said:

Burning up the last of the Energex leftovers from last year. Threw a couple bags of the Lacretes I got this year and really like them. Also the white bag blue letter from TSC is burning nice this year. I picked up 5 bags of these to run and am pretty impressed.

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I scanned the bar code and those are made by Lignetics. I've got 5 bags also that are working great and will be buying 3 ton.

Been burning Energex green bags this year again , they have been burning nicely , a bit more ash ,but the stoves been on low due to the warm weather . Doesn't seem to be putting out as much heat this year as compared to last though and were way expensive 289 a ton .. Looking around for different pellets before the cold of Jan + Feb. set in