Best pellet to use

welcome scott, feel free to use just about any pellet in the Harman. Hard/Soft makes little difference, diligence in making the pellet is the difference. Look around to see what is available to you and then do a search on the forum to see what others have said about those products. Or post what is available to you along with price and I'm sure many will chime in with their experiences and value for the dollar. Happy Burning!

Scott B said:

What would be the best pellet to use in my Harman Insert? Hard or Soft Wood? What brand name?

Click to expand...

Welcome Scott,

You could give us a list of what is avaible near you. We would gladly comment on them. Or you can search the forums here. Most if not all have our comments.

We love to share our views about pellets.

jay

cubex is hands down the best pellet i have ever seen... okanagan and eagle valley pretty solid seconds. cubex is a hardwood (mfg by lauzon hardwood flooring co.) the other two are softwood, but it does not matter whether it was hard or soft growing up, just the purity of the stock material that makes it. these brands have the cleanest looking and burning pellets i have ever seen.

jtakeman said:

.....You could give us a list of what is avaible near you. We would gladly comment on them........jay

Click to expand...

Like Jay said, find out what pellets are available in your area (stove shops, Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, True Value Hardware, etc, etc), and also the price. The Harmans will burn most any pellet, but better quality pellets (at decent prices), are still the way to go.

Lots of nice and knowledgeable people on here willing to give opinions, but in the end, you have to be comfortable with the price & quality.

BTW, welcome to the forum Scott.

I've used various SPF and hardwood offerings up here in Canada. Cannot say I noticed a difference in anything between softwood/hardwood.

Scott B said:

I made contact with a couple companies in my area and they say to go with a Hardwood like, Linetics, Instant Heat or Barefoot.

Click to expand...

I can say that Barefoots would be 1st choice, Lignetics 2nd and Instant Heat 3rd.

You should give the prices they are asking, Just so we can see if there on par!

Barefoots and Lignetics are generally higher priced pellets, So keep looking around if you are trying to save a buck or two!

jay

In my opinion if you know what the intended use for the products the residual waste material used to make the pellets is coming from, then you have an good idea how your pellets are going to perform. Wood shavings and dust from furniture/flooring/cabinet producers, or any kind of those secondary wood products operations would be ideal, as the wood is dried to to much lower moisture content's then just lumber producers. This may possibly be why everyone seeks "hardwood" pellets. There's a sawmill across the street from our mill that produces pellets, from residual planer shavings waste. Target moisture content for SPF lumber is 15-17%... No problem with these.

How much do you plan to buy for this season? If you have a couple of brands with a good reputation for about the same price, maybe you want to split your purchase and try both. Then you can decide if you like one more than the other. But I don't know about what prices and availability will be in your area, so you don't want to wait too long to buy.

Get some advice and some good pellets. You'll be OK.

Scott B said:

Linetics are 305.00 a ton

Instant Heat and Barefoot are 300.00 a ton

Click to expand...

At those prices it would be cheaper to burn oil!

However, the Barefoot and Linetics would be the best choices of those three.

Overall I have found there to be less ash in the softwood pellets, but I agree it depends on where they're from.

Scott B said:

I made contact with a couple companies in my area and they say to go with a Hardwood like, Linetics, Instant Heat or Barefoot.

Click to expand...

I still don't understand why people or companies insist on going with a hardwood. Scott, most knowledgeable people on this board will agree that there are excellent hardwoods as well as softwoods and mixes of both.

I agree that you can't go wrong with Lignetics or Barefoot (never tried Instant Heat). I also would say that two of the finest softwoods I have tried are Rocky Mountain and Okanagan. In addition, LG Granules is not a bad choice either.

Bottom line, as others have said, check out the board here, see what's in your area and burn a few bags of different brands before deciding. Welcome to the board!

Scott B said:

I am going to go with Barefoot

Click to expand...

Great pellet, but at the price you mentioned above ($300/ton :gulp: ), I'd be looking around some more for a better price. And don't worry about the hardwood/softwood issue....softwoods actually burn a little hotter.

As I've said before, I don't think there's any pellet anywhere that's worth that kind of $$......unless oil was back near $3.00/gal.

Greene team works real well in my Harman XXV. I have tried a few other brands sold at HD and I wasn't thrilled. I got the Greene team at Lowes.

Scott B said:

So what would be a good price to pay for them ??

Click to expand...

Well, IMO, a GOOD price for them would be $260 or under, IF you can find them at that price in Mass. Once again, remember, you have a multi fuel stove that will adjust to burn most any grade of pellet. If I were you, I'd be checking out the fuel price report...I saw pellets in Mass for $265 there.

Another place is Home Depot who is having a sale on pellets, Tractor Supply, and Lowes, who I think is also having a sale.

Barefoots are great pellets, but not at that price you saw.

I have a Harman insert purchased last year. The hottest pellets I burned was lignetics. I also use fireside ultras, NEW, Green supreem, Barefoot

I can tell you this, that stove will burn anything.The key is how much crap the pellets you purchase creats.Cleaning is a huge factor to the heat output of that unit also. Lignetics and Barefoot burn clean and throw out a ton of heat. The others are great when the weather is above lets say 20 degr.
When I use any other pellet other than lignetic and barefoot I have to clean my stove every 4-5 days. With the other 2 every 2 weeks.The heat output with a dirty stove sucks.Some will tell you they clean there stove every 3-4 weeks, I can tell you I cant do this becuase I suffer too much heat lose.
So your best bet is experiment with different brands and make a determination for yourself.Most here will tell you what works for them in there stove and for there situation. This may not work for your siruation.There are alot of factors Like size of house . how tight your house is sealed,area you are trying to heat and many other fators. I know some here that have this insert have no problem keeping there room and house 74=75 when tems are in the teens. I cant with this same unit. The ones who can do this are heating small rooms or houses 1500-2000 sqt. My house is 3200 sft with wide open rooms from where my stove is. When temp is in the teens I can maint 72 ,below zero 68-69, above 20 74 above 3 75-76. Not bad for the size of my house. Now if I go too long before cleaning I can knock 2- 3 degrees of those temps above. Also when the temp is 20 and below I have to clean once per week to maint good temp

Delta-T couldn't have said it any better. Search around the surrounding area. Ask others who have a wood pellet stove what they are burning. Hearth.com has many people who will help you make a wise decision.

I tried different ones last year. I like the lignetics the best but couldn't find a good supply local. I had 3 tons of barefoot and they burned good but not as good as the lignetics. I ended up using wood pellet inc. they burned as good if not better than the barefoots and the wood pellet inc are alot cheeper than the barefoot. I tried the homedepot fireside (I think) and they were terrible.
I ended up buying 3 tons of wood pellet inc. this year and a ton of O'Malleys to see how they burn. I have heard alot of good thing about the O'Malley's. hope the burn well.

Scott B said:

I have a Harman Insert if anyone can let me know what brand Pellets they burn in theirs.

Click to expand...

A guy I work with has had success burning New England Pellets in his Harman Insert. I have used the Greene Team which has worked well for me.

Scott B said:

I have a Harman Insert if anyone can let me know what brand Pellets they burn in theirs.

Click to expand...

Scott,
Try doing a web search on NE wood pellets, they're out of NH and are readily availabe locally and came HIGHLY reccomended. I just paid 280 p/ton.

Good Luck
-Werm