Lake Region Pellets burn results

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bclmread

New Member
Jan 11, 2008
64
NH
I've burned 5 bags (of the 2 tons I have purchased) in my Enviro Empress FS this week.

I've been burning between 5PM and 6AM. By 6AM, the burn pot is completly full of clinkers, and a little ash. After it cools, the contents of the burn pot come out in almost a complete block. This is the highest level of clinkers I have come across in my stove.

Stove was completely cleaned and air flow was set by tech one month ago.

I'm going to burn 5 bags of left overs (not Lakes Region) from last season and see if I get a different result.
 
Thanks for the info. I was wandering about these cause they're local. Have you tried Branch River Pellets out of Union, NH?
 
I have not tried Branch River Pellets. I have not come across them before.

Certainly, 5 bags is not a scientific test, but I bought these based upon "test results".

My burner pot tends to need cleaning every few days, but never after 12 hours.
 
What did they cost? And how do they compare in price to what else is available to you?
 
I am in New Durham and right next door to where they are produced. That being said, I am curious with these results as well. This is the first I have heard from anyone burning these new pellets.
 
I paid 275/ton for Lakes Region pellets from Outdoor World/NHPellets.com

I have not seen any other comments on how the Lakes Region pellet burns, and would be very interested too, particularly from someone with a burn pot type stove.
 
I have pictures of burn results. They are too big to post here.
One picture is after a 30 hour burn using Barefoot pellets.
The other picture is after a 18 hour burn with Lakes Region pellets.

Send me a private message if you want me to email these pics to you.

There is overflowing contents of the burn pot with the Lakes Region pellet.

Before each burn, the stove was completely cleaned, and the burn pot was empty.

I am making these available these as there seems to be very little information out there about how the Lakes Region pellet burns, in reality, not in a lab. You may get different results.

Personally, I don't mind different levels of ash, its the clinkers that really get to me. When I dump the burn pot contents into my ash bucket, I get a brick the shape of the burn pot.

I bought Lakes Region pellets as I wanted a softwood pellet, as while they may put out a little more ash, they tend to have less build up in the burn pot.

Personally, Barefoot seems to burn the best in my stove.
 
bclmread said:
I have pictures of burn results. They are too big to post here.
One picture is after a 30 hour burn using Barefoot pellets.
The other picture is after a 18 hour burn with Lakes Region pellets.

Send me a private message if you want me to email these pics to you.

There is overflowing contents of the burn pot with the Lakes Region pellet.

Before each burn, the stove was completely cleaned, and the burn pot was empty.

I am making these available these as there seems to be very little information out there about how the Lakes Region pellet burns, in reality, not in a lab. You may get different results.

Personally, I don't mind different levels of ash, its the clinkers that really get to me. When I dump the burn pot contents into my ash bucket, I get a brick the shape of the burn pot.

I bought Lakes Region pellets as I wanted a softwood pellet, as while they may put out a little more ash, they tend to have less build up in the burn pot.

Personally, Barefoot seems to burn the best in my stove.
Click to expand...


I will pm you and resize them to fit in the forum. Pictures say a thousand words!

jay
 

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just one more update...

Yesterday and last night, I burned the Lakes Region pellet for 18 hours. Came down this morning and had the large pile of clinkers in the burn pot, but also noticed that unburned pellets were stacking back up the drop shoot (picture a 20 car pileup on a freeway)

So now, I will not burn LR more than 12 hours, due to fears for backing up unburned pellets...and possibly much bigger problems!

Again, this is what I'm experiencing and your stove may be different (I hope).
 
Have you contacted them or your supplier?
 
I have not...
Would like to hear about the experiences of others using them.
Or maybe I'm the only customer. :eek:hh:
 
My dealer had these and I was tempted but bought NEWP instead. Looks as if I made a wise move.
 
Well I bought a ton of the Lakes Region Pellets before i read this post and you guys made me nervous.

I'm two days into burning them and so far all is well. The burnpot is still clean, the flame is looking good and the lack of ash compared to the hardwood pellets I was using is very low. I'm also getting very nice heat from them.

I'll keep you all updated if anything changes, but so far I'm pretty happy for $256 a ton.
 
warmncozy said:
Well I bought a ton of the Lakes Region Pellets before i read this post and you guys made me nervous.

I'm two days into burning them and so far all is well. The burnpot is still clean, the flame is looking good and the lack of ash compared to the hardwood pellets I was using is very low. I'm also getting very nice heat from them.

I'll keep you all updated if anything changes, but so far I'm pretty happy for $256 a ton.
Click to expand...

What brand were you burning previously to compare them to?
 
bclmread said:
....Certainly, 5 bags is not a scientific test, but I bought these based upon "test results". My burner pot tends to need cleaning every few days, but never after 12 hours.
Click to expand...

bclm, I don't know much about the workings or adjustments available on the Empress stove, but looking at that 2nd pic that jay posted, I can only think that there is simply not enough air flow through the stove. Normally, the burn air should be blowing that fine ash right up and out of the pot. Does the Empress have provisions to increase the burn air amount?

Has the stove been COMPLETELY cleaned? Combustion blower removed, scraped/wirebrushed? Another clue is the dark burn mark just above the pot, and around the drop tube.....looks to be a dirty burn (not enough air) to me.

Has the exhaust flue system been completely cleaned? Either with the leaf blower trick, or something similar?
 
What brand were you burning previously to compare them to?
Click to expand...


I started out last year (my first year) with two ton of LG's. I absolutely hated them. Not much ash, but clinkers upon clinkers.

So when I needed another half ton at the end of the season I bought some hardwood pellets at Lowes. I think they were called Theragreens or something to that effect. No more clinkers, but plenty of ash.

This summer I picked up a ton of Appling County Pellets. A premium hardwood pellet. They burn really well, but the ash is also pretty bad.

It looks like the Lakes Region might be what I've been looking for. Burns like a hardwood and the lack of ash like a softwood, but it's too early to really tell.
 
Macman
Airflow was just set by the stove technician in September, using the airflow meter (name of device escapes me, but it has a probe that goes into the burn chamber)
I agree with your remarks about the black streaks, but I believe that is due to the solid mass sitting in the burn pot. I don't believe the top layer of pellets can burn that well, later in my burn test, when air is trying to come through upwards of 3 inches of clinkers/silica type material present in the burn pot. Note the lack of black streaks in the first picture. The entire exhaust flue was disassembled in the summer and cleaned out.
Warmncozy - I'm glad you are having some success with these pellets...just goes to show that each stove will burn the same pellets differently.

Lesson learned by me - never buy a ton of pellets without first trying a few bags.

...I see that Outdoorworld in NH dropped the price for LRP by $20/ton. HMMM...
 
A guy in town where I live said that a friend of his is, or just opened up a pellet plant in Henniker....I had already bought my 5T for the winter so don't need anymore right now but was wondering if any other NHites have heard of this plant yet? I may call him and see if they are in operation yet and grab a few bags and try them out.
 
bclmread said:
Macman
Airflow was just set by the stove technician in September, using the airflow meter (name of device escapes me, but it has a probe that goes into the burn chamber).....
Click to expand...
Magnahelic.

Good tool to have. I STILL think you have an airflow problem in that stove......those burned ashes should be blown right out of the pot during burning.

I'll be curious to know what it really is, when you find the cause.
 
I have had same results in test burns of the Lakes Region Pellet. Massive solid clinker, texture of volcanic rock, all fused together, hard and almost ceramic like. Very funky to touch. The chunks do make interesting conversation pieces, so there's a plus.
 
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