First off.. After buying a used St. Croix Pepin and installing it on 10-23-09 I have become my own tech. with this thing? The stove received one hell of a cleaning prior to install, with 200lbs of New England Hardwood Pellets given to me by previous owner the adventure began. After 1st week rheostat died on room air fan? fixed that.. Bought 1.3 tons of oaks.. burned ok? then after seeing a ST. Croix in use, I knew that there was a problem with mine? Versa grate was not working.. fixed that.. Burnt last 1/2ton last week then decided to venture to try some different pellets. Grabbed 10 bags of Starlite pellets from tractor supply.. Junk! Found sticks (more like branches) in the bags. Hmmm. Switched few days ago to maine choice. Nice burn, just alot of fines!! Have used stove thermometer to check all types with same damper setting, ued own laser to measure temps. also. I have found the oaks. to burn the hottest & cleanest with maine choice running close second, new england then starlites (garbage, ie; window gunk, debris in bags, lower burn temp).. The fact that tractor supply was charging $229 ton for both the starlite and the maine choice was promising, but they give you what they have at the time? I could not ask for a specific brand? 1.3 tons of okan...for $380? Figured I would throw this thread in and see if anybody has had similar exp. with the same brands??
Pellets? Finding out that the difference is amazing!!
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smalltown
Minister of Fire
I tired about ten bags of the Okies and yes they burn hotter with less ash than Maine Choice. My Quad Castile ran quite well with them. I am burning my stash of Maine Choice, but mine have very few fines (mine had less fines than the Okies). Of course it depends on how many time these bags get handeled before you buy them. If I could get Okies at a decent price I would load up on them.
I like barefoot hardwood..
I dont know if it being hardwood makes it lees likely to crumble- prob not.
I am guessing 50% of it is the date of production, leangth of travel, storage handeling etc.....
pellets have a limited life expectancy.
I would always ask to open a bag before taking on a new pallet or three-
Anka
I dont know if it being hardwood makes it lees likely to crumble- prob not.
I am guessing 50% of it is the date of production, leangth of travel, storage handeling etc.....
pellets have a limited life expectancy.
I would always ask to open a bag before taking on a new pallet or three-
Anka
Sorry!! Maine premium pellets.. Not Maine choice? my fault. Just got finished burning a hopper of maine prmium and threw in what little of the starlites i have left??
slls
Minister of Fire
anka said:
I have some pellets almost 2 years old, how much longer will they last? They still look like the first bag I used almost 2 years ago.
schmeg
Member
I agree on the difference in pellets. Okie's and Cubex for me. I've got a ton of Premiers for the upcoming shoulder season.
I burned junk up until this year. Not worth the couple of hundred clams a year to me. I'd rather have the better, cleaner heat.
I burned junk up until this year. Not worth the couple of hundred clams a year to me. I'd rather have the better, cleaner heat.
drizler
Minister of Fire
slls said:
Some of the stuff I am burning now was purchased July 08 and is as good as it was the first day and they are whatever Sams Club had on sale at the time.
Maybe pellets that are well manufactured will store well- I would buy the best you can afford, open a bag and smell them, crumble them, become a damn pellet connoseur... its about 50% of the battle to a good clean burn-
Anka
Anka
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