First report on Southern Indiana Hardwood pellets...

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krooser

Minister of Fire
Jan 2, 2008
2,423
Waupaca, WI
www.rumblefest.net
So far so good...

I just cleaned my stove late this afternoon and filled the hopper with SIH pellets for the first time.

The pellets vary in size from 1/4" to about 1"... I didn't see any longer pellets in the first or second bag that I opened.

The flame is very nice... the heat is very good... outside temps right now are around 15F... going to hit about 11F tonite. My living room, with the stove set on #3 out of #6 is a toasty 81F... the dog loves it!

I think they burn a little hotter than the Lumberjack softwoods I have used this season and also hotter than the Marth pine pellets.

So my first impression is positive...
 
I picked up mine right at the mill... busy place!
 
Hey PeeWee, I see your jumping on the Packers bandwagon right before the SB.....first "PackerLand", and now Lombardi.

And NO, it doesn't matter that you live in "Cheeseland"......you're a bandwagon jumper! :lol:
 
imacman said:
Hey PeeWee, I see your jumping on the Packers bandwagon right before the SB.....first "PackerLand", and now Lombardi.

And NO, it doesn't matter that you live in "Cheeseland"......you're a bandwagon jumper! :lol:

PeeWee? That damn potty cam WAS hooked up to the internet!!!!

Is my NEW avatar better now Mac?
 
I have been sampling these pellets of late as well, 15 bags. So far I have been impressed by the quality: 8 plus out of 10 for product and value so far. After a complete mantience procedure on the stove, 3 hours worth, I can finally watch the stove perform like its first year. I'll try to keep posted after this next weather system hits. Now that I have a clean stove, thanks to the advice of Krooser and others on this website, I will have a better idea of how the other brands of pellets I have will burn. While I have many brands, I have to remember why I bought a pellet stove: my ultimate goal is to find the best pellet for the price. Right now, for my Harmon P38, the SIHW pellet has the lead due to the criteria of price and performance. I look foward to comparing them to the Sommerset, the only other hardwood pellet that I currently have.
 
Outerlimits said:
I have been sampling these pellets of late as well, 15 bags. So far I have been impressed by the quality: 8 plus out of 10 for product and value so far. After a complete mantience procedure on the stove, 3 hours worth, I can finally watch the stove perform like its first year. I'll try to keep posted after this next weather system hits. Now that I have a clean stove, thanks to the advice of Krooser and others on this website, I will have a better idea of how the other brands of pellets I have will burn. While I have many brands, I have to remember why I bought a pellet stove: my ultimate goal is to find the best pellet for the price. Right now, for my Harmon P38, the SIHW pellet has the lead due to the criteria of price and performance. I look foward to comparing them to the Sommerset, the only other hardwood pellet that I currently have.

What did you have to pay per bag? was there a ton price on the pellets?

Thanks for the nice words...
 
Krooser, I paid $3.58 a bag. Ton prices were $177. Like I said earlier, looks to be a great pellet for the price. By the way, go Pack!! Many of us Michiganders have seen the light when it comes to supporting the right team!!!
 
I was also pleased with them, Only got 2 bags under my belt(Thanks to Nick for sending them to me). I was real excited to hear there also in CT. But my local Lowes didn't get them. Would I buy these? Heck yeah! nice pellet IMHO. :)
 
Better than Chow? and some Lowes carry them, of course none near me :(
 
Fordmastertech said they were sold at his Plainville Lowes, all i know is none in Bloomfield or Manchester, just Chow and Inferno's
 
This is a 2.5 hour drive from here. If the weather ever breaks for more than a day, I'd like to go get some.

Any other Southern Illinois folk want to get together on this ??
 
Outerlimits said:
Krooser, I paid $3.58 a bag. Ton prices were $177. Like I said earlier, looks to be a great pellet for the price. By the way, go Pack!! Many of us Michiganders have seen the light when it comes to supporting the right team!!!
s
Did ya notice my avatar changed from Lombardi to Y.A. Tittle? I did it because I felt bad for some disheartened Giants fan on this board who shall remain nameless....

I went to the 4th last game at Tiger Stadium and I'm not even a baseball fan... but I wanted to see the old stadium before they knocked it in the head... I could feel the ghosts of Ty Cobb, The Babe, Al Kaline and others all smiling down on us... cool place.
 
opus74 said:
This is a 2.5 hour drive from here. If the weather ever breaks for more than a day, I'd like to go get some.

Any other Southern Illinois folk want to get together on this ??

You had better have a strong pick-up 'cuz the hill you have to make just before the plant ain't for sissies... I figure it's a 12% grade... it stopped my Peterbilt dead in it's tracks and I had to drop into low, low gear to get going again... oh yeah it's a dirt road.
 
krooser said:
Did ya notice my avatar changed from Lombardi to Y.A. Tittle? I did it because I felt bad for some disheartened Giants fan on this board who shall remain nameless....

HEY!! :mad: I resemble that remark!
 
Krooser, Lets not be scaring them away now!! Or you may only get the penny tour instead of the nickel tour! LOL You can always come in from the North, the hills aren't as steep but are longer and more of them. Our road is actually paved but the county ran out of salt so they have been putting rock and sand on the road after our wonderful snow and ice showers. Road is clear today but we will see how it is in the morning.

Thanks all for the compliments. We have been making pellets just under a year and half now and still learning way to improve our process. I truly don't think we have made our best pellet yet but heck I guess all good salesman should say that. If you get any you are not happy with please let me know.
 
new development...

The first few bags of the SIH pellets contained a lot of smaller pellets and pieces... they heat fine... just an observation.

Now I'm on about my 9th bag and I have some very looooong pellets... almost 3" in a few cases. Still burning OK without any issues...
 
I scored a ton of these from TSC for $179 + tax this past weekend. I have burned 3 bags so far and so far the heat is great and ash seems low. As Krooser mentioned above there are a lot of long pellets but this has not caused any problems in my stove. My Quad seems to run better on longer pellets. The forecast for this week is cold and windy,this will be a good test for them. Very impressed with them so far!
I need another ton or two to complete my stash for next year....Looks like it will be SIH. :coolsmile:
 
shisits,
Which tsc???I live east of Clio would like to try some
if there close enough to get.

thanks BobMac
 
I found these at the TSC in Cedar Springs which is probably too far for you[over 100 miles]. They just got them in 2weeks ago. Hopefully more TSC stores will start carrying them. What I did was call around and I found some. It is 17 °F and windy and house is warm and toasty on medium. Seem just as hot as the Somersets I have been using with LESS ASH. If you can find them you will be pleased if your stove likes longer pellets like mine does. ;-)
 
After burning several bags, I continue to be impressed. High heat and low ash. Bought a ton Saturday for $169 to keep my supply of pellets up. I'm burning them now to help get me through the cold spell we are having. To SIH, keep up the good work!!
 
j-takeman said:
I was also pleased with them, Only got 2 bags under my belt(Thanks to Nick for sending them to me). I was real excited to hear there also in CT. But my local Lowes didn't get them. Would I buy these? Heck yeah! nice pellet IMHO. :)

I would like to try some of these pellets, but I live 2 hours from the nearest place that sells them. It might be worth it to go get a few bags after reading this post before I commit to a ton. Did you pay to have them ship to you>?
 
I inherited an older (can't remember age) US Stove CO. pellet stove from dad when I moved back into my childhood home after my parents moved on. My husband and I finally fired it up this past Sunday after running out of LP gas once, again (not used to having to check a tank... had natural gas at our old house). At the TSC in Lapeer, MI SIH pellets were all they had so we bought 10 bags to see what we were getting ourselves into. BTW if you're looking for them there they are $179/ton. Heck of a time to start this thing up... dad just passed away three weeks ago, so, there goes all my 1st hand knowledge on this stove. Mom doesn't know much about it other than she thought they used about 3 bags per day when they were using it 24/7 several years ago. We gave it a good thorough cleaning and got it going. Let's see... today's tuesday night and we started it up Sun. morn - in those 3 days we've only used 4 bags of pellets (not bad I'd say). The heat is... hot enough, I guess. I have nothing to compare it too except to say that it's not nearly as hot as the old "log-style" wood stove we had when I was a kid but I think that's to be expected. We have discovered one problem, however. We cannot get the damper and feed rate set so that the pellets don't back up. The best we can do is to slow down the feed rate and open the damper all the way. Even then we still wind up with pellets piling up. The ashes are chunky too, not smoothly burnt (fine). And obviously the burn pot is filling up. The manual said to empty it weekly but for us right now it's daily. Of course, I'd like to burn up every last pellet and not waste any but even if they aren't going to burn all the way down I can live considering the bags:days ratio seems to be ok. The main problem is that we once had the fire go out overnight which we think it was because of the pellets piling up. Anyone have any "dad-ly" advice or experience with this?
 
Damperswideopen
Don't know alot about your stove,Do you have the manual??Iam sure
some of the guru's will be along tomorrow to help out.Try this link
http://www.iburncorn.com/new-forum/37-us-stove-company top of the
page is the manual explains draft,combustion fan and feed rate adjustments.
lots of u.s.stove owner there also.

Good Luck BobMac
 
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