Length is now a new specification for wood pellets.

Are you saying the pellets have to be 1.50 to 1.75 inches long?

That's good news! Carolina Wood Pellets better take notice. I'll have to email them a copy I had 3" long ones from them on a regular basis.

Too bad that can't be lowered. I got a ton of somersets that had been on the bottom of the stack of pallets and I remember complaining about them being crushed on here. It turns out I liked them like that. They burned great that way. Much less auger noise. These were under an inch.

If I am not mistaken, They have always had a length spec. What changed is the percentage. Used to be 2% max, Now its 1% over 1 and 1/2 inches.

Looks like super premium grade is gone and they might be doing spot checks. I just hope they have a means of flagging the brands that are out of spec.

Longer for me, means burn slower longer/ shorter burns faster uses more.

j-takeman said:

If I am not mistaken, They have always had a length spec. What changed is the percentage. Used to be 2% max, Now its 1% over 1 and 1/2 inches.

Looks like super premium grade is gone and they might be doing spot checks. I just hope they have a means of flagging the brands that are out of spec.

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Why would they remove Super premium? Its obviouse a select few pellet companies go above and beyond in quality controll and should be recognized.

To my knowledge the super premium is going bye bye and the new specs for the Premium are going to alot more detailed and will be considered like the specs of super premium. Sounds like the PFI is getting sick of any brand being able to mark their bags as premium and they are nothing but crap. I think this is a good change. Will help in the process of producing better pellets.

I also heard more detailed specs. Ash level is going to be on a bar graph. How tight the ash range will be on the graph? I haven't seen info yet. I don't think they are done yet with all the changes. More to come.

A pellet company that doesn't wear the PFI label can call them anything they want. I bet we still see Super Premiums on some. Okies gave there's a platinum standard on the new bags.

j-takeman said:

I also heard more detailed specs. Ash level is going to be on a bar graph. How tight the ash range will be on the graph? I haven't seen info yet. I don't think they are done yet with all the changes. More to come.

A pellet company that doesn't wear the PFI label can call them anything they want. I bet we still see Super Premiums on some. Okies gave there's a platinum standard on the new bags.

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New Okie bags look awesome... have ya seen 'em?

I noticed that with the smaller pellets like the Hamers, it seems that they pack more densely into the burnpot and give off more heat. Last year I had the press-to-logs that were huge, and they gave off very little heat compared to the Hamer's. The Lignetics that I am on, are in the middle (size wise) and they seem to give off mediocre heat.
I know ash and density have something to do with it, but pellet size plays a big part in the performance.

CJ-SR4ever said:

To my knowledge the super premium is going bye bye and the new specs for the Premium are going to alot more detailed and will be considered like the specs of super premium. Sounds like the PFI is getting sick of any brand being able to mark their bags as premium and they are nothing but crap. I think this is a good change. Will help in the process of producing better pellets.

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Yes, its amazing that a Turman or hammer product earns the same " Premium" label as a tree cycle or presto log pellet. Sounds like some possitive ideas for the newer system.

iron stove said:

Yes, its amazing that a Turman or hammer product earns the same " Premium" label as a tree cycle or presto log pellet. Sounds like some possitive ideas for the newer system.

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Agreed, but Treecycle doesn't need to concern itself with any rating since it is out of business. Its owners Bob and Mary Taggart filed for personal bankrupcty in Trenton NJ on March 23, 2011.

Cincinnati Kid said:

On another note, the institute has come out with a program where by 15 or so pellet manufactures have agreed to third party quality audits. Somerset, New England, and American Wood Fibers are a few that I remember have enlisted in the program.

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Sweet! Maybe New England's will get dropped to an economy status pellet instead of 'premium'.

summit said:

j-takeman said:

I also heard more detailed specs. Ash level is going to be on a bar graph. How tight the ash range will be on the graph? I haven't seen info yet. I don't think they are done yet with all the changes. More to come.

A pellet company that doesn't wear the PFI label can call them anything they want. I bet we still see Super Premiums on some. Okies gave there's a platinum standard on the new bags.

Click to expand...

New Okie bags look awesome... have ya seen 'em?

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Not yet, Local dealers still have the white bag. I'd expect the new bags to be available soon. Member Lousyweather sent me a picture so I would know what to look for. Definetly a fancy bag. Peeps complained about the old bag being whimpy, Are the new bags tougher?

briansol said:

Cincinnati Kid said:

On another note, the institute has come out with a program where by 15 or so pellet manufactures have agreed to third party quality audits. Somerset, New England, and American Wood Fibers are a few that I remember have enlisted in the program.

Click to expand...

Sweet! Maybe New England's will get dropped to an economy status pellet instead of 'premium'.

Click to expand...

The sample I burned from the Schuyler plant(march of 2011) didn't have a PFI label on the bag. I heard NEWP has there own in house testing going on and they get what we were complaining about. The label on the bag said 0.4 to 0.7% range. An insider told me they are trying to hold the ash levels well below 0.6% and my sample was right in line with the claim.

I think they got it and are working on the quality! Someone over there is listening.

Pellet-King said:

Longer for me, means burn slower longer/ shorter burns faster uses more.

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Because the auger feeds the burnpot by volume. Longer pellets should reduce the volume and shorter would increase it. More volume would be more fuel weight. So you will use more fuel.

I had a batch of O'malleys that has lots of long pellets. and the bags would last about 14 hrs. With the same exact settings on the stove, I took a bag and broke the pellets to no longer than 1/2 inch. The fire grew and the convection heat went up. But they only lasted 12 hours.

With a stove that is controlled by a thermostat(mine is). Both bags lasted approx 1 full day with about the same outside fall temps. A thermostat is an equalizer to these conditions as the house temp is controlled by it. Short length would actually run less on time than a longer length pellet(amount of time to satify the stat). 24/7 burners would need to adjust feed rate "down" to comp for shorter length or up for longer length pellets.

The ash wasn't so bad for me... they just weren't hot and were super expensive, making them hands down the worst pellet Vs cost i've ever burned. This was 3 years ago, so maybe things have changed. But, they are still super expensive and I really have no interest in trying them again.

briansol said:

The ash wasn't so bad for me... they just weren't hot and were super expensive, making them hands down the worst pellet Vs cost i've ever burned. This was 3 years ago, so maybe things have changed. But, they are still super expensive and I really have no interest in trying them again.

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I only have on dealer that carries NEWP in my area. I'd say yes, the price for NEWP are higher than other pellets that perform just about the same. Our job as a consumer is to not over pay last I knew!

j-takeman said:

summit said:

j-takeman said:

I also heard more detailed specs. Ash level is going to be on a bar graph. How tight the ash range will be on the graph? I haven't seen info yet. I don't think they are done yet with all the changes. More to come.

A pellet company that doesn't wear the PFI label can call them anything they want. I bet we still see Super Premiums on some. Okies gave there's a platinum standard on the new bags.

Click to expand...

New Okie bags look awesome... have ya seen 'em?

Click to expand...

Not yet, Local dealers still have the white bag. I'd expect the new bags to be available soon. Member Lousyweather sent me a picture so I would know what to look for. Definetly a fancy bag. Peeps complained about the old bag being whimpy, Are the new bags tougher?

Click to expand...

The new bags IMHO are whimpy also. The outer edges of the bag where its sealed pop open about 1/2 inch quite easily, looks like a crimp that weakens the outer edges. I do like the Okies though, they burn hot in my boiler, also like the price ($225/ton if you purchase 7 pallets, 65 bags/pallet.)

I bought a ton of O'malley's last week and I can dump then in the hopper and see probably close to 50% are 3 inches. I was not expecting much out of them seeing that in the 1st couple of bags, but they are holding their own with the Ligs and SC I have burned.

Ed S said:

I bought a ton of O'malley's last week and I can dump then in the hopper and see probably close to 50% are 3 inches. I was not expecting much out of them seeing that in the 1st couple of bags, but they are holding their own with the Ligs and SC I have burned.

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I bought a ton in 09 and had the same issue. I would think they should have corrected that by now. Some stoves just don't tolerate the long stuff.

Pellet-King said:

Longer for me, means burn slower longer/ shorter burns faster uses more.

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Long/short > it all boils down to btu/hour no matter how you slice it. The big down side of long pellets for me and my Quads is that they block the in-feed and bridge over at the drop chute and shut the stove down.

summit said:

j-takeman said:

I also heard more detailed specs. Ash level is going to be on a bar graph. How tight the ash range will be on the graph? I haven't seen info yet. I don't think they are done yet with all the changes. More to come.

A pellet company that doesn't wear the PFI label can call them anything they want. I bet we still see Super Premiums on some. Okies gave there's a platinum standard on the new bags.

Click to expand...

New Okie bags look awesome... have ya seen 'em?

Click to expand...

I haven't seen the new bags. Does that mean the Okanagan pellet are not wearing the PFI label any more?