First time buying pellets - your opinion matters.

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estafford

New Member
Dec 1, 2010
9
Greater Boston Area, MA
Hello all,

We've got our pellet stove installed and all set for the season. Now we just need to get pellets.
I'm located in Mass, just north of Boston and learning that getting pellets out here is not as easy as central and western MA. Seems we're just outside the "delivery range".
I've done a lot of research and trying to get as familiar as I can with all the options.

I found a local dealer that has New England Wood Pellets for $249/ton +$45 delivery.
I was also looking at WoodPellets.com and CleanFire Pacific at $273/ton +65 delivery.

We've got a Quadra-Fire Santa Fe and are thinking about going with the 2.6 tons (minimum order) of the CleanFire Pacific and one ton of the New England Wood Pellets to get started.

Does this sound like a good way to start?
Does anyone know what burns good the Santa-Fe?

The local dealer also has listed
Geneva @ $225/ton
Lignetics @ $269/ton

WoodPellets.com also has
Granules LG Wood Pellets @ $263.90 (Super Premium - 3 ton Minimum)
Homestead @ $223.90 (premium)

Would any of these be better options than the Cleanfire Pacific or New England?
If anyone else is from the north of Boston area, do you have an dealer recommendations?
 
From what i have been told on this forum...Green Supremes from Lowes (197 per ton) are rebagged NEWP
 
A good quality hardwood will burn good in a quad sante fe. In mine I burn Somersets.. if you go with a softwood, you will need to open up the feed rate on it a bit....
 
I live about 25 miles north of Boston (on the 93 belt) and don't seem to have much trouble getting pellets. I paid $177.00 a ton (bought 5 ton...and had a 10% off coupon) of Green Teams from Lowes (Even though they opted to deliver Green Supremes). I believe the delivery fee was about $60.00. Not sure if you have an aversion to doing business with the "box stores", but if not, you shouldn't have much of an issue finding pellets at a very reasonable price where you live.

John
 
Quads have a good amount of air delivered to the burn pot... It will burn any pellet. It does matter the what the BTU value is. All pellets that say they are PFI certified may not truly meet the standards. Its always best to burn a few bags and see how hot the stove/air gets and what the ash build-up looks like. There are many Santa Fe users here that can help fill you in. But almost all Quads burn the same (Except the Ae Mt. Vernon)...

Lowes and HD have good sales and good pellets. Grren Teams, Green Supremes, Stove Chow, and Somersets are all pretty good pellets that are sold there.... $197/ton... + any discounts (military/credit card).
 
My little quad burned anything with an ash content bellow 0.8% without issues. But I tried to stay in the 0.6% or less as I could get several days before pot scraping, dumping and hole cleanings.

It actually loved the softwoods! I found it ran the cleanest, longest and hottest with them. I had to watch it on the feedrate slide plate in the hopper. If left out like the hardwoods it would overfire the stove.
 
I did not like the CleanFire Pacific last year. They were full of fines and very dusty. I had to perform a lot of extra cleaning on my stove and even replace the vacuum switch. I think some of this is that they are shipped and handled too much. The Cleanfire hardwood is made by NEWP and is pretty solid. They are probably the same as the Green Supreme.

By the way, I have a Quad Mt Vernon insert.
 
pixel8r said:
Thanks for the Tips!

@Enigma869 - Sounds like you right up in my area. Did you pick up your pellets this season? What lowes did you get them from?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I bought mine at the Lowes in Salem, NH. I live in MA, but that Lowes isn't really that far from where I live.

John
 
Thanks again for all the input. It really helps.
I grabbed two bags of Green Supremes (product of New England Wood Pellets) from the local Lowes. They have them for $197 / Ton. I'm going to burn these two bags and see if I can get a couple bags of something else I was considering to compare. From what I've learned, the GS's should do fine and save me some $$ at the same time.
@timss13 - I was a little reluctant to pay that much for the CleanFire because I've read about others complaining of the same thing. That's why I posted here - to get your opinions. I think I'll wait on those for now especially if the Green Supremes work out.

j-takeman and DexterDay, thanks for the quad tips.
 
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