Stove Chow Sucks

I've burned about 6 or 7 bags of Stove Chow, which is my shoulder pellet. They put out decent heat but the glass gets dirty very quickly.

The other night I burned a bag of Vermonts and there was definitely a difference as far as heat output. The glass hadn't been cleaned so I can't speak on that yet.

I've already got two tons between the Vermonts and SC. My next ton will probably be Green Teams, if they ever deliver to my area.

No complaints here either. A very good shoulder season pellet for the $$$ I paid. JMO.

kinsman stoves said:

So if the results of one brand of pellets varies so much what could be the issue that sets a good bad apart from a bad bag? I would be willing to bet that it is storage. I did hear this from an unnamed source that was gathering shopping carts at a big box store's parking lot. I have to protect my sources because there is a PFI backed hit team out there and they are a group of bad girls.

Eric

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or it could be that one mans trash.. is another mans treasure .or what works for me does not work for you.

I have no problm with them...

Burn fine for me.

Stove Chow passed both my tests. First, can I slide the bags down my homemade chute to get them into the basement without ripping the bags? Passed. Next, do I get a lot of heat for the price I paid for the pellets? Passed. And that concludes this years pellet testing.

Chow was the best value pellet I burned last year. Somersets were a bit hotter, a bit cleaner, harder to find, and .60 bag more expensive. The other 5-6 brands I burned, trailed behind, regardless of price. So Chow for me pellet of the year, Sommies best pellet.

This year, who knows? Hopefully we will. Jay?

I burned 3 ton last year of the stove chow. Wish I could get it again. So far happy with the AWF. It's only 40 degrees here now and my stove comes on for an 45 min every 2 hours or so. I like the AWF. I'm saving the green teams for the colder months. they burned a little hotter in my test.

Pretty good. Got smoke smell at start up with every joint taped. Bugs me. There is a digital CO detector head high ten feet from it that measures zip. Getting a little concerned that it may be the comb blower gasket. Lot of breeze right there so seeing the smoke ain't gonna happen. The wind either is the cooling fan in the comb blower motor or it is coming out of the blower itself. With 33 feet of 5.5" liner warmed up above it the chimney is probably pulling everything out after it warms up.

You might wanna move that CO detector down. By time CO reaches head level it may be too late. CO is heavier than air.

I am burning chow right now as i write this and they are doing fine for me. I bought a ton last year and have 15 bags left then I start my Turmans. Could possibly be the way stoves are set up that is causing the different burn patterns.

I burned a good 2+ tons of Stove Chow last winter. I don't have much to compare them with, other than penningtons and american wood fibers, but I was happy with the flame and the heat output. At $193 a ton, you can't beat the price either.

Oh, it also helps that I pass a HD every day and pick up another 10 bags on my way home.

Got a ton of Chow at Bloomfields HD, picked out a clean dry looking ton and unloaded when i got home, disappointed that almost every bag has a small hole in upper right corner, size of a quarter, some pellets fell out when stacking one bag a a golden nugget in corner due to moisture, last year my stove liked them.

I burned SC last year..I liked them better than any I had choice on around here. Was a moderate amount of ash, no clinkers, so-so on keeping the glass clean but I felt more heat output from them than others (got up to 287 with my brother's laser thingy). Now, the downside to them was...this year when the company came to do my yearly service there was a good bit of creosote build up on my heat exchangers - even tho I used the brush and pull rods to clean them. The service tech said "they are nasty pellets...don't burn them" DUH, now I know that stuff wasn't 'discoloration'...live and learn and still I'm trying to learn - being a newbie

ChrisWNY said:

No complaints whatsoever about the Chow for me, they burn hot and relatively clean, one of the hottest burning pellets I had last burn season. I still have 1/2 ton left and will burn them once the weather becomes colder. Got them for $165/ton last year.

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Same here. Last year was my first season burning pellets. I burned 2 tons of oakies and 2 tons of stove chow. The oakies were $285/ton and the Stove Chow were $187/ton. I actually preferred the Stove Chow. The oakies gave off a little more heat but made a bigger mess in my stove. Definitely not worth the extra dough.

Tested Stove Chow from Lowes in my box last year and they showed same heat output than Instant Heat and NEWP - which is very dissapointing for the NEWP, given the premium price they asked, but in line with the rest of the box store stuff. Far away from Barefoots for comparison...

Last year's SC were great. Good heat, low ash, clinkers etc. At 180, they were a no-brainer. This year's, who knows.

love stove chow, imo the best shoulder pellet going, 175/ton.......last season bought a few bags some were dark colored and some bags the pellets were very light, anyways the darker pellet was great, lighter pellet not so good, must have been a mix up at the plant LOL

defrob said:

RKS130 said:

I have a ton of Great American Pellets, but a few bags of Chow and a lot more of American Wood Fiber Pellets.

Our local HD had both the Chow and the American Fiber pellets.
Our stove was just installed this week and I first burned a bag of Great American and am now working on the Stove Chow.

Are you measuring the temperature of the room/house when you say one burns hotter than the other? What is the criteria?

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I measured the air coming out of the stove. SC was only 150 degrees while GS maxed out my therm at over 200. The GS were triple wrapped at tractor supply. The SC was unwrapped on a pallet under an overhang. The SC pellets look fine but there must be a moisture issue.

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Interesting, I am burning Stove Chow right now on Heat setting 3 which is 3.22 lbs per hour and measuring a little over 300 Degrees F out of the stove with my very accurate Digital Cole Palmer Thermometer (Only $26) with the High Temp probe.
See cole-palmer web site
http://www.coleparmer.com/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=8646003

So defrob when you read 150 Degrees F, how many lbs per hour were you doing?


Avalon Astoria Heat settings
Heat       Burn
Setting   Rate (Lbs/Hour)
   1          1.7
   2          2.46
   3          3.22
   4          3.98
   5          4.74
   6          5.5

Also my Chow is very small pellets, really small and light colored, my stove likes small pellets but these are tiny!

Pellet-King said:

Also my Chow is very small pellets, really small and light colored, my stove likes small pellets but these are tiny!

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Mine that I bought at Hd a month ago seems darker than a couple other pellets I have tries and there are def. a few longer ones about 1.75" or so.

Millsk said:

You might wanna move that CO detector down. By time CO reaches head level it may be too late. CO is heavier than air.

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Sorry about the off-topic, but just wanted to clarify some info on an important issue:

CO is roughly the same weight as air (if not lighter). More importantly, it tends to distribute evenly in a room. Aside from locating CO detectors to close to fuel-burning devices and 'dead spots', most manufacturers as well as the CPSC don't seem to stress the location (on the wall) of a CO detector, but more so the ability to be able to hear it clearly if it activates.

Upon further research I stand corrected. Rider is correct here. 180 from everything I've been taught. Repositioning our CO detector.

Being on my fourth year of pellet burning I actually have found the Stove Chow pellets to be great! My favorite are Lignetics but couldn't find them. I had Stove Chow years back and it was dirty. Since then I have tried 10-12 different brands including AWF which after stacking 5 ton in the basement had to return because they sucked. I had the stove on a low setting last night and it was low 20's out and it kept the house at early 70's and I didn't fill the hopper. This a.m. I filled it and turned the setting up higher and just checked the temp out of the stove is between 300 and 343 degrees. They have been great. There are some fines but no complaints. Not even clinker issues. My Stove Chow pellets are small which is great because the insert loves those. I bought 5 ton of them at HD and 1/2 ton of Alleghany at a garage sale. I went back to HD and they are out of Stove Chow, but did find Prestologs at Lowes, even though more they are made by Lignetics so I might grab a pallet or two.

Just started burning stove chow I purchased at home depot for $197.00 in the spring. I'm actually fairly impressed, they produce good heat. My only complaint is they are a little dusty. My home depot no longer have them in stock, wished I had bought more.

defrob said:

This is my first season with a stove and I bought a variety of pellets to compare. So far Green Supremes are ok but Stove Chow sucks balls. SC is burning much cooler than GS.

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Well, jeeee-zusss! Look at the big guns you have listed in your arsenal. Vermont, Hamer, Cubex et al....... That's some mighty fine pieces of ass my friend. And you are probably comparing your big box brands to the good stuff. No wonder you ain't happy. Look....Ashton Kutcher has been married to Demi Moore for seven year now and is divorcing. You think he would be willing to settle for Rosie O'donnell after having Demi ?........C'mon now.