Anyone Mix Pellets ?

Being new to pellet stoves, my opinion's not worth much, but i too plan to mix pellets to see if there is any benefit. Currently have a majority of Crabbe pellets but plan to mix in some Canawik hardwoods that i picked up today cheap. When i run out of them i'll look to add some Trebio if Walmart has any left.

Crabbes alone burn fine (have not compared much so take it for what it worth)
Trebio burn as long as the Crabbes did if not longer and were hotter (no numbers just observation from reaction of the blower on my Harman)

Have yet to try the Canawicks, we'll see what happens......

oldmountvernon said:

No secret oakies burn hot as hell. Green Supreme ( imo being a newb and still experimenting ) burn decent. So im thinking grab the BTU value from the oakies while extending the burn ( amount of pellets used ) with some GS. OR would you be compromising the value of the oakies to much. I figure this has been proven here somewhere along the line already, everything else has that i have questioned

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Mixing your Okies with rebagged New England Pellets is like adding tap water to Johnny Walker Blue. You just don't do it- Period. Ahhhhhhhhh!

Mixing your Okies with rebagged New England Pellets is like adding tap water to Johnny Walker Blue. You just don’t do it- Period. Ahhhhhhhhh!

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Now that is a fact!

I mixed green supreme with maine woods just to get ride of main woods.....they suck

I've mixed in the past. But it was only to ride myself of extremely bad pellets. I hated diluting the good stuff, But didn't want to waste the money paid on the bad stuff. Only did it to ones that wouldn't burn well on their own. I have never mixed to extend the run times, I added a thermostat to limit getting the house too hot which wastes the better/hotter brands. A thermostat is an equalizer. Hotter pellets will run less and cooler pellets will run longer to achieve the goal. Heating the house to 72ºF. Stove has to run just long enough to do its task. I wasn't very good at tracking the stove and house temp on my own. It was either too haot or cold. Some can do the steady burn and know just what to do to adjust. I wimped out and installed the stat. I don't even need tothink about it.

I suppose mixing pellets can extend the hotter stuff. I also suppose Mr. Warm is a little sad your diluting an excellent softwood. Like johnny said, Watering down a good booze!

We got some Heartland (Pine) pellets years ago.
Great stuff, clean and hot.

I have mixed pellet brands and mixed some pellets with my nut shells when I had some bags that got damaged during handling.

I don't think there is any real issue with mixing the stuff.

Snowy

I frequently mix mine with Orloff vodka.

I mix most of the time.
Out here in the great NW we can get some real good deals compared to the NE and I can usually get Westwood Premiums (Okanagans where most of you live) for around $189/ton delivered. The other great pellet we have around here is North Idaho Energy Pellets and those go for around the same price.

The Westwoods burn about 20 degrees hotter, but put out more ash and don't burn as long when compared to the NIEP pellets. The NIEP pellets are amazing in that they leave almost no ash or residue in the burn pot nor do they dirty the glass.

I mix them is a 32 gallon garbage can 50-50. I get a mix that burns at about 275° (on the 3rd setting of 4) and fairly low ash and cleaning as the NIEP never leave residue in the burn pot.

I mixed some good pellets with the energex hoping not to get that build up of ash in the burn pot. No luck, dirt is dirt. They burn well but leave a mess behind.

Okay, so am I suppose to clean out the hopper every time I use a new pellet? If I don't then aren't I technically mixing pellets each time I put in a new pellet? I've been experimenting with different kinds of pellets to find the best one for my stove and try not to let my hopper get too low. If what I'm doing is wrong, then some tell me now! I haven't noticed any issues when I do this "mixing". Hope it's okay. I'm new to pellet burning. Thanks!

I'm burning my second ton of pellets in my stove. The first ton was Olympus pellets, the second, Clean Burn. Though that really means nothing on a national forum, as pellet brands seem to be regional. I know that Olympus are made in Shelton WA and Clean Burn in Tacoma WA.

Both are made from 100% Douglass fir, both burn exactly the same. I did noticed that Olympus pellets came on a nicer pallet, but that's all.

If there is a big difference in pellet quality in your area, buy the good ones. But if you get a bad batch, don't worry about mixing them, just get good ones next time.

Dave

I'm currently mixing NEWP and Stove Chow at 50/50. Basically doing it to cut down on the ash from the stove chow alone.

I now find I "MUST" sift the stove chow as the fines content levels are unacceptable IMO. I got half a "stop and shop" bag of fines out of one and a half bags of stove chow. (probably a fluke bad bag) I am averaging a sandwich bag full from each 40 lbs and these went directly from the pallet to my shed.

pell it said:

I'm currently mixing NEWP and Stove Chow at 50/50. Basically doing it to cut down on the ash from the stove chow alone.

I now find I "MUST" sift the stove chow as the fines content levels are unacceptable IMO. I got half a "stop and shop" bag of fines out of one and a half bags of stove chow. (probably a fluke bad bag) I am averaging a sandwich bag full from each 40 lbs and these went directly from the pallet to my shed.

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Sounds like that bag had a moisture issue. Pellets turn back to dust once they get wet. Did the bag have a football in a corner or show sigh's of bloating?

i'm mixing oakies and infernos. Best burn you'll ever see out of infernos

Roughly 50/50 mix. Got another ton of oakies coming tuesday. new batch right out of the new bagging plant. Hope they got less fines than the crap I got already. This whole batch of oakies has been poor at best. QUARTS of fines in the bags. YIKES!

hey I'm the inferno poster child remember? LOL

I find two things...I get a GREAT burn first, and second most important I've gone from having a burn pot FULL of PACKED clinker in one day to going up to 3 days without cleaning....4-5 SMALL round clinkers all less than 5/8" diam but ash pans are filled with ash especially the center pan.

I've come to learn that Oakies will make ANYTHING burn real nice.....I bet you could mix Oakies with your mother in law and still come out on top :D

oldmountvernon said:

Salty said:

i'm mixing oakies and infernos. Best burn you'll ever see out of infernos

Roughly 50/50 mix. Got another ton of oakies coming tuesday. new batch right out of the new bagging plant. Hope they got less fines than the crap I got already. This whole batch of oakies has been poor at best. QUARTS of fines in the bags. YIKES!

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lol boy are you gonna get beat up here mixing those 2 But this is exactly the scenario im talking about, do you feel that the heat value is being compromised by combining the 2 ? if so how much. Are you really wasting money by buying a superior pellet and downgrading it by mixing in the cheaper one?

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We already did in his thread! ;-)

Sometimes you do what you gotta do! One way to get ride of a bad pellet is to mix in some good. Makes the bad pellet stack disapear anyway. Another is traction in the winter snow. But I get free sand for that chore. So I figure if I burn them at least some BTU escape into my dwelling?

Doesn't the Mt Vernon use a stat? One would think the stat would equalize the burn length on the different fuels? Seems to for me anyway.

j-takeman said:

pell it said:

I'm currently mixing NEWP and Stove Chow at 50/50. Basically doing it to cut down on the ash from the stove chow alone.

I now find I "MUST" sift the stove chow as the fines content levels are unacceptable IMO. I got half a "stop and shop" bag of fines out of one and a half bags of stove chow. (probably a fluke bad bag) I am averaging a sandwich bag full from each 40 lbs and these went directly from the pallet to my shed.

Click to expand...

Sounds like that bag had a moisture issue. Pellets turn back to dust once they get wet. Did the bag have a football in a corner or show sigh's of bloating?

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The bag seemed fine. I have seen bags "blow up" before. I think I just got a lousy pallet this time as thay all seem to be high in fines.

I built one of the wooden/hardware cloth sifters yesterday, sure beats the 5 gal pail with drilled holes in the bottom.