Barefoots ? are a good pellet ? or Prestologs

[dude]

so I was told these are great pellets , on my second $6.00 bag and clinkers galore , clumping together in the pot
have to clean the pot every 3 to 4 hours.
now the good news , found preto logs made by lignetics for $4.50 a bag , they burn hot and clean as can be.
going to get rid of the barefoots and buy a pallet of the prestologs tomorrow
So , whats the deal , did I just get a junk batch of barefoots ? do ya think.

 

[schmeg]

Stove isn't passing enough combustion air for that brand would be my guess. Are they clinkers, or clumps of crusty ash accumilations? Clinkering is very hard shale that usually requires a fair amount of force
to remove from the pot and takes more that 3-4 hours to burn. Its possible the pellets you bought may have been damp from storage prior to you buying them, or using them.
I haven't burnedd them, but they have a very good reputation. What kind of stove do you have? Can you adjust air intake for the burn pot? Is the stove really clean? Just askin.

 

[imacman]

Hard to believe you had that kind of problem with barefoots...they are considered by most to be a great pellet. It IS possible you got a bad batch, I suppose.

You didn't say what stove your burning them in, but normally clinkers form when either the pellets have hi levels of chlorides, bark, or too little burn air.

I tried burning the PresToLogs last month, and I liked them too. Hey, if they burn better in your stove, and are cheaper, then that's what I'd buy/burn.

 

[dude]

The stove is an old whitfield which I keep very clean , fiberboard and all baffles and pipes cleaned 30 days ago. Its really a great stove when it gets a pellet it likes.
Last year had a lot of luck with Fireside Ultras , this years Firesides were horrible , so went and layed out the bucks for these barefoots.
These Prestologs were at Home Depot and I mistakenly only bought 10 bags , by the time I got back they were gone. Found more Prestologs at Lowes today!
Anyway , the Barefoots thru some damn nice heat , but left a mess and very eratic flame due to the ash buildup and clinkers....bummer
I set my hopes to high I guess

 

[poconoman]

Barefoot doesn't work well for your stove. They work EXTREMELY well in mine and boy, does it put out the heat!

I assume, Prestologs are soft wood?

 

[imacman]

.....I assume, Prestologs are soft wood?

Mix of soft & hardwood.

 

[poconoman]

.....I assume, Prestologs are soft wood?

Mix of soft & hardwood.

There you go. Better ashes for your particular stove.

 

[littlesmokey]

Did you try adjusting the intake air settings when you changed brands? Some pellets need lots more air to adequately burn. Sometimes even the size and shape of the pellets make a difference, a shorter and denser packed pellet will load an auger with more pellets per drop and cause the inadequate burn. If you were also finding partially burned pellets and a crusty, but not hard carbon like deposit in the burn pot, I would try adding the air, or slightly cutting back the feed rate. As mentioned a clinker is very hard, and sticks easily to the burn pot, the ash chunk build up is easier to deal with.

 

[dude]

thanx for all the feedback. I do not have a cold air intake adjustment on this stove. Only a damper on the exhaust which I tryed running wide open. I am thinking of tying to slow down the auger feed and speed up the combustion air blower with the fine tuning screws on the back of the control board. I will make marks so I can return to the present settings if that does not work. Meanwhile the Prestologs are burnin nice and clean but do not throw off nearly as much heat as those barefoots did , however dirty they might burn. Just to clarify the Barefoots were leaving large clumps of black hard ash and some unburned pellets , and when burning required frequent opening of the door to stir/distribute the pellets. Again , thanx for the input and what do you all think about changing the feed and fan fine tuning adjustments?