Hardwood Vs. Softwood Pellets

[TJSchmidt]

By purchasing softwood pellets over hardwood pellets does anyone notice a difference from the amount of pellets they use per season? Do the softwood last longer because of the higher BTUs? I have a Quadrafire MT Vernon AE so my stove will shut off when the room reaches its temperature. I have always purchased Marth Hardwood pellets at $3.50 a bag, some of the softwood runs around $5.00 a bag. I have always wondered if it was worth the price. I go through 2.5 to 3 tons a year with the hardwood. Would this be much different with the softwood? I just wanted to hear opinions of others on this.

 

[smoke show]

try anything other than marth, they're the worst i've burned in my mt vernon

 

[Wet1]

I've had equally good luck with both hardwood and softwood pellets. They both seem to last about the same as well. Either way you're still getting about the same amount of wood in each ton... BUT, I'd suggest trying a little of whatever you're thinking of buying and see what burns best in your stove, then go from there.

 

[Lousyweather]

The stove has no idea whether its burning softwoods or hardwoods......what we look at here is btu/lb, as well as ash content, chlorides, etc..

 

[stoveguy13]

with the ae you have a setting to burn both you should be fine with what ever you can get your hands on i like soft wood better seem to burn hotter.

 

[TJSchmidt]

Thanks for the advice I haven't tried softwood yet. I almost bought a skid of Badgerland pellets last year to try it out. They are 8400 BTU's per poud instead of the 8000 per pound (Marth) that I usually get. The dealer said that I wouldn't notice much of a difference with the AE because of the cleaning cycle it runs and suggested getting the Marth pellets instead for the lower cost. I may have to try the softer wood sometime to see what I think of it. The Badgerland pellets were $3.75 a bag over the Marth at $3.50 per bag so it would be worth a try for me. The Bear Mountain Pellets which are suppsed to be great are very expensive, and I feel I might as well just run my furnace over the price of those.

 

[BDPVT]

The AE will burn just about any pellets without much problem. I have burned hardwood and softwood pellets but I prefer softwood. I do notice a little more heat output from softwood and less ash. Also on the softwood setting, the stove cleaning cycle is less often so saves some wear and tear on the igniter and better heat with fewer restarts.

 

[ablejoy]

I burned both, I will say they hardwood do not burn as hot as softwood. I have very little ash with the hardwood pellets and they last about the same.

 

[Xena]

http://www.pelletsales.com/learn_more/hardwood_vs_softwood.aspx