Midwest (OH, IL, IN, WI, MI, IA) Manards in Saginaw Mi

[siriustock]

Got Michigan wood fuels pellet for 3.79 a bag $197 a Ton. They are burning better this year seem to be less ash.

 

[tigers2007]

Was this the sale price? Note that you can get 10% off using a coupon match trick. Get the Lowes 10% coupon via email (must wait 48-72hrs). Print it out then use at the store. They will not let you use any coupon on top of a sale price though. I've done it multiple times at the wilder road location.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I pesume you mean 'Menards'. I ran out late last year and bought a ton because no one had any. Menards pellets were pure junk, lots of ash, in fact so much, I thought I was burning logs, not pellets. Never again.

 

[Dpopps]

I pesume you mean 'Menards'. I ran out late last year and bought a ton because no one had any. Menards pellets were pure junk, lots of ash, in fact so much, I thought I was burning logs, not pellets. Never again.

I was at menards the other day, they had AWF hardwoods. Is that what you got last year? Are they no good?

 

[SidecarFlip]

I believe thats what they were. They looked good and smelled good and burned good but made a whole bunch of ash. I'm not used to that. I'm used to cleaning the unit once a week at most. It was an every other day thing with them. Very dirty. I was out and no one had any and at that point it was a no choice scenario. The other issue was they had them outside, on racks and the store jockeys had punctured more than a few bags so I had to sort through them. Besides punctured bags, some were wet. If a bag has one wet spot, far as I'm concerned, it's flower bed mulch.

I got 5 ton on pre-buy at TSC this spring, Somerset, same as I used last year and the year before. I've run Indiana Hardwoods too with no issue. I think TSC still has Somerset and IHW, at least down here they do (Dundee, by Cabelas).... Around 200 a ton otd. I see TSC's pellet prices vary by region.

Best pellets I ever got was about 10 years ago from a pellet mill in Northern Kentucky that was next to a furniture plant. The were 100% hardwood, mostly oak and smelled the part. Oak has an acidic smell but it really burns well, almost as good as corn but not quite. Nothing burns like good 15% RM field corn. Should have taken one of the farm trucks down and picked up 20 skids but I didn't and I don't see them anymore anywhere.

Again, I believe AWF was the brand. If you can get Somersets (at TSC), I'd go for them. I know they run well, I'm running them as I type this. IHW would be a good seciond choice, or, 15%RM field corn and any pellet, even the crap ones at a 50-50 mix (if your appliance will run corn).

Hope that helps you...

 

[tigers2007]

I pesume you mean 'Menards'. I ran out late last year and bought a ton because no one had any. Menards pellets were pure junk, lots of ash, in fact so much, I thought I was burning logs, not pellets. Never again.

Hate the game, not the player. Menards is just a vendor; they sell several different brands. "Michigan Wood Pellet" is absolute rubbish - this is probably what SidecarFlip bought at Menards. I've bought Somerset at Menards in the past but the store I go to usually has three different brands. I suggest calling the store and be very specific on the phone that you want the exact brand name and availability before you drive out there. TSC near me has ProPellet for $225 (or at least did two months ago).

 

[Dpopps]

I only seen the AWF at my menards. I got a bag for kicks. Yup there are dirty. I had to scrap the burn pot after that bag, but they seemed to burn pretty hot.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I got my 5 ton on pre buy at TSC in Dundee and they are Somersets, same as last year, very low ash and burn hot. I was told by my wife, who was talking to the manager that all the pre-buy was Somersets and everything else was whatever they could get. Glad I pre-bought and not so glad I did. Corn is really cheap. Would rather be roasting corn but I have the pellets so, 'When in Rome............

 

[Dpopps]

I got my 5 ton on pre buy at TSC in Dundee and they are Somersets, same as last year, very low ash and burn hot. I was told by my wife, who was talking to the manager that all the pre-buy was Somersets and everything else was whatever they could get. Glad I pre-bought and not so glad I did. Corn is really cheap. Would rather be roasting corn but I have the pellets so, 'When in Rome............

I called a bunch of places today and could not find much that I have not tried. I did find one TSC that has there brand pellets. Would these be somersets?

 

[SidecarFlip]

I believe they would be Somersets. Good luck here with them 2 years running now.

 

[Dpopps]

I believe they would be Somersets. Good luck here with them 2 years running now.

I got a couple bags of the tsc brand pellets. How can I tell if there somersets?

 

[SidecarFlip]

It says Sommerset on the bag, front and back.

 

[Dpopps]

It says Sommerset on the bag, front and back.

I must of miss understood. I got TSC brand pellets. They don't say who makes them. I would like to find out what company makes them, is there a way to check that?

I thought you meant somerset made and package pellets for TSC, in a TSC brand bag.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I've never seen TSC branded pellets. The only ones out local store has is Somersets and Michigan Wood Products, which, btw is between Holland and GR and I believe you can buy mill direct.

 

[hollmi50]

I know people that deliver wood to MI Wood Fuels. They tell me that plant takes any garbage or scrap wood they can get. That's why the ash is so high and Btu are so low. Poop in = poop out.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I know people that deliver wood to MI Wood Fuels. They tell me that plant takes any garbage or scrap wood they can get. That's why the ash is so high and Btu are so low. Poop in = poop out.

Thats pretty much sop for any extruder, not just them. You ain't burning hammermilled furniture grade oak. What you burn is old pallets, slabwood, undesireable logs cutoff's and probably some tree company trimmings or chips. It all goes in the hammermill and comes out a slurry that gets extruded (pelletized), dried, bagged and sold.

Pellets will vary by regoin (depending on pelletizer location and materials source) and will vary from year to year as well as the material sources change.

Best pellets I ever got was from Northern Kentucky a few years back, the pelletizer was next to a furniture company and got all the scrap furniture wood.

There may very well be some poop going in (to the hammermill), you'd never know it anyway.

On our biofuel boiler (in my avitar) our fuel quality is constantly changing depending on the chips dumped. We even get thins like road signs, shovels, concrete bolcks and ocassionally chainsaws in the clarifier that seperates trash from fuel. By the time they hit the clarifier, they are all scrap.

I'm sure MWF and every other pelletizer clarifies their input just as we do.

My stove isn't particular and neither am I. I use pellets as a medium to roast corn anyway and corn is much more consistent in qualuty and btu's realized, than pellets.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Been considering driving up to Herbrucks in Ionia and getting a couple gunny sacks of their pelletized chicken poop and burning that to see what it does. I bet it burns hot.....

 

[hollmi50]

Yes. I understand the industry. My friend has delivered to this place for years so he knows it well. He explained MI Wood Fuels has NO screening before the material enters the hammer mill. So all the bad stuff that goes in and isn't large enough to damage the hammer mill goes into the rest of the process.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Yes. I understand the industry. My friend has delivered to this place for years so he knows it well. He explained MI Wood Fuels has NO screening before the material enters the hammer mill. So all the bad stuff that goes in and isn't large enough to damage the hammer mill goes into the rest of the process.

I would be willing to wager that at some point in the product stream (probably post hammermill), the fluidizied (slurry) passes over/under a magnetic strip to pull the ferrous metal out. Al gets reduced in a hammermill to fines anyway. You could have a corpse in the wood and wind up with it pelletized....lol

 

[SidecarFlip]

Down our way, everyone dumps at our place. W have a huge capacity for chips. and use a bunch everyday. 24 ton every day in the summer and about 30 a day in the winter. Interestingly, we don't pay for any chips.... all donated.