My Pellet Tests - Barefoot, Okanagan and Turman's

[DonD]

Being a pellet newbie I bought 3 different brands of high quality pellets and being an engineer I figured I would collect the data I need to make a decision on what to buy next year. I plan to test the heat output (temperature) of each pellet under various conditions over the course of the fall and winter. I thought I would share my results here.

See my test set up below. What I have done so far is let the stove stabilize on high and measure the temperature at the exit of each of the 10 heat output tubes of my Castile. I have already discovered a couple of interesting things...

The Castile has 10 tubes. Exhaust air is drawn left to right, from tube 1 to tube 10. The stove top baffle has a baffle on the back between tubes 5 and 6 that slows the air and makes tube 5 run hotter. Tube 5 seems to be running a good 50 deg hotter than the average.

I tested the Barefoots first after burning 5 bags. Then I cleaned the stove and started burning Okanagans. I'll try the Turman's in a couple of weeks. All 3 brands were purchased from the same place at the same time and delivered together. You can see the sealed pallets below.

 

[DonD]

My first results - Barefoot pellets.

Temperatures ran from a low of 171.4 deg F to a high of 241.5 deg F with an average of 192.5 deg F.

I cleaned the stove and measured the ash I have been collecting over the last 5 bags and measured only 6.7 oz ash after the first 5 bags, or .21% ash. I think this might be low because the ash vac is new an a lot of ash from this first run stayed on the filter. I'll probably get a more accurate results after a few more cleanings.

I must say the Barefoots were perfect. Low ash, good heat, no dust, few fines and zero clinkers. They were a consistent length (didn't measure them) and went through the stove flawlessly. Loved them. They were the most expensive of the bunch though

 

[tjnamtiw]

Good luck on your testing. Since you are new to pellet burning, you might find my experiments from last year interesting. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70161/ There is a link within this link that shows the first testing.
One caution is that it appears you are using an IR detector. It's hard to tell from the picture but IR detectors don't work so well for measuring air temps and air temps are what you want, not steel temps.
Also for each test, readjust your feed rate to get the same general flame height. Different brands and batches within the same brand will have different pellet lengths and therefore feed differently. I like that you are using a large batch sample to get to steady state.
You'll see in my tests that the air temps and air flows vary GREATLY across the ten tubes. With low flow rates, the temps go up even though BTU'S supplied probably are less. My main focus was on improving the heat transfer of the tubes since smooth tubes are very, very old technology and are piss poor at heat transfer.

Good luck and looking forward to your results. You might even be inclined to try my ('our' since others joined in the testing and supplying of parts) 'improvements and seeing what your results are.

Oh, and you will soon learn to lose those PITA logs. Twice as much work to clean!

 

[DonD]

My second results - Okanagan pellets.

First of all - my first bag of Okies didn't go so well. I won't repeat everything I commented on HERE but my initial impression of Okies isn't great. They are very dusty, the pellets are very broken up and the heat output wasn't as good as the Barefoots. I'm hoping it was a bad (damp?) top bag and I'll get better results farther down the pallet.

Temperatures ran from a low of 166.8 deg F to a high of 228.0 deg F with an average of 189.5 deg F. I noticed the left side of the stove was running 10 -20 deg F cooler than the Barefoots and on the other side of the baffle the Okies were a little hotter. I suspect this might be because the stove was dirty when I tested the Barefoots and clean with the Okies. Next test will be Okies with the stove dirty as a comparison.

 

[DonD]

Good luck on your testing. Since you are new to pellet burning, you might find my experiments from last year interesting. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70161/ There is a link within this link that shows the first testing.
One caution is that it appears you are using an IR detector. It's hard to tell from the picture but IR detectors don't work so well for measuring air temps and air temps are what you want, not steel temps.
Also for each test, readjust your feed rate to get the same general flame height. Different brands and batches within the same brand will have different pellet lengths and therefore feed differently. I like that you are using a large batch sample to get to steady state.
You'll see in my tests that the air temps and air flows vary GREATLY across the ten tubes. My main focus was on improving the heat transfer of the tubes since smooth tubes are very, very old technology and are piss poor at heat transfer.

Good luck and looking forward to your results. You might even be inclined to try my ('our' since others joined in the testing and supplying of parts) 'improvements and seeing what your results are.

Thanks! I'll definitely take a look at that thread for pointers. I hadn't thought of adjusting the feed rate but my recollection is that the flame height was pretty much the same so far in my two tests. I guess this might be more important if testing lower quality pellets against better pellets.

My test set up is actually not IR. It's a Fluke 87-5 meter and Fluke 80PK-26 type K temperature probe (good for 1500 deg F) stuck into the center of the tube. In fact one of the interesting things I noticed is that the temperature was hotter at the very end of the tube, even slightly outside the end of the tube, compared to when the probe was stuck in the tube an inch or two. I don't understand why that would be, but need to make sure I'm consistent for each test.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Very nice set up! Yea, consistency is the main thing to control. I took all my measurements in the center of the tube an inch inside. Trying to compare actual stove heat output versus pellet brands has been tried here before with a lot a data collected. IMHO there are a lot of variables to control, especially the pounds per hour input.

 

[DonD]

Barefoots and Okies overlayed.

 

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

Make sure to test the overall burn time of one bag of pellets, otherwise the testing is kind of off. Your auger will feed volume not mass and in case a clever pellet maker decided to produce shorter pellets you thrugh more pellets per time in the pot and burn hotter - desguising as high temp pellet, when in reality its just burning away faster.

google J takeman pellet review for a pretty comprehensive pellet overview

All three of your pellets are pretty good, differences should be minimal and not existant really. WHy people go overboard with the temp reading as the sole indicator of quality is beyond me to be honest - there is much more to a pellet than just temp read (see above) - say sodium content, which can help cause clinkers and corrodes you stove away over time - to name just some. A simple oven tem,p reader for 5 USD gives you the same (overall) exactness in your testing (which is not very precise).

Other than that, Pellet testing is always fun...

 

[DonD]

Yeah, I expect all 3 to be pretty good. I'm just looking for a) any small differences, b) how they work in my stove and c) are the brands still as good as there past history would indicate, but a lot is, like you said, because it's fun.

If I can find any differences either in heat output in my stove or any other non-heat differences (see my thread I linked to with my Okie comments regarding my non-heat impressions) - that's the brand that will get my money next year...

 

[tjnamtiw]

Fun for we techie's is probably why we do ANY of this! Incidentally, how did you get italics on your post? The key, like you said, is how the perform on your stove. That will have more to do with ash content, clinkers, feed consistency, foreign material, dust. Of course the only way to really know which brand has the best heat output is to do an in-lab test measuring actual btu's given off by a precise amount of pellets.

 

[DexterDay]

Good luck on your testing. Since you are new to pellet burning, you might find my experiments from last year interesting. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70161/ There is a link within this link that shows the first testing.
One caution is that it appears you are using an IR detector. It's hard to tell from the picture but IR detectors don't work so well for measuring air temps and air temps are what you want, not steel temps.
Also for each test, readjust your feed rate to get the same general flame height. Different brands and batches within the same brand will have different pellet lengths and therefore feed differently. I like that you are using a large batch sample to get to steady state.
You'll see in my tests that the air temps and air flows vary GREATLY across the ten tubes. With low flow rates, the temps go up even though BTU'S supplied probably are less. My main focus was on improving the heat transfer of the tubes since smooth tubes are very, very old technology and are piss poor at heat transfer.

Good luck and looking forward to your results. You might even be inclined to try my ('our' since others joined in the testing and supplying of parts) 'improvements and seeing what your results are.

Oh, and you will soon learn to lose those PITA logs. Twice as much work to clean!

Very nice work... And as noted above... Good luck with the logs.. I used them for the Wife around holidays when family is around.

I just purchased a Sunburst metal cut-out from a forum member here (Save$ did too) I leave this in constantly now. But its one piece and wont crack and bust up within a year. The hot and cold cycles end up ruining the logs.

Do yourself a favor and put them in the stove for Summer or on X-mas when family is over. Otherwise they will soon be cracking and falling apart.

 

[DonD]

Actually, I'm not having any issues with the logs so far, which considering the stove has been running all of 2 weeks might not be worth much. It takes me about an extra 30 seconds to hit them with the vacuum and then pop them out and set them in front of the stove while I finish vacuuming the ash inside the stove. I really kind of like the looks enough to continue using them, at least for now. Maybe in February I'll feel differently.

What does concern me is there effect on heat generation, if any. They might be bad if they disrupt the flame pattern and keep the flame from evenly heating the top baffle. They might be good if they slow down the exhasut air. They might have no effect. I plan to do some of my tests with and some without the logs to see if I notice a difference.

As for the italics, they are like any of the formatting codes used on most forums. You can have italics, bold, [del]lined out[/del] and probably others by using the tags. In fact with this forum, when you are creating a reply you can double click a word and then select one of the buttons at the top , , <del> to do this automatically or to add a hyperlink, quote, etc. What it does it put a special symbol on either side of the word to invoke the formatting.

It looks like this: [i]italics[/i], [b]bold[/b], [del]lined out[/del]

 

[jtakeman]

I am really surprised with the Okies and the short pwellets. Short pellets in my stove usually pack more into the burnpot. But the spring auger in the quad is not as small pellet friendly.

Did you get to the Turmans Yet? I honestly think you will see very similar results with all 3 of these brands. Maybe try some extremely bad pellets to see what you can get yourself into? Inferno's and Nations Choice seem to get very low scores. Just curoius on the good, bad and very ugly.

 

[johnnycomelately]

Well, well, well, look at here......Okies, Turman and Barefoot, all bought and paid for....ready to burn.
Ahhhh it must feel good to be king! definitely try some crap pellets like Jay says, and you will indeed see the difference. Get a few bags of Inferno, Bayou, New England or Nation's Choice and then report back to us....Your Majesty
And how the hell did you get those pallets over the railings of your porch still intact? Royalty and Wizardry- a ruthless combination. Enjoy the heat.

 

[DonD]

I am really surprised with the Okies and the short pwellets. Short pellets in my stove usually pack more into the burnpot. But the spring auger in the quad is not as small pellet friendly.

Did you get to the Turmans Yet? I honestly think you will see very similar results with all 3 of these brands. Maybe try some extremely bad pellets to see what you can get yourself into? Inferno's and Nations Choice seem to get very low scores. Just curoius on the good, bad and very ugly.

I guess that, from what I was reading here, I was expecting the Oakies to be like 40 deg hotter than anything else. They burned fine and all the short ones and crumbs made it up the auger just fine. They just were not any better than the Barefoots. I haven't cracked open the Turman's yet.

In my other Okie thread you were going to get confirmation on the Oakie date code ‘210 11 01’. Did you hear back if it means day 210 of 2011? Like I said, that seems right - day 210 would put them at the end of July and they were delivered on 9/23.

Not sure if I even want to try bad pellets. I just might not need to know who ugly they can get. %-P

 

[DonD]

Well, well, well, look at here......Okies, Turman and Barefoot, all bought and paid for....ready to burn.
Ahhhh it must feel good to be king! definitely try some crap pellets like Jay says, and you will indeed see the difference. Get a few bags of Inferno, Bayou, New England or Nation's Choice and then report back to us....Your Majesty
And how the hell did you get those pallets over the railings of your porch still intact? Royalty and Wizardry- a ruthless combination. Enjoy the heat.

Yeah, looks like we have the same purveyor of fine pellets. Only one place in CT that has Okies, Turman and Barefoot. What do you think of the Oakies? I had some issues.

Let's see - I guess I need a contest to see if anyone can figure out how the pellets got there. Levitation? Secret entrance? Hint - I already explained it elsewhere. ;-)

 

[jtakeman]

I am really surprised with the Okies and the short pwellets. Short pellets in my stove usually pack more into the burnpot. But the spring auger in the quad is not as small pellet friendly.

Did you get to the Turmans Yet? I honestly think you will see very similar results with all 3 of these brands. Maybe try some extremely bad pellets to see what you can get yourself into? Inferno's and Nations Choice seem to get very low scores. Just curoius on the good, bad and very ugly.

I guess that, from what I was reading here, I was expecting the Oakies to be like 40 deg hotter than anything else. They burned fine and all the short ones and crumbs made it up the auger just fine. They just were not any better than the Barefoots. I haven't cracked open the Turman's yet.

In my other Okie thread you were going to get confirmation on the Oakie date code ‘210 11 01’. Did you hear back if it means day 210 of 2011? Like I said, that seems right - day 210 would put them at the end of July and they were delivered on 9/23.

Not sure if I even want to try bad pellets. I just might not need to know who ugly they can get. %-P

I had no power for many days and forgot to ask Mr.Warm the scoop. I just sent the email and will post his reply when I recieve it.

Are you sure we can get you to try some low grade stuff? ;-)

 

[olddawgsrule]

Barefoots and Okies overlayed.

Really like the format! Good job.

My system of testing is primitive compared to yours, but... getting the same results for the Oakie's.

Barefoots and Turmans I haven't seen in my area yet, so I can't compare..

If either of these are in the Southern NH area, please advise!
Would like to try them.

 

[jtakeman]

I was way off. Here is the reply from Doug,

that would be Nov 1st, 2010…..why they can't print it like that I have no idea….this would be a green/white bag…..

 

[johnnycomelately]

How did u gettem over the railing on your deck.

 

[whit]

Barefoots and Turmans I haven't seen in my area yet, so I can't compare..

If either of these are in the Southern NH area, please advise!
Would like to try them.

If SW NH, or north-central MA Hamshaw Lumber carries Barefoots, but tends to have them sold out before each truckload arrives.

 

[DonD]

ok lets get to the Turman's

I just finished bag 5 of the Okies and I'm waiting for the stove to cool down so I can clean it and get a good ash measurement on the Okies. Then I'll fill'er up with Turman's. I'll get some measurements over the weekend. I have to say I've seen a couple of posts expressing a little disappointment with the Turman's which surprised me. I'll be real curious how they compare.

 

[DonD]

How did u gettem over the railing on your deck.

The answer is one click away... :coolsmile:

 

[jwspinn]

Anyone know where I can find Okanagans or Turmans in the Hudson Valley area? I'm in Clinton Corners, NY 12514 (Dutchess County)
Happily, I've found Barefoots. I'm looking to round out the Holy Trinity of wood pellets and maybe do some fun tests of my own when the real cold hits.

Just inherited a CB 1200 w/ my new home. Been reading on this forum 3 weeks straight and finally registered. Safe to say, I have the Wood Pellet Flu and it looks terminal.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[JIBLANE]

These pellets are the most expensive in my area sometimes as much as $100 a ton more. I don't have your setup but I think it would be cool if you tossed in a test or two of a cheaper brand like American wood Fibers just to see why they cost that much less just to compare. If there is not much difference or close I wood stick to saving some money. Just a thought either way its nice that you are taking the time to let us in on the results thanks.