My stove is getting an early break-in

[DMZX]

I know that Bear MT is a good brand, never heard anything bad about them. Never heard of the Blue Mt brand up here. You may want to purchase a few bags and burn them to get a feel before investing in a whole ton. Just my 2 cents.

I burned a bag of Blue Mt pellets, actually called Natural Glows, and compared to the Bear Mt pellets, they seem to burn a bit hotter, but faster. I shaved two of the different brands down to 1" and weighed them in my powder scale. The Natural Glows are a bit more dense. All in all the differences between the two are marginal so I bought a ton of each, Nat' Glows @ $220/ton and Bear Mt @$235/ton.

And, as requested, here is a photo of my stove:

 

[smoke show]

;-) nice

 

[jtakeman]

Nice looking stove! Good to hear the Blue Mts. worked good for you. Enjoy the new toy!

 

[DMZX]

Nice looking stove! Good to hear the Blue Mts. worked good for you. Enjoy the new toy!

Thanks. I really like the stove. Best investment I have made in a long time.

I fire it up each morning to drive the cold out of the house. My wife has a new place to sit and enjoy her morning coffee.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

The Lopi looks alot like my Avalon Astoria, Maybe because they are both made by the same company Travis Industries. LOL

You can also get a set back thermostat and make it come on in the morning and go off before lunch to make life easier!

 

[caralck]

I'm in the NW too! In Tigard. We don't have our pellet insert installed yet but I don't quite feel it's cold enough to turn any heat on. We'll probably just run the stove a bit to try it out then shut it off until it's colder. Don't know what brand of pellet it is but the people at the store seem to think highly of it. They told us about someone in Canby tossing the hazelnut shells into their pellet stove. We bought the Harman Accentra since we wanted an iron one and the other brands we saw weren't made of iron. And it also had the look that appealed to us more. Curious where you other Portland area folks get your pellets and how much you typically go through. The salesperson felt that we could easily heat our 2800 sq foot home using the fan on the furnace to blow the hot air through the house. We got it mainly for times we planned on entertaining or reading in that room.

 

[save$]

DMZX, that is one really nice looking stove! What brand is it? Is the brick back wall easy to keep clean?

 

[DMZX]

DMZX, that is one really nice looking stove! What brand is it? Is the brick back wall easy to keep clean?

It is a Lopi (Travis Industries) Pioneer. It is a relatively small stove. The brick back wall is a removable cast iron facade piece that so far, only gets blackened just behind the fire pot.

I chose that stove because it is very easy to clean and I only needed to heat ~1,000 sq ft.

 

[Griny]

Start stacking bags for the remainder of the season! Try Costco if you have one nearby. Up here they are selling Atlas premium red fir pellets for $185.00 plus tax by the pallet only. This brand normally retails for $245-250 per ton.

Your damn right, I picked up a ton yesterday at Costco in Silverdale and they're going like hot cakes!
I believe the lady there said that they had a shipment of 24 yesterday (sept 10) and when I got there they were down to 12.
The price is awesome because in Port Orchard (were I live) only 8 miles from Silverdale the price for the Atlas is $249 @ Ace hardware and @ Dells farm supply $255 so that choice was easily made LOL!
I only hope that the quality is the same as the ones at Ace and Dells, who knows that they have a "less quality batch for Costco"
If I would shop @ Costco in Gig Harbor 6 miles the other way from Port Orchard the pellets are Blazer (also $185 per ton), I tried those before and just dont like them, lots of ashes and it soots the glass pretty quick!

 

[Griny]

DMZX, that is one really nice looking stove! What brand is it? Is the brick back wall easy to keep clean?

Yes very easy to clean!
I have a Lopi Pioneer bay insert since 2007 and clean the metal brick with mostly just hot water and a little brush, then dry it off quick because it's cast iron and it will rust pretty easy.

 

[imacman]

It is a Lopi (Travis Industries) Pioneer. It is a relatively small stove. The brick back wall is a removable cast iron facade piece that so far, only gets blackened just behind the fire pot.
I chose that stove because it is very easy to clean and I only needed to heat ~1,000 sq ft.

Good choice DMZX....I had the "big cousin" to that, the Avalon Astoria, for a year when I first started burning pellets and never had one problem with it. Keep it clean, burn good pellets, and you'll be warm & happy all winter.

You might consider "dressing it up" a little...I did it on my Astoria with a can of Hi-heat Gold stove paint. Also painted the "brick", as my stove came from a dealer showroom and needed it....see pics.

Happy burning!

 

[geek]

pete, you really miss your Avalon, don't you, nice looking unit.

 

[DMZX]

You might consider "dressing it up" a little...I did it on my Astoria with a can of Hi-heat Gold stove paint. Also painted the "brick", as my stove came from a dealer showroom and needed it....see pics.

Happy burning!

That is a great idea. My dealer sells stove bling, but it is very pricey. I will go to HD today and get some paint. Thanks for the tip 'macman!!

 

[jtakeman]

pete, you really miss your Avalon, don't you, nice looking unit.

Getting him to admit it might be tough! But I think he does. :cheese:

 

[imacman]

pete, you really miss your Avalon, don't you, nice looking unit.

Getting him to admit it might be tough! But I think he does. :cheese:

No, not hard to admit it...I really did like the Astoria . Quiet, easy to service & clean, gave off great heat. If it would have burned more than a 50/50 corn/pellet mix, I'd still have it today.

 

[jtakeman]

pete, you really miss your Avalon, don't you, nice looking unit.

Getting him to admit it might be tough! But I think he does. :cheese:

No, not hard to admit it...I really did like the Astoria . Quiet, easy to service & clean, gave off great heat. If it would have burned more than a 50/50 corn/pellet mix, I'd still have it today.

geek and I went stove shopping. I looked at the Lopi while waiting for him to get there. Looked like a nice lil' stove. So was the Napoleon geek is eyeing. I wanted to see the Warmland but it wasn't hooked up yet.

I got slightly turned off at the dealer though she said the multifuelers were being faised out? I quess Enviro didn't get that email message. She was a cutety though!

 

[imacman]

.....I got slightly turned off at the dealer though she said the multifuelers were being faised out? I quess Enviro didn't get that email message.....

Let me take a wild guess....they didn't have any multi-fuel stoves that they sold, or in stock?

 

[jtakeman]

.....I got slightly turned off at the dealer though she said the multifuelers were being faised out? I quess Enviro didn't get that email message.....

Let me take a wild guess....they didn't have any multi-fuel stoves that they sold, or in stock?

She said "she could get Enviro" but nothing in stock. They had a PE Warmland but not hooked up yet. The best line she gave me was how great the Omalley pellets they sold were. She looked at me funny when I said they were OK. "I get better results with other brands!" ;-P

geek said I need to wear a hat when I go to places like this so they know who I am. But they never heard of hearth.com anyway(shame on them)! I doubt she will stop by either.

 

[imacman]

.....She said "she could get Enviro" but nothing in stock. They had a PE Warmland but not hooked up yet......

Hmmmm....why am I not surprised she was poo-pooing the multi-fuel units, of which she had NONE in stock. Hard to believe.... :roll:

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Just like Pete I like my Avalon Astoria and also no problems since I bought it a year ago. I got 10% off for the summer sale and the 30% tax credit then before I picked it up they had a deal where the 1st ton of NEWPs were half price with the purchase of a stove! When you also count the $400 I got for selling my 20 year old Extra Large Vermont Castings - Cast Iron Consolidated Dutchwest Federal design Coal/Wood stove (They are still being made) it really only cost about $1700.00 brand spanking new!!

One issue I had was that I took out the iron/brick looking backing and washed real good but put it back when it was still wet!! That is a NO NO because it got the pellets damp and clogged the auger. The instructions were really well written and told me how to fix. Just poked a long screw driver up there and dislogged the mushy pellets!! Also I found it best to take a few bags out of the cold garage and keep next to the stove before using. On really cold days the temperature shock bringing them in from the cold garage causes condensation and can also clog the auger. Since I rectified those 2 issues and keep the stove clean, there ar NO problems!!

Say Pete I was just wondering how much corn and/or wood pellets you burn in the multi-fuel? Is it a pain to change the burn pot when switching?
Also did you try the 50/50 corn mix on the Avalon? How did that work?

Anyways, We do not have much corn in Southern NH here so the wood pellets work fine for me.

By using wood pellets I found I saved 300 gallons of oil last winter and did not use any oil for heat just hot water.
So I know in general 1 Ton of Wood pellets is equal to 125 gallons of oil to give the same amount of heat. In my case I used 1 Ton instead of 100 gallons but I also heated the basement with the pellet stove and did not turn the pellet heat down as much at night.

This summer, I had to get a new boiler system. Now my boiler team says I will use less than half the oil!! So if that is true, I would only need 150 gallons to heat the house for the winter instead of 300. So buying 150 gallons of oil would be alot less than 3 tons of pellets! Any comments about this!!



P.S. I found a very good home for the VC up north. A rental manual hydralic jack for the 600 lb stove did the trick!

 

[jtakeman]

.....She said "she could get Enviro" but nothing in stock. They had a PE Warmland but not hooked up yet......

Hmmmm....why am I not surprised she was poo-pooing the multi-fuel units, of which she had NONE in stock. Hard to believe.... :roll:

Nah, They really are fazing them out ya know! :cheese:

Not sure I would buy much there? But it is nice have something real close to stop and check things out! They have only been there for a couple of years but I would hope they caught on.

 

[imacman]

.....They have only been there for a couple of years but I would hope they caught on.

It would seem the answer to that is a NO. They seem to have caught on to trying to sell you stuff that they just happen to have in stock......what a coincidence.