I am a newbie.. I have a Avalon Astoria... I bought a ton of energex with the stove. They serve as my measuring stick... I shopped around and tried several brands such as
Maines Choice
barefoot
Instant Heat
Tractor supply (made by energex according to tsc)
another maine wood (white bag green lettering from tsc)
plus a few more i'm forgetting
I ran out of my first ton on new years day and a friend happen to be close who had a large delivery truck. After all my shopping i had found tsc to have the best pellets for the money $229.99. so we headed down only to arrive and find them closed. Right next door is home depot. I decided to go get a few bags to get me through the weekend.. My friend pointed out he would be unable to help with the truck again till a week or so and with my little truck (it would take to loads to get whole ton home) and the stores being 30 miles one way I had to consider all of my options. The only pellets I could find there were stove chow which I heard were horrible. I took a look at the open bag and found dark pellets much like my energex. I through a couple bags in my cart when my friend pointed out the per ton price was $229 as well. Her strongly urged me to purchase them since I was ready to buy and had the truck waiting. Despite my reservations i purchased a ton. They loaded the whole pallet up which was nicely wrapped. When we got back home and unwrapped and found that we had gotten freedom fuel. When I opened the first bag I was shocked. Very light colored very small pellets. The circumference of the pellets was half that of any pellets I had used before. The smell of pine was evident as well. I was happy as I had heard that softwoods burn well. My hopper is 115 pounds with energex two bags left plenty of room to put more in without fear of spilling over. After putting two bags of freedom fuel in my hopper was nearly overflowing... how can that be I thought? After trying to wrap my head around volume and other factors I assumed I would find someone with a better answer than I can come up with. My first week I found the pellets to be very dirty lots of ash more then any I had used be fore. It also seems the heat output is lower which is the opposite of what I would of expected. They also seem to burn faster meaning I am filling the hopper more frequently. I wish I had more scientific ways to prove these differences, obviously there are alot of variables. I was hoping to find more folks that are shopping for pellets who have had experience with this brand and others. Also does anyone else feel lost when trying to compare different brands?
Thanks!
Maines Choice
barefoot
Instant Heat
Tractor supply (made by energex according to tsc)
another maine wood (white bag green lettering from tsc)
plus a few more i'm forgetting
I ran out of my first ton on new years day and a friend happen to be close who had a large delivery truck. After all my shopping i had found tsc to have the best pellets for the money $229.99. so we headed down only to arrive and find them closed. Right next door is home depot. I decided to go get a few bags to get me through the weekend.. My friend pointed out he would be unable to help with the truck again till a week or so and with my little truck (it would take to loads to get whole ton home) and the stores being 30 miles one way I had to consider all of my options. The only pellets I could find there were stove chow which I heard were horrible. I took a look at the open bag and found dark pellets much like my energex. I through a couple bags in my cart when my friend pointed out the per ton price was $229 as well. Her strongly urged me to purchase them since I was ready to buy and had the truck waiting. Despite my reservations i purchased a ton. They loaded the whole pallet up which was nicely wrapped. When we got back home and unwrapped and found that we had gotten freedom fuel. When I opened the first bag I was shocked. Very light colored very small pellets. The circumference of the pellets was half that of any pellets I had used before. The smell of pine was evident as well. I was happy as I had heard that softwoods burn well. My hopper is 115 pounds with energex two bags left plenty of room to put more in without fear of spilling over. After putting two bags of freedom fuel in my hopper was nearly overflowing... how can that be I thought? After trying to wrap my head around volume and other factors I assumed I would find someone with a better answer than I can come up with. My first week I found the pellets to be very dirty lots of ash more then any I had used be fore. It also seems the heat output is lower which is the opposite of what I would of expected. They also seem to burn faster meaning I am filling the hopper more frequently. I wish I had more scientific ways to prove these differences, obviously there are alot of variables. I was hoping to find more folks that are shopping for pellets who have had experience with this brand and others. Also does anyone else feel lost when trying to compare different brands?
Thanks!
! There's alot of good info here, and more than a fair share of strange brews too. :cheese: 
