Oakies vs Cubex

[woodknack]

OK I know the okies are softwood and the cubex is hardwood. Are these two pretty much equal in heat output? From what I have been reading it looks like the cubex is hotter at 9000btu's. I can get the cubex right now for $260 in my area and the okies are more like $285. Id like to try some softwood pellets in my stove this winter. I burned clean energy from Lowes last year and they did alright but lots of ash. Also I didn't have my ash cleanout sealed on my us stove king 5510. Its all sealed and ready for this heating season and hoping it runs alot better. I was happy with it after I tweaked it last winter but now know most of my problem was air leaking around the ash clean out dumps. I want to run a quality pellet this year not a big box store pellet. So what do guys think of the cubex and the oakies? Or any other types In Maine that are good?

 

[jtakeman]

Both are great pellets in my book. Great heat and burn real clean. I don't think you could go wrong with either one.

I went with the Cubex because of the price myself. But you could always split the order.

 

[woodknack]

Both are great pellets in my book. Great heat and burn real clean. I don't think you could go wrong with either one.

I went with the Cubex because of the price myself. But you could always split the order.

I wonder what the heat output would be if You mixed the 2 together? Or would it be worth the hassle.

 

[imacman]

I agree with Jay 100%.....either pellet would be great to burn. If it comes down to saving some $$, get the Cubex. Otherwise, I'd split the order as Jay said so you can try both.

EDIT: As far as "mixing" the two pellets, don't bother....they are VERY close in performance, with the edge to the Cubex burning a little hotter.

 

[sparkydog00]

OK I know the okies are softwood and the cubex is hardwood. Are these two pretty much equal in heat output? From what I have been reading it looks like the cubex is hotter at 9000btu's. I can get the cubex right now for $260 in my area and the okies are more like $285. Id like to try some softwood pellets in my stove this winter. I burned clean energy from Lowes last year and they did alright but lots of ash. Also I didn't have my ash cleanout sealed on my us stove king 5510. Its all sealed and ready for this heating season and hoping it runs alot better. I was happy with it after I tweaked it last winter but now know most of my problem was air leaking around the ash clean out dumps. I want to run a quality pellet this year not a big box store pellet. So what do guys think of the cubex and the oakies? Or any other types In Maine that are good?

Love both of these pellets...
Cubex is king of the hardwood pellets...
Okies are king of the softwood world.
In my experience...softwoods leave fewer clinkers and less ash.

 

[woodknack]

How about okanagans vs spruce pointe? do you think you would even see a difference between the two? I can get Spruce pointes for $250 a ton . compared to okanagans for$270 a ton. For the money maybe I should just do the spruce pointes.Im so confused!! LOL...Just trying to get the best bang for my buck.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

woodknack,

You really need to:

1: Get familiar with your stove.
2: Try several different brands of pellets in that stove to find out what the stove prefers as just like all pellets aren't the same all stoves aren't the same.

That way you'll find a number of pellets that will burn well in your stove and therefor you will have choices (very important as pellet availability can be a strange thing).

Always try pellets before buying by the ton.

You can use Jay's test results as a rough guide, however as Jay says YMMV. This is because the pellet makers do try to improve their product or even have problems from time to time.

 

[woodknack]

woodknack,

You really need to:

1: Get familiar with your stove.
2: Try several different brands of pellets in that stove to find out what the stove prefers as just like all pellets aren't the same all stoves aren't the same.

That way you'll find a number of pellets that will burn well in your stove and therefor you will have choices (very important as pellet availability can be a strange thing).

Always try pellets before buying by the ton.

You can use Jay's test results as a rough guide, however as Jay says YMMV. This is because the pellet makers do try to improve their product or even have problems from time to time.

Well I figured my stove out pretty good last year. And it burned some junk to medium junk pellets ok aside from lots of ash (clean energy pellets for lowes). I also tried a few bags of different stuff at the end. So this year I want to try a super pellet a real good pellet! And my choices were cubex, Okanagans and Spruce Pointe. I want to try them all but one kind is from a different dealer. the other 2 are from the same dealer and his shipping was cheaper. So I took the dive and ordered 2 pallets of Okanagans 65 bags per pallet. And 2 pallets of Spruce Pointe 60 bags per pallet. Giving me a 5 tons. If I get some extra money later on I may get a ton of cubex to. But at least I know I will be starting the season with a good quality pellet!