I originally rated these a 6 or 7 out of 10, with Lignetics being a 10. However, I would now change that rating to 5 to 6 on the Natures Heat.
I bought these pellets for 219.00 per ton and would do it again. Are they perfect, hell no, but they are SO much better than the "Cleanfire" Supremes that I have so much experience with.
PROS
Very clean burning and easy to start most of the time. The flame burns light yellow to blue, and the stove glass stays relatively clean, as does the stove. This compared to Cleanfires which makes the glass get so dirty, so quickly that I don't bother to clean the glass when I am burning them. Also, the "Cleanfires" make the inside of my stove look really 'fuzzy' with stalagtight or moss like things hanging down from the flame guide.
No Creosote on the door when burning these. In contrast, with the Cleanfires I burned last year, the stove door was always coated with this thick, tarry surface (creasote) that may burn off after a really hot fire.
Plenty of heat. It isn't that cold yet, with some nights only getting to 30 degrees, but they seem to heat the house fine.
Price paid. For 219.00 a ton, I didn't go wrong.
They smell like wood, not particle board in the basement. This might seem like a small thing, but the Cleanfires make my basement stink.
CONS
These guys produce lots of ash. No kidding the ash can fills up with heavy ash fairy quickly.
More frequent cleanings. I mention this because after a while my stove started taking 25 minutes to start up instead of its usual 7 minutes. I thought the ignitor had gone bad, but what happened was ash built up underneath the burn pot and around the ignitor so it was being as efficient as the ash was acting like a heat insulator and keeping the heat from the bottom of the pellets. I cleaned out the burn pot chamber, and it went back to starting in regular time.
I get large carbon deposits in the burn pot. They are fairly easy to scrape off and don't stick well, but it needed mentioning.
SUMMARY,
Would I buy them again? You bet. Would I pay 269. a ton for them, probably not. I would rather buy Lignetics or Hamers over these, but I would have no problem burning them again. They are so much better than the Cleanfires though.
I will come back and update after some more time.
Update after 1 ton:
Okay these would be a 4 or 5. They burn hot, and look to burn cleanly, however they produce A LOT of ash. As a matter of fact, after over 3 years of owning the stove, and maybe 16 cleanings, I have never seen the stove so dirty with built up ash. These pellets seem to produce twice the amount of ash of other pellets, which is strange considering the flame looks so clean, with blue at the bottom and light yellow at the tips. Of course, it had been exceptionally cold for that ton with a lot of nights in the teens, but still.
There are also a lot of fines in some of the bags, and also a lot of saw dust.
Would I buy them again at 219.00 per ton? Yeah, I probably would. The do light in short order upon startup, and do provide plenty of heat.
Mark
I bought these pellets for 219.00 per ton and would do it again. Are they perfect, hell no, but they are SO much better than the "Cleanfire" Supremes that I have so much experience with.
PROS
Very clean burning and easy to start most of the time. The flame burns light yellow to blue, and the stove glass stays relatively clean, as does the stove. This compared to Cleanfires which makes the glass get so dirty, so quickly that I don't bother to clean the glass when I am burning them. Also, the "Cleanfires" make the inside of my stove look really 'fuzzy' with stalagtight or moss like things hanging down from the flame guide.
No Creosote on the door when burning these. In contrast, with the Cleanfires I burned last year, the stove door was always coated with this thick, tarry surface (creasote) that may burn off after a really hot fire.
Plenty of heat. It isn't that cold yet, with some nights only getting to 30 degrees, but they seem to heat the house fine.
Price paid. For 219.00 a ton, I didn't go wrong.
They smell like wood, not particle board in the basement. This might seem like a small thing, but the Cleanfires make my basement stink.
CONS
These guys produce lots of ash. No kidding the ash can fills up with heavy ash fairy quickly.
More frequent cleanings. I mention this because after a while my stove started taking 25 minutes to start up instead of its usual 7 minutes. I thought the ignitor had gone bad, but what happened was ash built up underneath the burn pot and around the ignitor so it was being as efficient as the ash was acting like a heat insulator and keeping the heat from the bottom of the pellets. I cleaned out the burn pot chamber, and it went back to starting in regular time.
I get large carbon deposits in the burn pot. They are fairly easy to scrape off and don't stick well, but it needed mentioning.
SUMMARY,
Would I buy them again? You bet. Would I pay 269. a ton for them, probably not. I would rather buy Lignetics or Hamers over these, but I would have no problem burning them again. They are so much better than the Cleanfires though.
I will come back and update after some more time.
Update after 1 ton:
Okay these would be a 4 or 5. They burn hot, and look to burn cleanly, however they produce A LOT of ash. As a matter of fact, after over 3 years of owning the stove, and maybe 16 cleanings, I have never seen the stove so dirty with built up ash. These pellets seem to produce twice the amount of ash of other pellets, which is strange considering the flame looks so clean, with blue at the bottom and light yellow at the tips. Of course, it had been exceptionally cold for that ton with a lot of nights in the teens, but still.
There are also a lot of fines in some of the bags, and also a lot of saw dust.
Would I buy them again at 219.00 per ton? Yeah, I probably would. The do light in short order upon startup, and do provide plenty of heat.
Mark
