The first winter with the Heatilator PS-35 was definitely a learning experience. How to clean, what pellets work and so on. Last winter, winter number 2, I figured I had it all figured out......Not so much. Just because it liked one pellet last year doesn't mean it's going to like the same ones this year. I found out that even the super premium expensive pellets like Northern/Cubex don't have the consistency from one year to the next you would expect from a $270 a ton pellet. So why waste the money? The $219 a ton Curan pellets that we have locally are a hard/soft mix. The first year they worked great, the second year they were dirty and the stove required way more cleaning. This year, winter 3, the Curan pellets are the best pellets we have ever tried. We just went 3 weeks (20 bags) and all I did was dump the burn pot every 3 days or so (didn't even need it most of the time) and I only pushed the ash out of the fire box and down through the burn pot once, a week and a half ago. The ash is a light gray and is very "fluffy". Last winter these pellets left a dark gray ash that was very granular. The Northern/Cubex we tried last year left the same dark granular ash. A bunch of the members here like Smokey and Dexter were a huge help to me in the forum and via PM's trying to get me figured out and I say than you to all that helped. I see you on some of the chainsaw forums Mr. Dexter but I'm not sure you know who I am.