Switching from Shoulder Pellets to the BIG Heat

[Augmister]

Getting colder in the NE with temps in the 30's during the day and low 20's at night. Dropped the Green Team for the Barefoots last night and WOW! What a difference! Tried three bags of Barefoots last April and was hooked. Glad I have 3 tons for this season..... At what temp do you make the switch?

 

[jtakeman]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

 

[tinkabranc]

Been using up the last of the LGs I found on CL, but this week is gonna be a cold one.
Time to switch over to my Dragon Mountains.

I almost stocked up with Barefoot this season, but found Okies & Dragons for a better price.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well just to be on the opposite side of things here I switched from burning Cubex on very low settings to trying out my new MWP last Thursday evening the Cubex left the hopper and the MWP started down the drop chute.

BTW as an aside they seem to be just fine and dandy.

 

[wilburg]

I am a bit confused, Two nights ago I had HD's fireside in the stove and it lasted 24 hours, last night I tried the cubex and it only lasted 19 hours .. why the difference?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I am a bit confused, Two nights ago I had HD's fireside in the stove and it lasted 24 hours, last night I tried the cubex and it only lasted 19 hours .. why the difference?

The stove feeds by volume not weight.

So density, length, and diameter all come into play.

One usually can drop the feed rate and still get more heat out of a better pellet. You can also put your stove on a thermostat if you are manually firing the stove.

Now the other thing you need to understand is that you have to take into account differences in outdoor temperature as well.

 

[lordgrinz]

The wind and cold is infiltrating today, I had to turn up the heat to 80 from 77, going to burn the last 17 bags of NEWP's before moving on to the Okies.

 

[Entburner]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

What is "shoulder stuff"?

 

[slls]

I was wondering too, my stove has no idea. It just turns it self on and off.

 

[hossthehermit]

I look at it like I'm the coach, and my pellets are the team. When we get into the tough part of the season, I just gotta do a better job motivating my guys.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

What is "shoulder stuff"?

Shoulder stuff is pellets that are high in ash, moisture content, and aren't really dense, while you can get heat out of them you won't do so as easily as a decent pellet.

So if you mis sized your stove as the cold temps hit you are likely to not be able to hold a set temperature on a shoulder pellet.

In short shoulder pellets are crap compared to a real high end pellet.

We can find all kinds of examples, just about every first run from a new pellet plant is likely to be early season (shoulder) pellets, fine when you aren't freezing your buns off and can deal with the extra cleaning. Not so good when you can barely keep the house warm on your highest usable heat setting.

Between pellets are those that can do the job between the shoulder season and the really cold season. I think you can figure out the rest.

Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?

 

[twojrts]

NOT!!

 

[curtthegreat]

[
Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?[/quote]

Smokey Why?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

[
Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?

Smokey Why?[/quote]

Maybe because of the amount of Polar bear doo doo that got into the wood used by one pellet maker compared to another, or the amount of moisture left in the pellet by one manufacturing process and not the other, perhaps the trees were around a salt marsh in one case and not the other, perhaps one plant used semi-composted wood and the other one didn't, perhaps a steam injector got out of control at one place and not another.

Maybe it was because the clerk at HD, Lowes, or Wal*Mart told you so.

Good twojrts, you got it right.

 

[twojrts]

Thanks!!

You guys are great teachers!!

 

[jtakeman]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

What is "shoulder stuff"?

Shoulder stuff is pellets that are high in ash, moisture content, and aren't really dense, while you can get heat out of them you won't do so as easily as a decent pellet.

So if you mis sized your stove as the cold temps hit you are likely to not be able to hold a set temperature on a shoulder pellet.

In short shoulder pellets are crap compared to a real high end pellet.

We can find all kinds of examples, just about every first run from a new pellet plant is likely to be early season (shoulder) pellets, fine when you aren't freezing your buns off and can deal with the extra cleaning. Not so good when you can barely keep the house warm on your highest usable heat setting.

Between pellets are those that can do the job between the shoulder season and the really cold season. I think you can figure out the rest.

Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?

I thought it was more fuel/More heat! ;-P

I wonder if I can make my stove feed them BioBricks. That ought a do it! :cheese:

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

What is "shoulder stuff"?

Shoulder stuff is pellets that are high in ash, moisture content, and aren't really dense, while you can get heat out of them you won't do so as easily as a decent pellet.

So if you mis sized your stove as the cold temps hit you are likely to not be able to hold a set temperature on a shoulder pellet.

In short shoulder pellets are crap compared to a real high end pellet.

We can find all kinds of examples, just about every first run from a new pellet plant is likely to be early season (shoulder) pellets, fine when you aren't freezing your buns off and can deal with the extra cleaning. Not so good when you can barely keep the house warm on your highest usable heat setting.

Between pellets are those that can do the job between the shoulder season and the really cold season. I think you can figure out the rest.

Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?

I thought it was more fuel/More heat! ;-P

I wonder if I can make my stove feed them BioBricks. That ought a do it! :cheese:

It's that volume thing Jay just no way to get the biobricks out of the hopper and into the pot.

Some of it is actually more fuel more heat, but then there's all the work done boiling the water off and sending it up the flue and we won't mention the heat content of ash (actually it isn't really that bad, but we haven't got a process to extract it that we are likely to get our grubby paws on),

 

[jtakeman]

I switch last night too. The shoulder stuff wasn't cutting it. I dumped in some tweeners so I can save my Cubex & Hamers for the biter stuff to come! Probably around 0ºF nightime temps.

What is "shoulder stuff"?

Shoulder stuff is pellets that are high in ash, moisture content, and aren't really dense, while you can get heat out of them you won't do so as easily as a decent pellet.

So if you mis sized your stove as the cold temps hit you are likely to not be able to hold a set temperature on a shoulder pellet.

In short shoulder pellets are crap compared to a real high end pellet.

We can find all kinds of examples, just about every first run from a new pellet plant is likely to be early season (shoulder) pellets, fine when you aren't freezing your buns off and can deal with the extra cleaning. Not so good when you can barely keep the house warm on your highest usable heat setting.

Between pellets are those that can do the job between the shoulder season and the really cold season. I think you can figure out the rest.

Now once again everyone all pellets are the same correct?

I thought it was more fuel/More heat! ;-P

I wonder if I can make my stove feed them BioBricks. That ought a do it! :cheese:

It's that volume thing Jay just no way to get the biobricks out of the hopper and into the pot.

Some of it is actually more fuel more heat, but then there's all the work done boiling the water off and sending it up the flue and we won't mention the heat content of ash (actually it isn't really that bad, but we haven't got a process to extract it that we are likely to get our grubby paws on),

Hard for some to believe. But yes Moisture content and Ash content do effect the BTU output. Along with Quality Fiber, Density, and Size(both Length and Dia). We also see some aditives that aren't mentioned, But effect the BTU's as well. Not sure we like what they are, But some put them in to spruce things up.