Who's burning shoulder pellets now?

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Cleetussnow

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Oct 3, 2012
169
Westchester, ny
I figure with the warm spell, I might as well go through the green supremes I have left. So far, while not very hot, they have been as clean as anything else. I probably have 30 bags, so I run through those during this period, and maybe burn up my omalleys.

I don't consider stove chow a shoulder pellets anymore. it actually is quite good in my stove!
 
Shoulder? I only burn one pellet brand beginning to end. If I have some Ill throw in some corn or something else.
 
I burn anything that HD or Lowe's has to offer but consider none of them shoulder pellets. Out of the six or seven different kinds that I have on hand I can't tell the difference in the heat they throw. Only the amount of ash.
 
It's funny, I only have one pallet at a time at my house and I usually buy when I am down to a week or two worth. So the bottom 3 layers have been the same for years and consist of 4 or 5 different brands, the top ten layers are whatever was most recently purchased. I probably have 5 bags of NEWPS at the very bottom that are 6 or 7 years old that I never get to......which is ok by me.
 
I've been burning MWP 99.9% of the time this heating season. I think some consider them a shoulder pellet. I've yet to burn anything where heat output is an issue. Excess ash is my concern, and MWP aren't too bad.
 
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I went back to shoulders on Sunday. Burning the last of my stove chow's. If it stays this warm I'll need more cheap pellets so I can save the good stuff!
 
burning turmans right now .saving the rest of my powerhouse pellets for spring .....seems that all i have are hot pellets.. geessh life is good
 
jtakeman said:
I went back to shoulders on Sunday. Burning the last of my stove chow's. If it stays this warm I'll need more cheap pellets so I can save the good stuff!
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Funny - i am hanging on the chows. Cheap and working great for me with eat and ash. I don't think of them as shoulder. But definately holding onto my white lightening. they are as advertised...HOT HOT
 
I dug out some Wood Fibers Inc pellets that I bought last year to try out. Two bags left. They'll be gone this week. I won't miss them.
 
P38X2 said:
I've been burning MWP 99.9% of the time this heating season. I think some consider them a shoulder pellet. I've yet to burn anything where heat output is an issue. Excess ash is my concern, and MWP aren't too bad.
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What he said...
 
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It's 20::Fhere right now. Not sure I'd consider that shoulder season.
 
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subsailor said:
It's 20::Fhere right now. Not sure I'd consider that shoulder season.
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That depends on what shoulder pellet your using. Chows/MWP/PTL seem to get me to near zero before I need to switch to the expensive stacks. Stoves horsepower is also important. I got plenty of that, Just prefer to cruise on heat setting 3 of 5. I'll save heat setting 4 and 5 for the lean years when I can't afford a ton of cold season stuff.
 
DOLLARBILL said:
Goodness it MWPs Softies this week ! They are better than i thought but still do not think Ill be buying them next year ! Unless the price is right !
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I'm burning them as well. If I can get them at $235 like I did this year, I'll probably buy them again.
 
Well let's see my MWP blends handled the -12 ::F just fine on 3 out of 5 so unless things get really cold I think I'll get another full year out of my "shoulder" pellets.

I think I'll do a little more this coming spring and summer to reduce heat loss. Less heat leaving makes it easy to use them cheap ones you know.
 
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SmokeyTheBear said:
Well let's see my MWP blends handled the -12 ::F just fine on 3 out of 5 so unless things get really cold I think I'll get another full year out of my "shoulder" pellets.

I think I'll do a little more this coming spring and summer to reduce heat loss. Less heat leaving makes it easy to use them cheap ones you know.
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Ah Yuh!
 
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I've been running a couple weeks now trying different pellets. I've burned Logik E, Dry Creek, Bearfoot (in the stove now). I have 5 bags of Powerhouse and 3 bags Michigan. I'm really interested in how the powerhouse performs. The stove hasn't had a any problem blowing me out of the room even when it was 5*
 
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SmokeyTheBear said:
Well let's see my MWP blends handled the -12 ::F just fine on 3 out of 5 so unless things get really cold I think I'll get another full year out of my "shoulder" pellets.

I think I'll do a little more this coming spring and summer to reduce heat loss. Less heat leaving makes it easy to use them cheap ones you know.
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pretty much what i had in mind as my reply. no problems yet with the blend.
i happen to have 2 tons of the mwp softies. but haven't burned them yet.
when it starts heading towards -20 i might break them out.

we did a lot to reduce heat loss since last winter.
it's our second winter up here.
the jury is out as to the actual need to even buy the softies considering the size of our house and the fact our stove has good headroom relative to that size.

but i may like them enough to get more.
 
Tomorrow I gotta go find some cheap stuff for the stove to eat because all I have is Okanagan and I'll roast in here if the forecast for the rest of the week is accurate. :D
 
Can someone please explain to me what a 'shoulder pellet' is since all pellet brands rate their pellets at about 8200 btu/pound??? Size or density may be different but if you set up your stove for the proper flame size/feed rate, then it should not make a difference. Now if you just throw in a longer pellet or a less dense pellet and don't do anything to the stove, then, sure, you'll get less btu's but that's not the fault of the stove or the pellet. It's your fault for not compensating for the pellet characteristics.'
Sorry, but I just get tired of reading 'shoulder pellets' again and again. :p
 
I've just come to accept my own interpretation....which is it's a lower rated BTU rated pellet, stated or perceived, that people burn during temporary warmer times or in the beginning or ends of the heating season. On a line graph of pellet consumption (I think), the line looks like a shoulder on each side with a head in the middle.

Some pellets have considerably higher potential energy.
 
Been running Propellets all year minus a nag or two of sets when I've been too lazy to go out and get more from the shed and I have a bag of sets sitting in the house.
 
I use green supremes all year worlds fine for me in my Harman when its 0 out only have the stove on med and the house is warm
 
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