Anyone Burning Dry Creek?

[RingoesMan]

Relative newbie here, so I'm looking for education. First season with the base-model Englander and I clean that thing like my life depends on it. Burned 4/5 ton of Chow. Bought a ton of Dry Creeks at a significantly higher price. Started burning them and, god dammit, compared to the chows they're dirty, cold, and not worth the "premium" designation that the guy behind the counter ever-so-slickly sold me on. Can anyone comment on the experience I'm having? Am I nuts to think that Stove Chow is actually a decent pellet for the money?

 

[mustangwagz]

i got a ton of em, won a lottery ticket and got 200 bucks and found a guy selling them so i bought em for a total of 5 bucks.. You sir are correct, they're ashy and cold...however i have found i have 2 types of DC's.. Some are in a cream colored bag, some are in a bright white bag. Same basic labels though. The Cream colored bags are colder compared to the white colored bags. i can see a physical difference in the color and size also. As for the coldness issue your having, it MIGHT be due to size of the pellet. This was the Problem i had. They were longer than most pellets, therefore less of them dropped into the burn pot when the auger turned. I WAS ABLE to compensate for this by adding corn, cuz ive got a multifuel. Once i did this i was back in business. Now i just mix the DC's with my somersets and have no issues really. Actually i mix my "sets" DC's and Corn all together. Get back to us and let us know what color bags youve got. If its the cream bags, ill bet money to say its the length of the pellets. If its the white bags, i dunno what to say, maybe mix em with something else to help with the lack of BTU's?

 

[Husky]

i got a ton of em, won a lottery ticket and got 200 bucks and found a guy selling them so i bought em for a total of 5 bucks.. You sir are correct, they're ashy and cold...however i have found i have 2 types of DC's.. Some are in a cream colored bag, some are in a bright white bag. Same basic labels though. The Cream colored bags are colder compared to the white colored bags. i can see a physical difference in the color and size also. As for the coldness issue your having, it MIGHT be due to size of the pellet. This was the Problem i had. They were longer than most pellets, therefore less of them dropped into the burn pot when the auger turned. I WAS ABLE to compensate for this by adding corn, cuz ive got a multifuel. Once i did this i was back in business. Now i just mix the DC's with my somersets and have no issues really. Actually i mix my "sets" DC's and Corn all together. Get back to us and let us know what color bags youve got. If its the cream bags, ill bet money to say its the length of the pellets. If its the white bags, i dunno what to say, maybe mix em with something else to help with the lack of BTU's?

I'm burning the cream color DC's right now. I am just starting my second ton of them. I have to turn up the feed rate up a little to get a hot fire out of them. They are much longer than my other pellets. I did notice that they are dirty when I'm not burning them hot but not as bad when running hot. Play with the feed rate and you will get a better fire.

 

[mustangwagz]

Ahh GOOD! someone who has the cream bags! Yes, turn up the feed rate! then you'll get hotter flames! See all i did was add corn to make up for the empty space in my auger. As i said, this was due to size.

Husky: Do ya got any of the white bags? Rumor has it that the white bags are the "NEW" pellets theyre making. They burn really good on all heat levels cuz they're smaller and lighter in color. Compared to my "sets" they look the same.

 

[Husky]

No, just the cream bags. I believe the white bags they are calling super premium where the cream bags just say premium. Price was right when I bought 2 ton in August. When these are gone I will be burning American Wood Fiber (super premium white pine). They are much smaller and burn real clean and hot. I have to turn feed rate down on them. I found that every brand needs a little fine tuning to get them to burn well and to my expectations.

 

[rcc]

Husky's comments x2.

Dry Creeks Premium need to be turned up and they still aren't close to the heat given by American Wood Fiber. The Dry Creeks are less dusty / ashy than Nation's Choice but not by much. (Nation's Choice actually puts out more heat.) I won't be buying Dry Creeks again for the money ($269).
FYI: I scored on 60 bags of AWF last week. I spotted them in an Auburn, MA Home Depot and bought 10 bags. The next day I called and paid for a ton (for $236). SCORE! The AWF heat is outstanding. Hottest pellet I've ever burned. Wish I had more room - I would have bought 5 tons. The ONLY drawback to the AWF is they are bit dusty. According to the bag they have vegetable oil binding them together? That's ok ... I can live with a little dust.

Of course your results may vary!

 

[Husky]

RCC, I agree. I stumbled across the AWF at a grand opening of a store and bought a ton because the price was so good (219). I won't buy the DryCreek pellets again either. There are better choice for the price.

 

[Peterfield]

I have tried several brands this year and AWF has been the best so far in terms of ash, heat and consumption. Still have a dozen bags I'll save for the Jan-Feb polar vortex days to come. Just picked up four bags each of Okanagan Gold and Platinum to try. Heard good things so I am looking forward to see if my stove likes them.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

At Flemington NJ Lowes, I just found some Timber Heat (Dry Creek= Biomaxx Energy, Pittsford NY), white bag, that have much less ash than this years Chows.

 

[RingoesMan]

At Flemington NJ Lowes, I just found some Hardwood Heat (Dry Creek= Biomaxx Energy, Pittsford NY), white bag, that have much less ash than this years Chows.

Will have to check that out. On my way to a guy called Garden Oaks in Bound Brook, he has Lignetics, figured I should grab some heavy artillery before it hits 6 degrees tomorrow night.

 

[mustangwagz]

Yah the white bags are alot better. I had a mixture of both of white and cream colored bags. Id buy the whites again if i could find em cheap.

 

[Pellet-King]

Coworker gave me 15 bag's of the cream colored ones and was never impressed, this was 6 year's ago

 

[mustangwagz]

Yah, i managed to make my cream bags better by adding corn..that'll work for me, but not all. i found that length was biggest issue with the cream bags. If i turned up the feedrate, they'd burn hotter without corn.

 

[mbella1026]

Over the last 8 years we mainly burned NEWP and Dry Creek Premium. I have never seen the ultra around. They were a good for us. Average amount of ash. They seemed to burn a little more efficiently than the New England in my stove.

 

[velvetfoot]

I burned about 3 tons in my boiler's first year of operation with no problem. Just ordered 5 tons for next season.

 

[mustangwagz]

I didint mind them, just had to set feed rate higher due to pellet length. imma try to find me some "Greene Gold" this year. They burned really really nice. Very similar to somerset for heat output. Made here in PA too.

 

[Chris_F]

Over the past winter I burnt 3 tons from the cream colored bags, from medium-low to medium-high heat settings, with a medium feed rate.
The heat was satisfactory when the temperature was not too cold out (30s to 40s), but it wasn't too hot on COLD days - the air blew out kind of cold even on the medium-high heat setting.
It made a dense ash and not overmuch of it: enough that I cleaned the burn chamber and emptied the ash bin once a week. However, it did make dense ash cakes, 1" thick and more, that clogged the burn tray within a few days.

Overall, those 3 tons were acceptable fuel but I hope to find better for this upcoming winter.

 

[Tonyray]

Stove Chows are the fighting underdog in the pellet world...
More and more posts are in the positive range about them..
Very good heat and after burning over 2 tons in Harman Free standing, I would rate them higher than "just a shoulder pellet".
that said, you will get a mountain of ash along with them but if bought at HD in the 249.00 ton range, they are good enough and priced low enough to keep u warm in the winter.
btw:
was burning them during the Feb/March 2014 Polar Vortex along with Energex Hardwoods.[green bag with Flag] and I couldn't feel any difference other than the sweeter burning smell...... chows are distributed by Energex Pennsylvania Plant.