Ash comparison of Stove Chow, Green Supreme, TSC white/blue bag

[sandpipe]

From HD:
Green Supreme (mfg by Lignetics off of barcode): 71g per bag
Stove Chow: 105g per bag

From TSC:
White bag with blue print: 94g per bag

I would have had HD deliver the Green Supremes but now they only have the high ash Stove Chows so I am leaning towards getting the TSC pellets manually (truck/trailer).

I was wondering if low ash also implies more btu's per bag or is there no correlation between amount/weight of ash and heat output??

 

[Tonyray]

other than more ash means more cleaning/scraping,
good question and I am waiting for the technical answer..

 

[krushmoto]

Used Stove Chow from HD for the very 1st time and I'm impressed. I normally use Energex pellets but my supplier ran out of everything so had no choice.
But my stove seems to use less pellets, creates about 1/2 the amount of ash and my 1st floor averages 78. Granted the coldest it's gotten is only mid 30's but I'm running it at 4 instead of 3 like I did last year.
Also just got a discount coupon from HD so I'm looking to make space in the garage for another ton!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Tonyray]

Used Stove Chow from HD for the very 1st time and I'm impressed. I normally use Energex pellets but my supplier ran out of everything so had no choice.
But my stove seems to use less pellets, creates about 1/2 the amount of ash and my 1st floor averages 78. Granted the coldest it's gotten is only mid 30's but I'm running it at 4 instead of 3 like I did last year.
Also just got a discount coupon from HD so I'm looking to make space in the garage for another ton!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

stove chows are made by energex North America Plant.

 

[krushmoto]

stove chows are made by energex North America Plant.

Yes, I found out after the fact. But either way I'm getting better results with the Stove Chow. Lol

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[Tonyray]

Yes, I found out after the fact. But either way I'm getting better results with the Stove Chow. Lol

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I remember my 1st year burning pellets..
2 tons of chows and 2 tons of Energex Hardwoods..
lot's of ash but both gave pretty good heat..

 

[sandpipe]

So you guys are alright with the high ash of the Chows or is your batch better than the ones I tested from my local HD?

When you're burning a bag a day the extra ash is not a big deal but wait till Jan/Feb when you could be burning 3 or 4 bags a day!

 

[Tonyray]

don't think anyone will chime in that chows produced little ash regardless of stove..
they are a good middle of the road pellet especially for the price that most home depots sell at.
usually around 249-259.00 give or take.

 

[sandpipe]

High ash moves the needle from good to mediocre imho.

 

[fmsm]

Green Supremes are made by New England Wood Pellets, they contain fillers and in my opinion are junk.

 

[Tonyray]

High ash moves the needle from good to mediocre imho.

yeah.. i would agree with that..
bought them my 1st year of burning and they became benchmark of plus or minus of ash content.

 

[sandpipe]

Green Supremes are made by New England Wood Pellets, they contain fillers and in my opinion are junk.

What are you basing this on?
The one's I am using from this year have very low ash and low fines and are identified as Lignetics from the sku info.

 

[Peterfield]

It’s really a question without a good answer because year to year a pellet brand’s performance can change based on where the wood is coming from. There are also variances in performance between brands of stoves and within that, variances in draft at individual users’ homes. In short, what burns well one year may not the next and what burns well in one user’s house won’t burn as well in another’s.

 

[Tonyray]

been burning EZblaze super premiums for past few years.
always had a bit more fines than i want but not being OCD about it since they burn up same as pellets,
it's no biggie..
also the pellets we're small sized and burned up quicker.
this seasons bags are Fines free and pellet size is small/med/ and bit long.
so something changed in production but it's all good same hot burning softwoods lasting a little longer in the hopper...

 

[fmsm]

Maybe now that NEWP is owned by Lignetices they have improved. I have never liked them and my nephew that works at a Lowes has told me how many complaints they are currently getting on the Green Supremes.

 

[sandpipe]

I wonder what the complaints are about.

 

[lagger]

I tried a few tons of newps in the past and considered them mediocre at best but I have also seen worse.. this years green supremes I got at Lowes are not like I remembered newps in the past .. even (small) sizing, light color (less bark?) 6 bags burned and very acceptable amount of ash and extremely little soot on the glass... the heat seems to be less than Greene Teams and the odor has a lot less piney smell than some other brands I have tried in the past ... the sku scans with iGepr as lignetics-new england... perhaps after lignetics bought them they upped QC protocols ... one can only hope ... I am in for 3 tons of them

 

[Peterfield]

Brands change year to year based on the wood lots where the supplier is getting their raw material. Little way of knowing one year to the next how this year’s batch is going to perform in your stove other than trying a few bags.

 

[EnglanderandHunstman]

I am 20 bags into a pallet of green supreme pellets from a Lowes in Rhode Island. We burned some last year only because Lowes honors a military discount where Home Depot does not because pellets are considered a "commodity" . Anyway, I only bought this pallet because I was getting patio stones delivered to the house and I figured why not since we are already paying for delivery for another product. Also thinking at the time (September) these pellets are essentially only useful in the bumper months of late fall and early spring. They are mediocre at best and I wouldnt recommend for anything other than the mildly cold temps and for convenience of delivery with other products or taking advantage of a discount.

I have a rutland thermo on the side of my englander smart stove that i use to keep an eye on heat output of different brands and the fireside ultras from HD put out a nearly 100 degree warmer burn on the thermo readout. Its a signifacnt lack of heat with these green supremes. The early cold snap here really shows the weakness of this pellets. (get what you pay for )

 

[sandpipe]

The Green Supremes I'm using now do seem to have somewhat less heat than the Fireside Ultras I burned last year although it's hard to quantify btu differences: (in the morning when I first refill the hopper there are less of the Green Supremes leftover compared to the Fireside Ultras I had used last year: maybe an hour's worth less-- it's hard to be certain).The GS's have less ash which I find a positive. (10 bags of the GS filled up to top level the Invincible ash pan). And one other thing-- the FUs would periodically cause my Harman Invincible insert's auger to emit a high pitched squeal that was very annoying. I know it was the FU because I had a few bags left over this year and the noise returned with their use. The GS have not caused this squealing as of yet. Still, more heat rather than less is definitely a significant attribute for a brand of pellets to have and I agree that the FU are hotter than the GS.

 

[bogieb]

I seriously do not care about ash content - it is all about heat versus cost. I can go 2-3 weeks with the P43 and 3-4 weeks for the P61a before emptying the ash pan even burning the worst, ch*ttiest pellets (been there, done that).

Since a TSC opened last year, I've been all about their pellets - when I haven't burned the firesale pellets I had on hand (at $100/ton, I could put up with the lower heat output) Course having two stoves means I don't need to have massive heat output to keep the place warm - just steady heat. I finally burned up the last of the old pellets and have been dedicately burning TSC's the last 2 weeks. Today I was at HD and saw they had Chows - never even seen them before - so picked up 5 bags to try. If they burn anything like FSU's did a couple of years ago, they'll be well worth the $5.19/bag I paid regardless of the ash content.

Green Supremes cost way too much around here for what I hear is a mediocre to middling pellet so I haven't tried them.

 

[EnglanderandHunstman]

I just took delivery of a pallet of green supremes and green team pellets from lowes. The green teams are going to carry us through the colder days and the green supremes for late winter and early spring. they were 50 dollars more for the green team but they do burn considerably hotter, the side of my stove is about 75-100 degrees hotter. not sure about ash content yet but id say theyre worth the money for the cold part of winter to go for the green team stuff

 

[sandpipe]

I just took delivery of a pallet of green supremes and green team pellets from lowes. The green teams are going to carry us through the colder days and the green supremes for late winter and early spring. they were 50 dollars more for the green team but they do burn considerably hotter, the side of my stove is about 75-100 degrees hotter. not sure about ash content yet but id say theyre worth the money for the cold part of winter to go for the green team stuff

I assume the extra $50 per ton for the Green Teams are around +/-20% more in cost than the Green Supremes. What would you calculate the percentage increase in heat is between the two brands based on the temp numbers you pulled off the side of your stove?

 

[EnglanderandHunstman]

We leave our englander smart stove at manual setting of 1 almost all of the time, at that setting the green supremes averaged a burn chamber temp of around 400-440....green teams are so far about 500-520ish. So thats right about 20% increase in burn chamber temp. what that translates in BTUs i have no clue. When the temps finally drop up in the northeast I think the price difference will become a wash when the green teams produce at a lower feed rate than we would need for the green supremes. I didnt mention before but with the green teams all 50 bags were in great condition and they have less fines. Of the 50 green supreme bags we will be returning 5 to lowes for having taken on water.

 

[sandpipe]

We leave our englander smart stove at manual setting of 1 almost all of the time, at that setting the green supremes averaged a burn chamber temp of around 400-440....green teams are so far about 500-520ish. So thats right about 20% increase in burn chamber temp. what that translates in BTUs i have no clue. When the temps finally drop up in the northeast I think the price difference will become a wash when the green teams produce at a lower feed rate than we would need for the green supremes. I didnt mention before but with the green teams all 50 bags were in great condition and they have less fines. Of the 50 green supreme bags we will be returning 5 to lowes for having taken on water.

It sounds like the the price difference reflects the btu difference. Thing is when it's -20 degrees outside the less hot pellets most likely wont be able to produce enough heat to maintain desired house temp as well as the hotter pellets.

When I got my Green Supreme delivery there were about 10% bad bags but HD came back with good ones! The fines in my shipment of GS's were very low and the amount of ash very low, something I really appreciate since the stove stays a lot cleaner. My Harman insert's ash bin is rather small so instead of having to dump it after 5 or 6 bags I can go to 10 or 11 bags.