Can humidity or heat during the summer diminish pellet quality?

[jaybyer]

One thing I have learned in my first year burning pellets is the quality of your pellets is the most important thing in relation to heat output. I purchased 3 tons of Warm Front pellets through my dealer where I purchased my stove, a St. Croix York insert. I think these are made by New England Pellets, but now I am not so sure. There are two sites, one for NEWP in New Hampshire, and one for New England Pellets, LLC. where they offer both New England Pellets and Warm Front. My pellets came through New England Pellets, LLC. There is no mention of Warm Front on the NEWP site. NEWP is supposed to make a great pellet, and have a great reputation, but if these Warm Front are an indication, they suck!! They do not provide any where near thee heat output of other pellets I have tried. They produce lots of clinkers, leave a lot of black ash, a lot of black build-up on the glass, etc. I tried Lignetics, the best of what I tried, and two brands I found at my local Home Depot, Fireside Ultra, and Blazer pellets. The Blazer pellets were equal to Lignetics in heat out put, clean burn, little ash, and little ash build-up on the glass.

I would definitely buy more of the Blazer pellets, especially if at the end of the season Home Depot decides to sell their inventory and a discounted price. They are currently $300/ton, but were $245/ton last fall before the price spiked. My question is, were I to buy in the spring for next year will the pellets be effected by the weather conditions over the summer. I store my pellets in my garage, and I know they are in sealed plastic bags. My garage can get as hot as 100 degrees in the summer, and the humidity can be as high as 80% on some days. Will this diminish their quality? Anyone have experience in buying this far ahead?

JB

 

[pete324rocket]

Found this topic in the search:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/16190/

Sounds like it should be okay.I suppose ideally,the best situation would be that you would buy them and they would be as dry as possible...and never have the opportunity to change(stored in a dry non humid place).In real world,this doesn't happen and probably just as okay in your dry location as theirs(maybe have a look around to see how pellets are being stored). I think that they dry out quite well in the basement(where my stove is) once the heat is on and the summer moisture goes away. Wouldn't it be similar to wood,only a better situation?

 

[Harvick29]

I bought my statesman pellets in early summer from Southern States. They were stored outside there. I put 3 tons in my basement and have 1 ton left now. Out of the 3 tons I only had maybe a quarter of a bag that had water damage because the bag was ripped. Not bad considering I paid 175 bucks a ton. I plan on doing the same thing this year if they have leftover stock.