Fall 22 Timber Heat in Southern Tier/WNY-comparisons?

[lowb35]

It seems that this year we are treated to a big initial supply of Dry Creek brands which isn’t surprising since they’re based near here. I know others have had mixed experience with them but my stove seems to do okay with TSC white bagged Dry Creek. It can burn nearly anything as long as there aren’t excessive fines to jam the auger (there are only 2 brands I won’t burn and neither are Dry Creek). Lowes seems to be our best price again this year since we get the military discount and stack smaller gift card and Rakuten discounts plus they deliver if we want it. With all our discounts it’s 265/ton. But I’m really careful with them bc you never know what you’ll get. I scoped them out last night and they have Timber Heat. Are they comparable to TSC white bagged Dry Creek, PA Pellets, or something worse? Ash doesn’t bother me bc I’ll just clean my stove more but wet/soot and excessive fines are another story. It’s too early in the season for me to unwinterize my stove and test burn unless I have to, but this year I don’t want to wait on our pellet buy either. I can live with 4 tons of so so pellets but not 4 tons of stuff that will totally gum up my stove like Northeast or Eastern Forest Products. Thanks in advance to the big box bargain pellet connoisseurs out there. 🤣

 

[lowb35]

Just pulled the trigger on these after checking local prices which have gone up a lot this year if you didn't take advantage of preseason buys (which obviously I didn't LOL). Closest to these in price are other Dry Creek brands so it doesn't make sense to pay more for what are essentially the same pellets. Stacking all my discounts saved me $62.50 a ton, which even after factoring in local fuel tax and delivery is worth it even if they're not the greatest. My brother has burned them and they're decent heat but ashy. I can deal with ash since my stove is easy to clean. Will update with my real experience.

 

[lowb35]

Update: they’ll be okay for me this season. They are identical to the Dry Creek bar code in TSC white bags we get around here which do well in my stove. Reasonable heat, not wet/sooty, average ash, low enough fines they won’t gum up my auger with normal maintenance. If stove is happy with them running on low it will be happy at medium or high. Glad I got them early enough in the season they weren’t sitting out long and now have a ton in back of the house and 3 more dry in my shed. No broken bags or wet pellets that I can see after restacking the first ton. Can’t complain for what ended up being $265/ton with all my discounts before solid fuel tax/delivery (could have saved all that by picking them up in the county where they don’t tax, but I’d pay almost as much in gas and it was worth it for them to be dropped off where I wanted). They’re not Barefoots but they’ll get me through the winter okay.