Furnace Grade Pellets vs. Premium Grade

[gcugg]

I went to Pellets Direct on Saturday (very nice folks) and picked up a ton of Barefoot Pellets for $279/ton. Every source I heard says they are great pellets so I think I should be okay with those. I still need another two tons or so for next year. So while I was there I picked up three bags of Appling County Pellets. There rated at 8200 Btu and about 1% ash (and actually claim to be Premium Grade on the side of the bag). I've been burning these pellets for the past day and gone through a little over a bag. I cleaned out the hopper and burn pot prior to filling the stove with them. I have to say, so far no clinkers, a little more ash than I got with LG pellets.

They told me down at Pellets Direct that these were pellets that they got cheaper because of freight damage and some bags got damaged. They're selling them at $215/ton cash & carry. Any other feedback. I'm thinking worst case is I might be cleaning out the burnpot a bit more. Worth $65/ton difference???

Oh, they say prices will be going up for what it's worth.

Harman XXV, very sweet sound. Oil truck passing by, even sweeter.

Guy

 

[jtakeman]

I heard the ACP pellets had a bad batch to start. Some were returned to the manufactor. I'm not totally sure, But that probably why so cheap. Multifuel stoves should burn them with no issues. Standard stoves may need to do a little more scraping.

Just my 2
jay

 

[rap69ri]

The Aplling County Pellets aren't $215/ton from PelletsDirect they're $254, but they do have furnace grade pellets for that price. I tried the ACP this month to see how they burned and they were pretty good. A little more ash than the Barefoot's I burned this season, but just as hot.

 

[gcugg]

Yes the ACP is $254, but the one's at $215 are also ACP. I was there saturday and saw it myself. The ACP at $215 have "freight damage". The guy said you may have some busted bags. When I grabbed my 3 bags from an opened pile I did notice some of the bags looked a bit rough. They burned pretty good. More ash than the LG I was burning. I am going to do a cleaning tommorow, I'll let you know what the burn pot looked like.

 

[rap69ri]

That's not a bad price at all. I have a few tons on order of the ACP and liked how they burnt and how hot they were.

 

[gcugg]

Okay, here's my report:

I burned 3 bags of these ACP pellets, I had cleaned the hopper, burn pot and ash tray before burning. After burning the 3 bags I shut the stove down and cleaned it out. Ash tray was close to half full already. The burnpot had black, cresote-like deposits caked onto the sides, never had seen that much before.

Other note is that they had a smell to them that was kind of chemical like and a bit more fines then the LG I had been burning.

I've decided that I'm not going to buy a whole ton or more of these pellets.