Hamers vs New England Wood Pellets

[bungalobob]

Wow, now that I have some burning experience I can sympathize with all the others when they get inferior pellets by the ton and have to deal with them. Started my new Harman P68 with Hamers Hot Ones and experienced trouble free burning. Kept nice equal heat distributed trough my two story hose, 73 downstairs, 69 upstairs, little ash and very small clinkers. Couldn't ask for more. So, after about ten bags I figure I would try some of the two tons of New England Wood Pellets (Tan bag Red Lettering) that I have along side the dwindling ton of Hamers. Wow, what a difference. The NEWP's created more ash, not excessive, but more than the Hamers, large clinkers started forming in no time and began smothering the fire. My temperature dropped from 73 to 70 in a matter of hours, all on the same setting's I had for the Hamers. There is not alot you can adjust on the Harman. I have it set on room temp, feed rate just over 4, and the fan almost to medium. I am going to tinker with feedrate but I don't know what else to fool with. Plus I will be cleaning those clinkers out of the way alot more often then with the Hamers. Hope the whole two tons don't burn this way, or I hope there is some way to adjust to improve the performance of the NEWP's. Any suggestions? Oh yeah been cleaning it, hasn't really been that dirty yet.

 

[Major91]

Hamer Hot Ones are by far one of the best hardwood pellets i have burned in my Earthstove. I'm not sure if you can adjust your air or feed rate on the stove. You can try and mix them 50/50 and see how that works for ya. Orrrrr..........there's always Craigs List!!

 

[Dougsey]

Something's not right... if you're in Room Temp mode, the stove should automatically adjust the amount of pellets being fed to compensate for any variables such as heat loss or pellet quality.

 

[bungalobob]

Something's not right... if you're in Room Temp mode, the stove should automatically adjust the amount of pellets being fed to compensate for any variables such as heat loss or pellet quality.

Exactly! So why doesn't it? I'm at a loss. New to this, that's why I am throwing it out there for any comments or suggestions. I'm going to burn some of these NEWP's for a few days, see if maybe its just the the pellets, or a bad batch of pellets. Going to take some bags from the other pallet and see if they do the same thing.

 

[tumbles]

I've been burning the Hammers for a few weeks now. Unfortunately for me, I'm having to mix them with "Athens" pellets. I can tell a big difference in the quality of the heat, ash, and the amount of cleaning of the stove. Fortunately for me I have and air intake adjustment. I have to keep the damper almost fully close when burning the Athens ones as the fire will go out. With the Hammers, I can open the damper 1/3 to 1/2 open and it burns hotter, produces less ash, and my glass barely gets dirty. I'm mixing the two types of pellets to get a decent over all heat and I'm just dealing with the ash of the Athens pellets. I'll try to get the hammers next year again. Probably my biggest mistake with a pellet stove was underestimating the quality of the different wood pellets and how much the damper adjustment can effect ones fire and heat output.

 

[tkenney65]

Can anyone advise where to purchase the Hamer Hot Ones in Southern NH, Northern Mass or Southern Maine?


Thanks,

Tim

 

[bungalobob]

Wow, now that I have some burning experience I can sympathize with all the others when they get inferior pellets by the ton and have to deal with them. Started my new Harman P68 with Hamers Hot Ones and experienced trouble free burning. Kept nice equal heat distributed trough my two story hose, 73 downstairs, 69 upstairs, little ash and very small clinkers. Couldn't ask for more. So, after about ten bags I figure I would try some of the two tons of New England Wood Pellets (Tan bag Red Lettering) that I have along side the dwindling ton of Hamers. Wow, what a difference. The NEWP's created more ash, not excessive, but more than the Hamers, large clinkers started forming in no time and began smothering the fire. My temperature dropped from 73 to 70 in a matter of hours, all on the same setting's I had for the Hamers. There is not alot you can adjust on the Harman. I have it set on room temp, feed rate just over 4, and the fan almost to medium. I am going to tinker with feedrate but I don't know what else to fool with. Plus I will be cleaning those clinkers out of the way alot more often then with the Hamers. Hope the whole two tons don't burn this way, or I hope there is some way to adjust to improve the performance of the NEWP's. Any suggestions? Oh yeah been cleaning it, hasn't really been that dirty yet.

Follow-up: I believe I was dealing with some bad bags of NEWP's. After burning about 25-30 bags of the NEWP's, the problem went away. The past 6-8 bags have burned great. Normal amount of ash, no clinkers to speak of. The bags I am burning now were originally the bags that were on top of the pallet. They were all reversed when I loaded them off the pallet and into the garage. Hopefully the bad bags were just part of some diabolical scheme that were planted by some other inferior pellet manufacturer to destroy NEWP's reputation. I'll update if nessacary when I get to the second ton if I have problems. But, right now, it appears the NEWP's are A.O.K!

 

[NHenergy]

NE pellets are usually good. The problem is that sometimes you get old pellets. Do you have a lot of broken pellets? Sounds to me like that may be your problem. We burn NE pellets in our stove shop and its hit or miss from pallet to pallet, even on the same delivery.

 

[cncpro]

Can anyone advise where to purchase the Hamer Hot Ones in Southern NH, Northern Mass or Southern Maine?


Thanks,

Tim

(broken link removed to http://www.hamerpellet.com/lookfordealer.htm)