I've seen lots of hardwood softwood blend pellets for sale, is there any benefits to these? or is it just better to stick with straight hardwood pellets..
hardwood, softwood blend vs hardwood
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alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Really it just comes down to the grade of pellet and what your stove digests well. Try a couple bags before buying tons.
Bioburner
Moderator
Grade of pellet as alternative stated. Stove design will dictate how low you can go. I have to agree that Natures own must be using something out of a cattle feed lot as I have now tried them twice in two years without success. They look more like recycled cardboard. Even competed in the longest pellet contest with pellets over 3 inches. Softwood blends seem to blow the ash out of simple pellet pot designs, Whitfield, Ekotech, leading to longer times between cleaning of burn pots as well as easier ignition.
i have a Englander and i know these stoves are extremely picky.. you guys have Harmons and i know they burn just about everything. i had one bag of absolute crap.. "inferno" pellets and would have to clean out the burn pot every 6 hours or so while the stove was running, just quickly pull some of the build up out of the burn pot. and hardwood was a different animal more heat less ash.
mik_kane
Feeling the Heat
I just burned a bag of softwood/hardwood blend and I was very surprised how little ash I had. The name of the pellets was Supreme Comfort.
dlehneman
Member
I have 2 Englanders and burning a good quality hardwood or softwood pellet makes a big difference on the cleaning process. I have had the best luck with 100% softwood pellets through, since they have all had less ash content, and seems "fluffier" then any of the hardwood or blends I've tried. MWP softies worked great for me last year. This year I couldn't get them, so I went with Lacrete's. More money then I wanted to spend for sure ($300/ ton here), but so far they are proving to be a spectacular pellet. Very clean and high heat.
Decent hardwood pellets should work fine for you also though, as long as your install is decent and your settings are correct. I normally do a quick cleaning once a day because I'm really picky about a clean stove, but tested not cleaning at all for several days last winter and it did fine. You definitely shouldn't have to clean after 6hrs...ever. I never tried last year's Infernos but this years "Gold" softwood blend from them burned pretty well for me. A good step up from GS in both my stoves, and same price.
When dealing with Curran, we had best success with Softwood by far, next best was mix, last was hardwood. This is only during 2 years and with that one particular manufacturer.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
RKS130
Minister of Fire
While my Harman burns any/everything, I prefer softwood or softwood blend pellets. They seem to give better heat with lower ash and less cleaning as a result.
I also find that pellet size is a big factor. The FSUs I burned for the the past 2 seasons, and the Heat'rs I picked up for this year, are both blends and both have a uniformly small pellet size. The only adjustment I have made is to limit the feed rate a bit as each crank of the auger will deliver more fuel if the pellets are small.
The handful of bags of fully softwood pellets I have tried were great as well.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
As to Harman and hardwood, what I notice is a blue flame base with hardwood and lower flame height than some softwood pellets. Same heat, though good hardwood pellets will beat low end mixes on btu. Hardwood takes an extra couple minutes or so to ignite.
Good mixes cut a compromise on all the above. A quality line of pellets should perform well. Good softwood pellets light up a bit faster than hardwood in my experience. But as I said in another post, so far the only pellet I ever returned was Natures Own and I think they were a blend as I recall. Thats nothing against blends but Natures Own.
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Polar Bear
Feeling the Heat
I am glad the LaCrete's are working well... Choices were slim around here and I pulled the trigger on 2 tons blind.
Jason845845
Feeling the Heat
I'm new to pellets this year, when trying a bag of Nature's Own, they burned so poorly I thought my stove was broken. They burn decent enough in a pellet basket in the fireplace though.
Pete Zahria
Minister of Fire
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Ya LaCrete is a good pellet. The dealer who had them last year here did not have them on his list during pre order this year. But I guess he is stocking them for bag sales. You can't walk in and just buy what he had on pre order this year. I'd have taken a couple tons of LaCrete on a pre order deal but got Okie DF instead.Don't see many disappointed La Crete users..
Dan
Tonyray
Minister of Fire
erzeez77
Member
Ive been burning la crete without a problem. Seems good but I dont have much to compare to seeing im a rookie to the pellet stove world. Also tried about 6 bags of pinnacle and they seemed decent to. Living in a small town I dont have much options. Im heading to the city where I can buy Canawick hardwood for 5.99$a bag which is about 2$ less then what I pay at home. That being said I should probably load my truck to the max weight this weekend and hope these cheaper pellets are decent.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
While you are in the city see if they have a Tractor Supply or call before you leave, look it up in your browser etc. Around here some TSC have Clean Fire pellets, that's a good brand. Here they were $5.29 a bag or $2.54 a ton. right now they have TSC Hardwood Pellets made in PA. Haven't burned them yet so I can't suggest them. Last year they were from Maine Wood and were excellent for the money. As good or better than Energex Hardwood Premium but that doesn't speak for this year. I would grab a few bags of this and that pellet before you plunk money down on a bunch of unknown ones. Unless you hear otherwise, but even then it's questionable.
I purchased 5 bags of the tractor supply brand hardwood pellets to give them a shot and they burned fairly well.. they have lots in stock.. at least where i am.
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
I have not but seems to me some folks liked them in the past.
Good to know. I have a full hopper to burn off before I try the TSC Hardwoods. But TSC here has plenty in stock as well. I wish they had more Clean Fire, I'd run them through the rest of shoulder season and save my Energex hardwood for another time of year.. Anyway, it's warm here right now I probably won't burn again till overnight Sunday to Mon. Looks like low 30's coming in overnight Sunday night.
Tonyray
Minister of Fire
Speaking of Energex,
I will get to try the Energex Golden Premiums this winter..0,5 ash.... we'll see...
Bought 2 tons here in May on a early buy from my dealer...
alternativeheat
Minister of Fire
Not available here, wish thy were ! I think my dealer is stuck in a rut. Energex Premium, Energex Hard, LG. That's his MO, well that dealer anyway.Speaking of Energex,
I will get to try the Energex Golden Premiums this winter..0,5 ash.... we'll see...
Bought 2 tons here in May on a early buy from my dealer...
I burn softwoods for the simple fact that I could go two days without dumping the ash pot and not lose much efficiency and one day zero. With hardwoods it better get dumped and scraped twice a day otherwise the burn turned lazy and there was twice as much ash to deal with.
Still shocked I would ever say softwood is better to burn for heat but in pellet stoves softies are almost always best heat and lowest ash.
Still shocked I would ever say softwood is better to burn for heat but in pellet stoves softies are almost always best heat and lowest ash.
RKS130
Minister of Fire
I like the Heat'rs pellets the HD in Mohegan Lake has. I checked with the manufacturer and they are a blend, with lots of softwood, from Arizona. The pellet size is nice and small, they burn clean in my stove and the heat is good. I am set for the season (I hope).
Im a Vermonter and grew up with wood heat , so when Dad went to the woods , me trailin behind, he ALWAYS cut hardwood ; that being said , the word is Softwood is best all round to burn in a pellet stove . Im finding all this hard to believe but ill give it a try . Hope i opened up a topic worth debating and am interested in hearing all points of view.
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