I don't see how a hardwood pellet can possible break a stove. I've been burning both this year. I'm tending to think if a hardwood pellet can break a stove nobody would be burning them. Can you explain what you mean?
You might have better luck getting an answer in a thread titled "enviro pellet insert thermostat" rather than a thread titled "Hardwood vs Softwood Pellets".pei said:I have a environ pellet insert fpi how hard is it to hookup a thermostat. For it
DonD said:I don't see how a hardwood pellet can possible break a stove. I've been burning both this year. I'm tending to think if a hardwood pellet can break a stove nobody would be burning them. Can you explain what you mean?
SXIPro said:slls said:SXIPro said:If a hardwood pellet could break your stove, you need a new stove. That is just ridiculous.
When I bought my Harman the dealer pushed and pushed to onlu use hardwood and specifically NEWP. When I finally tried softwoods I wanted to go back to the dealer and kick his a$$. Softwoods gave much more heat. In hindsight I should have just realized the dealer was a salesman and thus just pushing the only brand he carried.
I'm freakin surrounded by NEWP this year, I can't find anyone close selling softwood and it pisses me off.
It's obvious you have not idea what you are saying.
Prove me wrong that:
1) A hardwood pellet will break any decent pellet stove.
2) Hardwoods (NEWP specifically) throw more heat than a good softwood like a Vermont or an Okanagan.
Enlighten me.
Countryboymo said:I have noticed one brand of hardwood pellet that causes a crusty black buildup on the bottom of the pot and if not dumped every day and scrape the bottom of the burnpot it will grow thick enough to interfere with the clearance of the sliding floor of the pot. I have burned other hardwoods that have no such issue and never noticed this with any softwood. It would not break my stove unless "I" let it build up enough and then forced the floor open somehow with a tool that isn't supposed to be part of cleaning a stove.
MacP said:Hardwood: So I noticed that cubex throws some serious heat, but heavier ash on the burn pot. I have to scrape it off 2-4 times a day. They worked great this week during the frigid temperatures. Very little crunching noises from the auger.
Softwood: spruce points created good heat as well, but not as hot as cubex. They created fluffy ash. Very little crunching noise.
BLEND: NEWPs is good shoulder season heat. A good amount of ash. The most crunching noises. I won't be paying Aton of NEWPs again. I'm saving the remaining half ton for March and April.
Next year I'll purchase pellets with the most BTUs with low ash. It doesn't matter if it's hardwood or softwood. That dealer was working like a car dealer and was full of crap. He was trying to sell me oakies softwood pellets. I still haven't tried the Oakies yet.
Another dealer, which I bought the cubex and spruce points, told me he probably wont be getting spruce points again. He's looking to get another Canadian softwood. I asked him which one it was, but he couldn't remember. He should be getting a few bags to try out.
fmsm said:Pennington makes a few brands I noticed at my local HD, Nature's Own which is a softwood and Nature's Heat that is a hardwood blend. Does anyone have experience with Nature's Heat?
DexterDay said:pellets "smell funny". I still try them every year.
hotdawg said:I don't know if one is necessarily better then the other. I really think it's what your stove prefers. I like to try many different brands of pellets, check out my sig and you'll see. I've had success with both types but prefers the Spruce Pointes for soft and the Barefoots for hard. Both brands are excellent pellets in general but my stove really prefers the Barefoots. It produces slightly more BTUs, burns cleaner and lasts a little longer then the Spruce Pointes. The SP leaves a slightly thicker ash making it harder to clean. I'm planning on picking up another ton of Barefoots to get me through the winter of them. And I would take what some salespeople say with a grain of salt. I find they tend to push their products and whatever happens to be on hand is the best at the moment. They are doing what they're being paid for and we as the consumers should do our homework first before jumping into tonage. There's a very popular saying on this forum "Try before you buy" is very true. I learned it the hard way! So moral of the story....buy whatever makes your stove happy without breaking the bank!
MacP said:hotdawg said:I don't know if one is necessarily better then the other. I really think it's what your stove prefers. I like to try many different brands of pellets, check out my sig and you'll see. I've had success with both types but prefers the Spruce Pointes for soft and the Barefoots for hard. Both brands are excellent pellets in general but my stove really prefers the Barefoots. It produces slightly more BTUs, burns cleaner and lasts a little longer then the Spruce Pointes. The SP leaves a slightly thicker ash making it harder to clean. I'm planning on picking up another ton of Barefoots to get me through the winter of them. And I would take what some salespeople say with a grain of salt. I find they tend to push their products and whatever happens to be on hand is the best at the moment. They are doing what they're being paid for and we as the consumers should do our homework first before jumping into tonage. There's a very popular saying on this forum "Try before you buy" is very true. I learned it the hard way! So moral of the story....buy whatever makes your stove happy without breaking the bank!
All good points.
Where did you find a slightly thicker ash with that SP? Walls? Pot? Seems like the SP left a a film on the inside walls.
SmokeEater said:Has anyone out there had a chance to try some of the biomass pellets, like grass pellets in your stoves. I thought I saw that Harman makes a stove called the PC 45 that is set up to burn other types of biomass. I found a website on a Canadian study to develop and build a business using switchgrass and it looked like a company could produce grass pellets and retail them for less than $150/T USD.
hotdawg said:MacP said:hotdawg said:I don't know if one is necessarily better then the other. I really think it's what your stove prefers. I like to try many different brands of pellets, check out my sig and you'll see. I've had success with both types but prefers the Spruce Pointes for soft and the Barefoots for hard. Both brands are excellent pellets in general but my stove really prefers the Barefoots. It produces slightly more BTUs, burns cleaner and lasts a little longer then the Spruce Pointes. The SP leaves a slightly thicker ash making it harder to clean. I'm planning on picking up another ton of Barefoots to get me through the winter of them. And I would take what some salespeople say with a grain of salt. I find they tend to push their products and whatever happens to be on hand is the best at the moment. They are doing what they're being paid for and we as the consumers should do our homework first before jumping into tonage. There's a very popular saying on this forum "Try before you buy" is very true. I learned it the hard way! So moral of the story....buy whatever makes your stove happy without breaking the bank!
All good points.
Where did you find a slightly thicker ash with that SP? Walls? Pot? Seems like the SP left a a film on the inside walls.
The SP left a thicker residue on the walls. Takes a little more care to clean the walls but the ash on the side is very light and fluffy. I haven't found a perfect pellet yet but for the heat I'll deal with the cleaning of the SP. The closest to perfect for me is the Barefoots.
xjarcher said:Note to the OP
I have a P61a and I give it a workout every year (5 winters now). I've burned lousy pellets and the best available. The difference is not HUGE. Your stove is a pretty efficient device.
Things I've learned.
Set the feed rate to 3.5-4 and leave it alone. A low feed rate starves the stove and actually uses more pellets. Trust me others will back it up.
Hardwood pellets are fine if they are good quality ones. Save your $$ and leave the expensive softwoods alone not that much difference
Buy a mid grade hardwood pellet, they are more than adequate. (I use Somerset pellets $220/ton here)
You can put up to 40% corn in with your pellets if you want some extra heat. Corn burns HOT but more ash.
Running your stove on Room temp is good when it's cold, your temp sensor should be extended away from your stove a bit though not under it.
When it's cold here (teens and below) Room temp is hi, thermostat maxed and it keeps the basement(stove location) and the main floor (2000sq.ft) pretty warm.
Some real world info. Hope it helps.
MacP said:hotdawg said:MacP said:hotdawg said:I don't know if one is necessarily better then the other. I really think it's what your stove prefers. I like to try many different brands of pellets, check out my sig and you'll see. I've had success with both types but prefers the Spruce Pointes for soft and the Barefoots for hard. Both brands are excellent pellets in general but my stove really prefers the Barefoots. It produces slightly more BTUs, burns cleaner and lasts a little longer then the Spruce Pointes. The SP leaves a slightly thicker ash making it harder to clean. I'm planning on picking up another ton of Barefoots to get me through the winter of them. And I would take what some salespeople say with a grain of salt. I find they tend to push their products and whatever happens to be on hand is the best at the moment. They are doing what they're being paid for and we as the consumers should do our homework first before jumping into tonage. There's a very popular saying on this forum "Try before you buy" is very true. I learned it the hard way! So moral of the story....buy whatever makes your stove happy without breaking the bank!
All good points.
Where did you find a slightly thicker ash with that SP? Walls? Pot? Seems like the SP left a a film on the inside walls.
The SP left a thicker residue on the walls. Takes a little more care to clean the walls but the ash on the side is very light and fluffy. I haven't found a perfect pellet yet but for the heat I'll deal with the cleaning of the SP. The closest to perfect for me is the Barefoots.
Do you scrape it off? I agree. No pellets is perfect.
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