Kalamazoo Area Pellets

[skibumm100]

I checked a couple of local sources for pellets in my area. I should've done an early season buy, but I didn't. I still had 15 bags of Pro Pellets from TSC left over. I purchased a few bags of this year's Pro Pellets from a local TSC. I also purchased ten bags of Michigan Wood Fuels pellets from Menards and a few bags of Easy Heats from Blains. Pricing was all over the map. Pro Pellets were most expensive at 5.99/ bag (0.20 discount by the ton, $290/t), Menards was 5.99/bag minus 11% rebate ($266/t) and Blain's on sale at 4.79/bag, $240/t. I checked ash content/bag with test burns and complete cleaning between brands. Pro Pellet produced 1/2 cup ash per bag, MWF and Easy Heat's were both double that at 1 cup per bag. Pro Pellet and MWF are both primarily hardwood pellets Easy Heats definitely have some softwood in them, based on smell. Easy Heats also seem to have quite a bit of coarse sawdust in each bag. I can't really check heat output. Both hardwood pellets produced fine light grey ash. Easy Heats created a coarser, darker ash. I had two instances of the stove going out before the hopper was empty. It happened with Easy Heats and MWFs. The stove is an Englander PDVC 25 firing on a heat setting of 2. Not really impressed with any of them. I ended up going for the cheapest pellets, since none of them were very impressive. The price was right, even though they're fairly dirty. I shut the stove down and clean it out every few days anyhow. It's only running to keep my basement warmer. I'll also be burning them in my St. Croix Revolution multi-fuel furnace in a detached shop. That thing will burn anything.