Looking for feedback on this year's Pro Pellet, Easy Heat and Michigan Wood Fuels pellets?

[skibumm100]

I need to buy a couple tons of pellets and I don't see a lot of feedback on this years pellets for these brands. I know it's early in the heating season, but I was hoping to get some information on the quality from these producers. I can get MWF's from Menards with the 11% discount, Easy Heats from Blain's on sale and Pro Pellet's from TSC.
Cost per ton:
$266/t at Menards for MWF's. They're made in Holland, MI.
$250/t at Blain's for Easy Heat's. Not sure where these are produced.
$290/t at TSC for Pro Pellet's. These are made in White Pigeon, MI.

Lowe's was $315/t for Easy Heat's after a 5% bulk purchase discount and then a 10% veteran's discount.

If no one has any feedback I'll try and burn a few bags once it cools down and put up a review based on limited burn time. TIA!

 

[skibumm100]

So I'm running a little test. I bought a couple bags of each of the pellets listed above. First I cleaned my Englander 25 PVDC and emptied the ash vac. I opened the bags of each brand and gave a sniff. The MWF (Michigan Wood Fiber) and ProPellet smelled about the same. Just smell like wood and not very strong. The Easy Heat's had a much stronger smell and to me smelled more "piney". I stuck a sample of each in a sandwich bag and sealed them up. I filled the hopper and ran the stove until it ran out for each brand of pellets. I left the stove settings the same, firing rate at 2 and convection fan at 4. For each sample I vac'd out all of the ash and emptied the ash vac into a measuring cup and put that into a sandwich bag after each hopper full. I measured the ash by volume and by weight. I also weighed the baggies of pellets. Not very scientific but it was easy, so I did it. I didn't check moisture content. I can't tell anything about heat output because I don't have my stove wired up with thermocouples and a data logger.

My results:

First pellet burned was the Michigan Wood Fiber pellets from Menards. For the (1) hopper test I got about 1 cup of ash at a weight of 209 grams. The baggie full of unburned pellets weighed 534 grams.

The second pellet burned was ProPellet from Tractor Supply. For the (1) hopper test I got just under 1/2 cup of ash and a weight of 107 grams. The baggie of unburned pellets weighed 562 grams.

The last pellet was the Easy Heat's that I bought at Blains Farm & Fleet. For the (1) hopper test I got right at 1/2 cup of ash and a weight of 96 grams. The baggie full of unburned pellets weighed 493 grams. The ash looked coarser and darker than the ProPellet and MWF ash. The glass was definitely dirtier and harder to clean than the other two. The other thing was the stove shut off before the hopper was empty, possibly from bridging at the bottom, not sure. There was still 3 cups of pellets in the hopper. I did see a few long pellets (~2") so if you stove has problems with long pellets, you might want to skip these. This was the cheapest pellet of the test at $4.99/bag on sale. I don't think they're on sale anymore.

Based on the results of my short test I would probably skip the MWF's due to higher ash content and would get the Easy Heat's or the ProPellet's. The Easy Heat's are probably the cheapest still, even though they're a little dirtier burning. The bottom ash content was the lowest of them all. It also appears to be the least dense, so that may have something to do with the lower ash since the amount of pellets burned was by volume, not weight. If I had my head on straight I would've burned an entire bag and done the test by weight. Maybe next time.....

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Easy Heats are generally held in low regard on the forum. A key thing you didn't seem to measure: how much heat do they generate?

I'm burning some Pro Pellets that were left over from last year. I think they're a pretty good hardwood pellet, although some of the pellets are a little long.

 

[skibumm100]

Easy Heats are generally held in low regard on the forum. A key thing you didn't seem to measure: how much heat do they generate?

I'm burning some Pro Pellets that were left over from last year. I think they're a pretty good hardwood pellet, although some of the pellets are a little long.

Heat is harder to quantify without instrumentation. It's generally a subjective evaluation. I had my old Austroflam Integra "wired for sound" with thermocouples and a 4 channel meter and you can learn a lot and, if you collect enough data points, you can claim "real" results. I wasn't even in the room most of the time so I don't even have a guess. For what I'm using this stove for low ash and easy cleaning are important to me. I just wanna dump pellets in it and go. Low price is important too. I think I'll pick up a ton of ProPellet's and run them. They'll be around $300/ton after Gretchen takes her chunk.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Heat is harder to quantify without instrumentation. It's generally a subjective evaluation. I had my old Austroflam Integra "wired for sound" with thermocouples and a 4 channel meter and you can learn a lot and, if you collect enough data points, you can claim "real" results. I wasn't even in the room most of the time so I don't even have a guess. For what I'm using this stove for low ash and easy cleaning are important to me. I just wanna dump pellets in it and go. Low price is important too. I think I'll pick up a ton of ProPellet's and run them. They'll be around $300/ton after Gretchen takes her chunk.

Agreed on measuring heat. With my boiler I can measure the time it takes to heat the jacket from point to point, like 160 degrees to 180 degrees. It's harder when you're heating an air space.
I think pellet density can tell us something. Pro Pellets look like the densest of the bunch. Speculating, you might be getting more hard maple or oak in them and less soft maple or poplar.
In Wisconsin we have Marth pellets as Menard's biggest supplier. They're up in an area with window factories, so I think they get a lot of millwork scrap -- poplar and soft maple. Their heat output is mediocre compared to pellets with a lot of "hard" hardwood content.
An Internet search finds that Easy Heats come from the same town that has a large shipping pallet manufacturer, BDL Supply. We have a pallet company in Wisconsin that also makes pellets, Hay Creek. Their pellets are crap.

 

[skibumm100]

My favorites in NH were LaCrete's. They were the byproduct of their SPF lumber mill. Very low ash and HOT. They were $280/ton, I think. Pellets were my primary fuel so heat output was impirtant. In SW Michigan my options are more limited. I have NG as a primary fuel here so my most economical solution is to turn up the thermostat. I think burning pellets costs about twice as much. My HVAC system sucks so I plan to fix the ducting and distribution when it gets replaced. I still like to burn pellets but I don't do it to save money.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I generally find TSC to have the best off-season deals. Sometimes they have little-known brands, but beyond the need to regularly return several waterlogged bags per ton, the products have been pretty decent. This year they had Green Supreme Appalachian hardwood and Peak softwoods for $255/ton.

 

[skibumm100]

I ended up buying a ton of Pro Pellets from TSC. They were right around $300 all in. The skids have been stored outdoors in the weather behind the store for a long time. When I bought them I checked the plastic closely and there were no rips and there was a puddle on top. The over bag was in good shape. I had them load up the skid and I unloaded them bag by bag and restacked them when I got home. All the bags were in good shaped and none were blown up by moisture. I put (20) bags in my walkout basement and the rest are under my deck with the original plastic overbag and a blue tarp to cover them up. I should be good for most of the winter.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I wish I could heat my house all winter with just a ton of pellets. You must be in Michigan's banana belt.

Check in with TSC about mid-July. That's when their pellets sell on discount.

 

[skibumm100]

Me too. A ton might keep the chill off the basement for most of the winter.