maine woods pellets...

[mjbrown]

i know its still the beginning of the season, but i thought i would pop in and let folks know about the comparison of mwp's this year compared to last year.

as far as i am concerned, they are un comparible...i had a few bags left from last year, and although they did burn ok in my stove, the heat was low(but as i said, its the beginning of the season) the 09'mix seems to be very good.the pellets look very good.the pellets are a nice uniform light color,shiny from the pressing, and hot.

i got up this morning,with an outside temp of 34* and the stove was humping away on feed rate 2 w/t-stat set at 70*,and house temp was at 73*.the fire in the stove was tall , strong, and very bright...no need for a nite lite now. temp on top of the stove was 150*, so i moved the thermometer to the front , and will post room air discharge later.

as for ash, i dont know yet, but i will post when i do a clean from mwp's alone. as of now, i have been burning left overs from last year, and penningtons from walmart(which btw, i dont like.ALOT of fines in the bags). forgot to add, when i dumped the bags into my tote, i did not see much for fine at all from the new mwp's.


mike

 

[jtakeman]

Mike,

If you have a bag of the old left and a bag of the new. Can you compare the ash for us?

Clean stove and burn one bag of the old. Clean stove and Save the the ash. Repeat for new batch. Use mason or any jar that is the same size. A quart size should do it.

We'll love ya for it!

Jay

 

[cogger]

i know its still the beginning of the season, but i thought i would pop in and let folks know about the comparison of mwp's this year compared to last year.

as far as i am concerned, they are un comparible...i had a few bags left from last year, and although they did burn ok in my stove, the heat was low(but as i said, its the beginning of the season) the 09'mix seems to be very good.the pellets look very good.the pellets are a nice uniform light color,shiny from the pressing, and hot.

i got up this morning,with an outside temp of 34* and the stove was humping away on feed rate 2 w/t-stat set at 70*,and house temp was at 73*.the fire in the stove was tall , strong, and very bright...no need for a nite lite now. temp on top of the stove was 150*, so i moved the thermometer to the front , and will post room air discharge later.

as for ash, i dont know yet, but i will post when i do a clean from mwp's alone. as of now, i have been burning left overs from last year, and penningtons from walmart(which btw, i dont like.ALOT of fines in the bags). forgot to add, when i dumped the bags into my tote, i did not see much for fine at all from the new mwp's.


mike

Yes, I am currently very happy with this brand. They are currently blending 20% soft with 80% hard. I am very satisfied. As a avocate for many pellet fuels I'd say they're near the top for performance and LOW ash

 

[pete324rocket]

is this the same brand made in Athens,Maine? I heard about bad Maine pellets but if you are referring to the Athens type,I give them a thumbs up.

 

[mjbrown]

big differance this year compared to last year. if you havent burned any of the newest mix, try them. buy a few bags and give it a try. they had a bad reputation last yr...but mwp DID try to rectify it, by replacing pellets, and they DID change the mix half way through the heating season when they realized there was a problem.

last year was the FIRST year this company was in production. they need tohave growing pains like everyone or everything else. i dont care what anyone says, NOTHING is perfect the first time out.as for ash, i will have to clean my stove this week end and do the test burn as jtakeman suggested, then i will clean it and do another with the left overs i have from the first batch of last year.

as for heat output...as i stated earlier, this morning, my thermometer on top of the stove read 100-150 during a good burn(when the t-stat was calling for heat) , i moved the thermometer down to the front of the stove and placed it in front of the room air distribution , and am getting a reading of 200*, but that is with the cheap rutland stoave thermometer.

jay, i WILL do the test burns for you. if i can get the kid to stay home long enough, i may even get her to take pics of the ashes to post. the ash content isnt a big issue for me as i shut down and completely clean my stove every week on the weekend. i am just glad to feel the heat.


mike

 

[jtakeman]

jay, i WILL do the test burns for you, if i can get the kid to stay home long enough, i may even get her to take pics of the shes to post. the ash content isnt a big issue for me as i shut down and completely clean my stove every week on the weekend. i am just glad to feel the heat.
mike

Mike,

That would be great!

Thanks
jay

 

[slls]

Does anyone know for sure if they are still putting bark in there pellets. I read some where they were putting bark in there pellets and would keep doing so.

 

[MainePellethead]

Thanks for posting this mike. I agree on the growing pains etc. I love buying local when I can. I did buy some Maine Choice brand. Even though I am all set for winter....I will prob pick up a half a ton to try of the Maine Woods after seeing your post.

i know its still the beginning of the season, but i thought i would pop in and let folks know about the comparison of mwp's this year compared to last year.

as far as i am concerned, they are un comparible...i had a few bags left from last year, and although they did burn ok in my stove, the heat was low(but as i said, its the beginning of the season) the 09'mix seems to be very good.the pellets look very good.the pellets are a nice uniform light color,shiny from the pressing, and hot.

i got up this morning,with an outside temp of 34* and the stove was humping away on feed rate 2 w/t-stat set at 70*,and house temp was at 73*.the fire in the stove was tall , strong, and very bright...no need for a nite lite now. temp on top of the stove was 150*, so i moved the thermometer to the front , and will post room air discharge later.

as for ash, i dont know yet, but i will post when i do a clean from mwp's alone. as of now, i have been burning left overs from last year, and penningtons from walmart(which btw, i dont like.ALOT of fines in the bags). forgot to add, when i dumped the bags into my tote, i did not see much for fine at all from the new mwp's.


mike

 

[mainegeek]

I think Athens actually starting changing their formulation at the begining of this year. I burned a few bags of Athens when we first bought the stove and did not care for them.... I bought a few more bags in Feb/March to get us by and they burned much differently.

Also, Corinth is back in the game, has anyone tried them?

I bought 3 tons of Energex last year and was very happy with them. When I went to purchase pellets again this year they didn't have any more Athens and the Corinths were the same price as Energex so I opted to go with what I was familiar with since I was buying 3 tons. I did notice that the Energex pellets are cut much shorter this year....

Just my observations....

 

[pete324rocket]

I burned hardwood lignetics last year,so when the same box store brought in these Athens pellets,I was dumbfounded,after reading some of the problems.Anyways,they seem to compare to the lignetics....throw pellets at me ,I don't care,but they are a hardwood pellet and they seem to spool the heat gauge to the same spot the lignetics held,in a jiffy. Nothing says you can't mend your ways,i suppose,especially if you are trying to wipe the tarnish off a bad rep.Sadly, they want 6.99 a bag...no sales yet.

 

[bobforsaken]

Do you know who might distribute MWP in the Central Maine area? I've only bought a ton of Okie's so far and I'm looking for a good pellet for less than I'm paying for the Okies ($289 )

 

[cogger]

As a avocate for many pellet fuels I'd say they're near the top for performance and LOW ash

Please......who are you trying to kid?

No one.

 

[rowerwet]

After burning 12 bags of MWP athens pellets, I noticed more light powedery ash than I remember last year, other than that no issues, they have fixed their pellet quality from what I saw on here last year. Glad I could support the ME economy.

 

[BJN644]

Do you know who might distribute MWP in the Central Maine area? I've only bought a ton of Okie's so far and I'm looking for a good pellet for less than I'm paying for the Okies ($289 )

Tractor Supply in Augusta. $249 a ton

 

[slls]

Do you know who might distribute MWP in the Central Maine area? I've only bought a ton of Okie's so far and I'm looking for a good pellet for less than I'm paying for the Okies ($289 )

Dysarts, Hampden $259 ton.

 

[summit]

Its good to hear! they just gave us a ton of pellets to hand out to customers to drum up some biz, as we have not bought a load from them yet this year due to last years issues... i'll have to put a bag in our P43 floor model and see how they do....

 

[hossthehermit]

Its good to hear! they just gave us a ton of pellets to hand out to customers to drum up some biz, as we have not bought a load from them yet this year due to last years issues... i'll have to put a bag in our P43 floor model and see how they do....

Great, so where ya at? I'll stop by after work tomorrow and grab a couple freebies. Been wanting to try some, but after last year haven't been willing to buy. I do still need another ton within the next couple weeks.

 

[lucky louie]

I just got a pellet stove this fall, and the Maine Pellets made in athens are the only brand I've ever used. I've burnt 10 bags and am shocked at how much ash I've got. Also the bags say nothing on them as to whether hardwood, or softwood. I have no airwash system for the glass and am also disappointed how sooty my glass gets in 8 hrs of running. Heat is fine. I have not burned anything else as a comparison, so not sure if the sooty glass and tons of ash are excessive or not. I was concerned about shortages so I purchased 3 tons of these things to get me through the winter. Last year I am told no one here in southern ontario could buy any pellets, so I stocked up. Good or bad, I will have to burn these up.

 

[Stentor]

You may want to get some better pellets and mix them with the ones you have now. I've seen a few people in this forum suggest that trick. And you may want to search this forum to get some opinions about various brands. (Lots of disagreement but some brands are more popular than others.)

 

[kdp7462]

Not sure where in Central Me you are...but Electrical Systems of Me in Auburn has them listed at 259 or so. Might want to check out Paris union as well...not sure of the pricing though.

Do you know who might distribute MWP in the Central Maine area? I've only bought a ton of Okie's so far and I'm looking for a good pellet for less than I'm paying for the Okies ($289 )

 

[pete324rocket]

I just got a pellet stove this fall, and the Maine Pellets made in athens are the only brand I've ever used. I've burnt 10 bags and am shocked at how much ash I've got. Also the bags say nothing on them as to whether hardwood, or softwood. I have no airwash system for the glass and am also disappointed how sooty my glass gets in 8 hrs of running. Heat is fine. I have not burned anything else as a comparison, so not sure if the sooty glass and tons of ash are excessive or not. I was concerned about shortages so I purchased 3 tons of these things to get me through the winter. Last year I am told no one here in southern ontario could buy any pellets, so I stocked up. Good or bad, I will have to burn these up.

just so you know,as a new user.....if you get pellets that are so bad,you can't clean the glass...then you have a problem.I had some of those once,softwood I believe. Basically,they all dirty the glass within a day or two,ya gotta get used to it(unless someone out there has a stove who's glass never get dirty-but I doubt it)

 

[sparkydog00]

I just got a pellet stove this fall, and the Maine Pellets made in athens are the only brand I've ever used. I've burnt 10 bags and am shocked at how much ash I've got. Also the bags say nothing on them as to whether hardwood, or softwood. I have no airwash system for the glass and am also disappointed how sooty my glass gets in 8 hrs of running. Heat is fine. I have not burned anything else as a comparison, so not sure if the sooty glass and tons of ash are excessive or not. I was concerned about shortages so I purchased 3 tons of these things to get me through the winter. Last year I am told no one here in southern ontario could buy any pellets, so I stocked up. Good or bad, I will have to burn these up.

Sounds like me at this point last year...
'Wait till it gets cold...and you realize you are cold...and spending 4 times the amount of time cleaning your stove then you should be.
But on the plus side...they work great for traction on icy walkways...

Nver buy a large amount of unknown pellets...try at least 5 or 10 bags before you commit.

 

[rowerwet]

I was at the topsfield fair columbus day weekend, right in the middle of the rides and games was a tent for some pellet stove dealer (didn't notice who) I did notice that they were burning MWP in all their stoves though (same brand I bought 6 tons of), I don't know how long the stove had been running, but it was the last weekend of the 11 day fair and the glass wasn't dirty on any of their stoves.

 

[muss]

I remember Dave from the Athens plant telling me this past spring when he swopped my last ton of their pellets that they have changed drastically but they would always have a high ash & he wasn't exagerating . Compared to other brands i have tried , including the new & improved Athens, ash was too much for me . Remember the old adage " you get what you pay for" . Muss

 

[slls]

I remember Dave from the Athens plant telling me this past spring when he swopped my last ton of their pellets that they have changed drastically but they would always have a high ash & he wasn't exagerating . Compared to other brands i have tried , including the new & improved Athens, ash was too much for me . Remember the old adage " you get what you pay for" . Muss

I wonder if high ash means bark.