Mt. Vernon AE and Stove Chow

[tsmith]

I was at the Home Depot tonight and picked up 4 bags of stove chow to try out as I will be needing to get another ton yet this year when my Hamers run out. On the bag it says 100% White Wood. Does this mean white pine, white oak or what? I need to know if I should set my stove for Hardwoods or softwoods. I paid $3.94 a bag, pretty decent price.

 

[imacman]

The "white wood" was discussed in my Stove Chow thread back in the fall....I think it just means no bark.

I'd set the stove for hardwood.

 

[tsmith]

Thanks much, I will try that.

 

[pelletkrzd]

tsmith---with the extreme temps this winter I figured I would be a little short of pellets this year (usually burn 5 tons). I usually burn Barefoots but didnt want to spend 255 a ton because I have been having problems with them all year. I saw HD had stove chow on sale for 197 a ton. So @ that price I figured I would get the (1) ton I needed to finish the year and get 5 tons for next year also. A little risky considering I have never used the chows before in my Mt. Vernon. But at that price and some of the reviews I have read here by members I figured couldnt be any worse than what I am experiencing now. Anyway the stove chows are working well BETTER than the barefoots I was burning. My AE is an 08, I have been burning on the corn setting, flame +3, high elevation, fan normal, manual high. Stove is running well no clinkers, heat @ front blower port is 280 degrees, measured with magnetic wood stove thermometer. Stove chow does seem to produce a little more ash in firebox than the barefoots and a little dustier when emptying bags into hopper. The extra clean up is well worth the 50 bucks a ton I saved. Only drawback I see is extended time the ignitor is on while in the corn setting. HOPE THIS HELPS----GOOD LUCK.

 

[tsmith]

tsmith---with the extreme temps this winter I figured I would be a little short of pellets this year (usually burn 5 tons). I usually burn Barefoots but didnt want to spend 255 a ton because I have been having problems with them all year. I saw HD had stove chow on sale for 197 a ton. So @ that price I figured I would get the (1) ton I needed to finish the year and get 5 tons for next year also. A little risky considering I have never used the chows before in my Mt. Vernon. But at that price and some of the reviews I have read here by members I figured couldnt be any worse than what I am experiencing now. Anyway the stove chows are working well BETTER than the barefoots I was burning. My AE is an 08, I have been burning on the corn setting, flame +3, high elevation, fan normal, manual high. Stove is running well no clinkers, heat @ front blower port is 280 degrees, measured with magnetic wood stove thermometer. Stove chow does seem to produce a little more ash in firebox than the barefoots and a little dustier when emptying bags into hopper. The extra clean up is well worth the 50 bucks a ton I saved. Only drawback I see is extended time the ignitor is on while in the corn setting. HOPE THIS HELPS----GOOD LUCK.

What is the reason you are burning them on corn setting and high elevation, are they a very dense pellet like the barefoot's and Hamer's? I am burning my Hamers on high elevation and I had them on corn but they still clinkered so I went to utility setting so it would clean more often, that seemed to help somewhat.

 

[tsmith]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

 

[JoeS]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

Surprisingly I found them to be fairly hot but a very high ash pellet. I don't find them to be clean at all. Can't complain much at less than $4/bag but not a premium pellet.

 

[jtakeman]

Surprisingly I found them to be fairly hot but a very high ash pellet. I don't find them to be clean at all. Can't complain much at less than $4/bag but not a premium pellet.

Why do you say that? I have sampled 3 separate batches and all were well in the Premium standards which is less than 1% ash by weight(not volume). Actually all were more like less thn 0.6% which is close to Super Premium. Ash volume isn't whats measured and can be very deceiving.

 

[tsmith]

Well so far I am really liking them, they are burning clean, little ash and my glass is still very clean, for the price you can't go wrong.

 

[JoeS]

Surprisingly I found them to be fairly hot but a very high ash pellet. I don't find them to be clean at all. Can't complain much at less than $4/bag but not a premium pellet.

Why do you say that? I have sampled 3 separate batches and all were well in the Premium standards which is less than 1% ash by weight(not volume). Actually all were more like less thn 0.6% which is close to Super Premium. Ash volume isn't whats measured and can be very deceiving.

Must admit I do not go through the pain staking analysis that you do (and we all appreciate it very much) but my findings are that the batch I have are very high in ash. The amount of ash in not only the ash pan but also the fire box are way more than I have experienced with other pellets ( greenway, hammer, okies, o'malley ). The ash is heavy and dark and plugs up the exhaust. I need to empty my ash pan every 3-4 days and vacuum the fire box about the same amount of time.

Once again, just my findings!

 

[jtakeman]

Surprisingly I found them to be fairly hot but a very high ash pellet. I don't find them to be clean at all. Can't complain much at less than $4/bag but not a premium pellet.

Why do you say that? I have sampled 3 separate batches and all were well in the Premium standards which is less than 1% ash by weight(not volume). Actually all were more like less thn 0.6% which is close to Super Premium. Ash volume isn't whats measured and can be very deceiving.

Must admit I do not go through the pain staking analysis that you do (and we all appreciate it very much) but my findings are that the batch I have are very high in ash. The amount of ash in not only the ash pan but also the fire box are way more than I have experienced with other pellets ( greenway, hammer, okies, o'malley ). The ash is heavy and dark and plugs up the exhaust. I need to empty my ash pan every 3-4 days and vacuum the fire box about the same amount of time.

Once again, just my findings!

Must be batch variance? Its hard recommending pellets to others when the darn batches vary so much. I hope you didn't buy much, I feel your pain when you have to do more work just to get the heat out. One of the reasons I bought the present stove, Tolerates much more iffy brands with less headaches. If you do have a lot to burn thought, Try mixing with a brand that has been good for you. 50/50 mix seems to work for most.

 

[gengle]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

Curious as to where you found them tsmith. I'm in the Harrisburg area and can't find them anywhere. I'm going to need another ton of something to get through the season. I've got a little less than a ton of Hamer's left and haven't been enthusiastically satisfied with them. They've got an inordinate amount of fines and are leaving clinkers in the corners of the burn pot on my P68 which do not dump into the ash pan ... scrapping several times a day dealing with it. I did try a few bags of Hardwood Heat from TSC ($225/ton) and will go with them if I can't find anything else ... they do leave more ash (by volume) than the Hamer's but, did throw an equivalent amount of heat and didn't clinker.

 

[tsmith]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

Curious as to where you found them tsmith. I'm in the Harrisburg area and can't find them anywhere. I'm going to need another ton of something to get through the season. I've got a little less than a ton of Hamer's left and haven't been enthusiastically satisfied with them. They've got an inordinate amount of fines and are leaving clinkers in the corners of the burn pot on my P68 which do not dump into the ash pan ... scrapping several times a day dealing with it. I did try a few bags of Hardwood Heat from TSC ($225/ton) and will go with them if I can't find anything else ... they do leave more ash (by volume) than the Hamer's but, did throw an equivalent amount of heat and didn't clinker.

I got them at the home depot on Lehigh street in Allentown, they only had I think 5 ton left on Sunday. I just got done working on my stove though, I had a huge clinker in the pot, it was about half way up the pot, so the chow is now doing what the Hamers did. I am now wondering if maybe my pot floor springs are too weak, causing to much air to get in around the sides and causing the problem. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and how do you check the springs, how much play should the floor have?

 

[gengle]

Thank you sir! Can't think of an excuse to run down to Allentown over the weekend. Think I'll likely snap up a ton of the Hardwood Heat's @ TSC. Best of luck with your burn pot springs.

 

[pelletkrzd]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

Curious as to where you found them tsmith. I'm in the Harrisburg area and can't find them anywhere. I'm going to need another ton of something to get through the season. I've got a little less than a ton of Hamer's left and haven't been enthusiastically satisfied with them. They've got an inordinate amount of fines and are leaving clinkers in the corners of the burn pot on my P68 which do not dump into the ash pan ... scrapping several times a day dealing with it. I did try a few bags of Hardwood Heat from TSC ($225/ton) and will go with them if I can't find anything else ... they do leave more ash (by volume) than the Hamer's but, did throw an equivalent amount of heat and didn't clinker.

I got them at the home depot on Lehigh street in Allentown, they only had I think 5 ton left on Sunday. I just got done working on my stove though, I had a huge clinker in the pot, it was about half way up the pot, so the chow is now doing what the Hamers did. I am now wondering if maybe my pot floor springs are too weak, causing to much air to get in around the sides and causing the problem. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and how do you check the springs, how much play should the floor have?

Tsmith---you might be onto something, maybe that is why so many of us are having issues with clinkers in our AE's this year. This is my 3rd season and have never had this issue before. In a previous post you asked why I burn on corn setting and the reason is I dont get clinkers on this setting. Have always used hardwood setting until this year.

 

[tsmith]

I liked the Chow I bought to try so much I went back today to by a ton at $198. They are burning very nicely in my Quad. Nice heat and very clean, much better than the Hamers I have been burning, go figure.

Curious as to where you found them tsmith. I'm in the Harrisburg area and can't find them anywhere. I'm going to need another ton of something to get through the season. I've got a little less than a ton of Hamer's left and haven't been enthusiastically satisfied with them. They've got an inordinate amount of fines and are leaving clinkers in the corners of the burn pot on my P68 which do not dump into the ash pan ... scrapping several times a day dealing with it. I did try a few bags of Hardwood Heat from TSC ($225/ton) and will go with them if I can't find anything else ... they do leave more ash (by volume) than the Hamer's but, did throw an equivalent amount of heat and didn't clinker.

I got them at the home depot on Lehigh street in Allentown, they only had I think 5 ton left on Sunday. I just got done working on my stove though, I had a huge clinker in the pot, it was about half way up the pot, so the chow is now doing what the Hamers did. I am now wondering if maybe my pot floor springs are too weak, causing to much air to get in around the sides and causing the problem. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and how do you check the springs, how much play should the floor have?

Tsmith---you might be onto something, maybe that is why so many of us are having issues with clinkers in our AE's this year. This is my 3rd season and have never had this issue before. In a previous post you asked why I burn on corn setting and the reason is I dont get clinkers on this setting. Have always used hardwood setting until this year.

Your stove is as old as mine then, maybe it is time for new springs then. I was gonna wait until after the season to do it though because i wanted to remove the pot to clean it good anyways, and the gaskets are around $25, didn't want to have to buy 2 of them, although it would be nice to know if this was the answer, maybe I will try it now anyways, gotta think about it awhile. :lol: