My pellet brands this year

[mark d fellows]

Dejnos - just finished my first ton. A softwood "Premium" pellet, they went OK. Heavy fines and dark fly ash. Experienced two log jams with long pellets and had three bags of oatmeal.
Lignetics - picked up two bags (for giggles). Burned very hot, little to no fines, uniform length. Would burn more if they weren't $5+ per bag!
Rocky Mountain - A softwood "Super Premium" pellet, I'm midway through a 10 bag trial. Fewer fines than Dejnos, less fly ash and lighter in color (the glass doesn't dirty as fast). SO far so good...
Uncle Jed's Cold Remedy - 10 bags in waiting. Supposed to be a very hot hardwood. We'll soon see....

I hope that by quoting myself I don't send the forum into a violent spin...

Burning the Uncle Jed's Cold Remedy now - Burns dirty, like the Dejno's, leaving a dark film on the glass with a heavy fly ash collection on the heat exchange tubes. Dangled a meat thermometer in front of the tubes and hit 190 degrees on high heat - schweet! They have a nice smell to 'em but I'm not hearing harps like that other fella 'round here <he says as he rolls his eyes>.

So far I like the Rocky Mountain the best cuz it's the cleanest burn. I'll throw some of them back in the hopper and see what I get for a temp reading. Anybody else do temp readings, or is this a precursor to the harps? LMAO.

I'm getting dizzy talking to myself...

After 6 bags of Uncle Jed's Cold Remedy I can say I'll burn these as a last resort; they're a very dirty pellet. Despite their claim to high heat (8,200-8,600 BTU) I see no difference in heat output compared to Rocky Mountain.

In a tightly controlled, highly scientific experiment, I hung Grandmother's meat thermometer in front of the blower and received 190 degrees from both brands running my Avalon on high heat (using a t-stat). On Medium heat both pellets warmed 'er up to around 170 degrees.

Hey thanks for the update!

Have you considered starting a post with your findings so that people can search by "Uncle Jeds Cold Remedy"?

Good info!

Mark

 

[ORiley]

Not a bad idea, but I don't want to bring the hammer down on anyone that hasn't done me wrong. I will continue to evaluate, record, and share my findings on pellets but...it's all subjective. My burn will certainly vary from yours and, who knows, material content will most likely change from year to year so is this is all for nothing?

Hey, how'd you get one more little green fella than I did? You better get back to work, Mister!

 

[mark d fellows]

Oriley,

Are you talking to me? As far as bringing the hammer down on someone I think that really isn't the case. You post your experience with them and then people have a chance to counter you. If others have the same experience you know the pellets are crap. If others counter you, we know you just got some bad pellets.

Consistency is an issue. My opinion is for a pellet to be good, it should be good in anyone stove, and year to year, week to week.

If the green thing comment was for me, I guess I got more from being obsessed with one thing and posting constantly.

Mark

 

[Lennyden]

I started the year finishing some old PA Pellets...not too good, very dirty, heat output was so so. I just finished buring about 2 tons of Barefoot. Best pellet I've found. Produced some clinkers but very clean and very hot. I just cracked into a ton of Applying pellets I split with a neighbor. TERRRIBLE Worst I've burned. VERY VERY dirty, tons of ash (I have to clean the small ash pan in my Empress FPI every day with these pellets - Barefoot was every three days). Don't buy Appling!

 

[32acres]

Update! Found a small rock in Pennington bag. Purchased in August. These are the light colored ones with all the fines in every bag. Bought 11 bags of Fireside Ultra to-day at Home Depot to augment my dwindling pile. As I was sifting a bag I found lots of small wood chips. Was surprising, as I burned an entire ton of Firesides already with no signs of wood chips. I have burned 115 bags so far this season.

 

[www_godzilla]

I have burned Fireside Ultras and LG Granules. I must say I like the Fireside Ultras better. The LG Granules are a softer wood. Therefore producing slightly more ash,but not much. The Fireside Ultras gave me clinkers about the size of a small dog poop,but more heat. So I guess it's what's important to me.... I like the better heat output. Because the Firesides still doesn't have much ash. I wish I could buy some more locally in Southern Maine.

 

[mark d fellows]

I went and bought 10 bags of Freedom Fuel from Home Depot.

My observations after about a bag are:

They burn ok with more ash, black clumpy ash, and black soot on the glass window.

I have come to expect this phenomena with softwood pellets and especially pine. I still prefer hardwood pellets based on my experience but softwood burn fine. My first five bags of Stove Chow were excellent. My second batch of 10 bags were ok.

Mark

 

[LIpelletpig]

I've burned 4 different brands this year. This being the first year with a pellet stove I am really narrowing it down to the right pellet that is available in the area. I initially got 3-ton of Country Boy all Oak hardwood pellet. I am pleased with them and they burn hot. My only complaint is they do form some big clinkers and the ash is quick to build up. I constantly have to scape the burn pot. The second brand was Rocky Mountain Soft Pine pellets. I picked up about 10 bags to give them a try. Initially I thought they were great, after about 6 bags I started noticing alot of ash build up and the heat was not as good as my hardwood pellet. The third brand I picked up 4 bags from HD and they were Lignetics. Yes, they are a good pellet and they burn hot and little fines in the bag. In my own opinion they burn dirty. A black soot covered my interior of the stove. Not something I experienced with any other pellet. The fourth pellet manufacturer I evaluated was Energex Hardwood. Noticibly a darker pellet in nature. Some were VERY long about 1+inches not what I was used to. I had no problems with them though dropping in the auger. They had very little fines in the bag, Energex hardwood burned the hottest out of all the brands and the cleanest. I literally could go 2-3 days without scraping the burn pot. Incredible! Very little ash as well. In my overall rating I would give Energex Hardwood pellet an A+. The bad part is the Energex I purchaed were not local, but in Central PA. I was visiting a friend and was able to stop by a store and pick-up a few bags and transported them back to Long Island.

 

[THE ROOSTER]

We use kentucky Kernel Harwood Pellets or Country Boy White Lightning Oak Wood Pellets... Both burn very well with little ash content, the only other thing I have burned lately is Hardwood Heat from tractor Supply, and I am not at all in favor of them
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