Northern American Pellets

[Talegas]

Hi all,

the below pictures if of my serenity after a whole week of burning Northern American Pellets. Granted, is the first time I ever burn pellets and I don't think i've found the best settings, but for what is worth, this is what I experienced.

Check out the big build up on the bottom of the firepot. And the ash pan, well, it was not overflowing but definitely it was close to be full. Heat was good. I set my thermostat for 75 degrees, that is the stove's but the room was always at 70-71. The rest of the house was between 65 and 68. Now i'll be trying Blackstone but changed the settings a bit, lower speed on air room blower, opened up a bit the intake air. Thus far the glass door is already black, while the northern ones took about 3 days before it was darkened that much.

 

[UpStateNY]

I have found that

Northern American Pellets are the worst pellets I have used since I started burning pellets in 2008. ​

The good news here is that any other pellet you try should be an improvement.

I would recommend trying 2 to 5 bags of hardwood Green Team pellets from Lowes. There a tad more expensive but it will give you some experience what better pellets are like. Note there are better pellets than Green Team. I burn softwood Pacific Clean Fire from woodpellets.com. I just tried a few bags of the Green Team from Lowes recently. It was obvious that Pacific Clean Fire produced less ash and less clunkers in the burn pot than Green Team. I just ordered another 1.5 tons of the pacific clean fire with a free delivery they were offering on President's Day.

 

[Talegas]

Hehehe, so from here on is all good then?
I did try the Greene Team (keep seeing in this forums "green team" and there IS a Green Supreme or Green Woods brand too) and they were better than the NAP. More heat, sort of same ash amount, but less build up on the bottom of the fire pot.

I also tried Blackstone and Lignetics, and from my perspective i think Lignetics were a bit hotter than the rest, yet the price per bag was not really worth it. My whole idea of using pellets is to reduce monthly cost of electric heat (eliminate it actually or replace it with pellet cost), and going for higher brands and douglas fir based pellets is rather ridiculous.. ..up to 350 per ton (that will last a month or so) without delivery charge.

I'll need to start hunting for bargains.. for this season it was a 6-7 bags per week trip to lowes and other places to try out, and seems global warming is helping me a bit as this winter was not that bad here in the NE.

 

[scotthershall]

Yeah those North American's are to be avoided unless it's all you can get. In addition to what you're seeing there they'd bridge in my hopper until I opened up the restrictor plate. They'll heat your house, but they're more work.

I'm doing what you are, using pellets to heat my home instead of electric baseboards, so I want to keep my costs low... of course, even the most expensive pellets are still cheaper than using electricity at $0.185/kwh.

For "value" pellets I've had good luck with Stove Chow from Home Depot, Nature's Own from Lowe's (couldn't find this year), Fireside Ultra from HD (again, couldn't find any this year). These produce some of the caking/clinkers that you photographed above, but not as bad nearly as the North American's in my experience. Stove Chows were my go-to this year for $5.38/bag.

The best were rebranded Maine Woods Pellets at Tractor Supply, but I was only able to find those once in Sept/Nov 2016. These were good - no caking/clinkers and less ash. TSC then switched to rebranded Currans. These produce much more ash but no cake/clinkers. Burning these now. TSC varies there suppliers so you have to check the UPC/SKU before buying to know what you're getting. TSC was charging $5.19/bag all season long no matter the actual brand.

I burned 6 bags of Hamer's Hot Ones and found them similar to Maine Woods Pellets - less ash, no cake/clinkers. Probably burned hotter like everyone says, but I don't really run my stove flat out like some do. I found these locally for $6/bag which is a really good per-bag price. I'd buy these if the supplier wasn't so far out of my way. Once I have room for two-three full skids, I'll probably get these if the price is similar. Dispense with all the shopping around I have to do to find decent pellets at the big box stores...

 

[Jigger]

North American Wood Pellets have got to be the worst stuff I've burned in my stove in the past 10 years. All winter long I've been burning Green Team and have had excellent heat from them. A few weeks ago I was in the process of running out so I looked on line and discovered that the Lowe's a 1/2 mile away from me was out. So I checked their web site and found a store that had a large supply. So I placed an online purchase and picked them up. They were Greene team. A few weeks later I was getting low again on my supply go I called my local Lowe's and they had a supply of pellets come in. So I placed another online order and when they came out to load me it was a pallet of North American. They place it in my truck and I brought them home.
Normally I clean my stove every Saturday as it is due. But after burning North American's for 4 days I had to clean the stove out because it could not hold any more ash. It was completely full. When I burn the Greene Team I have my stove feed setting on 4 and most of the time I'm running on a 3. Not with North American I have it on 6 and can not get any heat from them. The ash is light and fluffy. This stuff is absolutely junk.