Pellet Advice

[haztech]

Hi, I just recently purchased and had a quadrafire santa fe wood pellet insert installed in my house. I am coming from baseboard heat with a normal fireplace that would typically smoke us out of the house and/or send a flaming log rolling onto the floor. I figured a wood pellet insert would be way more efficient and cheaper (baseboards were running around $200/mo to heat my 800 Sq/ft house with the use of the fireplace on weekends). I'm hoping I can use the wood pellet insert for the majority of the time and only use the baseboards when we go away for vacation.

I realize buying pellets in bulk is my best and cheapest option for fuel this winter. I have a few vendors around where I live (Annapolis Md) and am just trying to find the best pellet to use.

I have narrowed it down to:

Hamers Hot ones (read that the 2016/2017 quality of the pellets went down hill from previous years so I'm hesitant to buy a ton of them if they're going to be crappy)

American Energex pellets

and Lignetics pellets...any input on these pellets and how they run in a quadrafire santa fe will be greatly appreciated.

That being said there are other brands available, so if anyone has any input on any of the following brands working well I would greatly appreciate it!

The other brands are Power Pellets, Easy Heat, Turman, Golden, American Wood Fibers, Ultra, Easy Blaze, Wow/Blazer (somehow $349/ton...a good $100 more than most of the brands), Lignetics Gold, and LaCrete Sawmills.

 

[MtDew]

It is always advised to purchase a few bags to try first before you commit to a ton of pellets. Even someone with the exact same stove as yours may have different results.
Hamers Hot ones have been a decent pellet, I would not hesitate to buy them.
Some of the pellets you have listed are hardwood and some are a Softwood.
The trend recently is that the softwood pellets burn alittle hotter and create less ash(which means less cleaning). But the softwood can be priced slightly above the pricing of the hardwood pellets.
It all depends on what you are trying to achieve with your pellet burning. If it's strictly to save money and you don't mind more frequent cleaning of your stove, a cheaper pellets will do the job.

I have used the Easy Blaze pellets and really liked them, they are a southern yellow pine pellet. Burn hot with very low ash. i tried the LaCrete pellets last year and loved them(I bought 3 ton for this coming season)
Easy Heat and the Power pellets are low end pellets, OK heat but very ashy.

 

[haztech]

Awesome, Thanks for the reply MtDew. I was thinking that I would want to buy a ton so that way I don't get caught with my pants down when it gets cold...Not sure how quickly suppliers will sell out around me. Buying a few bags of each brand makes perfect sense though, don't wanna get stuck with crap pellets.

From what I'm seeing on the forums I will probably wait, and just grab a ton from Central PA (where my parents live) and just bring it home with me when I go visit them.

 

[Pete Zahria]

i tried the LaCrete pellets last year and loved them(I bought 3 ton for this coming season)

Good choice!

Dan

 

[Tonyray]

Good choice!

Dan

when u die I want your screen name..

 

[Pete Zahria]

when u die I want your screen name..

 

[jertola]

Awesome, Thanks for the reply MtDew. I was thinking that I would want to buy a ton so that way I don't get caught with my pants down when it gets cold...Not sure how quickly suppliers will sell out around me. Buying a few bags of each brand makes perfect sense though, don't wanna get stuck with crap pellets.

From what I'm seeing on the forums I will probably wait, and just grab a ton from Central PA (where my parents live) and just bring it home with me when I go visit them.

If those places sell by the bag as well, then just buy a few bags of each. You don't want to get stuck with a ton of garbage pellets either. I got a bad batch of of pellets last year and ended up giving them away just to get rid of them. That's what I get for buying clearance HD pellets in April.

 

[Kirkland]

I have trouble finding CURRENT reviews of wood pellets. And it varies for regions. So here's my views for the 2018-19 year

Feb 2019: I'm in Colorado

LIGNETICS in the orange lettered bag titally rock in my Enviro Mini. Best pellets I've ever used.

Sumerset, pretty darn good too but not as close to Lignetics

THE WORST: Fiber Energy Products, premium oakwood, burned sooty and a ton of black ash and gloppy charred crap all in my ashpot.Total Crap.

 

[Enviro Mini Owner]

I have trouble finding CURRENT reviews of wood pellets. And it varies for regions. So here's my views for the 2018-19 year

Feb 2019: I'm in Colorado

LIGNETICS in the orange lettered bag titally rock in my Enviro Mini. Best pellets I've ever used.

Sumerset, pretty darn good too but not as close to Lignetics

THE WORST: Fiber Energy Products, premium oakwood, burned sooty and a ton of black ash and gloppy charred crap all in my ashpot.Total Crap.

I picked up 10 bags of Green Supreme from Lowes this year to try out in my Enviro Mini for those warmer winter days we are experiencing. Am I right in saying Green Supremes are Lignetics by another name? I was happy to see they were running only about 5 to 7 degrees less than the Northern Warmth Supreme Doug Fir that I had been using this year at a higher price than I really want to continue to pay.. Of course, the Green Supreme created clinkers in the pot and required more frequent clean up, while the Northern were both really hot and clean.

I was wondering if you had tried other cheaper pellets in the Enviro Mini that perform well. My problem living in Long Island, NY, is the lousy availability of a good selection.

 

[Kirkland]

Here in Colorado, in my area, we don't have may brands to choose from (go figger'). And they constantly change mid-winter. I don't buy by-the-pallet (not in my budget) so that kinda dings me too. I have no idea if Green Supreme and Lignetics are the same makers and I have trouble keeping track of all the companies that change hands to sell out/buy out. In Fall, I just buy a few bags of what's available and test them out...then whatever runs best in my stove I buy about 20 bags at a time. That lasts me about 5 weeks as I also use my wood stove.

The Lignetics I'm using are hot, clean, very little ash, no clink-chit and are running about $5.50 per bag. I was worried as they are kinda long in length but present no probs for my auger. My Mini runs super quiet -being a older one (1994) and I also did some mods to it which keep it simple and purring like kitten.

Somersets burned nice in my Mini but they're no longer available in my area, but honestly the Ligs are better.

 

[Enviro Mini Owner]

I used Somersets a while ago. Liked them but then they were dropped by the superstores here.

 

[hockeypuck]

I picked up 10 bags of Green Supreme from Lowes this year to try out in my Enviro Mini for those warmer winter days we are experiencing. Am I right in saying Green Supremes are Lignetics by another name? I was happy to see they were running only about 5 to 7 degrees less than the Northern Warmth Supreme Doug Fir that I had been using this year at a higher price than I really want to continue to pay.. Of course, the Green Supreme created clinkers in the pot and required more frequent clean up, while the Northern were both really hot and clean.

I was wondering if you had tried other cheaper pellets in the Enviro Mini that perform well. My problem living in Long Island, NY, is the lousy availability of a good selection.

I did the same.. just bought a ton of GS.. after burning 2 ton of Luazon Northerns. Those have worked great for me for a couple of years. My Enviro dealer told me to stick with the hard wood blends on the Enviro Minis, but that could be just because he did not have a a good softwood. I did burn a 1.5 tons of Douglas furs before.. was not worth the money as compared to the Luazons.

I will let you know how these work out. I normally go to Fireside ultras at the end of the season, but HD was out of those.

 

[hockeypuck]

I am mildly impressed with the GS. Yes they are a bit more ashy than the Northerns, but my stove burn better on low than with the northerns. My guess is the GS have softer wood in them, because they are easier to start. I do have to empty the ash try in 4 or 5 days as opposed to 7, but not bad for them money.