Pellet quality...with a PB 105...How can i tell??

[iceguy4]

I have a PB 105 and have only 2 weeks experiance. Its my understanding my boiler will burn low quality pellets and the amount of ash is very low on my list of concerns. Price is very high on my list. Heres the deal...My dealer sells O'Malley for 250+/ton...HD sells north american pellets (made in Massena,NY ...dealer says always a good pellet if its made in Massena) or Stove Chow for 209/ton.
I purshased 1 1/2 tons of North americans and went back last night and for the same price they gave me stove chow and I took them thinking I would try them and they are in my stove now. Now me being new at this as well as having a boiler and not being able to tell my self I poked around the internet to kinda find out what was the best pellet for the $$$.... with no luck

so my questions are...
1) is there a way to judge (besides judge Judy) the quality of a pellet with my boiler
2) is there a website where they compare pellets
3)with my boiler is it "penny wise and pound foolish" to burn a lower quality pellet
4) what do you do if your eaten by an elephant?

Thanks in advance for your time guys and if there is a thread that covers this list it and I'll have the moderator deleate this thread

 

[iceguy4]

# 4) answer... you run around till your all pooped out

 

[wil lanfear]

If you don't have a concern with the amount of ash or more cleaning of the boiler, by all means burn the box store pellets. I've burned both quality and box store pellets for nearly 6 years now, not much difference in the quanity of pellets burned per year, although I've never compared the quanity of pellets to degree days for a given year. To confirm my thoughts, last summer, I burned only box store pellets for DHW, burned the same quanity of pellets the summer before for DHW using Okies, in the same time frame. I've burned around 8.3 tons per year using Vt Wood pellets, burned the same quanity using PA Pellets which is a lower grade pellet, no difference other than more ash and a increase in time cleaning.

 

[chuckster]

I burn the box store pellets where ever I can get them the cheapest. I have burned quality pellets but the only difference I see is the amount of ash. Heat seems to be the same to me. Even some of the quality pellets seem to give off a lot of ash. I just bought a ton of Stove Chow from HD for $198.00 and I love it. Very low ash. Merry Christmas and happy pellet hunting.

 

[iceguy4]

given a choice would you choose North american or pellet chow?

 

[wil lanfear]

given a choice would you choose North american or pellet chow?

I haven't burned the stove chow but I have burned the North American which burn pretty well in my boiler last summer.

 

[iceguy4]

If you don't have a concern with the amount of ash or more cleaning of the boiler, by all means burn the box store pellets. I've burned both quality and box store pellets for nearly 6 years now, not much difference in the quanity of pellets burned per year, although I've never compared the quanity of pellets to degree days for a given year. To confirm my thoughts, last summer, I burned only box store pellets for DHW, burned the same quanity of pellets the summer before for DHW using Okies, in the same time frame. I've burned around 8.3 tons per year using Vt Wood pellets, burned the same quanity using PA Pellets which is a lower grade pellet, no difference other than more ash and a increase in time cleaning.

how many bags of pellets do you burn during the summer for hot water. I'm concerned about excess heat in the basement. is that a problem for you?

 

[mepellet]

Harmond

Add that to ever growing list of spellings.

 

[wil lanfear]

how many bags of pellets do you burn during the summer for hot water. I'm concerned about excess heat in the basement. is that a problem for you?

I have DHW storage so I fire the boiler once a day using roughly 1/2 bag of pellets. My boiler is located in what used to be the garage under the living space of my home, have windows that I open to rid the space of heat.

 

[katman]

This will be my first full year with my PB 105. Last year I burned some lignetics green, summerville, hammers and stove chow. Started this year with stove chow and now I am burning prestologs. Both the stove chow and prestologs are from my local home depot @ $209/ton. The PB 105 seems to burn anything you put in it. Stove chow had the most ash and seemed to benefit more from daily scraping of the burn pot but all worked well and I noticed only marginal difference in burn & heat. So, I am still trying different pellets when I see a brand I haven't used yet but for the price I am liking the prestologs.

 

[Chain]

Just a thought since you live in upstate, NY. You might want to consider buying Empire brand pellets which are manufactured in Theresa, NY (just outside Watertown, NY and near St. Lawrence county). I've been burning them for about 8 years now and have had good luck with them. My only complaint is that some bags have a few more fines than others. I would suspect that isn't an issue with a pellet boiler as much as with a stand alone pellet stove (which I have), however. I mention this as it's just one other option for you and the Empire brand is also locally produced like Northern's.