Pellet Testing 6 brands

[NHMOM]

Hi,

After being away from the pellet world for 4 years I'm returning and LOVING it A LOT. Anyways I have an "09" Englander and we've been using Instant heat pellets (not hot at all) as that is what the guy had who we bought the stove from on Craigs List. Once I had played with the Heat Range and the blower and found out from the AWESOME people here that I can play with the bottom numbers as well they did burn alright and may be one for the warmer spring days. But had way to many clunkers.

Have a 3 yr old modular ranch and the stove is in the basement which is not finished. But what we did do was put a floor vent in each room along with a small fan (6") in each vent, on low speed. It does help a lot to bring the warm air up into each room.

I had gotten a large plastic strainer at K Mart ($3) and drilled bigger holes. I first put the pellets in the strainer over a bucket and just shake the strainer a couple of times. So basically a good amount of the dust ends up in the bucket instead of the stove. Yep it takes more time but to me better for the stove and the burning.

So Went on a road trip (We live out in no mans land)and bought 6 different brands of pellets. Bought 2 bags of each.

Bought Greene Team and Maines Best from Lowes in Rochester NH

Bought Energex and Corinth at Agway in Dover Nh

Bought Freedom Fuel and Fire Sides Best at Home Depot in Rochester NH

Did a complete clean out of the stove and pipes. I started testing the pellets yesterday.
Started with the Corinth Friday morning .. After playing with the numbers several times and getting through the CLOUD of dust(seriously) just from opening the bags found out they are NOT a good pellet for me or our stove. Even using the strainer did not help with all the dust.

The temp at one pont got to 67 upstairs but i was baking and cooking so it was hard to really tell. Till this mornng at 6. It was 62 in the house. BRRRRR. Had to turn on the furnance .....

Totally cleaned out the stove again.

Put in the Greene Team pellets. With in NO time at all The temp upstairs got to 68 and has stayed there all day. That's with the front door open with just using the storm door, as well as having a bedroom that is on the north side of the house that always was colder in the winter with the furnance is now toasty warm. We also went in and out of the house a lot today.

So I'm VERY happy with the Greene Team. They also are $4.18 bag.

So tomorrow I will test another pellet. But man since I got the house so nice and toasty I REALLY don't want to. But figured since I have 4 other brands to use I might as well. This way I will have a 2nd choice for hot burns and also know which ones NOT to use. lol.

Again thanks to everyone that has helped me here to understand the in's and outs of all of the different settings that can be used. All of you have been so helpful and very patient with me.

 

[smalltown]

NHMOM not much to add to what you have already said, just that you are going about it the smart way!

 

[NHMOM]

Hi Smalltown,

Only able to be smart about it, because i've lost track of how many threads I've read here over and over again. I have a notebook with SO many notes, types of pellets, settings YIKES.... lol. But I'm determined that no pellets nor a pellet stove will BEAT me...

All of you have gottem me SO additcted to the pellet testing and the ins and outs of pellets and the stoves. When I bought the Englander, I thought it was good stove, but I've come to realize that I have a really great stove.

 

[NHMOM]

Well I used and LOVED both bags of the Greene Team. The temp all night in the house was kept at 69. This morning at like 10 I put in a bag of Maines Best. So far I love them as well as the temp is still at 69. No clinkers about the same amount of ash as the Greene Team. So now I have 2 good hot burning pellets.

Later tonight I'll put in the 2nd bag of Maines Best. Then tomorrow morning I'll try oen of the other brand of pellets.

 

[imacman]

Glad to hear that the Maines Best (Maines Choice?) burned well for you, but DO finish burning at least 2 bags in the stove before making final determinations.

There have been MANY people that have done what you have (burn just 1 bag), decide they are "great", and then buy a ton, only to find out later that maybe they really aren't so "great" after all. Not saying these aren't....if they are "Maine's Choice", then they got good reviews last year.

Probably a good idea to clean the stove out between each brand too....keep the "testing" conditions equal for all the brands.

Keep us up-to-date on how it goes.

 

[NHMOM]

Hi Inferno,

Yep I meant Maines Choice. And yes when reading all the posts etc here, I always make sure I do a good cleaning inbetween each brand and burn both bags of each brand.