So I tried some Okies this past weekend for the first time. A local stove shop in my town just got a whole trailer load and the owner said they signed a contract to be a major distributor for the area so will be getting even larger shipments soon. Based on all the glowing reviews I thought I would give'm a try. I have been burning Lignetics (Green Bags) primarily in my Pinnacle PB150 boiler, which burn great. After reading reviews of how some people have had horrible batches of the Lignetics since they recently changed their formula and brought a new factory online I though I would give the Okies a try just to see. The owner of the shop assured me I would like them better than the Lignetics so I bought 5 bags to try.
I started my comparison test with a clean stove and burned the Ligentics for 24 hours, measuring peak temperatures on the front glass of about 650 deg. Then I emptied the ash pan and measured the volume and I had about 1.5 cups of ash from burning about two bags of Lignetics. Next I burned the Okies for 24 hours, measuring peak temps of about 620 deg on the front glass. and ending with 2 cups of ash after 24 hours. A few things I noticed about the Okies were that they definitely seemed to burn up quicker and at the start of each of my pilot cycles (every 8 minutes) I would get more smoke due to the quicker burn from the previous cycle. This resulted in my glass getting caked up with black soot in an hour. I did play with the combustion blower damper a little but it didn't seem to make much difference. The Okies in each of my bags were also very small compared to the Lignetics, maybe 0.25" and I am used to seeing much longer pellets. Based on my test the Okies seemed to burn exactly the same in my boiler as the Rocky Mountain Pellets I tried in the 2009-2010 heating season, which I also had problems with soot on the glass and more ash. So based on my results I'll be sticking with the Lignetics and am really glad that I listened to advice of many that no matter what brand of pellets always try them first if you have never burned them before. I have been burning the Lignetics Green for years and started when they were 100% hardwood and this seasons hardwood/conifer mix still burns great.
I started my comparison test with a clean stove and burned the Ligentics for 24 hours, measuring peak temperatures on the front glass of about 650 deg. Then I emptied the ash pan and measured the volume and I had about 1.5 cups of ash from burning about two bags of Lignetics. Next I burned the Okies for 24 hours, measuring peak temps of about 620 deg on the front glass. and ending with 2 cups of ash after 24 hours. A few things I noticed about the Okies were that they definitely seemed to burn up quicker and at the start of each of my pilot cycles (every 8 minutes) I would get more smoke due to the quicker burn from the previous cycle. This resulted in my glass getting caked up with black soot in an hour. I did play with the combustion blower damper a little but it didn't seem to make much difference. The Okies in each of my bags were also very small compared to the Lignetics, maybe 0.25" and I am used to seeing much longer pellets. Based on my test the Okies seemed to burn exactly the same in my boiler as the Rocky Mountain Pellets I tried in the 2009-2010 heating season, which I also had problems with soot on the glass and more ash. So based on my results I'll be sticking with the Lignetics and am really glad that I listened to advice of many that no matter what brand of pellets always try them first if you have never burned them before. I have been burning the Lignetics Green for years and started when they were 100% hardwood and this seasons hardwood/conifer mix still burns great.
