Thx in advance,

Dana

Stay warm,

Dana

Since the feed rate is controlled by the auger you wont burn more softwood pellets than hardwood.

Try not to think in terms of a true wood stove, where softwood is tabboo.

Thank you for the information,

Dana

I've used the Bio-Plus pellets from Walmart, Stove Chow from Home Depot, and Liginetics pellets from Lowes - and they all seem to give about the same amt of heat. The difference has been in ash and cleaning. The Walmart brand gives much less ash and clinkers; but the residue it does leave seems to fuse itself to the firepot, and I have to use a small sharp wood chisel to scrape it away every few days.

The Stove Chow and Liginetics brands leave more clinkers, but they tend to "clump" together and they seem a bit easier to remove from the firepot.

No big deal either way. I use all 3 brands; it just depends on what store I'm closest to when I need pellets as to what brand I buy.

I have burned the Bio Plus pellets ($2.89 a bag at Sam's Club but am told that the supplier, Pennington, is no longer in business). These don't seem to burn as well but have less ash but also don't put out as much heat.

With more heat put out you can run your auger slower thus using less pellets. At least that's the way it works for us.

Best I have found is a product named "Dry Creek" produced from hardwoods here in upstate New York. Priced at less than $4 a bag they are a good buy.

they do - slightly. the problem is everyone is used to thinking of hardwoods and softwoods in terms of how much heat they give per chord- a VOLUME measurement; this thinking becomes uselees for pellets because they are sold by (fairly dry) WEIGHT. when measured by weight all wood has almost the same btu/lb (providing its been proporly seasoned, i'm not talking about wet wood here). the only variation is that some softwoods such as fir trees have lots of pitch which burns very hot and increases the btu content of the wood higher than it would otherwise be.

If you can find it, burn it.

RE: softwood vs hardwood. I researched this to death a couple years ago and found that there was actually a slight advantage to softwood pellets as far as btu output. That surprised me. I've tried soft pine, hardwood, fir etc. pellets. Found that the quality of the pellet - consistent sizing and minimal fines - seems to be a better criteria. I never could snse a heat difference, but can see a difference in the way the pellets burn. Bad pellets will lead to an inconsistent feed and widely varying flame. They can also lead to more ash buildup. I see this is I burn stuff from the local grocery store under the Western Family brand. So I generally go by price + quality. Mostly buring Lignetics, though I am trying out Blazer by West Or. Wood Products this year (fir and cedar). They smell better than Lignetics, but seem to burn about the same. Check out Pellet Fuels Institute for more info. They have a btu calculator, supplier info, etc.

A pound is a pound is a pound.

This is physics not marketing.

I threw in a link to some information between the two.

I'm still burning the softwood pellets so what I did was to stick a meat thermometer in one of the output tubes. It said 150 degrees F. I have it running at only the 2nd level out of 5. When I start with the hardwood I'll check it again. I know this doesn't sound very scientific but at least I should get an idea. As far as ash & clinkers, well that's another issue.

To sum it up, I really think that the Pennington hardwood pellets are the better choice from a price standpoint. Performance is about equal & maintenance is a little higher, but the high difference in cost, to me, well worth it!

Some background - Pennington has five wood pellet plants in the East and Midwest of the US. The pellet mills in Missouri and Virginia have been in operation for many years and make an excellent product. In the last 12 months, three new pellet mills have been built to help alleviate the pellet shortages from previous years. We have experienced some quality problems from these plants as they were started up. Pennington Seed has high standards for all of their products, and we regularly test our wood pellets for ash, length, fines, and BTU. Despite these tests and our best efforts, it appears some sub-standard pellets from these new plants made it into the marketplace.

If you have recently purchased Pennington Wood Pellets and not satisfied with them, you can contact Customer Service at 1-800-658-0410 or email mauge@penningtonseed.com. Please note the lot number on the bag (usually embossed near the top seal of the bag), where and when you bought them, and what the issues are with the product.

Below are some comments concerning other questions raised by several Bloggers on other sites:

Pellet storage - When possible, store wood pellets inside, out of the weather. If kept dry pellets can be stored from season to season. If this is not possible and you must store outside, keep product off the ground to prevent moisture from wicking from below, and cover with a tarp to protect from rain, snow and sun.

Small holes in bags - The small holes along the top seal are added to assist bagging and palletizing of the product during the manufacturing process. These holes allow air to escape after sealing. In the absence of these holes, the trapped air would blow-out the seals when product is stacked on a pallet.

Brands - Bio Plus and Nature’s Heat are both manufactured by Pennington. Nature’s Heat is a new brand launched in 2007 and is meant to replace the older Bio-Plus brand.

Customer Service – Pennington Seed

Jim

Jim

How are the pellets working for you now? BDB

Anybody who thinks this may be a sales gimmick, believe me it's not!!! I have never seen a company so responsive to a product issue!!!!! I recommend them highly *****!!

Jim

If you are having clinker problems, this could be due to sand and mineral content (dirt in the wood) that is fused at the higher temperatures of the pellet burn in the pot. Try a better brand. Look for the symbol of the Pellet Fuels Institute as an indicator of quality. Pellets that meet the standards of quality of the PFI will be cleaner and less likely to form clinkers in a properly installed and adjusted pellet stove.

This summer I purchased a Dell-Pointe Europa 75. This stove pyrolizes the wood: it creates a heat bed that gasifies the wood. Air is mixed just above the heat bed allowing combustion at high temperatures (above 1200 degrees) while the pellet fuel pyrolizes at about 500 degrees so that any sand that may be present does not melt and form clinkers. It yields better than 85% thermal conversion with very low ash and fly ash. I am very impressed with ease and reliability of the Dell-Pointe Europa 75. It even has a battery backup to keep the stove running for over 5 hours if there is a power outage.

When it is 20 degrees outside, I can keep my 1500 square foot Cape Cod style home toasty warm with 60 pounds of softwood pellets for a 24 hour period. With oil at $2.50/gallon, heating with oil vs. heating with softwood pellets at $300/ton the heating costs are just about the same. But with wood pellets, I release less carbon into the atmosphere - more than a ton less per heating season. And, the ash goes into my compost heap, making the compost just slightly more alkaline ... great for my azeleas.

Between what is available in most big box stores there probably isn't a huge difference.. but there are some woods that in pellet form would probably be very impressive, especially for them extremely cold days/nights.