Wood Pellets

[Blue Thunder]

I am getting ready to buy my wood pellet supply for next heating season. Those of us that use pellets know that the pellet "technology" has come a long way in a few short years. The new "super premium" standard appears to be what we all should be looking for unless you have a lower end stove or shop just for economy pricing.

Woodpellets.com currently has CleanFire Pacific pellets at a reasonable price. Has anyone had any experience with this brand and if so, would you care to share? I have always used New England Pellets out of Jaffrey NH in my Harmon Stove. Thanks.

Blue Thunder

[welchislandman]

I have used woodpellets.com for 3 years and they are great.
I have the best luck with the cleanfire product that is hardwood. I recently tried the softwood pellets and used 40% more and did not burn as hot. I am back to the cleanfire with great results.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by welchislandman

I have used woodpellets.com for 3 years and they are great.
I have the best luck with the cleanfire product that is hardwood. I recently tried the softwood pellets and used 40% more and did not burn as hot. I am back to the cleanfire with great results.

So the way I see it, the Cleanfire Pacific (super premium)is the softwood blend 8200btu/hr and the Cleanfire Hardwood (premium)is 7800btu/hr but you say you used more of the Pacific, correct? Thanks for the reply!

BT

[Slickcraft]

After three years of burning pellets I can say that there is a wide range of quality among what are rated as premium quality. That even goes for different batches of the same brand.

The best we ever had were softwood from Corinth Maine and softwood from NE Pellet that had come in bulk form western Canada and then bagged in Mass. All were high heat, low ash and low sand. Softwood pellets have the same 8200+ BTU per pound as hardwood pellets and often with less ash.

The worst were some hardwood from Walmart, Pendleton maybe. Lots of ash and sand.

We tried the local softwood brand Lakes Region Pellets made in Barnstead; good heat output, low ash but too much sand in the two sample bags we tried.

Last winter we burned Greene Team hardwood from Lowe's as it was all we could get. They worked out pretty well, moderate ash and very low sand. So I brought 4 ton home last fall, two separate shipments. The first two ton were good like last year. We just started the 3rd ton; high ash content and moderate sand. The pellets are shorter in length and lighter in color; probably form a different plant.

I normally try some sample bags prior to bringing home a ton but got burned on the last two ton when I depended on prior experience with a brand.

[Rattlesnake Guy]

Do you know if the sand is "inside" the pellets or on the surface? Does it settle to the bottom of the bag or do you find it in the ash?

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

Do you know if the sand is "inside" the pellets or on the surface? Does it settle to the bottom of the bag or do you find it in the ash?

What I call "sand" is fine grain impurities mixed in with the sawdust or chips prior to forming the pellets so they are imbedded in the pellets. When the pellets are burned the impurities will partially fuse form a pumice like layer in the bottom of the burn pot. It is easy to clean out and a small amount is not a real problem. However a lot is a problem as it will clog-up the burn pot.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

The best we ever had were softwood from Corinth Maine and softwood from NE Pellet that had come in bulk form western Canada and then bagged in Mass. All were high heat, low ash and low sand. Softwood pellets have the same 8200+ BTU per pound as hardwood pellets and often with less ash.

I have used New England Pellets exclusively for 14 years and don't even really know why I'm considering a change other than pricing. I have a large group of friends that get together and coop purchase about 50 tons a year. The biggest issue is we have to arrange the trucking from NH (we have the trucks and trailers). By the time you figure in fuel and time spent, we feel like it was worth it, but in all reality it probably wasn't.

BT

[CrawfordCentury]

We heat with wood so I can't be of any direct assistence (could never quite abide the notion of burning that stuff that looks like bunny food). That said, you might want to pop on over to hearth.com. There's a whole subforum dedicated to pellet heat.

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/

I pop in over there on occasion and post inside of the wood heat forums. Nice folks. Very passionate about wood (and pellet) heat.

[dmjr]

This is the second season we have used our pellet stove and the quality of the pellets compared to last year has been terrible. We have had several problems (going to error code, auger jambs, etc) with the stove this year. After talking with reps from the manufacture, they attributed the problems to the low quality pellets this year.

[nvtngtxpyr]

We use a wood stove for supplemental heat. I noticed a few products on the 'net' that allow you to burn pellets in a wood stove. Most are simple steel baskets that allow air to circulate around the pellets, but they are pretty pricey.

Recently, after getting a good layer of coals, I've been adding a few cupfuls of wood pellets every hour or two through the top loading door. Seems to work fine and pellets appear to be more economical than cordwood. Any caveats that I should keep in mind?

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by dmjr

This is the second season we have used our pellet stove and the quality of the pellets compared to last year has been terrible. We have had several problems (going to error code, auger jambs, etc) with the stove this year. After talking with reps from the manufacture, they attributed the problems to the low quality pellets this year.

What pellets are you using? What brand of stove?

BT

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

I have used New England Pellets exclusively for 14 years and don't even really know why I'm considering a change other than pricing. I have a large group of friends that get together and coop purchase about 50 tons a year. The biggest issue is we have to arrange the trucking from NH (we have the trucks and trailers). By the time you figure in fuel and time spent, we feel like it was worth it, but in all reality it probably wasn't.

BT

Thanks to all who have replied to this point. I really thought we had more pellet stove owners here.
My research this weekend has turned up a very interesting tidbit. The pellets that are available here in New England through woodpellets.com sold under the Cleanfire brand are actually New England(brand)wood pellets. The "hardwood" ones are the NEWP (beige bag red ink), they are bagged for Cleanfire at the NEWP NY facility. The "softwood" ones are the "Pinnacle" brand from British Coumbia that NEWP bags in NY under their "Green Supreme" name (beige bag, green ink). Interesting.

Blue Thunder

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by nvtngtxpyr

We use a wood stove for supplemental heat. I noticed a few products on the 'net' that allow you to burn pellets in a wood stove. Most are simple steel baskets that allow air to circulate around the pellets, but they are pretty pricey.

Recently, after getting a good layer of coals, I've been adding a few cupfuls of wood pellets every hour or two through the top loading door. Seems to work fine and pellets appear to be more economical than cordwood. Any caveats that I should keep in mind?

A cord of red oak contains about 23.6 million BTUs and weighs about 1.5 tons. If you need to buy your firewood, you're looking at about $250/per cord.

As noted earlier, I don't mess with pellets, so I don't know what the cost is per ton. But the above info might help you do the math.

One thing to be wary of is the potential for flue buildup if you don't spread the bunny food evenly enough. You might get some smouldering and the incomplete combusion in the form of smoke might lead to a little creosote.

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by CrawfordCentury

A cord of red oak contains about 23.6 million BTUs and weighs about 1.5 tons. If you need to buy your firewood, you're looking at about $250/per cord.

As noted earlier, I don't mess with pellets, so I don't know what the cost is per ton. But the above info might help you do the math.

One thing to be wary of is the potential for flue buildup if you don't spread the bunny food evenly enough. You might get some smouldering and the incomplete combusion in the form of smoke might lead to a little creosote.

At about 8,200 BTU per lb a ton of premium wood pellets contains about 16.4 million BTU at a current cost of about $245/ton. If you buy green firewood and stack/season it yourself then firewood is less expensive per gross BTU.

Pellet stoves burn very low moisture content fuel at high temp so the gap with wood stoves is closed somewhat by higher net efficiency but burning quality firewood still has an edge in price. Burning pellets in a thermostat controlled pellet stove also has has an edge in convenience. Burning pellets in a wood stove gives you convenient dry fuel but not the efficiency of a high burn temp pellet stove.

Having burned 5 cord a year for 28 years, that is 140 cord cut split stacked and carried, I decided to go with the ease of the pellet stove. We still have a wood stove for heat over on the island so we get to enjoy that spring and fall.

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

At about 8,200 BTU per lb a ton of premium wood pellets contains about 16.4 million BTU at a current cost of about $245/ton. If you buy green firewood and stack/season it yourself then firewood is less expensive per gross BTU.

Pellet stoves burn very low moisture content fuel at high temp so the gap with wood stoves is closed somewhat by higher net efficiency but burning quality firewood still has an edge in price. Burning pellets in a thermostat controlled pellet stove also has has an edge in convince. Burning pellets in a wood stove gives you convenient dry fuel but not the efficiency of a high burn temp pellet stove.

Having burned 5 cord a year for 28 years, that is 140 cord cut split stacked and carried, I decided to go with the ease of the pellet stove. We still have a wood stove for heat over on the island so we get to enjoy that spring and fall.

Thanks for crunching the numbers - about what I'd expect in terms of a BTU per dollar breakdown.

A note to my previous post - I referenced red oak, which is about the densest hardwood species that grows prevalently around here. Chances are someone buying their cordwood is going to be getting a delivery of mixed hardwoods containing species of less density - birch, soft maple (red opposed to sugar), and maybe even a stick or 2 of popple. So that would skew the cordwood value downward a bit.

For me, I cut, split, and stack my own stash. I enjoy the work and don't charge myself for my own labor. Keeping the house warm and seeing the oil truck drive by without stopping at our place is payment enough.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

At about 8,200 BTU per lb a ton of premium wood pellets contains about 16.4 million BTU at a current cost of about $245/ton. If you buy green firewood and stack/season it yourself then firewood is less expensive per gross BTU.

Pellet stoves burn very low moisture content fuel at high temp so the gap with wood stoves is closed somewhat by higher net efficiency but burning quality firewood still has an edge in price. Burning pellets in a thermostat controlled pellet stove also has has an edge in convenience. Burning pellets in a wood stove gives you convenient dry fuel but not the efficiency of a high burn temp pellet stove.

Having burned 5 cord a year for 28 years, that is 140 cord cut split stacked and carried, I decided to go with the ease of the pellet stove. We still have a wood stove for heat over on the island so we get to enjoy that spring and fall.

Very few of todays pellet brands give you the 8200 btu's, and if they do, it's a softwood or softwood blend. It may be hotter but you use more pellets. My personal preference is a premium grade hardwood pellet. (I have a Harman stove). Our group is looking at a bulk purchase of the aforementioned hardwood pellets at $219 delivered. Not fantastic but still pretty good.

Your point above regarding efficiency is well taken. A wood stove is only about 60% efficient while todays pellets stoves are 80%-85% efficient. I heated with 4 cords of wood per year for a long time. Pouring the 40 lb bag into the hopper once sure beats touching each piece of wood seven times from start to finish of the process.

BT