Wood Pellets

[Greene's Basin Girl]

We just purchased a Harmon pellet stove. I was wondering if anyone has tried different wood pellets and what brand they like? We plan to purchase them by the bag.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Greene's Basin Girl

We just purchased a Harmon pellet stove. I was wondering if anyone has tried different wood pellets and what brand they like? We plan to purchase them by the bag.

Hi GBG;

Honestly with a Harman pellet stove you can really burn any of the brands out there! I have pretty much tried them all (what local stores sell) and the Harman burns them all very well! The biggest difference I have seen is the amount of ash they make when burnt which requires more stove cleanings.

This year I am burning "Green SUPREME, aNd they seem very good and produce very little ash. They are a hardwood pellet.

I have tried some of the softwood pellets out there but they seem to produce three times the amount of ash.

Lowes also sells "Maine's Choice" which I have burned and found them to be OK but not as good as Green Team. They also sell one called "Green Supreme" which I did not like because of the amount of ash it produced.

You will love your Harman!!!

Dan

[Slickcraft]

The bottom feed Harmon stoves will burn most anything, we have a P-43.

Last winter we burned 4 ton Green Supreme purchased at Lowe's. They are made by New England pellets and are a good local product. http://greensupremewoodpellets.info/ This year I bought another 2 ton at Lowe's for $239/ton prior to the price jumping up to $279.

Then I got 2 ton of Fireside Ultra at Home depot for $239/ton. Have used them in the past and found them to be a good product.

I prefer a hardwood/softwood blend. Unlike burning cord wood, a bag of pellets is 40 lbs of dried compressed cellulose if made from hardwood, softwood or a blend. Essentially the same BTU per lb. Most dealers charge more for 100% hardwood pellets, they are playing to bias that most prior cord wood burners have for hardwood. Your Harman will burn a blend just fine, automatically adjusting the feed rate and combustion fan rate to get an optimum burn.

[DickR]

GBG, if you haven't already done so, look into hearth.com, a forum-based site that deals with burning most anything. There is a subforum for pellet stoves there you might find interesting as a source of information. Of course, pellet sourcing is a regional thing, but then you'll find pellet stove owners from all over the country on that site.

[thinkxingu]

^ this. There's a lot of good information there.

[AmantiDelLago]

We have had good luck with the Green Supreme also. I didn't realize that Lowe's had gone up on the per ton price.

[Greene's Basin Girl]

I want to thank everybody for their suggestions. It is greatly appreciated. This forum is such a great place to ask a question!

[ishoot308]

As an fyi... I just finished burning my 22nd bag of Green SUPREME pellets this year and did the first stove cleaning because the ash pan was full. I would consider that above average for most of the pellet brands I have tried.

Dan

[Loub52]

I have a Harmon fireplace insert and have burned LG pellets exclusively for 4 seasons. I can go 4 days between cleaning the ash pan during the coldest winter days, heating an 1800 square foot house to 68 degrees.
I currently purchase mine through woodpellets.com , or learn more via an internet search for "granules lg"

[Blue Thunder]

I have owned two HarmAn (sorry I get sensitive about the wrong spelling of the brand name ) stoves over the course of 19 years. I still run my Invincible (19 years) and a P61A. As others have said, they will burn just about anything so you don't need to pay high prices for pellets if you don't want to. Unfortunately last years pellet shortage has led to higher than "normal" prices this year. HD, Lowes, and Tractor Supply all seem to have a good supply. I participate actively in the hearth.com "Pellet Mill" forum. A wealth of knowledge there.
A clarification from an earlier post...Green Team pellets are manufactured in Pennsylvania and are a great pellet, just too expensive for my taste. Green Supreme is a New England Wood pellet product based out of Jaffrey NH but with two other mills in NY.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

A clarification from an earlier post...Green Team pellets are manufactured in Pennsylvania and are a great pellet, just too expensive for my taste. Green Supreme is a New England Wood pellet product based out of Jaffrey NH but with two other mills in NY.

Greene Team pellets, as least the ones I bought at Lowes, are in fact manufactured by the New England pellet company in Jaffrey. I don't know if they bought the name brand from the the PA company but it is clearly stated on the side of the bag that they are manufactured by New England Pellets.

Dan

[Slickcraft]

New England Pellet may have bought or licensed the Greene Team name however the Greene Team web site still lists Pennsylvania:
http://www.greeneteampellets.com/#!o...ny/galleryPage

So probably a license agreement with NE Pellet.

We burned Greene Team for 2 winters, a few years ago. Those came from Penn and were very good. When Lowe's jacked the price way above the price for the Green Supreme blend (New England Pellet), I made the switch.

I do keep records of dates the P-43 was cleaned and cumulative # of bags burned. With Green Supreme my average is 18 bags between cleanings with a range of 15 to 22. I clean when the ash pan is full or close to it which is usually 18 bags. Works out to about once every 2 weeks.

[wynndog]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Greene Team pellets, as least the ones I bought at Lowes, are in fact manufactured by the New England pellet company in Jaffrey. I don't know if they bought the name brand from the the PA company but it is clearly stated on the side of the bag that they are manufactured by New England Pellets.

Dan

Ah.... some spell GREEN...some spell GREENE
HAR MAN

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by wynndog

Ah.... some spell GREEN...some spell GREENE
HAR MAN

Greene Team is simply the name of the product.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Greene Team pellets, as least the ones I bought at Lowes, are in fact manufactured by the New England pellet company in Jaffrey. I don't know if they bought the name brand from the the PA company but it is clearly stated on the side of the bag that they are manufactured by New England Pellets.

Dan

Hey Dan. Take a pic of that Greene Team bag and post it here and I will eat my words. Greene Team is a white bag with green lettering made in PA. Green Supreme is a fairly clear bag where you can see the pellets and is a NEWP product.
http://greensupremewoodpellets.info/index.html
http://www.greeneteampellets.com/?q=node

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Hey Dan. Take a pic of that Greene Team bag and post it here and I will eat my words. Greene Team is a white bag with green lettering made in PA. Green Supreme is a fairly clear bag where you can see the pellets and is a NEWP product.
http://greensupremewoodpellets.info/index.html
http://www.greeneteampellets.com/?q=node

No reason to eat your words...You are quite correct and I stand corrected!

I had a couple bags of Greene Team left over from last year and thought that's what I was burning this year. Low and behold when I went to look at my pellet stack I am actually burning Green Supreme! I only had two tons staring at me in the face since this summer!

I edited all my misinformed posts above to reflect the correct name!

I will say that this years Green Supreme is burning much cleaner than the few bags I tried last year. Didn't care much for them last year...

Sorry everyone!!

Dan

[bigdog]

I'm a first time owner of a pellet stove, a Napleaon NPI45.

I'm impressed with the heat output, however, somewhat disappointed with the volumn of pellets being consumed by this stove. I'm running the stove on 'manual' mode, as I don't have a separate thermostat connected which would enable me to run by temperature setting. However, I can control the auger feed rate, which I have set at minimum. The auger appears tp be feeding pellets at the rate of 10-11 second intervals. Napolean service rep. says that's about correct !

It's really hasn't been cold lately, and the stove is consuming a lot of pellets each day? Not sure what the average pellet consumption is suppose to be, but have read owner's manual which says you can get 30+ hr burn with 1 bag of pellets.

Have contacted Naploean directly, and they don't provide much support!
iShoot308 posted "he was on his 22nd bag of Green SUPREME pellets this year and did the first stove cleaning". I find that simply AMAZING !"

Also, I have to clean out the burnpot out daily, and the firebox after about 3-4 bags burned. Cleaning the firebox is difficult, because there is no removable 'ash drawer'. One has to shutdown the stove, and vac. out internal parts.

FYI, I burned 2 bags of 'Green Supreme' from Lowes' and really liked them.
That experience, and with the recommnedations of others, I ordered 1 ton of N.E. Pellets, figuring that both brands were mad by the same company. N.E. is made in Jaffrey and another location in NY. Not sure how you would tell where made, but saw posting on other Forums' that the pellets made in NY. were not the same quality as NH made. and folks were complaining. The N.E. pellets IMHO are inferior to the Green Supreme. They appear to be throwing lots of ash, and I have to clean the stove almost daily. Not good !

At the rate the stove is consuming pellets, my 1 ton isn't going to last too long. Think I'll burn oil for now and save the pellets for Jan-Feb when it gets really cold.

Going out to Hearth.com as Blue Thunder suggested for more info.

Any feedback from Forum pellet stove owners is appreciated for this newbie !

Thanks,
Bigdog

[ishoot308]

Bigdog;

Don't use my pellet consumption as a comparison. I currently only live at that specific house part time (3-4 nights per week).

My Harman P-43 consumes 2 bags per 24 hours when heating during cold weather. However, that is completely heating a home that is over 3000 sq ft with no help! I set the temp to 75 degrees and the feed rate to 3 and never touch it.

I originally bought the stove to heat just the finished basement but it worked so well I decided to open the doors and heat the upstairs with it as well.

My stove is in a finished basement where I keep it at 75 degrees. The main living floor is usually around 66-67 degrees. The upstairs bedrooms are usually around 62 degrees. The home is only a few years old and very well insulated with spray on insulation and high quality low energy windows and doors.

When I live there full time, I anticipate using 4 tons + of pellets per season and very little oil except for hot water. Last winter proved this could be done easily. The savings is dramatic over the oil burner.

Dan

[Slickcraft]

BD,

In 6 years of burning pellets I average 190 bags a heating season. The stove runs full time in the heating season, fully heating the 1st floor and helping on the 2nd floor of a 2,100 sq ft house.

I average about 1.25 bags per day, less on warmer days and more on cold days. The HarmAn P-43 runs on a thermostat setting keeping the 1st floor at 72.

I burn about 600 gal of oil less than when it was oil heat only. At today's price of oil at about $3/gal, that would be about $1,800 less in oil cost. This year I paid $239/ton for pellets so 190 bags would be 3.8 ton or $908.

My conclusion is that even with pellet prices up and oil price down this year, I am still ahead burning pellets. Besides, we like the feel of the stove heat in the LR.

BTW, I used to have a top feed pellet stove that needed cleaning once a day. So I really like the P-43 every 2 weeks cleaning cycle.

[bigdog]

Thanks Slickcraft and iShoot308 for your feedback, greatly appreciated !

I hear a theme hear..... Harmon P-43.......
I would have purchased a free-standing stove, but we wanted a fireplace insert model, for the asthetics.... Maybe should have thought that out more for various reasons, especially the loading door access.

Stove is located in Family room, at one of house, 2200 SF Colonial 15 yrs old, which was well insulated for it's time. Insualtion is typical Builder Owens roll insulation, didn't have an option. If I had to do again, would apply spray insulation, but that's a mute issue now.....

Any thoughts about the pellets I'm buring?
N.E. Pellets versus Green Supreme ? Have burned both with different results.

Thanks,
Bigdog

[NHskier]

Hi Bigdog,

We have the same insert as you, and have been running it for the past week with the colder weather. Running at a setting of about 4 we use roughly one bag per day.

I go 3-4 days between full cleanings. The ash pot will fill up before the side areas though the air throughput will also affect how quickly that happens.

Softwood pellets will produce more heat but burn faster than hardwood so it's a bit of a trade-off.

[secondcurve]

Originally Posted by NHskier

Hi Bigdog,

We have the same insert as you, and have been running it for the past week with the colder weather. Running at a setting of about 4 we use roughly one bag per day.

I go 3-4 days between full cleanings. The ash pot will fill up before the side areas though the air throughput will also affect how quickly that happens.

Softwood pellets will produce more heat but burn faster than hardwood so it's a bit of a trade-off.

Has anyone used Vermont Wood Pellets? They are a softwood pellet which I am told have higher BTUs and are a cleaning burner fuel with less ash. They are expensive and hard to find but I'm told they are worth it. Any thoughts? Thanks

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by secondcurve

Has anyone used Vermont Wood Pellets? They are a softwood pellet which I am told have higher BTUs and are a cleaning burner fuel with less ash. They are expensive and hard to find but I'm told they are worth it. Any thoughts? Thanks

Excellent pellet, very low ash, hard to find, and yes pricey. But in this case, it's a "you get what you pay for" pellet. Worth the money to some but those of us with HarmAns don't have to spend the premium price because our stoves will burn anything.

[bigdog]

To NHSkier.....

Sent you a PM please read.

Thanks,
Bigdog

[Greene's Basin Girl]

My sister is burning with Green Team Supreme Platinum this year and she really likes them. Of course she has not used them much because it has been so warm. I am wondering if anyone else is using them???

[Winnisquamer]

Originally Posted by Greene's Basin Girl

My sister is burning with Green Team Supreme Platinum this year and she really likes them. Of course she has not used them much because it has been so warm. I am wondering if anyone else is using them???

I use the same. No issues here, clean burning and I find I clean my stove less frequently than with other brands. I tried a bunch of different brands and ended up liking these

Ive easily picked them up at Lowes each year.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Greene's Basin Girl

My sister is burning with Green Team Supreme Platinum this year and she really likes them. Of course she has not used them much because it has been so warm. I am wondering if anyone else is using them???

Yes, I am burning the same brand this year and have found them to be an excellent pellet. The best I have used so far! They are a little more money but well worth the difference in my opinion as they have 1/2 the ash and I can go twice as long between cleanings. I don't find that they throw any more heat than other brands but then again never did see much of a difference in pellets in that regard...

Dan

[Slickcraft]

Originally Posted by Greene's Basin Girl

My sister is burning with Green Team Supreme Platinum this year and she really likes them. Of course she has not used them much because it has been so warm. I am wondering if anyone else is using them???

I have used Greene Team hardwood pellets in the past and they were very good. The price has really climbed over the past few years, today $349/ton at Lowe's. Much more expensive than burning oil which is less that $2/gal now.

About 3 years ago I switched to Green Supreme which is a blend made by New England Pellet Co. I have had very good luck with it in the Harman P43 and it has run about $50/ton less than Greene Team. A different blend from Maine was $299/ton today. I got my 4 ton of Green Supreme in Sept when it was $246/ton (with my 5% Lowe's card discount) and that was still more expensive than burning oil. Due to the long steep driveway we can't get oil delivered in the winter so soon it will be the pellet stove 24/7.