Big box store Pellet comparing! List and mini review!

[jtakeman]

Jay... re "(Or maybe I am just bored and need something to do for the winter)" ....... bet your retired......that will be me in 2 years from now (only been at it 31 now) ...... lookn' forward to it for sure.... then watch out.... might be testing the testing ........ ha......CC :lol:

No not retired(still have 20+ to go), Just rather stay in where its warm. I have all my projects completed(the ones I can afford to do anyways). Because I've been getting one furlough week of a month. Going to put all my summer toys away this weekend and pull out the winter ones. You know the yearly shed swap. Maybe blow some leaves around. The I will be ready to hibrinate till spring.

What else would a pellet head do when they get bored? Search the forums and test pellets. Of coarse I get to go pellet hunting every now and then too!

Stay warm
jay

 

[GIPPER]

JUST WONDERING IF YOU COULD TEST BAREFOOTS, OKANAGANS, O'MALLEYS, NEWP(TAN). THANKS

 

[jamesdjs]

Jay, thanks for all the testing and time you've put into this.
:cheese:

 

[jtakeman]

JUST WONDERING IF YOU COULD TEST BAREFOOTS, OKANAGANS, O'MALLEYS, NEWP(TAN). THANKS

I will get to these brands. But not in these thread. I want to compare the big box brands first. Then I will get to the pellet house brands. Keep your eye out for The Best of the pellet house pellets! I have 3 of those brands already. Cubex, Spruce Pointes, and Lignetics will also be in there. Not sure about the NEWP's(maybe).

Jay, thanks for all the testing and time you've put into this.
:cheese:

I would be doing this anyway. So I am just sharing with all of you. Been really fun so far.

jay

 

[Romy]

Bayou pellets are finished. See post one for results There was a lot less ash from the Bayous than I expected. The ash was also white colored on the glass and sides.

I put the Penningtons in and I will update the heat from them tonight. Fines were 1½ cups. Ash amount when finished burning.(may take a few days)

I attached a photo of the sample bags for comparison.

I stopped at lowes on the way home and picked up 2 bags of Marth pellets. Added to the list on post 1.

Jay

1½ cups of fines?!? From one bag? Holy crap, I'm on my 5th bag of Pennington's and have hardly see any fines. I stopped scooping them and just dump the bags straight into the hopper.

 

[jtakeman]

Bayou pellets are finished. See post one for results There was a lot less ash from the Bayous than I expected. The ash was also white colored on the glass and sides.

I put the Penningtons in and I will update the heat from them tonight. Fines were 1½ cups. Ash amount when finished burning.(may take a few days)

I attached a photo of the sample bags for comparison.

I stopped at lowes on the way home and picked up 2 bags of Marth pellets. Added to the list on post 1.

Jay

1½ cups of fines?!? From one bag? Holy crap, I'm on my 5th bag of Pennington's and have hardly see any fines. I stopped scooping them and just dump the bags straight into the hopper.

I have been screening the pellets in my corn shifter. The 1½ cups is an average. I screened both bags and measured the fines and split the the total. The first bag was not that bad, But the second bag was beat to crap. That's where most of the fines came from. If the bigbox stores would use gentle handling practices, There would have been less fines. I only call it like I see it. My wife picked them up. If I had picked them out, I might have tried to get a better bag. You may have better results with another Walmart. But Ours just throw's them around like an indestructible object.

jay

 

[Romy]

...If the bigbox stores would use gentle handling practices, There would have been less fines. I only call it like I see it. My wife picked them up. If I had picked them out, I might have tried to get a better bag. You may have better results with another Walmart. But Ours just throw's them around like an indestructible object.

jay

Agreed. You take your chances buying by the bag especially from Big Box. I bought my Penningtons as full pallets from Sam's. The first handling they saw was off the freshly unrapped pallet and onto my truck/trailer. Even then, I had to swap out several bags as we got to the bottom of the pallets from being beat up and impaled by careless (and scary) fork truck drivers.

 

[tgloersen]

Burned a some Presto-Logs and Marth(Brown Bag) from Lowes last week.

The Presto's (Lignetics) had a very good amount of heat and lasted a good amount of time, but they produced allot of ash and some clinkers.

Marth did not burn as good and produced allot of ash...but i did not find any clinkers.

Somersets will be next!! Everything cam from Lowes, Seems like they are buying form many different venders this year.

 

[jtakeman]

See 1st post Penningtons results are in!

Woke up this morning and the house was rather chilly, It was cooler last night and the stove ran out of pellets. So I cleaned the stove and saved the ash from the Pennies. Tossed in the Marth and now the house is warming up.

Pennington's came in at about 20 oz. of ash. Even though I screened out the fines there was alot of saw dust in the hopper. 1st time in the test I had to vacuum my hopper out.

We have a new Leader in the average temperature. Marth's with an average of 247º. WOW!

Jay

 

[teddy1971]

I've been burning the Prestologs since mid October and the heat is great. They are actually better than the Dry Creek I used last season. There is definitly alot of ash like you said. I had to use a little muscle to clean the stains off the glass with the dry creek but with the prestologs the glass cleaning if effortless. I don't mind the ash. I'm still onmy same cleaning schedule of once every five days. and it seems to go faster since the glass cleaning is easier.

 

[jtakeman]

teddy1971,

Thats great info, Thanks for sharing it with us. I used dry creek for 3 or 4 years in my Quad. They were OK. But I did find that a few other pellets that had more heat and less ash. But at the time they were cheap. I would have to pay $270/ton today price to get them. I feel there are a few better pellets that I can get at that price.

At one time they were better than they are now. Fiber issue's have maybe got the best from them!

jay

P.S. I set up a photo bucket account and I can now link more photo's to the 1st post. Check it out.

 

[chrisasst]

See 1st post Penningtons results are in!

Woke up this morning and the house was rather chilly, It was cooler last night and the stove ran out of pellets. So I cleaned the stove and saved the ash from the Pennies. Tossed in the Marth and now the house is warming up.

Pennington's came in at about 20 oz. of ash. Even though I screened out the fines there was alot of saw dust in the hopper. 1st time in the test I had to vacuum my hopper out.

We have a new Leader in the average temperature of 247º. WOW!

Jay

Really? Penningtons? hotter than even the Rockies?

 

[jtakeman]

See 1st post Penningtons results are in!

Woke up this morning and the house was rather chilly, It was cooler last night and the stove ran out of pellets. So I cleaned the stove and saved the ash from the Pennies. Tossed in the Marth and now the house is warming up.

Pennington's came in at about 20 oz. of ash. Even though I screened out the fines there was alot of saw dust in the hopper. 1st time in the test I had to vacuum my hopper out.

We have a new Leader in the average temperature of 247º. WOW!

Jay

Really? Penningtons? hotter than even the Rockies?

Guess I worded that wrong. It's the marth's that have the 247º heat average! Sorry, I will go edit that post!

 

[dobie daddy]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/42520/

Told u they r hot. Pun intended.

 

[geek]

jay,

my local HD has a new pellet brand I've never seen, "Winter Warm" blue lettering, burns VERY HOT ..!!

glass sort of dirty for a bag and some buildup in burn pot as well as some fines, but man this pellets burn real hot.

Small pellet in size, just like the Fireside Ultra pretty much.

I'm gonna try another bag.

.

 

[jtakeman]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42520/

Told u they r hot. Pun intended.

I don't think these are the same as what you have been burning. See attachment.

jay,

my local HD has a new pellet brand I've never seen, "Winter Warm" blue lettering, burns VERY HOT ..!!

glass sort of dirty for a bag and some buildup in burn pot as well as some fines, but man this pellets burn real hot.

Small pellet in size, just like the Fireside Ultra pretty much.

I'm gonna try another bag.

.

Geek, I will add to the list but the funds are starting to dwindle. Plus I want to Do 2 other tests. I will talk about it more later. But I can say Cubex and Lignetics are in there. I plan on only testing what is close to me.

 

[krooser]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42520/

Told u they r hot. Pun intended.

I don't think these are the same as what you have been burning. See attachment.

jay,

my local HD has a new pellet brand I've never seen, "Winter Warm" blue lettering, burns VERY HOT ..!!

glass sort of dirty for a bag and some buildup in burn pot as well as some fines, but man this pellets burn real hot.

Small pellet in size, just like the Fireside Ultra pretty much.

I'm gonna try another bag.

.

Are those Marth hard or soft wood? I've burned both but can't remember the bag colors....

Geek, I will add to the list but the funds are starting to dwindle. Plus I want to Do 2 other tests. I will talk about it more later. But I can say Cubex and Lignetics are in there. I plan on only testing what is close to me.

 

[jtakeman]

krooser,

These say hardwood on the bag. They should be done tomorrow or so. I will measure the ash and post the results. But I have to say I expected much worst. They have been reported to be not so great from other members. So far my stove doesn't dislike them. Light gray glaze on the glass and good heat. There looking like the Sleeper of the bigbox brands so far.

I'll know more when the ash results are scored.

Update:

All

I added BrandY to the mix. They are another Pellet house top performer and are noted to be One of the better hardwood pellets.

Recap.

BrandX is a top performing Softwood pellet.

BrandY is a top performing Hardwood pellet.

These are like the controls of the test. They are noted to have extreme heat and very low ash. Now I just have to go find them.

If you want I can have a vote on the brands. You can tell me which softwood and hardwood to go in the test.

jay

 

[dobie daddy]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/42520/

Told u they r hot. Pun intended.

I don't think these are the same as what you have been burning. See attachment.




Their the same differnt bag. Marth also makes them for their farm&barn;.

 

[vargy]

burned any of the InstantHeat pellets yet. just curious it is the sister company of the sawmill i supervise . Got tons and tons of pellets sitting around right now couldnt make enough last year..

 

[krooser]

krooser,

These say hardwood on the bag. They should be done tomorrow or so. I will measure the ash and post the results. But I have to say I expected much worst. They have been reported to be not so great from other members. So far my stove doesn't dislike them. Light gray glaze on the glass and good heat. There looking like the Sleeper of the bigbox brands so far.

I'll know more when the ash results are scored.

Update:

All

I added BrandY to the mix. They are another Pellet house top performer and are noted to be One of the better hardwood pellets.

Recap.

BrandX is a top performing Softwood pellet.

BrandY is a top performing Hardwood pellet.

These are like the controls of the test. They are noted to have extreme heat and very low ash. Now I just have to go find them.

If you want I can have a vote on the brands. You can tell me which softwood and hardwood to go in the test.

jay

Their softwood pellet is much better IMHO. A lot less ash from my point of view.

If I had the $$$ I'd send you a pallet of pellets... several different brands... for you to try. Maybe you should ask for "pellet" donations... a bag here... a bag there... heat your house for free!!

 

[jtakeman]

burned any of the InstantHeat pellets yet. just curious it is the sister company of the sawmill i supervise . Got tons and tons of pellets sitting around right now couldnt make enough last year..

Not yet, But there on my list and in the pellet stack. I will get to them soon. Starting to get regular burns now.

krooser,

These say hardwood on the bag. They should be done tomorrow or so. I will measure the ash and post the results. But I have to say I expected much worst. They have been reported to be not so great from other members. So far my stove doesn't dislike them. Light gray glaze on the glass and good heat. There looking like the Sleeper of the bigbox brands so far.

I'll know more when the ash results are scored.

Update:

All

I added BrandY to the mix. They are another Pellet house top performer and are noted to be One of the better hardwood pellets.

Recap.

BrandX is a top performing Softwood pellet.

BrandY is a top performing Hardwood pellet.

These are like the controls of the test. They are noted to have extreme heat and very low ash. Now I just have to go find them.

If you want I can have a vote on the brands. You can tell me which softwood and hardwood to go in the test.

jay

Their softwood pellet is much better IMHO. A lot less ash from my point of view.

If I had the $$$ I'd send you a pallet of pellets... several different brands... for you to try. Maybe you should ask for "pellet" donations... a bag here... a bag there... heat your house for free!!

EDIT: Krooser, I would love to be able to sample more of what you have available in your area. Seems like there is some very good mill's out your way!

Hmmm. Test pellets and heat my house for FREE! I like it. Where do I sign up

Anyone want to sign me up as the pellet tester? Send your pellet samples here:

Pellet donations will now be excepted.

Marth pellet finished this morning. I will collect the ash after work tonight and The michigans will go in. Watch for updates in post 1.

jay

 

[tgloersen]

Tried Somersetts from Lowes. Very little Ash. VERY LITTLE HEAT, don't wast your money. Marth and presto-logs were much better. I vote for Presto-logs being the best out of the three.

 

[imacman]

......Marth and presto-logs were much better.

I burned a bag of Marth I got from Lowes, and they seemed like a decent pellet....I had no issues with them at all.

 

[mnkywrnch]

......Marth and presto-logs were much better.

I burned a bag of Marth I got from Lowes, and they seemed like a decent pellet....I had no issues with them at all.

Wow a decent pellet at a big box store,Don't let Fanks hear that.