here is what i could find about difference..also there is a study fromSkunk said:HarmanP68 said:sidenote:nothing wrong with burning softwood pellets either..its a FACT they produce MORE BTU's than hardwoods but do burn faster..so its a catch-22
My understanding was that by the time the wood is compressed into pellets, the differences between soft and hard wood are gone and they're virtually indistinguishable as far as heat output. I would suspect manufacturing quality + storage conditions along the line have a lot more to do with BTU than the type of wood.
(broken link removed)
Global Warming Reduction Benefits
From the Use of Pellet Fuel
for Residential Heating
Jim Houck and Paul Tiegs
OMNI Environmental Services
For Presentation At:
The 2007 Annual Conference
Of The Pellet Fuels Institute
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache...ood+btu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=opera
also from some other websites include this to say about the woods..this would also explain why 40lbs fills bags differently from different makers
The first and most important thing to remember is that you are buying pellets by weight NOT volume. A cord of dry hardwood vs. dry softwood weighs about 2-3 times as much. However, a pound of dry hardwood weighs the same as a pound of dry softwood.
So what counts is the heat output of each. This is where softwood wins. Below is information from a study done by the wood industry.
White Oak 8810 BTU/pound
Yellow Pine 9610 BTU/pound
A softwood pellet will produce 10-20% more BTU's per pound than hardwood depending on the species and create a lighter ash.