My Top 3 shoot-out: Hamer Hot Ones Vs Cubex Vs Oakangan

[jtakeman]

I think the covers on the lot are fine. I helped the loader guy unbound my skid. The 'tarp' was 100% intact and the inner plastic wrap was tight all the way down the sides. Even the skid was a full bottom skid.

Oakies in a cubex-like bag = clear winner and i'll probably never buy another brand, unless there is a massive price difference (ie, SIH becomes available in the area at $100 less a ton). If J didn't get you a bag, let me know and i'll ship one off to you.

I have cubies and a few other tougher/thicker bags on the way to him. Shipped them out this morning, So he'll have them by next weekend.

And im sure you scrounged every pellet or fine from each bag

BTU has enough of his own pellets to play with(I'm sure he does too!). He doesn't need any from my stash! hehe!

 

[Revivere]

I love my O'kanagans ......What a fine Irish pellet it tis!
I have gotten used to the Irish Spring smell too. Son loads pellets in cellar and only a few bottom bags on pallet are ripped sometimes.
It burns hot and clean and my Lennox Winslow loves them also.
Burned NewP last season and I was very disappointed in every measure.
Probably bad batch but it will be awhile before I give NewP another try.
As long as price stays reasonable I am a happy consumer of that "Fine Irish Pellet" O'kanagans!!


P.S. Female pellet pig suggestion ....put some cinnamon or pumpkin spice in those suckers.

Better than a scented candle .........keep the house warm and make it smell good at same time....what a winning combination

 

[briansol]

woohoo! someone with the same stove as me!

I've tried new englands a few times and they have never been good (let alone great) nor worth their price tag.

 

[Revivere]

I like my stove..you? It was the best I could afford at time and I am happy with it so far.
I was very surprised and disappointed with New P's.
They did not burn well in my stove.
So far Okanagans burn the best in my stove.
Maine Woods, Apple Country and PA Pellets came with the stove when I bought it.
While the Apple Country smelled nice they all burned dirtier and lower heat output than Okanagans.
The biggest surprise and disappointment were the New Englands that were the most expensive and I had to mix to burn.
The stove did not burn those well.
I just love Okanagans because I love the heat and I love the easy clean up,
BTU needs to but some nice smelly stuff in it in IMHO.

 

[briansol]

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't buy this stove. With what I know now, I'm sure I could have gotten a better model from a competing brand for the same or less price.

The new england's burned fine for me... they were just very dirty and didn't put out much heat.

 

[warmncozy]

I'm surprised to hear that the Okie's are suppose to smell like pine. I actually had to buy a ton of another brand because my wife and I were a little embarrassed of the smell when people came over. Did I get a bad batch?
They smell nothing like pine or any other wood that I know of. I love the heat and actually don't mind the bags at all, but just can't stand the smell.

 

[warmncozy]

Every now and again, people will report they get a smell that they don't like from the Okies and it seems like we will get fibre in from the mill that is referred to as "cat spruce" which has an unpleasant smell to it (OK it smells like cat pee)...this seems to be very rare, but I guess it does happen. I have about 65-70 bags here in my garage and it smells like a Xmas tree in there. Most went thru the summer here in Phoenix and my garage in July can get over 130 degrees in there ( I swear you can bake pies in the middle of July in there) and the pine smell was wonderful. Most people think the smell is great. I have been told, people will actually put some in a bowl in their homes for a air freshener....unless they get one of those loads.

The only smell we put in the pellets is the one that Mother Nature provided us to start with and you know what they say....It' not nice to mess with Mother Nature......

We package very close to 3 million bags a year and I can count on one hand, less a couple of fingers usually how many times it comes up....but it does...so I guess its just the luck of the draw....

That's it! I was actually beginning to wonder if one of my cats mistook the pellets for their litterbox. Do you think the whole ton is going to smell like that?

 

[briansol]

Well, I think i changed my mind.

Due to the way I stacked them, I've been burning mostly oakies for the past month or so.

The past few days i got down to the start of my cubex ton. I already miss the oakies. The cubex are leaving clinkers like the hot ones did for me to the point where i have to shut down and scoop the burn pot every 2-3 days. With the oakies, i went almost 2 weeks without opening the door. Nothing else has come close to it.

So, regardless of the issues i have with the bags, i'm buying my final ton with oakies instead of cubex as I originally stated.

I guess i'm sold. :X

 

[Tony K]

I agree that right now Hamer's, Cubex & Oakies are the best choice of pellets in our area. I'd even like to mention Barefoot. I would buy any one of them with price and delivery charge being the deciding factor. As far as the bags being ripped while handling I've never had this issue with any of these brands. When I have pellets delivered I have them put in my garage, 5 tons at a minimum. I will then load a half ton at a time into the back of my pickup (easier loading a half ton so you don't half to jump in and out of the truck bed), then I drive around to my walkout basement, unload the pellets (15 bags at a time) into a dual wheeled wheelbarrow, bring into basement and then unload out of wheelbarrow onto a pallet (a pallet jack doesn't work well on grass so can't have the pellets placed by the basement door to make life easier). So basically handling the bags 3 times and I've never ripped/tore bags. I don't baby the bags just throw them in the truck, in the wheelbarrow onto the pallet. As far as dust and fines goes, yes its there but I am willing to put up with it in exchange for good heat output which all of these pellets have. Hamer's have never produced clinkers for me where energex has and the get what you pay for cheap low heat output pellets that you can't wait to get rid of.

 

[lordgrinz]

I'm surprised to hear that the Okie's are suppose to smell like pine. I actually had to buy a ton of another brand because my wife and I were a little embarrassed of the smell when people came over. Did I get a bad batch?
They smell nothing like pine or any other wood that I know of. I love the heat and actually don't mind the bags at all, but just can't stand the smell.

I'm with you on the smell, not pleasant, they seem to burn good though. I would say less ash, but I did notice a new phenomenon, sticky hopper wall on the front side of the hopper. Is this something to do with pine pitch? I am thinking I am going to have to run the hopper down and then Windex the inside of it. As far as pellet smell, I don't smell my pellets, I want to burn them, so the ones that don't smell will be better. I might need one more pallet for this winter, I am thinking of trying the Turmans Super Premium Hardwood, see how those hold up.

 

[johnnycomelately]

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't buy this stove. With what I know now, I'm sure I could have gotten a better model from a competing brand for the same or less price.

The new england's burned fine for me... they were just very dirty and didn't put out much heat.

I love this post regarding the New England Wood Pellets. They were OK....just dirty and no heat.....Hmmmm....Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
I also like my 1971 Datsun pick up truck in my back yard. It just doesn't run and is so rotted that even if I fix the engine I can never register it again. Other than that...it's great!

 

[AVIVIII]

I have been burning primarily Okanagans and some Vermont and NEWPs thrown in the mix and by FAR the okies have the LEAST dust and fines of the three. I dumped a bag of NEWPs in last night and shut my stove off so I could scoop all the crap back out of there.

I was gonna grab a ton of Maine Woods for shoulder pellets, but at this point, I'm gonna just get another lift of Okanagans. For $30 more per ton ($60 more for the whole lift) and WAY less driving its a no-brainer.

I loaded those three lifts already and out of nearly 200 bags we only ripped 5 sending them down the rollers. Once I taped some cardboard over the sharp edges at the joint of the rollers, no more ripped bags. These are the solid white bags. They also came on very nice, High quality pallets.

 

[johnnycomelately]

What I really love is how NEWP admitted that last year their pellets were crap but promised that this year the problem was solved. Remember JT's test results showed that they sucked and how NEWP just about demanded a re-test. And some doofis from NEWP got into qa sparring match right in this forum with JT and told him that his test was not scientific. Well it looks like the NEWP pellets are the same poor quality as last year and they still cost as much as Okies and Cubex and Hammer And Barefeet. Unbelievable!

 

[lordgrinz]

What I really love is how NEWP admitted that last year their pellets were crap but promised that this year the problem was solved. Remember JT's test results showed that they sucked and how NEWP just about demanded a re-test. And some doofis from NEWP got into qa sparring match right in this forum with JT and told him that his test was not scientific. Well it looks like the NEWP pellets are the same poor quality as last year and they still cost as much as Okies and Cubex and Hammer And Barefeet. Unbelievable!

Personally, I thought the ton of NEWP's I ran thru my stove were perfectly fine, temps down to zero and I wasn't crying for more heat. Unlike the Okies I didn't have to put up with a nasty smell, so far the Okies arent any less filled with sawdust, and the NEWP's were packaged better, jury is out on the ash content. Not sure how that equates to "sucked" or "poor quality"?

 

[AVIVIII]

he NEWPs seemed alright as far as heat, though it hasnt been too terribly cold lately. But they were much dustier and produced significantly more ash than the Okies or the Vermonts, though I would definitely still call it "low" as compared to the bag of infernos I fed it the night before....