First off.. After buying a used St. Croix Pepin and installing it on 10-23-09 I have become my own tech. with this thing? The stove received one hell of a cleaning prior to install, with 200lbs of New England Hardwood Pellets given to me by previous owner the adventure began. After 1st week rheostat died on room air fan? fixed that.. Bought 1.3 tons of oaks.. burned ok? then after seeing a ST. Croix in use, I knew that there was a problem with mine? Versa grate was not working.. fixed that.. Burnt last 1/2ton last week then decided to venture to try some different pellets. Grabbed 10 bags of Starlite pellets from tractor supply.. Junk! Found sticks (more like branches) in the bags. Hmmm. Switched few days ago to maine choice. Nice burn, just alot of fines!! Have used stove thermometer to check all types with same damper setting, ued own laser to measure temps. also. I have found the oaks. to burn the hottest & cleanest with maine choice running close second, new england then starlites (garbage, ie; window gunk, debris in bags, lower burn temp).. The fact that tractor supply was charging $229 ton for both the starlite and the maine choice was promising, but they give you what they have at the time? I could not ask for a specific brand? 1.3 tons of okan...for $380? Figured I would throw this thread in and see if anybody has had similar exp. with the same brands??