Im a wood burner and know nothing about pellets. Visiting a family member of a friend out of state and they just lit their pellet stove. He prefers DF pellets for btu's and less ash. Are they worth the premium?
Doug firs here back east run around the 400.00 ton range give or take 50 bucks. shipping from the northwest is killer for us... that said, supper hot pellet with the least amount of ash from any pellet i have burned over many years. if another pellet has less ash. than the firs i am not aware of it. worth the price?//? some people pay almost Double for Coffee from Starbucks and they know it but it's what they want and will pay for it. Firs from Oregon are prob the best pellets around so you either pay the extra freight costs from west to east or you don't. lucky folks out west as far as fir costs without the shipping.... [ I buy couple tons a year just because of the low ash and super high heat.. [but buy my coffee from wawa or dunkin donuts so that helps balance a bit.. maybe..lol
old EZBlaze we're very light on ash.....matras to me are close also but due to longer size i have to bump the feed rate to get equal heat.. had my digital thermometer kickin last winter 1st time so paid close attention to the 3 mentioned. firs we're still hottest by big margin..
Are they worth the premium ? To me, no. While they burn hotter, and less ash, I can buy 3 TONS of big box pellets, vs 2 TONS of Douglas firs. That 3 tons will make way more heat than the 2 tons of fir.
of course they would.... all depends on what someone is comfortable spending.. I buy the pellets I want and don't look back. maybe following year may or not buy again.. I'm sure that Pacific Northwest Firs will get to a point that only people west of the Mississippi will be buying them due to shipping cost reaching the breaking point.
Yeah, it depends on the person and their situation. Both my pellet stoves have large ash pans, so I can put up with more ash than those with small (or nonexistent) ash pans. I also have a smaller house, with 2 stoves that can heat their areas super easily, so having really hot output can be counter productive. I deliberately use the cr*appiest pellets I have in my basement stove just because with a hot pellet, it will only run a couple of minutes before shutting down; which can cause gunkage in the exhaust pipe if it doesn't have time to warm up properly. Sure, if I can get those premium pellets off of CL for a good price, I grab them and use them in the deep of winter. I don't usually run the coldest pellets (Maine's Best, Therma Glo etc) unless I get a really good deal. During the fire sales several years ago I payed $100/ton delivered, and ran them all winter long in the basement stove. However, my preference is to use middle of the road pellets (MWP, FSU) that balance the pocket book, ash and heat output, which works well for me.
Top round steak. $4.99 lb. Porterhouse steak. $14.99 lb. Even then... They still sell a lot of Porterhouse.. I would rather have one Porterhouse, than ten round, which I cannot chew. Like Bogie sez.. depends on everyone's own situation. I'm not rich by any stretch. SS is no money maker.. But I have wasted money on more stupid things than premium pellets.. Dan P.S. If you have any thoughts about buying DF's during the cold season, you may want to get them now. Probly around the first of the year, they may be real tough to get, as in REAL, and/or real expensive...
You rabble-rouser, you! Well, there is an argument for those folks, especially during these troubling times, who simply dont have the money right now for those fir pellets, and I feel for them. We shall have to see what happens, money-wise and/or shortage-wise. As for are firs worth the price? Quite subjective......I have many people come in and say once you've used the firs, its very difficult to go back to anything else. I cant speak for EZ Blaze, as Ive never really dealt much with them, but the Matra .26% versus, say, Northern Warmth Doug fir at .14%......would put Matras at almost twice the ash....I am not sure you can put them in the same ballpark. But they are cheaper, coming less of a distance. A consumer will have to make the judgement of price/BTU per lb/ash content on their own, as different folks put import on different specs. I drive around in a Subaru......it gets me to work and back in the worst weather. But there are people who drive BMW, Mercedes, etc, and have reason for doing so. Will they get to where they are going any faster following the rules of the road? No. But they value things I cant fathom because I have never driven or own one. Maybe some day I should test drive one to see.......maybe folks should buy a few bags of doug fir and see......
Good points!!!! btw: have owned 7 Subaru's since 88.. was also a Subaru mechanic for many years so 'I know 'your driving one of the most reliable and safest cars out there for half the cost of the couple you mentioned new.. as for firs, I paid aprox 75.00 more for them than the Blaze/ Matra's.. have all 3.. lot of money? not when u concider what another poster said about we pizz away more on other things like constant eating out or Takeout, Exspensive drinks, big $$$$ trucks that most people don't ever haul anything more than groceries in.... how bout those 4- 500.00 month payments!! pellet and wood burners prob make most use of them i imagine..
And I will add, I do have some Douglas for pellets in my hoard. Bought years ago as a closeout. I ran them, and they are great. But my stove is in basement, and while I have a decent heat flow upstairs, on Harman setting of 3, it's easily 75 in basement on middle range pellets. I'd need sub zero to really need the extra BTU's.
yes they are hot so makes sense in your setup.....in my case my Harman P 61a is on the 1st floor living areas and pushing heat also up the steps to 2nd floor so overheating is not a problem..can use all the btu's the stove puts out in the cold days..close to 9,000Btu's
Here's a pic of my stash. Probably a half ton of Blazers, for those wicked sub zero January nights. Rest is mix of FSU, some chow, and Maine woods.