You boys can share those results here for all to see. I think some of the members wouldn't mind seeing them(I know I do). @Douglas Middleton Okies - Platinum, DF and gold please! @Lousyweather ID douglas fir please! If your shy, PM/email them to me and I'll post them for the group!!
The numbers on all my pellets are good...very good....so good we print them on the bags themselves, but they are conservative numbers ....but no one has ever complained about our numbers...not that I am aware of anyways. Lousyweather doesn't have to ID the DFir Jay.....they are Okanagan Douglas Fir....we print that on the bags too......
I was hoping he had the test data for the North Idaho Df's. Don't know why I type ID??? Brain fart maybe! I was thinking about starting a thread for test data we could collect so visitors could view them. Maybe something we could pass on to pass along to the new burners. And maybe even give them a guide on what some of the numbers mean and what to look for?
thing is, test data changes............and skeptical me wonders if when they make this data available, they only make the BEST tests available as well.......and the NI bags have the analysis on them as well......and they are low chlorides as well....no one cares about chlorides....just me....don't lime me ash clumping and clinkering...
Lousy is correct. The data does change with every test and there are several mills that ask that the information NOT be published. Every mill is different. I have one that tests with Twin Ports weekly. Another with every ship that leaves port and my own mill in BC about twice a year. Now we do daily testing in-house at the mill, so we know what we need to see for every batch. If a dealer wants to see a report, I will normally supply them with it, but that is usually only if we have a new product or a new client....and now a days both are rare (especially the new clients....can't supply all the demand from the current ones, let alone take on new ones)...so I guess it boils down to "try before you buy" at least large quantities.....as each stove is pellet specific....but everyone already knows that........right?
Doug makes good sense.As I already have enough for winter,because i have to get them as early as I can to get them by basement door(early snow in mountains)I am planning on getting a ton of his for the -30 weather,as the oakies I got last year impressed me.Have had bad experiences with "local" mill more than 3 times(over the years) will not mention name.but starts with an "E".
The reason I bought a stove with a mixer. I cannot afford having my stove down during the cold due to over flows. But your right, Not many seem to stress levels that are expectable. What PFI states as a limit, May effect certain stoves. Not everyone can try before you buy. Many pellet(including your Platinums) are still a ways out and who wants to burn money now. I'll figure out something!! Not as many people know or are educated in pellet quality as the people here. That's how I got the free bag of North Idaho Df's. A fella was struggling to keep warm during a vortex and I suggested better fuel. He did some digging around and I recommended the NI DF's. He made the trip and I bet him 1 bag of fuel he would not be unhappy. Came home from work one day and there was the bag sitting on my front step. Seems he was noticeably warmer and could run longer before his stove's burn pot started backing up. Lets just say he's buying less of the Green Supreme's this season and stashing some better goods for cold spells. I even recommended some of your stuff along with the La Crete's. I may get some okies gold on a barter deal. He'd buy some of your Okie Df's, But a certain pellet dealer isn't gonna carry them??
Every dealer has their own reasons to stock a brand of pellets over another. Not all my dealers stock the Douglas Fir or the Gold's for that matter. Some only stock the Golds. The Douglas Fir are an acquired taste for some. It seems the closer you are to the coastline in NE the better they sell, so not all markets sell as well as others. I will tell you that I am bringing a lot more quantity in this year than I did two years ago and the results are just amazing. As most of you know, we don't advertise and most of the sales come from word of mouth and strong dealer support. Same with the Gold, since my supply of Platinum's is so limited, these have made an excellent substitute for that. We also got a big boost last Feb/March when the shortage came about as some dealers brought in a truck or two of Douglas Fir since that was the only pellet available for some of them and they sold them off...5 or 10 bags at time and lots of people who might not normally try our pellets got a chance to burn them, since they were the only thing available to them at the time....that turned some heads. We are also very fortunate to have a really strong dealer network that know their pellets and for the most part we get more than our fair share of their business. Again, there are dealers that stock 20 brands of pellets and others that we might be the only brand they carry...each has their own reason and of course location plays a large part in who carries our brand.... I'm very proud to state that the Okanagan brand has something to do with suppling NE a high grade of pellet for the last 5-6 years and more and more people have taken notice. There are now a good handful of real quality brands of pellets available, where as when I started selling the market in 2008, not so much. I getting reports back already that this weekends MA tax free days have already sparked increased interest and most are expecting higher than normal sales, if not record sales of new stoves and with that goes pellet sales. Whatever brand someone chooses to burn, they will save over what they would be spending if using heating oil, so I consider that a win-win for everyone....well maybe not the oil companies, but I don't worry about them...I think they will be just fine.
I remember this pellet sales guy saying it wouldn't be worth it to bring Douglas Fir to New England a few years back. What changed his mind??? Sure looks like he's doing well with em!!
What changed my mind was two dealers kept bugging me and bugging me to get them some really good Douglas Fir pellets. So that is what I did and they assured me that they would sell ...I certainly had my doubts, but I trusted my dealers and even though we have to charge an arm and a leg for the pellets to get them to NE, they were absolutely correct. I will be forever grateful for those two dealers just not letting up...They knew and understood their customer base and they wanted and were willing to spend the extra money to get the very best....the rest I guess you can say is history.
Loads of great info in this thread, thanks to all for sharing it. Doug, which two NE dealers pushed you to bring in the DFs? Curious if I know, or shop at, either of them. I did sneak in a ton of your DFs for this winter, as well as some golds and platinums. To keep the average "per bag" cost in my comfort zone ($5.00 - $5.50 per bag) I had to compensate by picking up some TSC pellets for early winter and spring use. Yes, call me frugal too. The Okanagan delivery man told me the vast majority of the product in their yard is in fact the DFs, and it is by far their most popular seller. I really had a hard time believing that. With so many frugal folks out there, it's tough to imagine so many people are willing to spend that kind of cash! Well, who knows, maybe burning a ton of the DFs this winter will convince me they are the only way to go in the future. Translation: if I can get by burning substantially less of them than the other pellets, making the cost even out in the end, I'm game.
A dealer in New York and one close to Cape Cod are the two that kept hounding me to get them in. Currently, my largest dealer of my pellets, 47% of his sales are the Douglas Fir and he will sell several thousand tons of all pellets this year...so they have been very successful for him. He is reporting that he gets calls daily from people outside his normal market radius wanting to buy the DFir since either they don't have a local dealer near them or they don't stock them....like I said, some dealers are doing very well with them and some haven't seen that success with them yet....EVERY market is different. My dealer on Long Island NY which is the farthest of any dealer I ship too also is doing very well with them...
Previous owners junk from spare garage now in construction dumpster. DH borrowing his work trailer that tips up to bring home pellets saturday. Shrink wrap/stretch wrap arrived today (yes Amazon ) Still need to order tarps and bungies. Missed out on a one day home depot 50% off on tarps, oh well. Ready, set, here we go!
That would add to the high cost, but those areas are a bit higher on the income scale. Which allows the market for a higher end product. It makes sense that those areas are where Okies do best .
Those are the markets that first lit the fuse....but the market for our Douglas Fir pellets has exploded since then. Northern, NH, southern NH, mid MA, SE MA, CT, RI, Long Island, NY, NJ...all these markets have really taken a liking to them....People recognize value ....and yes value has different meanings to different people...some it's the heat, or lack of ash or not having to mess with their stove for a much longer period of time...or could it be the window stays clear for a good while....maybe its all of the above....then again, some people think that McDonald's is gourmet dining as well....it could well be......there is something for everyone in the pellet world, just like any other market ....
I bought 6 tons Heartlands and have burned about 1 ton so far, becoming familiar with them. Now that I have a better idea of what we might burn I ordered 2 additional tons of Rocky Mountain Pellets, the Heartlands have been long since sold out. The Rocky Mountain Pellets are much longer than the Heartlands, atleast alot of them. They also have a lot of dark spots compressed in with the light colors (The light color is uniform on the Heartlands, no dark spots). I don't have enough expertice to post a review but thought this might helpful info.
