HD's Green Supremes anyone?

I do that if being stored outside - including using the pallet wrap. I currently have 4 tons that were delivered in late March outside and I'm sure my neighbors thought I was weird covering them with more plastic and wrapping them. Actually, since it was a bit windy out, they were probably more entertained by my efforts than anything

 

"There goes Scarlett O'Hara again, gone with the wind!"

And hey, I'd rather have to yell at my past self while cutting down the excessive plastic I wrapped around what I have later, than go, "Why didn't you?!" as it's ruined. Because that water droplet will find the 1 little hole I missed somewhere!

 

I just started using them again this year and the bag had almost zero fines and burning surprisingly clean . I think they have something with this plus blend

 

When I transferred them all to the garage a couple of months ago (1 bag at a time), I realized that that the 4 tons they delivered are HW (which I have never gotten before, they have always been Northeast blend). Being HW, the bags don't have any of those tiny "breathing" holes in them. I could have not done anything and they would have been fine

 

I grabbed a ton of them to finish off my stash for season and I'm getting the same results

 

Does HD's up in New Hampshire have other brands then Green supreme, or is it the same brands all around new england?

 

Do not recommend GS Midwest hardwood. These are super dusty. I've burned about 20 bags, and all of them are like this.









Do they smell like wood? No. Do they burn? Yes. Do they burn warm? not really (fortunately that isn't a huge requirement in the basement stove). To be fair, I haven't done an actual test on the temperature they burn at. I will put some in the P43 in the next couple of weeks and get a reading on them.

Do they make a mess while pouring into the hopper? Yes, a huge cloud of dust comes out.

Are they actually locally sourced? No, I'm in the upper Northeast and there are a lot of pellet mills a lot closer than the midwest.

Were they at least cheap so in the end a good value? No - I would not voluntarily pay $300/ton for these.
I don't know how these made their way to me (but I have 4 tons ). I expected the Northeast blend as usual, but this is what showed up last spring.

 

So, I finally went ahead and did a temp test on the GS Midwest Hardwoods. And, I have to admit that maybe I was a bit hasty in part of my analysis.

Recap on my temp testing method: Testing is admittedly unscientific and is performed in the P43. I set one of the round, hanging oven thermometers to get the air temp coming out of the 3rd tube from the right. The P43 has 7 air tubes and that placement gives a nice, snug fit for the thermometer, between the top of the firebox door and the lip off the top of the stove, while ensuring it is in the airstream.

When taking temperature of the air, I turn the thermostat up another 1-2* from its set point to make sure I get at least 25 minutes of run time at full bore (according to the feed rate). The feed rate is set at 3 (I normally run it at 2 for my own reasons). I also don't clean the stove, so it is running at real-world conditions, not at best possible conditions.

In this particular case, I did do a basic clean of the stoves last weekend, just to dust off the walls and bottom side of the tubes of ash, and empty the ash bin and clean under the fire pot. No cleaning of the exhaust or fines box was done and the stove has run a lot thru the week because of wind and low temps. I had also run 3 bags thru prior to make sure all the softies that were in there previously had been run out.

The results after 27 minutes - the oven thermometer read 255



Is that a great temp? No, but it does place these pellets solidly in the pack of a nice middle of the road pellet. And since that is really all I need. So the only thing keeping me from being a happy camper is the amount of dust in each bag.