Ran some Cubex last night: Feed Rate: 2.9lbs/hr Temp: 145.2 Here are my numbers for comparison purposes. MinuteMan 2.6 142.1 Freedom Fuel 2.8 144.6 Okies Platinum 2.9 146.1 Nations Choice 2.6 144.6 Cubex 2.9 145.2 Average on Low 2.709090909 144.52
?? is that the lowest feed rate your stove will do? I know that's a big btu beast you got , I burn about 1/2 of what you do / hr. Looks like those NC's can hold their own with the high priced boys
Yes, this is the lowest low. Low with the low trim set. That's why having a thermostat hooked up is key for me. The funny thing is I do not need the btu's on the top end. I never run higher than 3 in hi/lo mode. I ran a bunch of similar test previously with an IR thermometer and although the temps were different the results were the same. When I look at these numbers I see all brands putting out the same heat. The only outlier that looked to be of any significants were the Vermont Wood. But that could have been an anomaly. That's why I primarily look to ash for quality Edit: When I mention Vermonts that was with the old method. I will get to them again eventually, but they are on the bottom of my stash.
Same here , it seems like your stove is similar to a Harman and will adjust to whatever pellet it's being fed to generate the same heat output
The stove just feeds pellets at whatever rate it is set. For my low it is generally 2.6-2.9 lbs per hour. The way I see it is there are only so many btus in wood pellets. Most come in at what? 8200 btu? So if some are 8400 or 8600 it would be hard to see that difference in an uncontrolled set up like I/we all have. Again, burn quality and ash are my priorities.
I also factor in price , if I get similar results and keep an extra $50 -$75 /ton in my pocket this says it all for me
What is affecting the feed rate? I know it's a small difference, but sometime you get 2.6 and others 2.9 - Is it simply the size of the pellets, or are there other factors? Reason I ask is because this season, I am really starting to realize how much long pellets affect the stove's feed mechanism. Some of the brands I have tried have a lot of long pellets, like those Ozark Hardwoods for example. At a given static feed rate, it seems like the longer pellets may be causing the stove to get less fuel into the burnpot each time the auger fires up, and thus the pellets appear to last longer in the hopper, yet the stove produces less heat too.
I would think the P-68 would change the feed rate as needed to maintain the set temp so pellet length shouldn't make a difference.
Totally agree Sub , the only thing I notice with long pellets auger noise as they get ground up and on a few occasions bridging of the hopper and stove shut down but no loss of heat .due to length just my 2 cents
Yeah, it would be size and density. Small dense pellets would feed the fastest. I can usually tell just by the way they fill my hopper if the feed rate is on the slower or faster end. When I get to the MWP I think the feed rate will be less than 2.6. And as you say, longer pellets normally would last longer but produce less heat. Harmans should always put out the same heat given that the outside temps are the same since it will take x amount of btus to maintain the temp the esp is looking for.
My stove and any other stove on hi/lo that is on a thermostat and the thermostat calls for heat works very similar to the Harmans IMHO. The difference would be I would be switching heat levels to get to the lbs/hr needed where the Harman would most likely figure out that rate and run there. Perhaps the Harman would be a bit.more efficient??? Not sure. But my house stays within one degree regardsless of weather when I am in high/lo.
That's the issue with InstantHeat (less) pellets....all long pellets so you have to crank the feed rate up to get any kind of heat to come out of the stove....well, my stove anyway.
Yes, and so would I. But if you were on a thermostat. Either in on/off or hi/lo, I would argue that they would last just as long as any other pellet as long as everything else remains constant. Seldom are the variables constant so we get a lot of varying opinions.
Agreed, unless the stove is running at MAX configured feed rate, regardless which pellets you are using. In other words, let's say I have it at feed rate 3 and it's 10 degrees below target temp. It's going to run full on at 3 until it gets there, and that's where I'm noticing the longer pellets seem to be causing difficulty getting fuel into the pot as efficiently / quickly. Probably multiple things going on here. In the case of Ozarks, not only were the pellets long, but I think they were bad quality in general too. Meaning, even if they were standard size, they probably still would have produced poor heat.
Agreed, this would essentially fix your feed rate. And that is how I would run your stove if I was trying to run some of these tests.
Now on the other hand, I'll take my Somerset's for example, those are a small and very dense pellet. I have to turn everything down, a lot, to keep it from feeding too much. A bag of those EASILY fits in my hopper....almost looks like the bags are only 35 lbs. instead of 40...lol I've never timed it but I know I go through those quicker than with others.
I only had five bags but the ash on these was very low. I would compare these to Somerset and liked them more than the Turmans.
