is that guy in your avatar Obama? I have never been a fan of "Dry basis" versus "As delivered" reporting and testing....can be hugely misleading to the customer. None of us burn "dry basis" pellets....we burn "as delivered". I know there are folks here who sift their pellets before putting them in the stove, which to me is crazy, but can you imagine having to dessicate them AND sift them?
But could you image all the extre heat....... Or "as received" on most data sheets. Then the bag labels are even a bit lower as they likely average the collective data. So even as received/as delivered on one batch could be much higher than some of the others. But then again we don't often get to see the test data as many mills currently tend not to make them public. I don't see as many as I used to see pass it on anyway. You as a dealer might, But the general public not so much!!
yea, we see quite alot of them, actually. No biggie, except for when someone decides to advertise "dry basis" numbers, knowing it gives their pellet an unfair advantage over all the other folks who advertize as delivered numbers.....I view it as knowing deception.....
The data sheets are still around, but maybe not passed around as much. Since all wood pellets are a product of Mother Nature there are always going to be variances in the numbers....and since everyone (not everyone, but enough) are just looking for someone to mess up and then they bring on the suits for today's version of winning the lottery....(suing)....I think more and more take a broader approach.....cover your butt at all cost. The deeper the pockets you have the more you have be careful....at this point we and certainly most manufactures have been around long enough to just have someone burn the darn things and see if you like them. The tests for the most part only confuse the actual results and I wouldn't put anything on the bag if it were up to me...Uncle Sam doesn't share my view on this....Guys like lousyweather have been around a long time to know what is good, what sells and what their customers prefer....maybe not down to 100%...but I think they have a pretty good idea what will or won't work...he's a pretty smart guy you know.....
All - I appreciate your input(s) and welcomes. Kind of curious what dry vs wet means, although I do get the drift (higher BTU/ lower Ash stated numbers). I will google it at some point. Even though I've only been burning for three winter seasons, I already understand that pellets can vary year to year from the same manufacturer based on raw material, weather, etc. Just trying to get my best bang for the buck, as I suppose we all are. Lousyweather - BTW, I will admit, I am a "sifter" - I will pour about 80% of the bag in the hopper (shaking the bag as I pour), and then sift the remaining 20% . . . . at least for this novice, it's amazing how much fines I did not put in my stove last year - about 3 gallons in a bucket from 3.5 M Ton of Okie Platinums. Therefore, that's why this new poster picked "Pellet Boy" as my username . . . hopefully after a few more seasons, I'll change it to "Pellet Guy" !
Dry basis: They dry the moisture out of the pellets in an oven to 0%. Wet is with the moisture as it arrived. Dry basis will be higher in BTU as it doesn't need to steam off the moisture which lowers BTU output. Lower moisture also lessens the ash content by a slight margin. No need to google, We should have most of what you need to know here. If not? Ask, and we will try to get what ya need. Lots of pellet guru's here. Pellet guide for Newbies | Firewood Hoarders Club
Dry = idealized max that the pellet contains Wet = the actual pellet Dry always > wet Dont compare apples and oranges. Realize that wet is what tou can expect, and is likely more variable. In the end find what your stove likes and burn that.
Fines also = dust all over the house = frying pan upside the head from the better half! I know, refer to post #128
fines dont have to equal dust all over the house..........when you cut the bag, just cut the corner, get it close to the bin, and let it flow in slower....at the store, I notice some people just have a propensity to make a mess when they fill the stove, some dont.
No sifting for me the Harman burns the fines up and what it don't get collected in the fines box which I clean once or twice during the season . Being a long time wood burner the dust from a 40 lb bag of pellets is nothing
