After trying all the various hardwoods in my stash ( ironstones,kingdoms, natures own , AWF , greenways there's more just don't remember them all ) They would all create a nasty speed bump in a short time, dirty up the glass within 2 hrs. and ash galore. Poking around Lowes the other day I see they have Power Pellets ( o malleys ) so I grabbed 5 bags to try. Reviews on them didn't sound to promising but man the Allure loves them. Ran a bag through the stove and no speed bump, much less ash and glass stayed much cleaner much longer. been going back grabbing 5 bags at a time but may just grab a ton and be done even though I probably won't need them for this season.
yes, AWF pines burn good as do the Kingdom Bio Fuel pines, the Easy Blaze don't impress me though, unfortunately the softwoods are 30 - 40 bucks more a ton and I have to drive much further to get them.
Interesting how same pellets burn different in stoves. I burned a ton of O'Malley's 2 yrs ago and they produced the Hardest speedbumps I have ever dealt with. I mean it was chisel time... could wait till they we're finished.. Harman P61A. And yet the EZ blaze super premium softies i burn leave very little ash and extremely hot so i burn them exclusivly..
Interesting indeed. In my P68, hardwoods generally don't cause a speedbump. Softwoods do, though. In the P43, I've never had a speedbump no matter what kind of pellets it burns. Seems like they all have unique "personalities".
I never had many speedbumps, unless the fire was on low.. but a blend gave me some pretty good ones.. Never tried hardwood, no desire.. We get NO calls anymore for those... Usually from a woodburner, trying pellets for the first time.. (like I was).. Dan
This has pretty much been my experience. Hardwoods in the P61a are da bomb. Mixed HW/SW leaves a bit of stuff (depending on brand as to how much). Pure softees get a mixed review. I got 6 bags of Vermonts four years ago and those ran great but two years ago I got some DF's and those were not liked at all. The P43 hasn't seen any pure softees, but is much less likely to get any kind of speed bump when burning the same brands as the big stove. Cubex (HW) has been the favorites of both stoves, unofortunately they are too expensive to get from anywhere but the occasional CL find. I did grab a 1/2 ton of Vermont's off CL a couple of months ago for the ridiculous price of $55, so will see if the P61a still likes them and how the P43 reacts (I hope I don't create a snob of a stove ) UPDATE: Now that I reread that, it seems to me that several years ago someone gave me a couple bags of some other softwood that were liked by the P61a to, but again, that brand was way too expensive so I've never actually bought any (and 2 bags is not a good test).
Been burning nothing but low so far but if my memory serves me right last year I had little to no buildup with Northern Max , some with blended pellets and the same with Softies. Rich curious if you have tried Cubex / Northern Max ? I don't recall whether or not you had mentioned trying them previously. They burn wicked hot and clean for me in either the P68 or P43 with very light buildup at all and very low ash matching most softies with the exception of Vermont's or DF 's. Grabbed them last year at $229 a ton in the spring but this year they were almost $290 ! vendor something about trucking rate increase this year.
No never tried either of those Luney, not available around me. Everyone around here pretty much all sell the same pellets and most of them are hardwoods.
So...Let me get this straight, these overrated stoves can burn gravel...but not hardwood pellets?? Should have bought an Enviro IMHO! Lol
For now I'm chaulking it up that it's because the stove is now and has since I installed it been burning on a low burn, always idling down to just a few hot embers or shutting down then fires back up for a few minutes to reach temp then idles back down etc etc . Once I finally get to use it in some real cold weather when the stove actually may have to work a little bit I'm expecting it to do much better with the other hardwoods but for now the way the stove has been burning the power pellets by far work the best. This stove is a beast and probably a bit overkill for this small 1300 sqf. shack and as easily as it heats.
