Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Its one of these-the issue is that I have some acrobatic tree rats that have figured out how to hang from the top by their rear legs

Droll Yankees® Yankee Dipper® Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder – More Birds

 

The feeder pole we have now is 2" diameter, has 4 arms, sits about 7' high and has 20" in the ground. Have a couple baffle cones on the pole. Squirrels took to running across the lower roof in the back of the house and leaping trying to grab an arm. Put a couple smaller baffles on the arms and lay an old plastic trash can cover on top. Funny to watch the little buggers hit that and go careening off, funnier is when one misses entirely and splats on the ground.
We just end up putting some seed and squirrel mix on the ground for them to eat. Figure they're going to get at the feeders one way or another (squirrels are very good and persistent problem solvers) so might as well give them some food so the birds can have theirs.

sam

 

I’ve got a question for the Pellet Heads.
Soft vs Hard wood pellets.
I don’t use them but the FIL does. In his garage yesterday and he had a dozen or so bags remaining for the season on a pallet.
I forget the make, but they for sure read that it was Hard Wood. Bag was white with blue lettering and blue tree on it. Pretty sure it’s from Tractor Supply.
I do skim the pellet post now and again and I thought I came to understand that this group is partial to Soft Wood over Hard Wood.
Do I have the right impression and if so, what is that makes it a better choice.
If I’ve misinterpreted things and it’s either/or or other, I’d still be interested in hearing opinions

 

Generally speaking, softwood burn hotter/faster and cleaner. The pellets you refer to are a hardwood/softwood blend.

 

Those are TSC. Despite them saying hardwood, they are most likely a blend (I know that because mine are filled with MWP's - they don't make any straight HW pellet). MWP's, IMO, are some of the best middling pellets and are normally my go-to pellets for heating my house. If you are truly curious as to what brand is in there, post a picture of the bar code/sku.

HW burns just fine - some (not all) HW are some of the finest pellets around (Cubex is one). Some people really like straight SW, I am not usually in that camp, although I won't turn my nose up at some nice Vermonts if I can find them on CL for half their normal price. I like a nice blend as those are usually cheaper and are a better total value to me in my situation.

I may clean my stoves a bit more often than those that burn SW, but I usually spend $50-100 less per ton (citing prices in my area, that may not be true in other areas).

There are very few "bad" pellets out there (pennington, thermaglo and a few others come to mind as just plain burn cold). It is truly a matter of value; cost versus heat output and ashiness. If your FIL is happy with the TSC's don't try to change him over because others like softies.

 

About the only HW pellets here are the ones used for the pellet grilles (Traeger )

The top brand locally is the SW "Golden fire" these are fir. "Blazer" is another popular one.....It has more crap in it and leaves more clinker in the Burn pot.

We see pine pellets from time to time as well....Mostly in deep winter they will show up.....

We bought a few ton of "Heartland" one year when we first built this place.
Love the smell of the pine.

It would seem that the HW pellets would be less "Flashy" and hold a nice fire better on a lower feed setting ??????

 

We burned Greene Team hardwood pellets 5-6 years ago, I believe Lowes still carries them. Great heat but a lot more ash.
As B said burn whatever your stove likes , gives the heat output you want and you can afford.

sam

 

Ya got that right

That's why we burn the nut shells....We can afford them.

More ash than pellets...but they are a renewable resource that we can get cheap...
They put out lots of heat.......

 

Winter just does not want to loosen it's grip.
Days are better with the much higher sun angle...but it is 38F out this morning.

The little stove was only able to hold the temp indoors at 65F
Lit off the big stove a few minutes ago....70-72 F is far more comfortable.....
The temps will come up in a bit......

 

Was rainy and a bit chilly last night here, was 64 in the house (42F outside) at 8pm so ran the stove overnight. Next 2-3 nights are supposed to be in the mid-30's so will probably run it at night then too.

Was outside doing the fluid changes on Lori's Rav4 earlier and got startled by a loud gobble a few feet away. There's that male turkey looking at me like "well bud I'm here, where's my snack". Got him some corn & seeds and he had his snack and wandered off.

sam

 

Way cool on the turkey

 

My pills don't make me sleepy, they make me very dizzy. When dizzy, I take a nap. Used to think the bed was a safe place from falling, but I have fallen out of bed twice in the past month. Bad dreams. Had to call rescue again this morning to get Cindy up off the floor. So far, every times she falls, she somehow manages not to break anything. Bone density test is normal. When I fall, I bang up my knees, and sometime smash my head. Hard to remember to take that cane with me.

 

My wife would be all over me if I let the house get down to 70F. It wouldn't be worth it to me. This place is easy to heat anyway, also easy to cool during the summer. Our mini split handles this weather easily, but the pellet stove gives a more comforting heat even if it only in our heads.

 

Well the meds are now at a dose that doesn't make me dizzy still want both my snake venom and met prescription changed and plan on having it out with my doc. 126/67 just before I took my evening half tablet of amlodipine which i want to dump.

 

Checking into mini splits here. Have appointments on the next 2 Mondays for 2 companies to do an eval. 3rd company finally responded but they are too far out for walk thru and another I checked into doesnt service my town. I want this done sooner than later if it happens so 2 quotes will be it unless I find another company to come in soon.

 

With Lori I get the "ooh it's chilly in here" and I'll usually fire up the stove. I have arthritis in my hands, cranky knees and chronic pain from nerve damage from a back injury & surgery. So chilly temps just make me ache. Firing up the stove is like a nice heating blanket and as it warms up the house my aches go down a couple notches. Umm fire good.

Sam

 

Same here, Good heat, good price, and burn really well in my p68. Plus I really like dealing with the folks in Jay who deliver them and put them where I want so I don't have to move them again.

 

Have a Fantastic Birthday Earl764

 

My experience last year was that quoted prices could vary wildly. I think savemoney got the Mitsubishi, which he is happy with. I am happy with my Fujitsu. The only thing I would have done differently was use an installer that would do the energy rebate paperwork for me.

One thing to pay attention to is how your house distributes air. First 2 companies I talked to told me it was unnecessary for me to put the unit in my office, although they did quote to put the smallest head unit in available to humor me (I asked for somewhat larger as the 6k window unit couldn't keep up). But, I know how my house moves (or doesn't move) air. The 3rd guy totally got it - sure, my house is small and the unit in the LR could do the job on paper, but it is all about dynamics, not to mention the massive heat put out by all the electronics in my office. He also listened to what I was telling him when I stated that once the sun hits the southwest side of the house, even with the non-permanent A/C's going hard (between them they were 18k btu for 960 sq/ft), the house would heat up to the mid 80's in an hour so he upped the size of the LR unit to the next size.

Without the unit in the office, the office and kitchen would be either way warmer during summer. I spend 10-13 hours a day in my office, and the whole reason for getting a mini split was comfort while working from home. I never even thought about using the system for heat, and I've since found that the same dynamics hold true - if I don't use the unit in the office (when I don't have the pellet stove going), that the office and kitchen are way colder with just the main LR unit going.

I'm not saying bigger is better, but in my situation I need a little extra oomph to keep the house at 72-74* (my preferred temps).

 

What looks great on paper is not gonna gitterdone.

Our house furnace was set up to handle a 2-1/2 ton AC unit.
2300 sq ft was going to beat that AC to death.

I made changes to the fan speed and broke a few rules...and installed a 4 ton...

Oh yeah....even in the 115 F we had last summer the house stayed in the 74F range....

For sure....once you know how the air moves in your house, and the rooms/areas that are warmer/colder... you can make far better choices as far as heating/cooling.