I turned it down to 4. Thought at 5 it would be a higher flame and then more heat for the exchanger. The ash covering the front two rows is from last burn. I didn’t brush it off before I took the pic
Wanted to add a comment here regarding my own experience. A large flame does but necessarily mean more heat. In fact I have seen many cases where pellets will produce a very small / low flame and produce significantly more heat than pellets that produce a “firebox full of flame”. Curious what others experience is. Also the 1” ash line is nonsense. If your experience is similar to mine, you will find those Matras will burn for days with an ash line much further back in the pot or virtually no ash line at all, leaving multiple lines of air holes fully exposed with zero scraping or maintenance. The ash is so light and there is so little - it just doesn’t collect in the burn pot which is one if the things that makes these pellets so great. Similar for Wood & Sons, Vermonts, and this season’s batch of EZB/VG.
Chit, I can give you a list of woman from my college days that had no problem forgetting about my 1" thing!!
Picking up 4 bags of Matra to try out from my pellet dealer tommorow. Plus a couple bags of Minuteman firs.
I like to look at what the flame looks like. If it is bright yellow, and looks like a jet engine idling, it is hotter than the dull yellow/orangy one that looks like a big candle burning. Ash ring usually depends on how hot you are burning. I get a lot more on setting 1-1/4, than 3-1/2, for example. But I admit, I don't know what the hell I'm doing half the time. I keep no records at all.. and my memory is jello. Dan
I really like them but they do tend to stick and bridge a lot. I can have almost a full hopper and I lift the lid in the morning and I can practically see the slide plate for the auger because they just don’t like to slide down. They are a little powdery/ fines but they do burn nice and awesome ash. The next few nights when it’s really cold I’m going to try using the northern warmth supreme Douglas firs and see how they are. I picked up 10 bags to try.
I have a ton of those firs in my basement that i haven't used yet with 2 more tons coming in feb. Usually order 4 tons from my dealer at his spring sale and get 2 seperate deliveries 6months apart.
I am Always ahead with pellets meaning i start out with 5 tons each season. Got 2 tons of the blaze this past delivery ( spring) and 2 tons of the firs coming jan-feb. Have 3 tons of the blaze right now in my basement and 1 ton of the doug firs. To answer your question, yes i could be straying away from the blaze once they are gone. Great heat but since the recipe change, lot more coarse ash.barely any fines now but complete change in color and smaller pellets than before. Not a bad pellet if getting 1st time and use before the change. Emailed the company last year but they denied any change . Can u believe that?? Even sent a picture of the old and new pellets in the bags original pellets were light blond and longer. Now they are small and dark. Look like stove chows. Still denied there has been a change. Oh well. I,m just one customer who bitched so they didn't care any.
Batch Variance. I've probably had 5 different batches of EZBs over the past few years. There is zero consistency. If I didn't see the bags for myself, I would never be able to tell they were the same product. Thankfully the Virgina Goldens I picked up at TSC earlier this season are proving to be the best batch so far. Luck of the draw. Curious to hear what you think of the Matras. For me, they produce the same, or better, heat and ash as any DF pellet I have ever burned, and I've burned pretty much all of them. The days of DF pellets being in a class of their own are gone, now we have other local options that are the same or better performance and at a much more wallet friendly price point. You just need to be able to cope with pine pellet bridging.
I agree. I tried blazers like a year or 2 ago and they were ok. Didn’t really see the big advantage to the Douglas firs. Got matras this year and so far they are great. The bridging does suck but they put out great heat and minimal ash. Around me they are $325 a ton. There’s a place just up the road charging $299 for dry creek so the extra $25 is worth it. I picked up 10 bags of northern warmth supreme firs and I’m going to try them tonight. I mixed them with matras last night and the lack of ash is amazing compared to the fsu I was burning before. I will definitely be buying them again. Also I wish they could come up with some coating to allow them not to bridge.
