Stopped at the HD near work yesterday and noticed they not only had regular FSU's, but FSU 100% Softwoods. If I had driven my truck I would have grabbed a few bags to test, but wasn't going to put my car thru the struggle. Anyway, anyone know how those burn? Don't need pellets, just curious. Didn't see an associate around so couldn't ask about the price difference. Usually don't burn softwood since my P61a doesn't really like them, but always curious.
Interesting. I've liked the regular fsu pellets, never seen the softwoods. I dont burn much softwood, since I run stove on lower settings, and had a creosote buildup and minor chimney fire few years back from them.
I recall hearing of these 3-4 seasons ago. There was even a concept art picture of the bag posted on Home Depot's website one season. However, they never materialized. In fact, I have never seen or heard a single account of anyone actually finding or burning them before! See that B? You just found the Bigfoot of wood pellets and you didn't even take a picture to prove it? LOL!!! Edit: Wait, found it...here is the concept art bag picture...I knew it was around here somewhere. They were dubbed "Fireside Platinum" lol. Fireside Platinum coming to Home Depot :)
They don't even have them on FSU's website. Now I'll have to go get some and prove that they are real
I'll bet that this is them in a different bag.Made in Canada.A little ashy for a softwood but great heat.
So I was out running around and found myself about 25 miles from the place, so stopped to pick some up. The bags are white, with the front being a very light gray behind the logo and printed area pretty much like the picture at the link ttdberg provided). Will run these in the P43 but gotta get the Ligie Golds run thru first. Only have about 2 bags in that stove so it will be a couple of days. I will provide a half-azz review on them which will compare them to the Ligie Golds (which are slightly less ashy and slightly warmer burning than the TSC MWP's I normally run).
Cheaper than any pellets in my immediate area besides the TSC MWP's I usually run (NEWPS run 6.00/bag, GS run 7.49/bag and Okie Plats run 8.00/bag). Not likely to make the Fireside Plats a habit unless they really wow me.
I ran regular FSU's for a couple of seasons and they ran fairly well in my stoves. Never liked the black residue they left, but it would brush right off so not a big deal. I changed to MWP's when TSC came to town because they burn well, are the same price (except when I get coupons thru TSC's friends program) and they are about 5 miles from me as opposed to 30 miles (nearest HD).
Now that I think of it since it was quite a while ago, I'm thinking it was Presto logs I burned not FCU's. Slvrblk did a test on them and raved about them then. Just checked. Yes it was Presto logs
I'm liking the Fireside Platinums. I have them in the P43, on a thermostat that pretty much forces the stove to run at full throttle, with the the feed rate set at 3 (always) until the signal to shut down, so YMMV. I take the temp of the air coming out the tubes with a oven thermometer wedged between the door and the overhang from the top of the stove and try to catch the highest temp. I figure the stove run time is about the same per cycle so don't actually time anything (not scientific, I know - so sue me). I also catch at least 3 cycles to make sure I'm not catching a fluke. I am not using any more pellets than normal, and believe I am using less, but that is so hard to determine between outside temps and wind conditions changing. Thru the testing the Fireside Plats are running at ~275* for a top temp. I did not clean the stove before putting them in and could tell when they hit the burnpot by the black ash (like FSU's). They are just slightly less ashy than the normal MWP's that I burn. I can tell you they are among the hottest pellets I've run in the P43 and taken the temp (Pres-to's Blackstone and Inferno's ran 225, Okie Golds and North American at 250). Looking at my records, I have NOT recorded the temp of MWP's or Lignetic Golds have burned, so I need to remedy that before I make a final determination.
They definitely burn hot.I have been burning North Country mostly but when I throw these in they consistently burn 25 degrees hotter.When I started burning them last year they would blacken the inside of my stove.I increased the low draft voltage adjustment screw and that fixed the problem.