I noticed that my local HD had Allegheny HWs, instead of the regular GS North East blend that they normally have, so picked up 5 bags out of curiosity. Note: if you won't run GS, I don't care . I don't really care about ash since I have fairly large ash bins. Some people's stoves don't like hardwoods, but mine tend to really like them, so that is a consideration. I have been running mostly GS Northeast blend that I got on sale last spring. The NE bags say they are a product of Canada (unlike previous years that said NH and NY). I use the P43 to dry my hair, and walk by it all the time as it sits next to the opening between my kitchen and the living room. I was pretty sure the Alleghenys, a product of the USA per the bags, were running hotter than the NE blend, but waited until the stove had run down to the second bag of the Allegheny's before doing the test. All my, admittedly unscientific testing, is performed in the P43. I set the oven thermometer to get the air temp coming out of the 3rd tube from the right. The P43 has 7 air tubes and that placement gives a nice, snug fit for the thermometer, between the top of the firebox door and the lip off the top of the stove. When taking temperature of the air, I turn the thermostat up another 1* from its set point to make sure I get at least 25 minutes of run time at full bore (according to the feed rate). The feed rate is set at 3 (I normally run it at 2 for my own reasons). I also don't clean the stove, so it is running at real-world conditions, not at best possible conditions. This time, the stove is really dirty and due for a cleaning and it still got up to 295-300* As a comparison, these ran hotter than Okie Golds (originals), Fireside Platinums (SW), and Blazers. They didn't run as hot as Cubex, Fusion Blends (Lauzon) or La Crete (all of which burned in the low 300s). Are they dusty pouring into the hopper? Yes. Are they fairly ashy? Yes, but no more so than other GS "flavors". But I was extremely impressed with the heat these put out. And, the price point is on the lower end (for this year anyway) at $6.58/bag or $308/ton. So, they are a much better value pellet than the GS Northeast (although those put out decent heat). I would definitely buy these again.
I forgot to mention that the smell of the Alleghenys is a whole lot different than the North East blend. The NE blend always smells a bit "off" to me while the Allegenys smell much fresher. Sorry, can't explain it any better than that.
