Quick question. I'm a total newbie and to be honest I thought it'd be just "buy stove, put wood in, warm". I had no idea there was this whole world of ash and BTU and etc etc etc and my head is spinning! I've read the newbie guide, and will definitely be way more prepared next year, but I currently have the opportunity to buy from Northern Warmth. Do you guys have any experience with these? Pros? Cons? I'm also trying to understand the whole "sister brand" thing and that maybe I need to look for those brands and it'd be the same? Thanks for any input!
Found a post called: "Are northern warmth supreme Douglas fir with $400 a ton?" that helped a bunch. I didn't realize "with" was supposed to be "worth" lol. I'm assuming nothing much has changed in 5 years?
Both the Doug Firs burn super clean meaning very little ash. Lowest I have tested ever. Higher BTU's than any other wood pellet. Only pellet that claimed higher was that made from coffee grounds. Coffee Pellets also burned cleaner. Affordability. Also the highest cost per pound than any other pallet. Comparing BTU's to the cost is where I had to draw the line. Usually can find a very clean SPF pellet that burn very clean and have high BTU's. You might save a little if money is an issue.
Hmm. Sounds like "Great quality, but at what cost". It didn't seem too much to me, but then again I'm new to this, so I don't necessarily know how long it'll last. As far as I understand your newbie guide and etc and what you just said it's a bit like I should have these for the coldest moments, but might use another for other days? Gosh I there's a whole new world opened up to me haha.
Trial and error is how I learned. My bottom line is the $$ factor. If you can afford to use them year round? Then you can toss that out. Use BTU per pound or if your stove doesn't handle ash very well use that as the deciding factor. What pellet are you using now?
I'm almost embarrassed to say... Because it's probably bad since I got it cheap from Walmart lol. It's called "Pennington Premium Nature's Heat Wood Fuel Pellets". This one: https://tinyurl.com/3pmw28s7
This is my stove btw: I had gone to some website that said it was best price, but I wanted a smart one I can use apps with. I probably fell for some marketing thing and it turns out we don't want a pellet stove with Wifi lol: https://a.co/d/c9ETBlT
We all start somewhere and it's how we learn. You'll figure out what you stove likes. If its happy with those and you can afford them? No one will scold you. We all run with our own game plan on how we heat the shack. We may share info, But we all kind of do it with "what works best for you" kind of attitude. It is what it is. Heck some say us pellet heads take this heating thing to serious anyway!! But I do have to say if you try the Doug firs they may be addicting. I do recommend trying them or any other pellet you can get your paws on. Makes the game fun and something to do with the boring winters we deal with here.
I burned a lot of big box pellets in our stove over the last almost 10years. Heat output was “good enough” and they produced a lot of ash. I went with softwoods this year and noticed a difference in heat output and much less ash. I’m cleaning the stove less often. You do have to weigh a few factors with pellets; cost vs/ heat output and cleaning.
Try getting 5-10 bags of different pellets and running them thru your stove to see what it likes, what you like, what your pocketbook likes (or at least doewn't scream bloody murder), and what your house circumstances like and find where those likes intersect. Some stove setups don't like hardwoods (mine tend to love them), some setups don't like mixes (mine do really well with them), some stoves don't like the super premium softwoods (my setups aren't really good with them). Some people hate ash and don't have time to clean their stoves every x days/weeks. Sometimes that is because of ash bin size and sometimes it is just the person - LOL. My stoves have large ash bins and I don't mind cleaning them every 3-4 weeks. My house is 4x4 construction so not much insulation can be stuffed in there. So, on windy and very cold days my house is loosing heat constantly. What I need is constant heat at those times, but with a fairly small house, I don't need a lot of heat constantly. I am very cost conscious so can't see myself paying the premium prices for the top pellets. Not to mention that I installed my first pellet stove because of the cost of heating my place with propane was out of sight. If I'm going to spend a small fortune on pellets, I can do that just as well without all the work and just pay someone to deliver propane every couple of weeks. Between all of the above, I tend to burn middling brands such as Maine Wood Pellets (MWP's - that many times are sold by TSC around here) or Green Supremes (from Home Depot). I am not above getting some really good stuff if I can find a deal on CL/FBM or can buy just 5-10 bags on a sale (or coupon or reward), but those are usually relegated to the coldest weather (if they aren't buried) and aren't "needed".
