From Lowe's, I hauled home several trips, some Northeast pellets that I was told are leftover inventory from Winter 2000-2021. I am pleased with the specifications of the Northeast Pellets. (I have not started putting the pellets through the stove, yet.) The pellets are SuperPremium of Spruce and Fur, as communicated to me by Matthew Bell, the CEO of Northeast Pellet Co. Ashland, ME. In my opinion, the Northeast Pellets sold by the Big Box Stores and Walmart may be the best deal in existence on wood pellets. A 100% softwood SuperPremium pellet at big box store prices. I think I will suggest to (Henry and Dan of) McManus Fuels to stock Northeast Pellets. I do see that some local Walmarts sell the Northeast Pellets.
I got 5 bags in November of 2020 to try. They were the second worst pellet I've ever burned as far as heat output, only better than Therma Glos. NE were so bad I didn't even enter how much ash they produced on my spreadsheet. Nature's Own and Infernos burned hotter than Northeast pellets. Their website just says they are "sawdust, shavings and chips are clean and bark-free", nowhere do they commit to HW, SW or blend. Since it leavings from other manufacturers, I find it hard to believe it is pure softy though (or that they would even know the bled percentage). I find it interesting that you would suggest to a pellet house that they carry a certain pellet before even trying it. Specs are one thing, actual performance is another.
I am looking forward to finding-out next winter how well the Northeast Pellets burn. My Harmon burns most pellets fine. When I see a good deal, I can not always wait to try a few sample bags, before purchasing a ton or two, while the good deal is still available. It is certain that the Northeast Pellet is a Super Premium (stated on the bag) and sells at Big Box Store prices. However, there might be some un-certainity as to whether the pellet is a blend. But in my opinion, a Super Premium pellet in any species at a Big Box Store price is a GOOD deal.
You do know it's a Harman right?I hope they are the best pellets you have ever burned.I burned 1 bag and swore I would never purchase another.
Orson_Yancey , I wasn't dissing you buying them. Even if not a very warm burning pellet, the 5 bags I got worked okay for heating my place during the shoulder season. I was just wondering about this statement:
You are right; I agree I should not recommend something until I have had plenty of time to try it out. I have difficulty measuring the heat output of my stove because it seems that there are many variables such as setting of constant burn or room temp, feed limit, and the type of pellet. Plus I have noticed the heat output is higher for about three days after I have cleaned the heat exchanger and all of the inside of the fire box. A few years ago, my stove seemed to run on high heat output independent of my setting the dials low. Then I discovered that ash had built up all around and was covering the ESP. One parameter I do record is the number of bags of pellets that I burn before I have to empty the ash pan. I usually burn 20 to 25 bags. I sent a message to Dan just to see what he thinks of the Northeast Pellets. I would love to find a Super Premium 100% softwood produced nearby and sold at a Big Box Store price.
Hi, Good to know that I should pay close attention to the Northeast Pellets. I may learn that I should use them as a shoulder season pellet. Truth be told, over the years, I have purchased some unusual brands of wood pellets from people on Craigslist. Luckily, I have never paid more than $300/ton for wood pellets; hence, I have been satisfied with all wood pellets that I have put through my Harmon. I have even purchased bags of wood pellets with severe water damage, as much as 1/2 of the bag being saw dust. I have had good luck with allowing the saw dust to dry-out some and then mixing the saw dust with good pellets to have a mixture of perhaps 20% fines. A mixture of 20% fines will burn in a Harmon producing a lot of fire flies behind the window. The downside of the mixture of 20% fines is it has more of a problem of bridging in the hopper. The solution to bridging is to keep the hopper (plus extension) more then 2/3 full. One good use for fines is I use a mixture of about 40% fines to start a fire, as the fines ignite sooner, while the pellets hold the heat like the way charcoal does.
The way I measure the temp. I only use the P43 because it is the one that I use better pellets in when I have them in my stash. I do not clean it before hand. If it is extremely dirty or not burning my regulars (TSC MWP) well, then I will clean then run a couple of bags of TSC thru. My reasoning is that the stove is only clean for a bag or two, so I am looking for how a pellet runs in normal situations, not when everything is best case. I run at least 1.5 bags of the new pellets thru before taking the temp. I use an oven thermometer that hangs off the rack (not the most accurate way, but close enough for my use). The hanger part of the thermometer is placed in the outflow hole just to the right of the center of the door and the base is wedged at the top of the door. It is a tight fit but ensures the position is pretty much the same each tim. I set the feed dial to 3, which is my normal setting for TSCs. I want to know how much heat is coming form a set feed rate - not how much heat is coming from playing around with the stove setting. I only use the exterior thermostat for testing. Once the thermostat kicks the stove on, I up its set point by a degree to ensure a fairly long burn. I set the timer for 20 minutes and check the temp. Then check the temp every couple of minutes until the 35 minute mark. At that point the stove is in shut down, or getting ready for shutdown mode anyway. The highest temp during that period is what I record. This shows placement and is during testing of Fusion Blene (Lauzon's) Testing of La Cretes Testing of North Americans I can't find my picture of Northeast pellets - I need to name the files more consistently
Hi BogieB, The description is good in keeping some of the variables constant. I see the thermometer is at the output end of a heat exchanger tube. Just wondering if you have a way to make sure the fan speed is constant (whether the air flow rate is constant), from one test to the next test. I will provide more description. The stove is a hot air blower, heat transfer by convection. The total heat produced (BTU's or Calories) would be the volume of air flow passing a certain point (sometimes called the volumetric flow rate for a fluid) times the temperature. Here is an example: a small air flow rate coming out of the stove at a high temperature could be carrying less heat than a larger air flow rate coming out of the stove at a lower temperature. But one would be lead to believe that the second flow rate is less heat because the temperature is lower. Saying it another way. The fans could be running fast pushing a high air flow rate of air that actually measures at a lower temperature than another situation of a small air flow rate of air coming out of the heat exchanger at a higher temperature. This is an interesting problem to study. Sometime, I might like to go back and review the heat transfer equations from my studies in Mechanical Engineering and Thermo-Fluid Sciences. Maybe you already have a way to maintain a constant fan speed (air flow rate) from one test to the next. The ideal test would be to burn a pound of wood pellets and measure all of the heat produced by it. But the laboratory test attempts to tell us that when they publish the BTU's per pound. You probably already know this. The BTU/lb ranges roughly from 8,000 for the some hardwoods to 9,000 for Douglas Fir. In my opinion, not much variation. Yet people will pay twice as much for the Douglas Fir (and lower ash). I see you mention that you measure the highest temperature over the period. Probably for a curve of temperature vs time one would want to sum-up the area under the curve. An example, a curve of a steep slope upward to a single peak temperature, then a steep slope downward, could measure less heat than a flatter more uniform curve. I have not put much thought into this or looked at some equations, so please do not take these statements very seriously.
So these "Northeast" pellets are something different than Green Supreme's "Northeast Blend", right? Figured (that since I just had a pallet of the GS arrive) I ought to at least ask...
My fan is always set at high. You'll notice during the testing, I wait for the stove to start itself up (which when stat is set at 69*, it will start at about 67.5*), then turn up the set point on my thermostat a degree or two. That is to ensure the stove is always at the maximum feed rate that I allow (3), and the fan will stay on high and not go variable. Also note that the thermostat is in another room, that is along, but not in, the flow of the airstream. Since I have a small place, the stove does not normally run very long, so the temperature within the first 35 minutes is what is telling. However, the colder the pellets are, the longer the stove will run to get the house up to temp, which means more fuel consumption. This is a real world scenario, for my specific circumstances, not a lab test. After all, labs say my vehicle will get XX MPG, but who really gets that? Lab tests call for exact (and very favorable) conditions, my test calls for how it will actually be used (which is why parts that go into aerospace products go thru life cycle testing, not just initial/base testing). As far as BTU, again, lab tests aren''t all that important to me and I don't even look at that. I burn what is the best value for me - which are middling pellets unless I find a good CL deal. The testing that I do, is purley to help me find the best value for my money. I am happy as heck to burn stuff that gives a high temp output in my stove, but not premium prices. OTOH, the coldest burning pellets are just going to run thru my stoves faster during the deep of winter.
Hi, I am glad you are sharing your test procedures. Hearing how you are doing testing is making me become more interested in watching how my stove works. I was just noticed this morning with the fan dial set as low as possible (the constant burn dial), that it appears that the distribution blower (distribution light is off) is still pushing air flow through the heat exchanger at the top of the stove, at a very low flow rate, but the air is coming out quiet hot. I need to find-out if the distribution blower comes on depending on the exhaust temperature that the ESP is reporting. From what I can tell, the ESP is a major element of the control system of a Harman. I want to research whether a hot pellet causes the ESP to report a high exhaust temperature, and hence the distribution blower would run fast pushing a large volume of air through the heat exchanger. It would be fun if a Harman Stove Engineer would come onto this FHC and share tell us about the design. During these shoulder seasons, I try to set for the minimal heat output (and pellet consumption). The minimal I have found so far, is Constant burn dial set to 1 and feed limit set to 1/2. In my notes, I call this constant burn 1/2. That is less heat output than Constant burn 1 with feed limit at 1 or higher and less than a maintenance flame. I estimate this constant burn 1/2 setting consumes about 1.5 to 2 lbs of pellets per hour, which I guess translates to about 13K to 17K BTU's per hour (at 8,500 BTU/lb). I would be interested in learning about the lowest heat output of your P43. Had I had more kitchen space and a larger budget, I sometime wonder if I should have purchased two P43's instead of one P68. Then during the shoulder seasons, I could run on P43 at the lowest setting and run two P43's during Jan. to Feb. Yes, some of the lab tests stating BTU's/lb vary due to the moisture content. I agree with you 100% about purchasing pellets that represent the best value, the most BTU's for the money. I usually purchase a HW Blend, I have run some 100% HW I purchased on Craigslist and I have run some interesting 100% SW I got from McManus. I often handle these pellets bags by bags. (I am impressed to read how you handled about 4.6 tons of pellets in one day.)
Hi PhilaB , If anybody ever finds out the percentage of blend of the GS Northeast Blend, I would like to know. During my recent purchase of pellets from Home Depot, I received GS Northeast Blend, "Product of Canada." I am hoping that these might be the former Energex Nation's Own and Fireside Ultra, which I recall were 60% SW.
Speaking of lab BTU/lb tests, the largest variation in those tests comes from unscrupulous entities who report the calculated "Moisture and Ash Free" BTU/lb values rather than the tested "As Received" values.
Hi Scot, Good to see you providing information. I have been a fan and a user of MWP since 2014, when I purchased my first 6 tons in the white and green bags from David Dionne. Over the past two weeks, I have purchased 10 tons of MWP in the brown and clear plastic bags from Lowes at $165 per ton--always a good pellet for the money. With the price of oil and propane so high, I think pellets sales will be strong for at least the next few years. I hope you can run your pellet factory at full capacity 24 x 6 all summer long. Imagine the run that will be taking place on pellets this Fall.
I have been burning Northeast Pellets (Yellow Bags) made in Ashland, ME. I got these from Lowe's about two years ago. The Northeast Pellets are advertised as Super Premium ash < 0.5%. As an approximate measure of ash, I keep some records of the number of bags I put through the stove before I have to clean the stove and empty the ash pan. The P68 Harman manual states that the ash plan holds 20 lbs of ash. I am able to put about 30 bags of these Northeast Pellets through the stove before the ash pan is full. That is a computed ash content of 1.66%. For most of the other brands of pellets advertised as Premium, ash < 1%, I am able to put 20 bags through the stove before the ash pan is full. That is a computed ash content of about 2.5%. I know that these computed ash percentages seem high, compared to what is advertised. I need to look more closely at the weight of the ashes when I empty the ash pan. I am pleased with the Northeast Pellets. The pellets do have the smell of a high percentage of softwood. I have been told that the Northeast Pellets do contain softwood, I have not been told a specific percentage of softwood. Maybe it varies depending on the feed stock available. Northeast Pellets can be purchased from the factory for $275/ton. If the factory were not so far away, in Northern Maine, it might make sense to contract with a trucker to transport a 20/22 ton load, during the middle of the summer, every few years or so.
While cleaning the Harman P68 today, I weighed the amount of ash held by the ash pan. About 6 lbs. So, I need to revise the above calculations. Most brands of pellets fill the ash pan in about burning 20 bags. 6/800 = 0.75% ash The Northeast pellets will fill the ash pan in about burning 30 bags. 6/1200 = 0.50% ash That agrees much better with what the pellet manufacturers advertise.
