Ok Switch as I went to Lowes for Bird seed and grabbed 3 bags of Northeast pellets . Emptied the hopper of Matra's to test them out as its going to get chilly tonight and want good pellets for this evening .They look good don't have any scent and are a very hard pellet , see what happens
Have tried them before a couple of times first time so so not impressed but the second time they were a decent pellet for the price. These look to be inline with the second batch I tried a couple of years ago. Did check the reviews and they were not to impressive . Do like the pellet size as they are a good length . Had to try
My issue with them is the type of ash they produce. It's heavy and doesn't leave the burnpot. From a clean startup, these will have the whole burnpot surface covered with an inch of ash in under 3 hours. If I'm home and awake and able to scrape the pot at least every 3 hours to maintain a decent flame and heat, fine. Not exactly ideal though. They also smell bizarre, like there's something unnatural / other than wood in them.
What I am expecting as well as they are cranking out some good heat but the ash will have to see , so far I would definitely choose them over a blend or hardwood with the exception of a really good hardwood with low ash and my only experience with that was the Northern Max which I have not tried in a while. We'll see but guessing TT you hit the nail on the head .. Wish I felt better I would be heading up to Vermont Pellets ! Have to resist and get some rest.
I'm not having any problem with this year's EASYBLAZE , on my third ton and ash from the bottom of my burn pot vacuums right out .
Wow..2 different sizes of the same pellets. Couple yrs ago they were longer and a light yellowish color with a great smell and light fluffy ash. Complete different pellet now.
Top feeder as opposed to my bottom feeder Harman's but regardless next time I burn them I'll grab some of the clinkers and take some pics. Don't let me be misunderstood as I like them very well just found it interesting that I am getting clinkers for the first time since I bought Harman's , rather strange more than anything . What I really like about them other than the heat output is that they burn much longer than say Matra's which is something to recognize when you burn a chitload of pellets.
Unfortunately I don't have Matra's in my area to try , but I understand your point between bottom and top feeders . As much as I've always wanted a Harman I really can't complain about this stove .
I may be wrong but somewhere I think I read where clinkers are a lot of result from too much mineral in the product.
Yup just as I thought they have not changed TT they suck for exactly the reason you mentioned when it come to their ash. Big I told you so is in order not that it would have stopped me even if I had asked prior to purchasing them but one funny thing is they were horrible in the P68 for the ash reasons but in the Poor P43 yep thats where all the sub par pellets go they were no worse then say MWP as far as the ash and they gave off good heat. The last of them will be laying waste in the P43 this evening then done gone for good . Ok here we go bottom line I won't be buying them again, well at least for another year when maybe just maybe they might have made some changes (always a chance) and they are somewhere where i buy pellets.