Remember one thing, ash volume doesn't necessarily equate to a "more ashy pellet" per say. Ash is measured by weight and not volume. I've had pellets that looked like "low ash" yet weighed in heavy. Now myself personally, I do judge a pellet on ash volume but in terms of "testing" that is not the case. This is where people get a little confused with things calling a pellet ashy when technically it is not the case.
Interesting. Who settled on the ash weight thing versus the volume thing? That is, why are we measuring by weight and not volume? On the surface, it seems curious because I see more residue as problematic... things that can fly around and infiltrate the mechanics on my stove.
I assume PFI came up with the standard and I'm not quite sure why that is, maybe someone knows? I always tell the story about Lignetics (hardwood). Year after year their pellets are very consistent (at least my experience with them) and always burn and feed well BUT, those damm pellets leave a lot of ash (volume) and it drives me crazy so I tend to stay away from then unless I get them cheap.
This could be baseless but I tend to stay away from Liggies and Cleanburn. I've heard similar stories about Liggies and the rumor mill on Cleanburn is that they started storing their product out by the ocean. That and I hear their products -- while good value -- aren't the kind I probably want to run in my stove. At least not for any substantial length. But that could be my bias.
They don't have the same reputation around these parts, but again, that could be the circle of friends I keep. Feel like putting it all on the line? If money was not a deal breaker, which pellet would you burn? You and Will seem to have a good feel on most of them. I think I do in that I'm burning upper tier stuff. Which do you think are the bestest pellets?? I think you know how I roll. I would go with a Bear Mountain product (Bear Mountain, Golden Fire), a Pacific Coast product (Cascade, Sierra Supreme, Olympus), or a North Idaho product. Even though Liggies are a BM product, I would choose their other lines before them. Again, which pellet would you burn if you didn't care about price? And why?
It wasn't until we came across Joe at Bucks Pellets did we get our feet wet with the softies and have been kinda sorta hooked ever since. The problem is price. If price weren't an issue I'd be burning either Packsaddle, Olympus, Liggie softies all day long. Good heat and super low ash, what more can you ask for out of a pellet. I would hardly ever need to clean the stove and that would be a great thing!
Did I tell you that I can get a ton of Packsaddle for like $270? I am tempted mainly because I want to try them. They have to ship it up to one of their affiliates up this way from Oregon. But every time I think about it, I remind myself I can get as good of product for $220-30. Why spend the extra cash? $50 is a lot. Still -- I do want to try them. Maybe next time I'm down in Portland, OR I can haul a few bags back.
I can't speak in detail about one state's tax programs versus another but I 'suspect' pellets are taxed because our winters generally are not nearly as harsh and as long as yours. We also have sales and property taxes and no income taxes. All things considering, our power is pretty cheap too. My current rate is 10 cents a KW/h. That's why I have a very hard time paying anything above $250 a ton for pellets.
So one of the things I noticed in that quote is that they are selling 60 bags. I replied and asked him if those were 40 lbs bags which he responded with: "No Sir, they are 33lb bags, we come up 20lbs short of a Ton on our pallets." WTF?? Why a 33lb bag?
I'm certainly no expert on any of this, but I would assume it's because weight is a much more objective measurement. Just getting the ashes into some sort of graduated container can knock the volume down and change the readings. Like stirring the ash pan to break up the chunks and lower the volume. But weight doesn't change even if the volume does. I agree with the above sentiments though. I think volume would be a much more "useful" measurement criteria though since that's what we care about. I mean... Unless the ash pan weighs so much you can't lift it, who cares what it weighs? All we care about is that it's full.
I think NY state also taxes pellets IIRC? With CT taxing NG/LPG and now oil. I bet they start taxing pellets soon!!
And speaking of pellet reviews, I've recently burned some Clean Energy (Hamer's hardwood) and some Pres-to-Logs (Lignetics Hardwood). If I wanted to provide some feedback about those brands, should I put that in the pellet review section even though it's not scientific-like? There are threads over there about both, I believe (although the PTL is the softwood variety).
I tested Olympus and golden fires last year, I only posted The review of the Olympus pellets cuz the end results for my stove where Just about identical in Every way for both pellets.
100% true but in the case of ash, IMO volume may give you a better representation of what you're going to likely see in your stove.
