Wood Pellets, Stoves and Boilers

Wood pellet fuel and heating by wood pellets is great! However, the quality of the various pellets available on the market today vary.  So, if you to are on the ever lasting hunt for quality a wood pellet reviews, pellet stove reviews, and fire log reviews, then you have come to the right place. Finding the PERFECT PELLET, the perfect mix between BTU's, Burn time, Smell, Ash and Fines, (or dust).

Top Quality Hardwood Pellets

• Bayou Wood Pellets (An administrators Favorite pellet! Red Oak sawdust from Cabinets, flooring and millwork.  What could be cleaner?? great pellet)
• Inferno Pellets - New company that realy came alive. I burned about 15 really great bags!
• Somerset wood pellets (another flooring company, awesome pellet!)
• Barefoot wood pellets
• New England Pellets ( Local favorite up here in NH. Great pellet!)
• Cubex wood pellets

Top Quality Softwood Pellets:

• Granules LG wood pellets ; burned them all winter and they were great, especially when mixed as 75% / 25% LG's to Somerset wood pellets.
• Cleanfire Pacific wood pellets ; ( there is not alot of info on these but I was emailed from a hearth.com person who told me that these are coming out of the Okanagan plant this year. Cleanfire brand pellets, I have heard, are repackaged Okanagans for the softwood pellets, and New England wood pellets for the hardwood Cleanfire's. )
• Okanagan Wood Pellets - These pellets are awesome! These are the type of pellets that you burn when you don't want to stand directly in front of your stove due to risk of burns and blistering.  These pellets are the hottest (up there with Blazers) pellets I have burned
• Andes Wood Pellets ( these are a new pellet but looking at the cut sheet from testing, these pellets look outstanding and hot! )
• Blazer Wood Pellets -  (An administrators Favorite pellet!) These pellets have the highest BTU's I have found. STUPID HOT
• Eagle Valley Wood Pellets

Administrators Favorites This Year In the Lopi Leyden.

So living in New Hampshire has it's benifits for choices in wood pellets. Not only do we have the big box retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot but, also, we have a ton of local hardware stores and many pellet mills ready to do business with them. Here are a few Pellets that I have burned this year in my Lopi Leyden that I absolutely recommend to anyone with a drop feed Pellets Stove.

#1 - Barefoot Pellets. Great Pellets!!! Hot / Clean / Perfect. The sales rep dropped a few bags off because I could not find them anywhere. If you are a retailer, call Dick Sullivan @ 207-754-2143 and you will have repeat business. This is the first year I have seen them and will ask for next year by name.

#2 - Somerset Wood Pellets- Awesome Pellet!Very hot and 1/3 cup of flyash.

Other Favorites

Granules LG- from woodpellets.com - I purchased these pellets as my main load for the year. 3 tons worth after reading good reviews. They burn great and hot. Very Hot. I love the softwood pellets. If you have a quality stove like my Lopi or a Harman then these are the pellets for you.

New England Pellet - Yes, this is the first time I have tried the local flavor. Very nice and I can see, now, what all the hub bub was about. Very nice product for my Lopi.

Nature's Heat by Pennington: I'm really not sure what all the online hate is about that I read about Nature's Heat wood pellets. They burned very nicely in my stove. I was very impressed with the heat output along with virtually no fines and hardly any ash. Same with Somerset. They were great and both are available at the local Lowe's in Epping.

Pellet Fuel

Pellet fuel is normally sold in 40 pound (18 kg) bags at about $3–$4 each, or about $120–$200 a ton. You can estimate how much fuel you will need for a heating season by noting that one ton of pellets is equivalent to approximately 1.5 cords of firewood. Most homeowners who use a pellet appliance as a main source of heat use two to three tons of pellet fuel per year. Pellet fuel appliances are often less expensive to operate than electric resistance heating and propane-fueled appliances.

Most pellet fuels have a 5%–10% moisture content. Well-seasoned firewood is usually around 20%. Some pellets contain either petroleum or non-petroleum lignin used as a lubricant in the pellet production process, though most contain no additives. Pellets made from agricultural waste contain more ash, but they may produce more heat than pellets made from wood.

The Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) maintains National Residential Pellet Fuel Standards, although fuel quality certification is the responsibility of the pellet manufacturer. Under the standards, there are two pellet fuel grades: premium and standard. The only difference between grades is in the inorganic ash content: premium should be less than 1%, and standard less than 3%. Premium is usually made of core wood (not bark). There are five fuel characteristics prescribed for both grades:

1. Bulk density per cubic foot (0.028 cubic meters) shall not be less than 40 pounds (18 kg)
2. The diameter shall be 1/4 to 5/16 inch (635-794 mm)
3. Maximum length shall be 1 and 1/2 inches (254-127 mm)
4. Fines (dust) of not more than 0.5% by weight shall pass through a 1/8 inch (317.5 mm) screen
5. Sodium content shall be less than 300 parts per million (ppm).

You can check pellet fuel quality by inspecting the bag for excessive dirt and dust. (Dirt can form clinkers in the stove.) There should be less than one half of a cup of dust at the bottom of a 40 pound (18 kg) bag. Pellet stoves designed for low-ash (typically top-fed stoves) tend to operate poorly when used with pellets of a higher ash content. Many pellet appliance manufacturers are redesigning their products to burn pellets with varying ash contents.

Although pellet fuel availability is increasing, you should be sure there is a reliable pellet fuel supplier in your area before purchasing a pellet stove. It is also important to know the type of pellet fuel available before you shop for an appliance. Most pellet fuel appliance dealers either maintain a supply of pellets or recommend a supplier. You may also check the local telephone listings under "Fuel" or "Pellet Fuel," or inquire at a local tree nursery, or at home and garden supply stores.