This
past winter was brutal...and long. Anything heat related was in
short supply. Wood pellets were especially hard to
find. We however, were able to maintain a supply for our stove customers
throughout the winter. We occasionally had enough pellets for general availability as well. Being unsure of our supply of Turman Pellets this year, they will only be available to our stove customers. We do however have another fine pellet that will be for general availibility. They're called "Hamer's Hot Ones". They're a low ash, high BTU, hardwood pellet made in West Virginia. In the past there where two recognized grades of wood pellets, Standard and Premium. The grades are determined by a multitude of factors such as ash, moisture, length, and certain chemical properties. For the most part the consumer should be concerned with the ash content and maybe BTU rating, although this should be taken with a grain of salt as readings are not always accurate. Standard pellets are rated as greater than 1% ash. These should be avoided, unless you have a biomass stove with some kind of ash management system, such as the Lopi AGP or the Osburn 5000 units. Premium pellets are rated as having less than 1% ash, and are usually what's available in most stores and outlets. Less than 1% ash seems very small, but as you will see there's quite a span. Recently the Wood Pellet Institute developed a third grade of pellets called Super Premium, with ash content of less than .5%. You see, the Premium pellet with an ash content of .9% has three times the ash content of a Super Premium pellet rated at .3%. In the future, the PFI (Pellet Fuel Institute) will be redefining the standards and labeling of pellets. They will be dropping the "Super Premium" label and instead require all pellets be labelled with the testing results, and be labelled Premium. So, you'll have to look at the fine print, similar to checking your food at the market. This won't be effecting the quality of the pellets, just the labeling, So compare and you'll see the Turman pellets will one of the best. What does all that mean to
you? Well to start, that usually means that if you
use Super Premium pellets you will be cleaning your
stove about 1/2 to 1/3 as much. If you were cleaning
every 3 days, that could go to 6 days or more. It
doesn't stop there. Ash is not only your enemy,
but also your stoves. Ash can coat the heat
transfer surfaces of your stove, which decreases the
stoves efficiency. Consequently you get less heat
from each pound of pellets. So yes, Super costs a little
more, but you'll be saving time and getting a more
efficient burning stove. |