We have a pellet stove as an auxilary heater (we heat primarily woth wood). To match the heat output of the woodstove, I have to burn a lot of pellets. As for pellet types, my experiences do not match up to conventional wisdom but here they are.
The worst pellets are hardwood pellets. While ash is not too bad, they seem to be sooty and leave a gummy residue. I burned ten bags of these and will not buy any more.
Red (douglas) fir pellets are much better and I have used a lot of the purcell brand with OK results.
Mixed spruce/pine are similar to the fir pellets in my experience.
The very best pellets I have burned were also the cheapest. These were lodgepole pine pellets out of Wyoming. Burned clean, burned hot, ash not too bad. At 160 bucks a ton, these were my favourites. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get these this year and have had to settle for the Purcell fir pellets.
Maintain the stove and keep it clean and you will be happy with it. As I said, we use ours only as a backup and use it when we are going to be gone for a day, for instance. I prefer running the pellet stove to damping the woodstove right down and sooting up the chimney. Leeper
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