A Question for those who have actually used Okie DF this year.

[Paul Grant]

What's been your experience.  Frankly, I'm not impressed with American Bio's product.  I've struggled to get the same performance from my stove that I've seen in previous years using the old Okie DF.  I'm just about to finish up on my third ton, with one left and will be glad when they're gone.  

[Paul Grant]

Here's a photo of a baggie full of the new AB Okanagan DF set against a hopper full of last years (non AB) Okanagan Platinum Spruce.  Notice the insane size of the DF pellets.  They range in size from 2"-2.5" in length.  That baggie took minutes to fill while sorting through a bag of pellets.  The other issue I've has is that some of the pellets are soft and crumble easily.  That causes a coating on the inner walls of the chute.  Overall, the new DF burns no better and is more difficult to fiddle with than last years Spruce.  I've been in contact with Chris Basinger at AB Okanagan and he agrees the pellets are too long and has alerted his quality control manager.  He asked if it was common through all four tons and it has been.  He also said he would get some mew samples in my hands for review.  We'll see.  While I appreciate his attention to the matter, I really don't know if it's really going to make enough of a difference. 

[Paul Grant]

[Flyer 304]

Good Evening Paul,

I did run 8 or 10 bags during the season. The bags I had did have some of the long pellets as well. 

They burned ok in my GW-2014, but not well enough to support the pricing they're at.

One thing I can say, they are a little dusty, but not nearly anywhere to the level of the Northern Warmth Supreme DF.

The NW SDF were very very dusty in the bag and I had dust everywhere in the basement where the stove is and what floated upstairs with the rising heat.

Couldn't imagine running them in your stove thats on your living level of the house.

Best pellet I ran this year were some of the Blazer pellets that a Shop found they had behind other hardwood pellets stacked in their warehouse.

 Wish I had found out sooner, would have bought them all for next season. 

The Blazers are a DF from Oregon but company went out of business. Hot, and clean. Cleaner & hotter than the Oakie DF and way cleaner than the NW SDF.

The 3 Tons of Patriot Pellets (DF) I purchased for my primary pellet for my 1st heating season(2017/2018), turned out to be a big disappoinment. Lower heat and would cake up the burn basket.

I'm running up almost 28' of 6" pipe so I have to every 3 to 4 days, shut down the stove, remove the 3 to 4 adapter and vacuum the upper portion of the stove as far as the hose goes down and also the chimney pipe that goes to the vertical pipe, to clear out the fly ash that collected as it didnt make it all the way out the chimney. .

Not sure who may in the New Milford area carry other softwood pellets, but one pellet that I have had real good luck with and I have been blending with the Patriot Pellets so they can burn longer before caking, are

the Easy Blaze Premium Softwood. They are made in VA and are Southern yellow pine.

Buying by the loose bag to try them, paid $5.75 ea. 

Have been very consistant in my stove, to where I already committed to an early buy for (4) tons @ 280/ton = $1,120. With delivery a total of $1,220

Seem to burn as good as  a true DF should, but at a lower price. The only DF that worked for me as far as heat & clean were the Blazers but no longer available.

Second to the Blazer DF, the best performer for my Wiseway were the Easy Blaze Premium Softwoods.

They're lower in price to the Oakie DF and NW SDF, consistant, and they are deliverable.

They do have fines in the bags, but I can deal with that. With my stove and length of chimney,I have a little higher burn rate, so a go through a few pounds more per night. BUt once running empty ash pan, top off the hopper and stove burns overnight just fine. In the AM, empty ashpan, fill hopper and off to work. Wife then empties ashpan and tops off hopper (always try to keep it full), she goes to work at 3pm , then I tend to it when I get home after 7pm. Have run up to 5 days 24/7, but 4 days is the norm due the fly ash that builds up in the upper part of the stove and the chimney pipe.

I haven't run the Easy Blaze 100% straight yet, but only as a blend , but the difference with them being mixed in, is night and day. With them being my only pellet for the 2018/2019 season, looking forward to running them straight and seeing how long they burn before I see caking ,if any, in the burn basket. I see some now but attribute that to the Patriots they are mixed with,  as the Patriots cake up within 5 hours when running just them.

If you can find them near you, I would strongly recommend you try a bag or two and see show they perform with your set up. I know you have a shorter run of pipe and not too many bends with the 45 you ran through the wall.

I would say they may be better than the plats you've used. I never tried them myself. The Easy Blaze  also did better than new Lacrete's I tried.

If you don't have anyone near you to pick some up and if you're in the Torrington area, you're welcome to take a bag to try and see how they run in your stove and pipe.

Let me know.

Have a good evening

Sterling

  

[classicr...@gmail.com]

So the Director of Sales for Okanagan, Chris Basinger, left the company and even though I have an email from him telling me he will provide a complimentary ton of pellets for the trouble I had last year with their product, their VP of Operations, Bob Davis said he had nothing for me.  Meanwhile, BT is sitting on tons of DF in their warehouse.  Okie sucks in more ways than one.  NEVER AGAIN will I waste my money on their garbage pellets.  They are not the company they once were.

[Flyer 304]

Good Evening Paul.

I haven't posted here in a while and I don't know if you are still running the Wiseway.

Just wanted to let you know about a couple brands of pellets that I have tried recently that do everything a good bag of Douglas does, but they are available here in CT.

As you may have followed I made up some burn baskets that had side plates and were not like the OEM basket. These worked to some extent when a good dry Douglas was found. 

With other pellets these baskets would clog up and reduce burn time before you had to poke at the basket.

Anyways there are (2) brands of softwoods in CT that are both Eastern Pine. Actually (3). Vermonts been around awhile and burn well for my GW-2014 and almost 35" pipe.

The other (2) are  Matra from Canada and Wood& Sons from Maine. Both have burned excellent in my Tove and with the plated burn baskets I made. The MAtra are lighter in color and are up to 7/8" in length.

The Wood & Sons are on the short side and a darker tan in color. With both  pellets my stove will run showing a flue gas temp of 700 to 750 with the damper opened almost 3/4 of the way. 

The Wood  & Sons like the MAtra and maybe even more consistent. I do not have to tickle the burn basket at all before going to bed . the stove just motors right along. The pellets burn quicker due to shorter (smaller) size and drop onto the secondary as needed to keep the temp constant. Only see a fluctuation of 50 degrees  throughout out the night. With this fuel and the plate basket, the stove is running like Gary Said they should and do. No tickling the burn basket, no buildup, no large volume of ash. before bed, I just top off the hopper, check the burn basket, and pull out the burn plate to check it, close it all back up and let it run.

First time since I've had the stove. I did run 4 tons of the Easy Blaze softs this past winter, but when I went to get a few more bags to hold me over, found that they had supply issues and those hold overs bags were not the same product I burned 4 tons of.  Not to be bitten again, I tried the Vermonts and they were cleaner running than the Good Easy Blaze I had run 4 tons of. That's how I came about the Matra and the Woods & Sons Eastern Pine softwoods. Dealer ran out of the Vermonts so it was experiment time to keep house warm. But what a pleasant surprise to have (2) products that burn almost identical with one from Canada and the other from Maine. The MAtra as mentioned are a little longer. If you try the Wood& Sons, being that they are of a shorter length, I would recommend narrowing the gap of your burn basket if you are using eth OEM basket. Open it back up if they are not dropping to soon/fast. Going to do 4 tons of these for the coming season. AS mentioned fist time with my stove I had to do nothing but feed it and empty the ash pan. Do my regular clean out and vacuuming of the pipe from stove to chimney clean out after running 5 days straight. with my burn basket and these Wood & Sons, it working out to about 4 lbs an hour with an indicated 700 degrees.

Just wanted to pass it along so in case you wanted to try on one of the cooler days before spring /summer get here, so you have an alternative to try. Who knows may burns as well for you as your running a shorter pipe than I am. To see kbaskets, they are in one of my earlier posts from late 2017 or early 2018. Finally have a combination for a no fuss stove. Just clean it every 5 days and suck out etc ash in the stove pipe.

Take care