EcoPellets Tasmania began manufacturing wood pellets in 2019 after seeing the amount of timber waste being produced from plantation timber in Tasmania.

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Wood Pellets Buying & Burning Tips

candice By candice 2022-11-17

Whether you bought a pellet stove for the winter or you’ve been burning wood pellet fuel for years, we’ve done the research to solve your problem and help you choose the best wood pellets for your home. The main factors to consider when choosing and buying wood pellets are wood type, BTU (heat output), ash content, and, of course, price.

Types of wood

Typically, two types of wood are used in wood pellets: hardwood or softwood. Hardwood in its raw form burns longer because it has a higher density. On the other hand, softwood typically has a higher BTU due to the lignin concentration in the wood, so it burns hotter.

So what does this mean for your pellet stove? During pellet production, sawdust and wood residues are compressed into pellets, and the types of wood used can be used consistently or in a mixture. Once compressed, both hardwood and softwood pellets end up with similar densities. In its raw form, hardwood is very different from softwood, but once compressed, the type of wood doesn’t make much difference in heating the stove if you have a good quality pellet stove with good air circulation.
The real thing to look for in your pellet type is the quality of the wood. Make sure the pellets you choose are made from real wood and not mixed with cardboard, bark or synthetics.
Wood Pellets Buying & Burning Tips

BTUs

BTU means “British Thermal Unit” and is used to measure energy. Essentially, the BTU of a wood pellet is a measure of heat output. A high BTU means it burns hotter.
Granular BTU is measured at an average of 8,000 – 8,900 BTU per pound. So how many BTUs do you need to heat your home? This will depend on your insulation, the space you’re heating, and several other factors.

Ash

The ash content of the wood pellets measures the ash output during combustion in terms of weight percent. Ash content should be less than 1% of total pellet weight (on our pellet pricing table, we do the calculation for you!)

In short, it determines how often you have to clean the ash from your pellet stove. Low ash content means you have to clean your furnace less often because it produces less ash, a factor that many pellet furnace owners take very seriously.

How to choose the pellets to buy?

All in all, the choice of wood pellets is entirely up to your preference and budget. As always, if you have any questions about wood pellets or want to know which pellets are best for your home, our team is here to help! With years of experience, we know something about pellets, and we can help you decide which pellets are best for your home, stovetop, and budget. Contact us with any questions or call us on +61 (3) 6380 0055!