What Burns Better Hardwood Or Softwood Pellets

Softwood pellets produce more heat meaning they have a higher btu output.

What burns better hardwood or softwood pellets.

Softwood pellets burn hotter. Wood species between hardwood and softwood is not the deciding factor in pellet quality. How a pellet is made is often more important than the species of wood used. As a result folks who heat with wood pellets tend to use softwood pellets during winter and supplement.

Here is a list of the best wood pellets for pellet stoves i have burned over the years. Quality and efficiency can vary based on your wood pellet stove design and manufacturer but rest assured that purchasing hardwood softwood or blended. Hardwood pellets are often sold as premium pellets and costs more than softwood pellets. Softwood pellets burn hotter than hardwood pellets.

Hardwood pellets are often sold as premium pellets for a higher price than softwood. This is completely different than normal firewood heating in which hardwood i e. Your pellet stove may require different fuel and air settings for softwood over the hardwood it may be used to but a pellet stove can burn either. The only downside of the hardwood pellets was that the window had more soot than with softwood because it s finer it flies better.

With the amount of sparks flying when pellets drop from the shoot i suspect the softwood pellets were not all burning completely thus lowering the heat output. There s a couple reasons for this total turnaround when it comes to pellets. Hardwood pellets and softwood pellets are both compressed under very heavy pressure. Whether your wood pellets are made from hardwood sawdust or softwood sawdust will have absolutely no influence whatsoever regarding how those pellets will burn.

The result is that the btu and burn rate is similar. Many people will argue that only hardwood pellets should be burned in their stove and conversely some people will argue that softwood pellets are the only way to go. People naturally think that since hardwood firewood has a higher btu and burns longer in a wood stove it must also be the same with pellets. This is counter intuitive for anyone who is used to burning standard non pellet wood since hardwood always burns hotter in standard cord wood form.

Because of this many people mistakenly thinking they are buying better quality pellets when they buy hardwood. Oak hickory etc is a far greater heat source than softwoods i e. The result is that the btu and burn rate is similar. Year after year the wood pellets listed below both hardwood and softwood pellets are considered in my opinion to be the best.

This usually depends on the quality of the pellet rather than the species. The best wood pellets. The pellet stove and how it is operated can influence how clean the pellets burn.