How to buy high quality pellets - Advice from an expert

Scott Williamson

Scott Williamson has worked on pellet stoves for decades as a technician and retailer. He has burned just about every kind of pellet on the market and has seen firsthand what works and what does not in the homes of clients.

We asked to interview Scott because he is not affiliated with any stove or pellet brand. He also has a Facebook group called Pellet Stove Troubleshooting & Repair. The group has nearly 17,000 members and it’s likely to include every technician in the country that works on pellet stoves.

What’s your primary advice to people buying pellets?

Scott’s first piece of advice is simple. Do not buy in bulk until you have tried the fuel. “Buy whatever you can afford. Buy a little and test it.”

Even pellets labeled premium can perform very differently from brand to brand. The word premium typically just refers to ash content being under 1 percent. It does not guarantee high heat output, clean burning in your stove, or easy ignition. If it runs well in your stove, then it is worth stocking up.

Before committing to a large purchase, test a few bags and pay attention to:

• How much ash is created?
• Does the burn pot clog up?
• Does the burn out empty itself during a shut-down?
• Any unusual odors from the pellet fuel itself (off gassing)?

If you burn pellets long enough, you stop looking for the perfect brand and start looking for what works consistently in your stove. Pellets are fuel. Some are better made than others. Your stove will tell you pretty quickly which is which.

Softwood vs. Hardwood: Does It Matter?

Yes! Buy softwood if you can. Scott says, “Softwood pellets are generally cleaner and produce more usable heat per pound.”

Species matters, but manufacturing quality matters just as much, sometimes more.

Scott has made informal heat comparisons in his own stove and has seen dramatic differences between brands under the same conditions.

Which brands would you generally avoid?

“If a bag leans heavily on patriotic imagery”, Scott says stay away! “Words like, American, Patriot, Liberty…. ‘Freedom’ that’s a big one. Freedom fuel, Patriot fuel, Liberty fuel. It’s all absolute garbage, and that’s because they’re relying on a certain demographic of consumers to buy them. They don’t care.”

Should I look for the PFI Logo?

Some bags display the logo of the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) but it doesn't mean the pellets are

Only the logo on the left means the fuel is certified to
PFI standards.

PFI certified. A company can be a PFI member of have a Board seat without certifying their pellets through PFI. Even if it is PFI certified, certification also does not automatically mean that pellet will perform best in your stove. You may also see companies say that they are certified members of PFI, but their pellets are not certified.

I have seen excellent pellets with and without certification and poor pellets with and without PFI certification.

I have heard that some pellets smell like diesel fuel. Should people be concerned?

Yes. It’s rare, but there are some pellets out there now that smell terrible, like this one bag that was sold by Tractor Supply (see photo on left). If you open a bag and it smells like diesel fuel, that is not normal. Take it back.

“Sometimes pellets have a mild pine smell. That is normal. Douglas fir can have a sharper scent. But diesel is not normal.”

A strong fuel smell can point to contamination somewhere in the fiber stream or during handling. If something about the smell makes you uneasy, do not store two tons of it in your basement.

 

Extensive signs of paint in pellets almost
always come from recycled wood pallets.

How about pellets with a bit of color in them?

Bits of color in pellets usually come from manufacturers that reclaim old pallets to make their pellets. I don’t really know how bad it is. I suppose it depends on the extent of paint in your pellets and the degree to which you’re breathing it. Every home is different. Every situation is different. But I don’t think anyone should be buying pellets that have paint in them. I would not buy that brand again.

We know that some folks are finding a lot of paint in pellets recently made by Michigan Wood Fuels.

How about the eternal issue of fines (wood dust)? How bad are they for your stove?

The wood dust at the bottom of the bag is called fines. Every pellet bag has some. Too much can cause problems. Fines develop during manufacturing and transportation. The more pellets are moved, stacked, and jostled, the more they break down. In many stoves, fines settle at the bottom of the hopper. Over time, they can restrict the feed opening, contribute to missed ignitions, and reduce maximum heat output.

If your stove suddenly struggles to ignite and you have burned 40 or 50 bags without cleaning out the hopper, fines are often the reason.

The fix is usually simple. Once a month, let the hopper empty completely. Vacuum the bottom thoroughly. Then restart. Scott says it’s a simple thing to do but he often looks like a hero after fixing an issue by just vacuuming dust out.

Not all pellet stoves manage fines the same way. Harman stoves are known for being more tolerant of dust. Their bottom feed system, adapted from coal stove technology, helps push fines through the burn process rather than letting them accumulate as easily.

That does not mean you should ignore dust. Cleaner pellets are always better. But some stove designs are more forgiving.


Are Pellets Still Worth the Money?

Yes, if you heat with oil, propane or electric resistance heat. Pellets come out as the more practical and economical option, especially when bought in bulk in the spring, way before you need them, so that you can shop around for the best price.

I think that's the main reason that this industry still exists… Let's think of all the ways that it saves people money, right? Because it's not just on how much you pay for fuel or how much you use, but the pellet stove has long been a stop gap measure that fills a need that maybe prevents a more expensive repair in your central heater. Or you're building an addition, you can put a pellet stove in and that is a heat source for the bonus room. That is way cheaper than having to pull in duct work or infrastructure to bring heat to a system that you may have to update, because now it's not big enough, right? It's a stop gap.”

Scott’s Bottom-Line Advice

1. Test the pellet before committing to buying a lot.
2. Ignore patriotic marketing.
3. Vacuum your hopper monthly.
4. Don’t panic over a little dust—but don’t ignore it.
5. Buy the pellets you can afford and manage.

“I’m 54 now. I don’t obsess over the type of pellets anymore. If you have a good enough stove, and keep up with maintenance, let your stove deal with it. Everything reasonable is manageable."

More resources on wood pellets

Sustainability of wood pellets, AGH website.

PFI Qualified Pellet Producers, PFI website.

Alliance for Green Heat Welcomes Emma Hanson to Board of Directors

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Ackerly, President
Alliance for Green Heat
info@forgreenheat.org 

March 2, 2026 - The Alliance for Green Heat (AGH), a national nonprofit dedicated to promoting cleaner, more efficient wood and pellet heating, is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Hanson to its Board of Directors.

Hanson brings more than a decade of experience advancing energy efficiency, advanced wood heating technologies, and sustainable forestry policy at the state, regional, and national levels. 

Most recently, Hanson served as Senior Program Manager for Residential HVAC at the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, where she led a committee of utility efficiency program administrators from across the United States and Canada. In that role, she managed initiatives to accelerate the adoption of high-performing heating and cooling systems, helped guide updates to electric HVAC specifications in response to new federal standards, and supported strategic electrification and demand response efforts in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Previously, Hanson was Wood Energy Coordinator at the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation. There, she promoted advanced wood heat solutions to residents and businesses, secured federal funding for incentive and technical assistance programs, and helped develop Vermont’s Biomass Renewable Energy Standard rule. Her work strengthened markets for low-grade wood, supported sustainable forest management, and contributed to Vermont’s climate and renewable energy goals.

“Emma brings a rare combination of technical knowledge, policy experience, and on-the-ground program management,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. “Her leadership in both advanced wood heat and high-efficiency HVAC markets will help guide our efforts to ensure that modern wood heating plays a constructive role in a low-carbon future.”

Hanson holds a Master of Science in Agriculture, Food & Environmental Policy and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and French from Tufts University. She lives in Waitsfield, Vermont.

 “Modern wood heat is one of the solutions to the climate challenges we’re facing. It works symbiotically with heat pumps to ensure adequate heat in all conditions and its fuel is an essential part of a forest economy that helps to keep forests as forests, essential to climate resilience going forward. I’m thrilled to join the AGH board and help bring these heating solutions together," Hansen said.

 For more information about the Alliance for Green Heat, visit www.forgreenheat.org.

Interview with a pellet stove technician: Most and least reliable pellet stoves

This blog is based on an interview with Scott Williamson, who may be the most experienced independent pellet service technician in the country. We asked to interview Scott because he is not affiliated with any brands and knows the repair history of virtually all models and brands. He also has a Facebook group called Pellet Stove Troubleshooting & Repair. The group has nearly 17,000 members and it’s likely to include every technician in the country that works on pellet stoves. He maintains an archive in that group under Files which is a very large collection of pellet technical manuals one might not find on the internet with a general search.

Prior to social media, Scott was an active contributor at Hearth.com where he authored just over 2200 DIY articles for pellet stove repair and is noted in the Hearth.com wiki pages under Stove Makers, Hearth History/ People as one of the people who were responsible for hearth industry innovations.

Scott lives in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and runs pellet-stove-service.com. His company services pellet stoves mostly in southeastern Massachusetts. Scott entered the profession after his mother-in-law bought a used pellet stove but couldn’t find anyone who was willing to service it. As he puts it, “I was available, had tools and was dating their daughter at the time. I had never even heard of a pellet stove and somehow, I quickly fixed it. The family owned a breakfast diner and told customers I could fix their pellet stove. That’s how I got started. Three years later I was so busy I had to quit my day job”. By 2019, nearly 20 years later, Pellet-Stove-Service.com had performed over 20,000 service calls all over New England.

Scott says that he has a spreadsheet with all of the makes and models he is familiar with and that list includes 57 Manufacturers encompassing 253 models spanning the mid-to-late 1980s to present day.

In 2019, Scott retired from service, closed his service company down, to work for the largest pellet stove parts supply company in the US, which is located in Bourne, MA. After this 6-year hiatus, Scott is restarting his service company and reconnecting with customers and colleagues alike.

Most reliable pellet stoves – Harman, Travis and Pel Pro

What do you think are the most reliable pellet stoves?

“I think Travis and Harman stoves are the two top tier manufacturers in America. Across all their products they don't put their name on something that's sub-par. They are built very well, and they are wonderful to look at.

They have always been on top though, right? Anything new with them?

Harman still has the most models to choose from, and I think also opened the doors to their dealers to sell online. Not just parts but stoves as well. Now you can sell their stoves directly online without even having a showroom, provided the company or person that sold them is going out there to do the service.

At one time Travis discontinued everything in favor of one model, the AGP. It was offered in a freestanding model and as an insert. The burn pot design was very reminiscent of Harman’s horizontal feed option…but the stove chopped up the pellets to get them to a uniform size prior to combustion. They now offer more models with that pellet burning engine. Travis still seems to be the only big company out there that still maintains its dealerships aligned with its own sense of pride. Travis used to tout themselves as the world's largest family-owned hearth maker and I think that they take that literally, and their dealers are part of that “family,” and they go to extraordinary lengths to protect those dealerships. They won't let them sell online but they also won’t allow parts dealers, not part of that family, to sell their parts or even use logos. I can remember their lawyers getting in touch with us at the parts store to say we couldn’t use their trademark (Lopi or Avalon logo) on the website without their expressed written permission.

Harman is now just a brand of a larger company, Hearth & Home Technologies (HHT), just like Quadrafire. Harman doesn’t even have its own website; I think that's been rolled into Forge & Flame. It looks like HHT got rid of the Eco/Choice line up (maybe Quadrafire absorbed some of that with the Quad CAB50). PelPro has been designated the low-end box store brand. But Quadrafire seems to have absorbed the controllers of PelPro too. Quadrafire used to have a high-quality product, in my opinion. Then they started finding ways to make it more “advanced.” Their stoves are not cheaply made, but it's not the quality of a Harman build or a Lopi, and it's about the same price. Quadrafire seems to be held together with about 200 Phillips head screws. It looks beautiful but that’s just the surface. Some models still use the legacy control box. The more advanced units oddly enough use the cheaper PelPro controls. I’m going to need a couple years servicing them to get back on top of what changed while I was gone.

I’m a huge fan of PelPro. It used to be made the company Danson’s until 2014 and wasn’t a great stove. But since HHT acquired that product line, I really like them. I love the simplicity of the PelPro stoves. For $1,300 you can get a stove that works. And the PelPro troubleshooting manual must be the most user friendly and most complete service manual I've ever seen. It's so well done.

If HHT made such a great owner’s manual for PelPro are they doing that for their other brands too?

It doesn’t seem that so. PelPro isn’t sold through a dealer network, and I suppose the higher-ups directed the marketing teams to step it up a little. I mean nobody wants customers calling the help line all winter. That’s a huge problem. But their other brands that are sold through a dealer network, and they need to protect the dealers too, right? They don't want to undercut their dealers. To the extent that dealers actually provide service, you don’t want stove owners learning how to fix everything themselves!

You say you are a big fan PelPro, which is an inexpensive stove. Surely it must have weaknesses.

The PelPro line has two flaws, one is an easy fix, the other probably needs better engineering or materials. First, the bracket that holds the hopper lid switch is so thin. It’s really flimsy and is held in with two little sheet metal screws, and you have this heavy lid that's coming down and striking the lid switch and after a while, the brackets starts to get weak and literally bends itself down and at some point the switch stops working. Luckily, it's easy to just bypass that switch altogether. The second issue has to do with the feed system. The pin that secures the feed motor to the auger shaft isn’t strong enough and it gets soft from the constant torque, and it breaks. But when it breaks it’s not noticeable. It still looks like it’s okay and people get a start-up error. If you follow the flow chart, you’d think it’s a heat sensor issue. Eventually, if you look hard enough, you’ll discover that the pin through the auger shaft is missing and the piece that broke is still wedged inside the shaft. By this point you may have to replace the whole feed system because you won’t be able to separate the motor from the plate or the auger itself. I’ve never had a problem with it because I understand the system and I can file down the metal that’s changed shape and rebuild it, but your average stove owner or inexperienced tech isn’t going to get that far. Every PelPro will eventually fall to the same fate. The metal used in this system really should be harder and machine to better tolerances, but it’s not a high-end build.

Least reliable pellet stoves – US Stove brands (Breckwell, Ashley, Vogelzang, King) and Master Forge

Something that I find very complicated is the United States Stove Company (USSC) and their different brands - Breckwell, Ashley, Vogelzang, and King. All four brands have pellet stoves and they're all very much the same units across each brand, just rebadged, but each one has a little bit something different.

Generally, I would steer away from all those brands, especially the ones newer ones with Wi-Fi connectivity.

When you're setting it up, the owner's manual wants you to sync your phone but to do this, you need the MAC address of your router, and you need some computer networking skills. A lot of people that buy these stoves simply can’t do this. The problem is, to initialize the stove setup and get the control board to function you kind of need your phone synced. The Manuals don’t really explain the controls because they assume your phone is synced and the stove’s control functions are on your phone.

To use the control board without your phone, you have to go through a series of prompts. It's really complicated and the controls aren’t very intuitive. There are blinking lights and sounds but they don’t really correlate to what’s going on. The user (including me) feels like something is wrong or the stove is waiting for the user to do something which isn’t explained in the manual. I spent an hour trying to figure this out for somebody, and in the end, I got the stove to work but we couldn’t really tell what level the stove was burning at or even how to turn it off.

Three hours into the service I still couldn’t get the stove on the network, so we just left it as it was.

There was also a remote control that you can use for the stove to turn it on and off and such but the model I was setting up required the remote to be tethered with a cord. It's like a 1960s remote that has a nine-foot cord, so it looks like a remote control, but it's just a tethered handheld. When I get a service call for one of these stoves, it’s almost always because they couldn't figure out how to turn their new stove on.

Also, the back of the stove has a temperature sensor to sense the room temperature, but a lot of times if the exhaust pipe is vertical, the pipe is right next to the sensor, and it thinks the room's hotter than it is. So, the stove will shut down when it should be heating up. Another thing I found on some of these stoves is that inside the hopper there is a pellet optical sensor. This sensor is to let you know via your phone that it’s time to add more fuel. But if a pellet blocks it the stove shuts off because it thinks you have no pellets in there. It’s just a stupid design. I mean, the stove goes into a shutdown mode because it’s low on pellets, but the stove would shut down anyway once it ran out of pellets, right? Everything I just explained was just one stove. Brand new. Purchased this year at an ACE hardware store. I feel for the people who buy these stoves. It’s tragic.

What other brands would you stay away from?

Master Forge is sold by several big box stores. People loathe them. They are very much like ComfortBilt and maybe are even the exact stoves as ComfortBilt. But there seems to be absolutely nobody standing behind the Master Forge brand for technical help or parts. All these stoves seem to come from the same regions or areas of China. With ComfortBilt, there’s an actual American distributor behind it, which has an active role in development. They are more of a marketing company, but they do support their stoves. They have a powerful internet and social media presence.

If you're shopping in the $1,000 range for a pellet stove, I’d go with the PelPro. I wasn't a fan of ComfortBilt stoves prior to stepping away from service, but I’ve seen many ComfortBilts lately and they are growing on me.

Scott Williamson is also on the Advisory Board of the Alliance for Green Heat and was an advisor to the Pellet Stove Design Challenge, held at Brookhaven National Lab in 2016.

Related Content Quoting Scott Williamson

Six tips to buy the right pellet stove (AGH blog, 2017)

Pellet stoves: The Newest In Stylish, Warm Room Heating (Biomass Magazine, 2014)

Overview of types of Pellet Stoves (AGH, 2025)

An Independent Performance Review of Six Pellet Stoves (AGH, 2015)

Nonprofit Facilitates Public–Private Partnerships to Secure Firewood for Communities

 (February 2, 2026) — The Alliance for Green Heat (AGH), a nonprofit organization promoting cleaner and more equitable wood heating solutions, announced today that firewood banks working with national forests sourced around 9,700 cords of firewood from federally managed lands during the 2025–2026 season—an increase of 35 percent over last year.

The increase is driven in part by a new wood-sourcing initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The initiative helps firewood banks connect with loggers, tribal forestry programs, and federal land managers to obtain log-length wood from forest management projects, which participating organizations then process into firewood for households in need.

“Firewood banks are uniquely positioned to turn forest management by-products into a vital source of affordable home heating,” said John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat. “This initiative shows how public–private partnerships can improve forest health while ensuring that low-income and rural families have access to reliable heat.”

In addition to increasing supply, the initiative serves as a roadmap for navigating the various mechanisms through which firewood can be sourced from federal lands. Among participating grantees, the amount of wood anticipated from federally managed lands varies widely, from dozens of cords for small, volunteer-run rural firewood banks to hundreds or even thousands of cords for larger tribal programs with established forestry infrastructure.

Logs are sourced from a diverse range of federal lands, including National Forests across the West, Alaska, the Intermountain region, and the Northern Plains, as well as tribally managed forests operating under federal agreements. Forest management activities cited by grantees include fuels reduction and wildfire mitigation, forest health thinning, hazard tree removal, and ecological restoration projects, with firewood harvesting often integrated into broader land-management objectives.

Grantees report sourcing wood from a mix of federally managed forests and tribal trust lands, depending on availability and local conditions. Firewood banks obtain wood from federal lands through several mechanisms, including:

• Partnering with  USFS and managing forestry or stewardship agreements
• Contracting with loggers who hold federal timber permits
• Utilizing Wood for Life Initiative made possible by National Forest Foundation stewardship agreements
• Working through tribal agreements or accessing tribal trust lands, which may include federally managed forests designated for traditional and cultural uses
• Purchasing personal-use firewood permits for self-harvesting dead and fallen timber by the cord.

Across the program, wood-sourcing partnerships span a wide range of organizational types and scales. Many firewood banks work directly with federal land managers and USFS non-profit partners, such as National Forest Foundation staff or Bureau of Land Management offices, who help identify available material and guide banks through permitting requirements. Others partner with contract loggers or forestry contractors who provide log-length wood as a by-product of commercial harvests. Tribal firewood banks frequently collaborate with tribal forestry departments or natural resource offices to ensure harvesting aligns with cultural, ecological, and community priorities.

During the 2025–2026 season, AGH supported firewood banks that engaged with 44 federally managed forests to source firewood, including Nez Perce Trust Land, which encompasses National Forests across Idaho’s panhandle. The list of those forests is below: 

For more information about the Firewood Bank Assistance Program or details on how 2025–2026 grantees sourced wood from federally managed forests, contact Hannah Stinson at hannah@forgreenheat.org.

Lists of participating firewood banks are organized by the mechanisms used to source wood from federally managed lands, noting that some organizations rely on more than one approach.

Used a Forestry Agreement While Working with Land Managers (Good Neighbor Authority & Restoration Program)

1. Bááháálí (Bread Springs) Navajo Chapter, NM
2. Lincoln County Port Authority Firewood Bank, MT
3. Big Sandy Rancheria (BSR) Firewood Bank, CA
4. Full Circle Forestry Cooperative, NC
5. Asheville Tool Library Firewood Program, NC
6. Washoe Tribe Elder Firewood Program, NV
7. Gold Country Community Services, CA

Contracted Loggers with Federal Timber Permits

1. Nativity Woodbank, OR
2. Chama Peak Land Alliance, NM
3. Healing Heat Firewood Bank, GA
4. Warm Hearths - Brandt Services, UT
5. Little Woodbank, MT
6. Beaverhead Community Wood Bank Ministry Inc., MT
7. Hinton Rural Life Center, NC
8. Swan Valley Connections Community Firewood Bank, MT
9. Oglala Sioux Tribe Winter Wood Operations, SD
10. Wood4Good, LTD, VT
11. Hoonah Community Firewood Bank, AK
12. St Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church Wood Bank Ministry, MT
13. The Way Outside, MT
14. Bethel Wood Bank, ME
15. Clear Creek Wood Bank, WY
16. Haa Gán (Our Firewood), AK

Partnered with National Forest Foundation Wood for Life Initiative 

1. Shoshone Paiute Wood Program, NV
2. Pueblo of Zia Wood Bank, NM
3. Tse'ii'ahi' Wood Bank Hub, NM
4. Diné Ba'adeiti - For The People, AZ
5. Kayenta Chapter, AZ
6. Koho4Hopi, AZ
7. Crow Tribal Firewood Program, MT
8. Utah Navajo Health Systems (UNHS) Firewood Bank, UT

Used Tribal Agreements

1. Nez Perce Tribe Forestry and Fire Management, ID
2. Oglala Sioux Tribe Winter Wood Operations, SD
3. Northern Arapaho Tribe, WY
4. Koho4Hopi, AZ
5. Skokomish Firewood Bank, WA
6. Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources Firewood Banks Project, CA
   

Used Wood Products Removal (BLM) or Personal Use Firewood Permit (Typically Purchased/Removed By the Cord)

1. Dot Lake Village Firewood Bank, AK
2. Warm Elders, UT
3. Bááháálí (Bread Springs) Navajo Chapter, NM
4. Klawock Indigenous Stewards Forest Partnership Firewood Distribution Program - Shaan Seet, AK
5. Williams Community Firewood Bank, OR
6. Yeshua's Hearth, WV
7. Hinton Rural Life Center, NC
8. CommunityWorx Firewood Program, TN
9. CHIP Firewood Bank, ME
10. Wood For Warriors, NC