Anybody get BAD PELLETS this year?

I would not say I got any bad pellets, they both put out heat, I just perferred one over the other.

My opinion is there are no really bad pellets. It is a handling problem. The big box stores store their pellets in a bad way. The loose pallets need to be kept dry. Customers handle them too roughly. The only wet pellets I got came this way.

If you get your pellets bagged and double wrap on the pallet, it should not be too problematic. It would be advisable to get any roof leaks repaired ASAP. But, even outside a properly wrapped pallet should survive.

My only really bad experience was with Freedom Fuel bought from Home Depot. There were a lot of wet and swelled pellets. The first bag brought my Europa 75 up to operating temps really fast. looked like a good buy. But all three bags allowed too much charcoal to pass into my ash bin. The other two bags became to hard to control in the pot. It wanted to build up too high. If Freedom Fuel was all I could get and I could get dry pallets, it would be a qualified go for purchase.

One day I will stop by and check out your location. I have a local supplier for pellets in Copley. I live in Norton. But, it is possible you may be able to beat the prices.

Jerry

I think that if you can reduce the number of times the bags or pallets are moved you'll be good. Rough handling seems to create fines and dust. Of course, you've got no control over how, or how often, they were moved before you get them so some of that is going to depend on your supplier.

We seem to get a lot of "caking" of the ashes, which blocks the air flowthrough the burn pot. I don't remember that from the pellets we got last year (we just bought the stove in March). I bought a bag from another supplier and they seemed to do a LOT better, hotter and no caking.

As I have mentioned in two other threads (about wierd experiences with my Harman XXV), my stove has gone out two days in a row, possibly because of the Sparkman pellets I got at Walmart. They are premium, but cheaper than the Energex I got with the stove (the Energex ran without any problems at all).

Is anyone else running the Sparkmans in a Harman XXV ? How are they running ?

Only "bad" pellets I got this season were a three wet bags on the
very bottom row of one of my pallets. The bags were ripped open
and looked like someone must have accidently stabbed the bags with the
lift when moving the pallet around.
Dealer traded them out for dry ones without any questions/problems.

Trying to not sound like a crybaby but I have had nothing but rotten luck with pellets this year. I buy only so-called "premium" pellets and have tried a couple different brands this year and had bad luck with all. Right now I am trying to finish the winter with the yucky Pennington pellets I bought. However, after some fiddling and fine-tuning with my stove, the stove is burning pretty good. I just hope I can make it through the rest of the winter without pulling all of my hair out

Oh yea... I had a whole pallet of what I will generously call sub-par pellets.

I too bought 12 bags of inferior quality pellets after I ran out of Somerset pellets. They burned okay - not as hot as Somerset - but I had to sift every bag and the entire bag because of the large amount of fines. One bag was worse than the others. I collected over a quart of fines that went through 1/8th inch hardware cloth. The bags were all dated 2/06 so they were two years old at the time I got them and may have been mishandled, but I won't buy that brand again no matter how fresh the bags are.

I will no longer buy "hardwood" pellets. I will only burn (after this year) softwood pellets.they burn hotter with less ash.


Out of the two different kinds of hardwood pellets i got this year. the only difference was one was hotter then the other.