Warm Front pellets - Not too happy....

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

geek

Minister of Fire
Feb 28, 2008
1,470
Central CT
These pellets just bunch up and create lots of clinker, plus heat output is questionable........

Anyone else?
 
I haven't noticed the symptoms you describe when burning Warm Fronts. I did notice that I had to make air adjustments when I changed the feed rate, which I didn't have to do with the previous brand I burned.
 
what stove you have?
 
No complaints here with them.
I had a half ton of them earlier in the season. No clinkers and burned
clean compared to the Energex. Heat output was about the same.
 
do you guys have a pic showing your burn pot after a few hours of burning?
 
I have a Lopi Yankee Bay Insert. The previous pellets I burned were Green Supreme NEWP the same manufacturer as the Warm Fronts. I don't have a picture handy but have you been making adjustments to the air intake? On my stove, a feed rate of 4 requires the air intake to be set at 2 1/2 to get a nicely burning flame that produces white/gray ash. If air intake is set lower I'll start to get a black sooty ash and a few clinkers. At a feed rate of 2, I'll set the air intake to 1. This produces good results as well.
 
Hi. On my first Ton of Warm Front. My previous 2 Tons were Lignetics.

The Lignetics burned to a finer ash than the Warm Front. The Warm Front it seems to have filled the ash pan faster.

As for heat output, I cannot really tell the difference.

The Warm Front Pellets were $269.00 a Ton. I bought the Lignetics in September for $256.00 a Ton.
 
I will try to post a couple pics, but this brand is a joke from NEWP.
My friend is using NEWP brand, so we exchanged a bag. I can tell you that the pellets are NOT the same.

The Warm Front has a very black texture whereas the NEWP color is light and VERY consistent.
The warm front has pellets with a large size, the NEWP size is smaller and consistent.
The NEWP heat output is very good and the flame is nice, burns really hot.......not the sane with the Warm Front.
The smell of the 2 brands is NOt the same.

I am convinced that this warm front from NEWP is just a way to brand garbage pellet they have with a bad production or batch, so their name brand is not compromised. I think this warm front has paper and who knows what else in it.

I still have around 50 bags..... :-(
 
I will try to post a couple pics, but this brand is a joke from NEWP.
My friend is using NEWP brand, so we exchanged a bag. I can tell you that the pellets are NOT the same.

The Warm Front has a very black texture whereas the NEWP color is light and VERY consistent.
The warm front has pellets with a large size, the NEWP size is smaller and consistent.
The NEWP heat output is very good and the flame is nice, burns really hot.......not the sane with the Warm Front.
The smell of the 2 brands is NOt the same.

I am convinced that this warm front from NEWP is just a way to brand garbage pellet they have with a bad production or batch, so their name brand is not compromised. I think this warm front has paper and who knows what else in it.

I still have around 50 bags..... :-(

The Warm Front pellets are identical to our NEWP brand pellets, but packaged and marketed in a different bag. The pellets are manufactured at our Schuyler, NY plant and I can assure you that it is not just a way to "brand garbage pellets." Perhaps your friend has pellets that were manufactured at our Jaffrey, NH plant thus showing slight variations in the pellet characteristics from the Warm Front brand.

If you have further questions or concerns, feel free to email me Geek.

Sincerely,
Alyson Hotaling
New England Wood Pellet, LLC
[email protected]
 
I was under the impression that New England Wood Pellets packaged the Warm Front line exclusively for PelletSales.com. I havent seen a difference in quality when comparing the Schulyer mill with the Jaffrey mill, so can only think there is really no difference, except the bag. Pellet runs are not necessarily all the same thoug, depending upon the material used to be pelletized, so, maybe it was a less than perfect run?
 
NEWP-Alyson said:
I will try to post a couple pics, but this brand is a joke from NEWP.
My friend is using NEWP brand, so we exchanged a bag. I can tell you that the pellets are NOT the same.

The Warm Front has a very black texture whereas the NEWP color is light and VERY consistent.
The warm front has pellets with a large size, the NEWP size is smaller and consistent.
The NEWP heat output is very good and the flame is nice, burns really hot.......not the sane with the Warm Front.
The smell of the 2 brands is NOt the same.

I am convinced that this warm front from NEWP is just a way to brand garbage pellet they have with a bad production or batch, so their name brand is not compromised. I think this warm front has paper and who knows what else in it.

I still have around 50 bags..... :-(

The Warm Front pellets are identical to our NEWP brand pellets, but packaged and marketed in a different bag. The pellets are manufactured at our Schuyler, NY plant and I can assure you that it is not just a way to "brand garbage pellets." Perhaps your friend has pellets that were manufactured at our Jaffrey, NH plant thus showing slight variations in the pellet characteristics from the Warm Front brand.

If you have further questions or concerns, feel free to email me Geek.

Sincerely,
Alyson Hotaling
New England Wood Pellet, LLC
[email protected]

Thanks Alyson for your feedback. His bag says it is made in the Schulyer mill, but the warm front has no info whatsoever on who makes them and where, nada.

As soon as I get my pics together I will be happy to email you, there's a big difference. I got my pellets back in August from the known "Newengland Pellet LLC" fiasco dealer here in CT, it was rush season sort of speak so I'm wondering if NEWP dropped the ball in quality on that batch because if you see the pics you will notice the difference, and trust me they're no slightly different, but very different in every single aspect.

..
 
Alyson, I sent you an email; thanks.
 
couple pics.

Alyson just sent me an email reply, this talks very high on their business practice, looking forward for a positive turnaround.

Picture 6 is only the warm front pellet, pay close attention to the color and length, the long pellet is very consistent in every single bag as well as the "black" color mixed, the NEWP pellet from my friend was very very consistent in color and size, very.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 006.jpg
    Picture 006.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 813
another pic showing both NEWP and warm front, side to side.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 002.jpg
    Picture 002.jpg
    71.3 KB · Views: 828
another one....NEWP to the left, warm front to the right, notice the "blackish" color on the warm front ..
 

Attachments

  • Picture 004.jpg
    Picture 004.jpg
    84.8 KB · Views: 830
yet another pic...all 4 pellets are warm front, just showing size inconsistency.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 006.jpg
    Picture 006.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 796
yeah, exactly right...

I'm sending Alyson a sample and they'll do some testing.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 008.jpg
    Picture 008.jpg
    38.2 KB · Views: 771
interesting , thoug h i wouldnt read too much into the "look" of the fuel, ive seen pellets that vary from bright yellow to caramel brown which have similar performance. the process for making pellets while similar can vary due to the wood medium used, temperature and other factors. as for consumer feedback the NEWP brand has gotten SUPERIOR feedback from my customers when burned in my products.

Alyson, welcome to the hearth! im really pleased to see another industry rep on board. i havent used your product (dont see it in virginia) but as i stated i have never heard a bad review of the NEWP from a customer calling in to my call center. the "warm front" pellets i have not heard as much about as of yet but have not heard bad reviews from it , this one is new to me. im wondering if the particular batch our poster has purchased may have wicked up a bit of moisture between your plant and the end user. just a thought.

to our poster , normally when commenting on pellets i "dont have a dog in the fight" but it appears you have one of my stoves, so im interested in the outcome of this one. if i may be of service to you or to our new friend at NEWP either of you please feel free to contact me.
 
I'm sure Alyson will attest to this but, having been to the Schyler plant during their open house last spring, I don't see anyway the WF could be purposely made different than the NEWP.


All they are doing is changing the roll of bag stock on the line. Wood gets dumped into the hoppers and bag of pellets come put the other end. Most of the processes are automated. I forget the exact amount of time, but the hoppers hold enough for the plant to run with minimal staffing, basically someone to wrap the pallet and stack it in the warehouse area. Should the bag stock be changed during a hopper load, the exact same pellet will be packaged in two different bags (as Alyson states).

As for the color variations, I'd say take a look at some real wood furniture (I know, that's tough to find). Walnut if VERY Dark, cherry is much darker than maple, with oak somewhere in between cherry and maple. Obviously, the samples you present were made on different days, so I'd suspect the available wood was of a different species.

I'm burning through my 5 ton of NEWP delivered in July, HOT from the plant (literally). Each pallet has had the same appearance and relative distribution of size variations.
 
Hoping Alyson is still around and maybe can answer.

If the plain NEWP brand and the Warm Fronts are exactly the same, why the different branding? It just makes it harder for people to figure out which brand burns good for them and which does not. If there was a difference between them, I could understand, but since there isn't...............
 
Gweeper64 said:
Hoping Alyson is still around and maybe can answer.

If the plain NEWP brand and the Warm Fronts are exactly the same, why the different branding? It just makes it harder for people to figure out which brand burns good for them and which does not. If there was a difference between them, I could understand, but since there isn't...............

yes, it does...thought I explained that above.
 
I am on my third ton of Warm Front pellets and I am very satisfied with them. They do have a little courser ash than some other pellets I have used but they burn hot and clean.

As for the different labeling it may be just a way to get more product placement. I think I read something about New England Pellet LLC was not suppose to be selling New England Wood Pellets in certain areas, which is likely why I ordered the New England brand
and received the Warm Front brand. I guess I was just lucky to get any from those crooks but it was not without a lot of hassle.
 
I can understand all marketing tactics, however you'd expect that the bags should have a printing saying the manufacturer, you know? something like "A New England Pellet Product". The bags have nothing in terms who make them or where....

I sent a sample to Alyson yesterday for testing and she'll get it today.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.