Fireside Ultra comes in dark, & light color ??

[justinc25]

So two weeks ago I tried a couple of bags of Fireside Ultra.
They were the hottest pellets I've ever used, & they were. VERY dark
In color (looked identical to Energex). So I bought a bunch from my local lowes,
And they burned great. So I got some more from another lowes, and opened the first bag tonight.
To my suprise, these were very light in color. They looked like Maine Woods, or Maine's Choice.
Has anyone else seen a variation in color, and performance with these pellets ?
I just dumped them in the hopper, burn report coming up later.

Justin

 

[Heaterhunter]

All the bags I have burnt of fireside ultra have been dark. No variation so far. I just bought 4 more tons of them but I know they are all the same batch/shipment. Good pellets for cheap.

 

[DexterDay]

I had the same problem from 4 bags of Natures Heat (Penningtons). 2 from HD and 2 from Wal-Mart. The bags look identical except the bags from Wal-Mart had the PFI logo on the bottom. HD's were very short and dark. Wal-Mart very light and long. Can see in pics.

 

[justinc25]

Where do you find the batch number ?

 

[justinc25]

Here's a pic of the pellets

 

[jtakeman]

I hear the same light/dark pellets with the Stove Chow. We saw it last season with the Pres to Logs as well. Batch variance or inconsistent fiber most likely. But the color of the fiber has little to do with the quality. I have burn some pellets that were almost black and they burned fine. As wood fiber seasons it does deapen in color. Bark is also dark brown and will darken the color of the fiber if there are large amounts in the mix. Bark does contain more than 2x the ash amount than wood fiber. So is it more bark in the mix? Only way for us stove owners to tell is burn them.

One thing I see with DexterDays pennies is one batch is shinny. The other is dull. The shinny ones are most likely to be more dense and burn hotter. The dull batch could be too moist or under compressed?

PFI labels are a whole other bucket a worms. I still feel with out random spot checks, Select samples can be sent in and get a product past. Think of it like drug testing. And you can have the girl friend/spouse pee in a cup for you. Many many brands with no label have proven to be as good as the PFI labeled brands. Its more internal quality than a marking on the pellet bag! just my 2 on that!

 

[justinc25]

Is this the date code?

The darker pellet bags don't have this code.

 

[justinc25]

The bags advertise no bark, but who knows.
The darker pellets were very shiny and burned very hot.
As hot or hotter than the Greene Teams I picked up.
Lighter one's still haven't reached the burn pot yet. (last night was a balmy 28* so I only had the stove on 1.)

 

[Heaterhunter]

All the bags I have burnt of fireside ultra have been dark. No variation so far. I just bought 4 more tons of them but I know they are all the same batch/shipment. Good pellets for cheap.

I don't mean to be misleading. The only reason why I ASSUME they are the same batch because all the pellets (initial 2 tons and the following 4 tons that I purchased) came on the same truck in one delivery. Probably shouldn't hang my hat on that but I did and it seemed to work out. The couple of fumbles I had while wheelbarreling them into my basement and garage showed the pellets to be identical in appearance to the initial 2 tons that I purchased...

 

[justinc25]

Ok thanks, anyone else seen this, or know how to find the batch or date code ?

 

[DexterDay]

Should be a tag on the skid. Ligs put down the date, skid # , shift ran on, and operator who ran. You can see the white tags on the skids (little whit label)

 

[justinc25]

Ok thanks, I've seen that before.

 

[DexterDay]

There are also dates on the corners of the actual bag. But looking at the date on them and the date on the skid. 1/5/11 on skid. 11/17/10 on bag. I think its the bag Manf date. I may be wrong about that. Someone else may know more about it.

 

[jtakeman]

Its actually the date the bag was printed. The batch and other fill info is on the skid documents. Bags are printed in advance from what I gather. NEWP is the only pellet to date that I know of that has a perferated code on the bags.

 

[DexterDay]

Its actually the date the bag was printed. The batch and other fill info is on the skid documents. Bags are printed in advance from what I gather. NEWP is the only pellet to date that I know of that has a perferated code on the bags.

That seems about right according to the dates being almost 2 months apart. I'm glad that all the pellets I picked up this week were ran by the same operator on the same day. Opened a bag from each ton and checked them. Bag 5 went in this morning. Need to stop burning them and save them for next year. Still have almost a ton of mixed bags from this season. (Somersets, Pro Pellets, AWF's) But like a kid with a new toy, I can't put them down!! LOL

 

[Heaterhunter]

Its actually the date the bag was printed. The batch and other fill info is on the skid documents. Bags are printed in advance from what I gather. NEWP is the only pellet to date that I know of that has a perferated code on the bags.

That seems about right according to the dates being almost 2 months apart. I'm glad that all the pellets I picked up this week were ran by the same operator on the same day. Opened a bag from each ton and checked them. Bag 5 went in this morning. Need to stop burning them and save them for next year. Still have almost a ton of mixed bags from this season. (Somersets, Pro Pellets, AWF's) But like a kid with a new toy, I can't put them down!! LOL

My wife just called me a pelllet wh*re last night. Is that good or bad?

 

[DexterDay]

Depends on who your asking?? I think it could be Good... Although there is a money loss in doing it!! My Wife calls it an obsession.. And I love it.. She wants to put me on that TV show "My Strange Addiction"

 

[justinc25]

Sounds like my wife. I'll be reading the forum, and she's like enough with
The pellet stove and the pellets. I'm like would you like me to look at porn
Instead ? And she's like yes.
I think it's too funny.

 

[DexterDay]

The way I feel about my pellets and my stove. Is the SAME WAY I felt about my Wife 10 yrs ago. I love my Wife. BUT....... I do love me my Winter Rituals the best (pellet obsession). Summer obsession is just as bad. 2007 Harley Super-Glide, Honda 400EX, Cub Cadet 60" Zero Turn.. There is an obsession for EVERY Season!! (Way off track from OP)

 

[olddawgsrule]

I'm new to this and just tried my first bag of Fireside.
Was pleasantly surprised to see the heat the same as my Okies!
Timing it now to see the burn time.

This thread surprised me to hear of different color in the pellets and didn't see a response in quality between the two.
Anyone been there yet?

I also can not find what they're made of...
Maybe I'm just blind, but don't see it on the bag and be darned if I can find it on the net...

Does anyone know if they're hard, soft or a mix?

The ash looks like the other hardwood pellets I've tried.
The Okanagans had a light colored ash, but the only softwood I've tried so far.

 

[Heaterhunter]

I'm new to this and just tried my first bag of Fireside.
Was pleasantly surprised to see the heat the same as my Okies!
Timing it now to see the burn time.

This thread surprised me to hear of different color in the pellets and didn't see a response in quality between the two.
Anyone been there yet?

I also can not find what they're made of...
Maybe I'm just blind, but don't see it on the bag and be darned if I can find it on the net...

Does anyone know if they're hard, soft or a mix?

The ash looks like the other hardwood pellets I've tried.
The Okanagans had a light colored ash, but the only softwood I've tried so far.

This thread will show you the differences in color, shape of pellet Energex compared to Fireside Ultra: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/68873/

I feel the same about the FU and the Oakies. I don't know how your stove will react but mine burns the Oakies almost twice as fast as the FU's. I belive the FU's are a 60% hardwood/40% softwood. Not positive. Happy burning with your FU's :coolsmile:

 

[olddawgsrule]

I'm new to this and just tried my first bag of Fireside.
Was pleasantly surprised to see the heat the same as my Okies!
Timing it now to see the burn time.

This thread surprised me to hear of different color in the pellets and didn't see a response in quality between the two.
Anyone been there yet?

I also can not find what they're made of...
Maybe I'm just blind, but don't see it on the bag and be darned if I can find it on the net...

Does anyone know if they're hard, soft or a mix?

The ash looks like the other hardwood pellets I've tried.
The Okanagans had a light colored ash, but the only softwood I've tried so far.

This thread will show you the differences in color, shape of pellet Energex compared to Fireside Ultra: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/68873/

I feel the same about the FU and the Oakies. I don't know how your stove will react but mine burns the Oakies almost twice as fast as the FU's. I belive the FU's are a 60% hardwood/40% softwood. Not positive. Happy burning with your FU's :coolsmile:

So far they are both about the same for me.
I do find the Okanagan to burn a bit less ashie (sp?/word?).
Burn time and heat are so close, I wouldn't differentiate between them.
Again just my findings with my stove.

 

[Heaterhunter]

I believe my stove tends to chew through pellets if they are smaller and the Oakies are definitely smaller.