It is time to speak your mind

[Meneillys]

I had an idea of how to control the fiber they use. I know the Schuyler plant has room for it. Buy logs and debark and chip them your self. That way you know what species is used. I would say maple, oak, or cherry for a hardwood pellet. If they did that the control would be great, make sure the bark is gone no rot and chip it into a silo so no dirt gets into it. I know they have a giant drum dryer that should be able to handle drying the chips. That is what I would do if I was a pellet mill and did not have a source that I could rely on.

 

[jtakeman]

I had an idea of how to control the fiber they use. I know the Schuyler plant has room for it. Buy logs and debark and chip them your self. That way you know what species is used. I would say maple, oak, or cherry for a hardwood pellet. If they did that the control would be great, make sure the bark is gone no rot and chip it into a silo so no dirt gets into it. I know they have a giant drum dryer that should be able to handle drying the chips. That is what I would do if I was a pellet mill and did not have a source that I could rely on.

That is exactly what Vermont Wood Pellet Co. is doing. They are debarking softwood logs and chipping them. AFAIK the problem with hardwoods is debarking it. The bark is much harder to remove.

One thing is to get the chips as small as possible(very small screen size in the hammer mill). Otherwise you loose density and heat output.

Edit: I am pretty sure Rocky Mountains are doing the same as well. But they are using the pole pine that has been killed by the pine boring Beetles. The trees are dead or dying so the wood is being used for something.

 

[jtakeman]

I read lots of posts requesting the company make the best pellets possible by using only the best raw materials.
I can`t imagine how a pellet producer would ever have anything like infinite control of or a consistant access or availability of the highest quality raw mat`l since the amount , type, and quality of the raw product will vary so much and swing from one area or supplier to another. I think we have to be realistic here , were not dealing with a uniform product or supply.
I would also think that like all businesses they have to balance quality vs cost.
I`ve burned maybe 5-6 different brands all with similar pricing and while none of em might have looked or burned exactly the same as the others I never saw a significant difference either. I simply try to buy a well regarded premium brand at the best price I can and be done with it. Actually I`ve never seen anything but premiums anyway.

Gio, Hate to burst your bubble. But mills that have there raw material come from there own lumber or flooring have just that. Control over there fiber. Probably why we see the best quality pellets from these type mills.

If NEWP wants to make a high quality pellet to compete with these other pellet manufacturer's. They have to tighten the rains on there incoming fiber. A quality pellet starts with quality fiber and there is no way around it.

If they want to produce a pellet that is lower in quality, Then they must charge a lower price compared to the the top brands. I don't see any other way around it! Or will I pay more for a lesser grade pellet. If you all want to pay more just because of the name on the bag go right ahead. No way will I ever.

Would you pay steak prices for a hamburger??? I'd really rather pay hamburger prices and get a streak! NEWP's prices are higher than Cubex in my neck of the woods. I have burned both and the Cubex are both hotter and cleaner burning. Of coarse there are some places that don't have a wide selection and you are limited. Call me cheap but I alway try to find the best deal overall! To each his own!

No bubbles burst on my end and you could be right on all points but I`ll stick with my opinion on the matter anyway. From my limited experience few brands if any were consistant . I`ve burned some highly rated name brand pellets that didn`t live up to their hype. Obviously not batch consistant. Never seen Cubex around here though. I wasn`t impressed with the Green Supreme`s or Lignetics I burned last year .
I`m just hoping my 3 tons of fresh Lig`s are decent.

What you have listed are brands that are using fiber from the open market. Try some of the brands with stable fiber. If you try these brands you will see what I mean! Turman, Barefoot, Cubex, Somerset, and Anderson. I am sure there are more out there that are using there own mill scraps.

Any members know of others that use there own exclusive fiber???

 

[The Radiator]

I would like to thank New England Wood Pellet for their "Win a Ton" program. I had filled out the survey after finding out about it here on this site. Amanda from NEWP called me the other day and told me that I was the winner for June. Pretty cool I think. I mentioned that I had no place for the pellets at the moment and she said I could schedule delivery at a later date. Very nice to deal with over the phone. I have not burnt NEWP before, but I am going to try some this winter. YeeHa

Thanks, NEWP
Roger---------

 

[WoodPorn]

Congrats on the win!!

Just make sure you have some PREMIUM pellets for when it gets really cold!! ;-P

 

[hoop]

Hey guys just to let you know Amanda is listening. I recieved an email from Rita of newp customer service, who in turn put me in touch with a sales rep, rocko the rep told me newp knows about the problem and they want to at least replace my 37 bags of bad pellets wit a ton of the new and improved ones. Rocko also stated that newp now has their pellets independently tested for quality either monthly or bi-weekly. I will let everyone know how this all turns out.

 

[WoodPorn]

You think there's any chance they'll replace the 75 bags I bought last year?? As a rookie pellet burner buying a "premium pellet" (as the bag states) at a premium price.

I won't make that mistake twice, you still listening Amanda?.........Amanda........Hello?

 

[AmandaB]

I am still listening...

Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out our Win A Ton Survey. Your feedback is very important to us. We do the same thing every month so keep the comments coming.

As a follow up to Hoops post we do independent lab testing bi-weekly at each facility and internal testing every shift.

Amanda Brosseau
Sales Administrator
New England Wood Pellet, LLC
www.pelletheat.com

 

[WoodPorn]

Well I'll eat a bit of crow for the moment, I was contacted By Rita as well (thank you Amanda) she is sending out a container to obtain a sample of the pellets I bought last year for testing. Lucky I had a few bags left I guess.

We'll see what comes of this, At the bare minimum it's good to see they (NEWP) do follow up on dissatisfied customers.

 

[jtakeman]

Well I'll eat a bit of crow for the moment, I was contacted By Rita as well (thank you Amanda) she is sending out a container to obtain a sample of the pellets I bought last year for testing. Lucky I had a few bags left I guess.

We'll see what comes of this, At the bare minimum it's good to see they (NEWP) do follow up on dissatisfied customers.

Keep us posted on how things go. Nice that NEWP is being standup about there issue's and trying to resolve them. Taking care of the costumer is the right up there with Quality.

Thanks for listening Amanda.

 

[Bank]

For what it's worth, in the past two winters I have burned 1/2 ton of NEWP pellets and three tons of CleanFires which are Pelletsales.com private label by NEWP and found them to be pretty decent pellet with good heat, a little more ash than I would like. Going into winter 2010-11; I still have a ton of the CleanFires, two tons of LGs from last year and this year took a chance with two tons of Maine's Choice at 239 a ton for Pelletsales.com. Jury is still out on those.

As long as a company acknowledges its mistakes and attempts to make the customer whole, I don't have any issues giving them a second chance.

 

[Marbleguy]

As stated, NEWP tests there own pellets on a regular basis. Are they taking the time and spending the money to go out into the market place to get other premium pellets and test them thru the same lab? If they do, they will then have something to compare their results to and maybe put up a target to aim for.

Something to think about Amanda.

 

[imacman]

Amanda, drove past the Deposit plant today. I see MANY, MANY,MANY, tons of pellets, but they are all sitting outside, and many of them have been out there since the last time I went past the plant, about 1 1/2 months ago.

Any plans to store the pellets indoors?

 

[hoop]

Just sent a sample of my pellets back to Rita at the jaffrey plant as well as a empty bag. Rita is going to let me know the outcome of the testing, i will be sure to pass the results to the rest of you.

 

[WoodPorn]

OK...so much for eating crow!
I sent a sample to Rita at NEWP for testing a few weeks back, here is the PM I received back from her;

Brian,

I sent your sample out to Twin Ports Testing Inc. The test results came back that the pellets you purchased had a 3.78% moisure, .70 % ash and 8075 BTU's making them a premium grade pellet. I will attach a file with the Twin Ports results for you have for your records. One of the reasons that you may have felt like you weren't getting the same heat output could be due to the fact that you found a few 1 3/8 in pellets in your bags. When you have longer pellets the auger delivers inconsistant amounts of fuel leading you to believe that the heat output is lower when in actuality it is not. We have made adjustments to our mills at each facility to only make pellets that are 1/2 in - 3/4 in. in length as most stoves can only handle those lengths.

I hope that you find this information helpful and if you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,
Rita
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To which I replied:

So…..my opinion of NEWP will not change, great that you care enought to sample/test but that gets me NOTHING!

A few 1 3/8 pellets?? I should have shipped a whole bag.

Be assured this response will be posetd on the forum so all can see just how concerned your company is about it’s customers.

Thanks for your efforts all the same, please understand my frustration is not directed at you personally,

Brian

 

[smoke show]

bummer

 

[jtakeman]

OK...so much for eating crow!
I sent a sample to Rita at NEWP for testing a few weeks back, here is the PM I received back from her;

Brian,

I sent your sample out to Twin Ports Testing Inc. The test results came back that the pellets you purchased had a 3.78% moisure, .70 % ash and 8075 BTU's making them a premium grade pellet. I will attach a file with the Twin Ports results for you have for your records. One of the reasons that you may have felt like you weren't getting the same heat output could be due to the fact that you found a few 1 3/8 in pellets in your bags. When you have longer pellets the auger delivers inconsistant amounts of fuel leading you to believe that the heat output is lower when in actuality it is not. We have made adjustments to our mills at each facility to only make pellets that are 1/2 in - 3/4 in. in length as most stoves can only handle those lengths.

I hope that you find this information helpful and if you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,
Rita
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To which I replied:

So…..my opinion of NEWP will not change, great that you care enought to sample/test but that gets me NOTHING!

A few 1 3/8 pellets?? I should have shipped a whole bag.

Be assured this response will be posetd on the forum so all can see just how concerned your company is about it’s customers.

Thanks for your efforts all the same, please understand my frustration is not directed at you personally,

Brian

They still don't believe long pellets in a batch is any big deal! Even if the percentage was far more than PFI standards(my test bags were well out of spec)! Yeah they have the issue fixed now, But what about all the peeps that can't burn the long stuff(auger jams)??? Just crap in my book. More smoke from NEWP! All I know is a pellet with .7% ash content is nothing to brag about and not even middle of the road these days.

Werm, I think you got a bad deal and you paid good money for them. I would keep squawking to them.

 

[Meneillys]

I open bags from every shipment we get in and inspect the pellets because I don't want a repeat of last year. As of yet I have not seen any pellet over .75 inch in length and the burns I have done have produced less ash.
Maybe NEWP could contact your local supplier and have him give you a couple of bags of the new stuff to look at and try or have you return the pellets to him for credit on a new batch.
Tomorrow I pick up 18 bags of NEWP and credit the person $81 on his purchase for this year.I know my company lost customers due to pellet issues last fall. Just today I drove past a last year customer that had 7 pallets sitting at the road so I stopped to pick them up and ask how they did last winter. The answer didn't care for NEWP purchased Barefoot from another place. So I loaded the pallets up told them I will be back this winter with some bags of Cubex and I am going to give them a NEWP to try out and hopefully get them to purchase next year. NEWP screwed up last year but so far they have worked with us on getting the bad pellets back and working with people to make them happy. I think the key might be to work with the local supplier.

 

[jtakeman]

I open bags from every shipment we get in and inspect the pellets because I don't want a repeat of last year. As of yet I have not seen any pellet over .75 inch in length and the burns I have done have produced less ash.
Maybe NEWP could contact your local supplier and have him give you a couple of bags of the new stuff to look at and try or have you return the pellets to him for credit on a new batch.
Tomorrow I pick up 18 bags of NEWP and credit the person $81 on his purchase for this year.I know my company lost customers due to pellet issues last fall. Just today I drove past a last year customer that had 7 pallets sitting at the road so I stopped to pick them up and ask how they did last winter. The answer didn't care for NEWP purchased Barefoot from another place. So I loaded the pallets up told them I will be back this winter with some bags of Cubex and I am going to give them a NEWP to try out and hopefully get them to purchase next year. NEWP screwed up last year but so far they have worked with us on getting the bad pellets back and working with people to make them happy. I think the key might be to work with the local supplier.

If NEWP worked as hard as you have to fix it or at least patch things up as they say. I would have a better word to say about them. Werm isn't the only sad tale I have heard of! Seems the dealers know there was troubles with long pellets and above average ash. Troubling to think NEWP thinks its still OK. Leaving a bad taste in my mouth and Its very hard to recommend them after hearing this. It's not like the old days with just a few brands out there. There are way too many good pellets to choose from these days!

Thanks for taking care of the peeps! We do like the dealers that stand with us.

 

[mascoma]

I think they know they had issues and pissed people off but the fact is that what they shipped did meet the specs printed on bag and advertised (as verified by testing above).
If you expected more than what was stated, premium <1% ash than you assumed too much.
It is completly their call if they want to step up, you don't have to buy from them again, but I don't see a reason to sit around bashing them either.

 

[WoodPorn]

I think they know they had issues and pissed people off but the fact is that what they shipped did meet the specs printed on bag and advertised (as verified by testing above).
If you expected more than what was stated, premium <1% ash than you assumed too much.
It is completly their call if they want to step up, you don't have to buy from them again, but I don't see a reason to sit around bashing them either.

You can unsubscribe from this thread if you don"t care to read about how people are/have been mislead and the company that couldn"t care less about them!

 

[WoodPorn]

OK...so much for eating crow!
I sent a sample to Rita at NEWP for testing a few weeks back, here is the PM I received back from her;

Brian,

I sent your sample out to Twin Ports Testing Inc. The test results came back that the pellets you purchased had a 3.78% moisure, .70 % ash and 8075 BTU's making them a premium grade pellet. I will attach a file with the Twin Ports results for you have for your records. One of the reasons that you may have felt like you weren't getting the same heat output could be due to the fact that you found a few 1 3/8 in pellets in your bags. When you have longer pellets the auger delivers inconsistant amounts of fuel leading you to believe that the heat output is lower when in actuality it is not. We have made adjustments to our mills at each facility to only make pellets that are 1/2 in - 3/4 in. in length as most stoves can only handle those lengths.

I hope that you find this information helpful and if you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me again.

Sincerely,
Rita
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To which I replied:

So…..my opinion of NEWP will not change, great that you care enought to sample/test but that gets me NOTHING!

A few 1 3/8 pellets?? I should have shipped a whole bag.

Be assured this response will be posetd on the forum so all can see just how concerned your company is about it’s customers.

Thanks for your efforts all the same, please understand my frustration is not directed at you personally,

Brian

They still don't believe long pellets in a batch is any big deal! Even if the percentage was far more than PFI standards(my test bags were well out of spec)! Yeah they have the issue fixed now, But what about all the peeps that can't burn the long stuff(auger jams)??? Just crap in my book. More smoke from NEWP! All I know is a pellet with .7% ash content is nothing to brag about and not even middle of the road these days.

Werm, I think you got a bad deal and you paid good money for them. I would keep squawking to them.

Jay,
I don't have the time or patients to deal with a company that does not want or need my $ or support. Rita replied to me again telling me the new batch would be less ash and shorter pellets, and that if I wanted they would call my local dealer so I can get a free bag.

I'm all set with more smoke and mirrors, I've got my Somersets for this year, I'll be roasting all winter long with 1/2 the ash of last.

 

[mascoma]

I think they know they had issues and pissed people off but the fact is that what they shipped did meet the specs printed on bag and advertised (as verified by testing above).
If you expected more than what was stated, premium <1% ash than you assumed too much.
It is completly their call if they want to step up, you don't have to buy from them again, but I don't see a reason to sit around bashing them either.

You can unsubscribe from this thread if you don"t care to read about how people are/have been mislead and the company that couldn"t care less about them!

Wow!

Did you start this thread?

 

[mascoma]

BTW, Werm have you read your own signature?

 

[hossthehermit]

I think they know they had issues and pissed people off but the fact is that what they shipped did meet the specs printed on bag and advertised (as verified by testing above).
If you expected more than what was stated, premium <1% ash than you assumed too much.
It is completly their call if they want to step up, you don't have to buy from them again, but I don't see a reason to sit around bashing them either.

Some people on the forum dedicate a high percentage of their posts to bragging up their favorite brand, and bashing their least favorite, even if they haven't burned any for 3 years. (Not to point any fingers, or name any names). It's just human nature, I guess.