i was just on a call yesterday. it was a 6 month old harman pf100 that the auger would not turn. they had burnt 25 bags og michigan wood pellets "green and white bag". there so many fine in them that it had jammed the auger. these seem like junk pellets to me.. i have never seen pellets with so many fines before. the pellets seem soft and break apart easily. they are cheaper than most buying online but it looks like you get what you pay for. if you have to go through the trouble of cleaning and screening pellets you are better off saving another 100 per ton and burn corn i just got corn for 127/ton. i think most of these are coming from pelletsales.com just wanting to put my finding out there to try to save someone else alot of headache. once you have 3-4 tons in the garage and then find out you have problems it is to late.......
michigan wood pellets quality
- Thread starter rickwa
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mnkywrnch
Minister of Fire
I have 2 ton of north country made by Michigan wood pellet, they do produce massive amounts of ash,but the fines are really low IMO.I got them for a super low price and just burn them when the outside temps aren't to cold.Maybe there's were just handled poorly.I've burnt about 25 bags so far without issue.
I have all so heard that of that brand. Did you call where you bought them and are they going to do something for you?
curtthegreat
Member
Just finished off a ton of Michigan pellets. They put out good heat, not 1 clinker in the bunch, but I have never seen so much ash. I had to clean my stove 2 times a day. As far as fines go, I didn't notice much at all, and I screen my pellets.
I test burned a couple bags of them back in the beginning of Oct., and they seemed to burn pretty well. I don't remember any unusual amount of fines. But, as has been said often, YMMV.
countk
Feeling the Heat
=Your Mileage May Vary....another way of saying that everyone will have varying results.countk said:
countk
Feeling the Heat
countk
Feeling the Heat
littlesmokey
Minister of Fire
rickwa said:
Rick: Inspite of the apparent obscene texting above, you seem to have bad pellets. You should not be able to break them with a thumbnail, or crumple them. It really sounds to me that they are moisture damaged. Had a few bags in the past that were "moistened" and simply returned them to the dealer for exchange, did not demand a refund.
Story to follow, read at your risk:
I worked on a stove that was a total mess from bad pellets. New burner didn't know better. I nenver thought that little auger could pack so tight. We took a pick up load back to the maker, that's right, factory direct. After speaking to about fifteen people we got someone who spoke English well enough to understand we did not want more, we wanted a refund. Claimed no cash on hand, but we had watched three people pay in cash. By then I was pissed and whipped out the cellphone and started dialing..... The managers number on a call sheet. Told him we were there for a refund and a bonus for bringing the pellets back, told him the guys claim no cash, but watched the cash payers and asked if he wanted us to call him when the local police and ICE agent got there? He started to stammer and I hung up. Started to dial again. The business phone rang the conversation was about 20 seconds and we had the refund and a $40 courtesy payment. We took all the money to Lowe's and bought about twice as much quantity and had lunch on the refund. Funny how that works.
Your situation may be dealer caused or you may have a leak in your storage. I advise getting it corrected and stop burning the crumblers..... That auger was a pain to clear.
this is not the first time i have seen these pellets. the sales rep from pelletsales.com stopped by our shop and dropped off a couple of bags for us to try. he wanted our customer list (we sell pellets to) and said for every ton he sold we would get 10 bucks? the bags he dropped of were the same way. i doubt he left them out in the rain before giving them to us.....
littlesmokey
Minister of Fire
rickwa said:
Asking for your customer list? Man that takes guts. One of the problems I have found causing this is the drying of the new pellets. Bagging too fast seals the moisture in the bag. The issue here seems clearly not the customers fault if others are experiencing the same conditions. I think they should go back, or refund and destroy....Certainly they should not be resold. One maker I have worked with has real problems when they first started. The piles of bad pellets were almost as large as his raw material. They solved the issues (more than one) and added the pellets back in in small quantities to the processer. They were not even sold at animal bedding. Quality is paramount with this maker.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
macman said:
Same results in my test burn. Did have more ash than expected. But good heat from them. Fines were low(less than a 1/4 cup from both bags).
Michigan pellets should be fine as long as the are not the Lions Brand,they can not get going,stink,and slowly die out if they ever get started. They have been that way for quite a few years! :lol:
Gary
Gary
rickwa said:
so, let me get this straight.....(this will probably cause my message to get $hitcanned, but...)....your COMPETITION selling pellets comes in and asks for your customer list?! Your COMPETITION is going to PAY you $10/ton to NOT sell pellets?! Interesting.....
I just picked 4 bags.....Lot of dust inthe bag......Seem to burn ok $5.49 per bag to much dust for me....I will stick pro pellts or sumersets
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
The batch I got were not a full saw dust pellet. The had wood strings(best way I could discribe it) When you snapped the pellet in half. The pieces were not cleanly broken. Mighigans are part saw dust and some hammermilled dust. Check there web site. Link
http://www.michiganwoodpellets.com/about/process/index.html
Step 3 is the chip hammermill. This was added to help for lack of saw dust and abling them to continue making pellets. Where other plants have a no dust=stop production. If the millings are chunky and not a fine powder? I guess it will cause the crumbling effect. Maybe they need to reduce the screen size in the hammer mill?
There also a video of the plants growth. Maybe they just had some growth issues.
http://www.michiganwoodpellets.com/about/index.html
Sounds like there business is booming and creating jobs. Which is always good!
jay
http://www.michiganwoodpellets.com/about/process/index.html
Step 3 is the chip hammermill. This was added to help for lack of saw dust and abling them to continue making pellets. Where other plants have a no dust=stop production. If the millings are chunky and not a fine powder? I guess it will cause the crumbling effect. Maybe they need to reduce the screen size in the hammer mill?
There also a video of the plants growth. Maybe they just had some growth issues.
http://www.michiganwoodpellets.com/about/index.html
Sounds like there business is booming and creating jobs. Which is always good!
jay
we sell 20-40 tons per week. and have 100 tons in stock. then he wanted to sell us pellets. we said no we have a good source and dont need your pellets. what a joke? i feel bad for the guy trying to save a couple of bucks and buying 3-4 tons of these and bieng stuck when he finds out that he has to screen the pellets and do a bunch of extra cleaning on the stove to save 10-15 bucks a ton on pellets. i refuse to buy pellets that i have to screen. i dont mind screening my corn since i am able to get it for 127/ ton i am not going to pay nearly double that and do the same amount of work.
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