New Turmans

I too have a Harman XXV. When I burn the Turman pellet, every morning when I pout a bag into the hopper, I also open the door and pull out the little "cake" that builds up in the burn pot. Takes all of about 4 seconds and my stove loves me for it!

After hearing the response from CT-Pellet i feel a little proud to have a wall of Turman in the garage. Its nice to see a company that does what it needs to do to keep everyone working.

Scott, Welcome to the group and Thanks for passing the info on to us.

I wonder why they don't also use the red oak for pellets? Should also make a very similar pellet besides the color of the material. Never seen an ash pellet, So I also wonder if that would be worth a venture. Just curious!

I'd be curious too...isn't ash the only wood that doesn't really need "seasoning" to burn in a fireplace or stove?

Ash still needs to be seasoned, it just doesn't take as long due to a lower moisture content.

I really like my Turmans and will continue to purchase them. I have gotten hard ash deposits as well from them in my Quad AE, I just started burning them in my Harman so can't tell yet. I think that being they are a pure Oak pellet,meaning a much denser pellet, you will get hard deposits. I had a similar problem with Hamers. Worth it I think for the heat they put out.

LOL...You never stop

Right now, Jay, the last thing that I want is to see them start using the red oak in conjunction with the white oak. You and I both know that the pellet would still be stellar and the quality would not diminish. Their red oak fiber is just as clean and "low moisture" as their white oak. So why do I not want to see Turman start using the red oak as well as the white?...Because it will look different. And if history is to teach us anything, it is that when people see something that is different, they look for a problem. And when people look for a problem, they will probably find one. If it’s not broke, don't start beating it with a hammer.

These guys won't let me!

We'll if they run out of white oak fiber and they have some red oak or ash leftover, Tell em to runs some samples and I'll gladdly burn some for them.

See your out of Turmans. You getting more in ?

So my last few bags of Turmans have been burning perfectly......now I wonder if its the pellets or if my burnpot wasn't seated correctly......anyway just figured I would share my observation.

Ahh, Its gotta be the pellets. I'll be by in a little bit to take em off you hands!

Scott....any update on this?

You may be right .....but to be sure I will have to run a few more bags....usually 10 bags gives me a real good idea.....shame I only have 9 left

I do.....
I was somewhat remiss in my original explanation saying that the pellet is 100% white oak. After further inquiring, I learned that the pellet is in fact made of 100% oak, but that it is a blend of red and white oaks. As for why they never went back to the vendor and changed the label on the bags to say 100%oak rather than 100% hardwood.......Honestly, nobody really knows for sure. There has been talk at the Turman company about the label saying "hardwood" because it is a hardwood pellet (vs a softwood pellet) and
they want it categorized as such. I offered my sentiments that I would like to see the label read 100% oak and was emphatically reassured the pellet is absolutely all oak. I would like to see the label say oak because I feel it would seperate them from most other pellets in the industry.....but in reality, there are many, many, many factors that seperate this pellet from most others in the industry already Currently, I am more concerned with being able to bring more Turman in to sell than I am about the label......and so are about 65 customers I have on a waiting list for Turman right now!

I 100% agree....if they are all oak (which they said they were) I would definitely be putting that back on the bag. Maybe they feel it just doesn't matter to the "general" pellet burner but to us "pigs"...............that is major selling point for me to see that on the bag!

If this is what they feel, then they are right....To John Q. Public, it really doesn't matter. At least a majority of my customers. Understand that many people who come to us for the first time are looking for answers. And many new stove owners do not come to us until a year or two of burning under their belt because we are more expensive than Lowes or HD. But after a year or two, many of those new stove owners, (not all!)are frustrated with the cheaper lower-end pellets and are looking for something to make their pellet-burning a more enjoyable experience. At this point, they are not reading a label, they are listening to what we have to say. And if a customer is having problems with heat and ash, what we say to them is to try some bags of Barefoot, Turman, Hamer and Okanagan. If I have them do this, then in all likelyhood, they will come back and now they are ordering tons! Most of our new customers will buy based on our reccomendations, not what is printed on a bag. It is not unheard of for myself or anyone else in my office to have a 30 minute conversation with a potential new customer, (In fact, it is encouraged) and rarely, if ever, do we discuss what is printed on a bag.

x2.....they can be long conversations. We rarely talk about quantitiative analyses, as folks often just dont comprehend it. The sticky point is, pellet quality is often an opinion. One guy will come in and say "we love those NEWP's......been burning em for years...etc", they guy right behind him will extol the virtues of Turman, and in the next breath deride the NEWPs for how bad he/she feels they are.....its why we have 7 different brands.....

I purchased 2 ton of Turmans from my local dealer in October. first off let me say that i love the turman pellets but these 2 tons are terible compaired to what i have had before.. the problem i have is the fines in the bags. these pellets are all broken up into little pieces and full of dust. I have never seen this problem before with these pellets. my bags are all dated 3/12. one other thing to add is when i called my dealer for turmans he said that he didnt have any in stock because they had some problem at the plant and they were on at least a 2 week wait to get more..

When I first got turmans I was thrilled! My TS was only selling Freedom Fuel and I hated them. The turmans burned good but I thought there was a lot of fines as well. I went to the TS today and they had Greenway. I bought a few bags and love them even better than turmans!!

The Greenways were the "sleeper" pellet a few winters ago.....I loved them and wish I could find them again.