No good?

So I get a call yesterday from a customer who has been buying Turman pellets from me for 4 seasons now. She will never buy anything BUT Turmans. She has a Harman stove and she does about four tons per season. She tells me that the pellets that she bought this season started out great and as the season is progressing, they are becoming increasingly worse. She continuse to tell me that they will not burn completely, are falling out of the burn pot half burned, the flame is dark orange and lazy, the inside of the stove and the glass are getting all "sooted-up" and at times, has trouble keeping bthe fire lit. (Now, it is also worthwhile to note that I get this type of call many, many times a year and it is with every brand of pellets that i sell. )
I know right away that this is not a pellet issue and that it is most certainly an airflow issue and that something is wrong with the stove. I tell her this and she is very adamant that there is no stove issues, because "her service guy has been out five times and swears that the stove is fine and that it must be the pellets." If I had a nickel for every time a repair tech could not figure out the real problem and just "passed the buck" to me, I could retire on some sunny island somewhere to never see a pellet again!
What I usually do in situations like this is to offer to swap them out for a brand of their repair tech's choice all the while telling the customer that this will not solve their problem. It is an expense that I eat, with the only real benefit is an "I told you so" to the lousy repair tech before he is then forced to fix the "real issue." But where this gets tricky is this certain stove shop is a store that I have a very good business relationship with, so I must tread lightly. I call the stove shop and discuss the situation with them. They swear it is the pellets, I swear it is not. I have a repair tech that I refer who is one of the best in the business. I know that I can send him out there and he WILL fix the real issue. But before doing this, I tell the store to take 5 bags of her pellets and give her 5 bags of their Turmans (which they buy from me to burn in the show room) They are to both burn each others pellets and see if there is any change. It is also worthwhile to note that since April, I have sold over 2200 tons of Turman virtually without incident. We will now wait and see. Any wagers on this one?

No wager necessary, I knew the issue within 3 sentences.

As an impartial outsider, I think you should ship me a ton of free pellets and I will let you know if it's her stove or your pellets that are the problem...You're welcome in advance!

The only wager I would be willing to make is that the issue is definitely NOT the pellets!

any pellet deals?. im just over the line in RI.

he makes good deals, you give him money he gives you pellets

Just not the right pellets.......

He carries most of the best brands available in the area. In your opinion, what would the 'right' pellet be?

He is a somersets guy, but i think CtPellet said he had some on the way

Isn't it obvious? You have been taking the Turman's out of the bags and replacing them with them Infernos. So it must be the pellets and of course your fault. Air flow? Air flow? That's got nothing to do with them pellet stoves.

It was a tounge in cheek comment directed towards OMV...Someset was the answer I was looking for, but I think that was obvoius

He is a smart man!

I

I would bet the stove MAY have an ESP issue wether it got bent, dirty, or needs replacing. Just had two different stoves with the same issues.

i'm free saturday. tell her i'll go clean it for $250

Yea, I figured this one out to in about the same. Only though because it happened to me and I didn't know, took a fair amount of cursing and frustration but now I do

I bet her burn-pot air holes are clogged.

its plugged somewhere, stove or flue, those stoves are damned near bulletproof in most cases, will burn most anything. either the draft blower is turned back way too far or there's an air restriction. if the unit was burning fine and just "went away" its not the stove , they don't "go away" and pellets don't present like this right outta the blue either.

turmans makes a good pellet ive run them and i like them a lot, have met the owner and he's a pretty stand up guy reminds me of my own boss who i have the utmost respect for. turmans are a solid product.

So, did they find the real issue and who won the wager?

Customer recently informed me that every time the repiar tech came out, he just hooked up a computer and said it was fine. All of a five minute service call. Her "bad" pellets are burning fine at the stove shop. Gotta give them credit for being forthcoming. She bought 5 bags of Lignetics, and is having same issue. Repair guy is going there today, to pull it apart. I told her to stay there and watch how much ash comes out of the pipe. I'm 100% sure its clogged.

If that is what comes out of the pipe I have to get one of those stoves.

Damn auto correct. I was on the this forum with my Android.

Yeah sure blame the phone, we know what you ment

Definetly agree with CT's opinion on the clogged stove. I run a Harman P68 and burn Turmans all of the time. They are a great pellet and would recommend them over a lot of others. I had the same problem with my stove but once I cleaned out the small holes in the burn pot, it cleared right up. It is imperative that these small holes be kept clear of the hard ash accumalation that clogs these holes. Turmans burn great, but I have tried some Cheat River pellets in my stove. While they burn OK, they are a bit on the ashy side and do not produce the heat that the Turmans do. The customer needs to keep these holes cleaned out every time they clean their stove. I clean mine about once a week and have not had the problem since.

There is nothing like cleaning thier "Clean Stove" and having 2-3 gallons of clean come out and the stove runs good again and hand them the bill for what was clean.

will be searching craigslist for her to sell those dirty turmans. MMUUUUHHHHAAAAAA