Offical Pennington Pellets 2008

[schenkp]

I bought 5 tons of Pennington Pellets over the summer with my new Quadrafire stove, just burned about 4 bags over the last week. I have no opinion of any other brands of pellets and/or stove as this is my first season burning pellets and using the stove.

The stove burns evenly with these pellets, they seem to burn evenly and when the stove is turned on high the amount of heat is huge.

I have a 3300 sq home and it heats the whole house....

Post your experiences here.

 

[Ossy]

Nice post...I have read plenty of posts about Pennington on the forums, some good and some bad....all in all however, the majority wasn't good...It appears that it is a quality control issue in terms of production....maybe then need to look at their quality control and assurance practices?

Regards
Ossy

 

[schenkp]

Nice post...I have read plenty of posts about Pennington on the forums, some good and some bad....all in all however, the majority wasn't good...It appears that it is a quality control issue in terms of production....maybe then need to look at their quality control and assurance practices?

Regards
Ossy

From reading all the posts the company looked like they address the issue and stood behind their product nicely. I took a chance and bought 5 tons over the summer on the cheap compared to other brands and delivery charges.

My Mt Vernon burns really hot using these pellets and thats all i know.

Good Luck to you

 

[JBlank912]

Based on posts, availability and price I purchased 3 tons from HD this summer. I'm sorry I did. They have way too many fines and I've had to cleanout the hopper almost daily for the past week. I'm still trying to figure out an easy way to deal with them besides vacuuming every bag. For now, with advice from the board, I'm shaking the bag and dumping the last 1lb or so to see if that will help. The other problem which I think may also be the fines but am not sure, is the top of the augur would jam and I woul have to clear it by sticking a screw driver up the chute to clear them. I think this has something to do with too large pellets but perhaps the fines keep it from driving the peelets up the augur enough. I have a Lopi Yankee stove.

They burn Ok when they feed and seem to put out enough heat.

 

[schenkp]

Based on posts, availability and price I purchased 3 tons from HD this summer. I'm sorry I did. They have way too many fines and I've had to cleanout the hopper almost daily for the past week. I'm still trying to figure out an easy way to deal with them besides vacuuming every bag. For now, with advice from the board, I'm shaking the bag and dumping the last 1lb or so to see if that will help. The other problem which I think may also be the fines but am not sure, is the top of the augur would jam and I woul have to clear it by sticking a screw driver up the chute to clear them. I think this has something to do with too large pellets but perhaps the fines keep it from driving the peelets up the augur enough. I have a Lopi Yankee stove.

They burn Ok when they feed and seem to put out enough heat.

I noticed the fines too, but what is the downside of fines in regards to your stove? I would think its just the mess they create outside the stove!

Heat output in my very limited experience is really hot.

 

[JBlank912]

I'm new also, but what seems to occur is that the fines build up in the bottom part of the augur and this prevents the actual pellets from going into the augur mechanism properly and being pushed up to the end of the chute. Basicly they clog it up. >:-(

 

[schenkp]

I'm new also, but what seems to occur is that the fines build up in the bottom part of the augur and this prevents the actual pellets from going into the augur mechanism properly and being pushed up to the end of the chute. Basicly they clog it up. >:-(

Has your stove actually clogged up yet from the fines?

 

[JBlank912]

I have had several clogs. It's been hard to determine if it was the large pellets or the fines that I find taking up the lower several inches of the auger. When I have the jam the stove would fail to light, the control panel goes blinking for a no light error. I clear it from the chute but I also check the lower part of the auger and find the fines taking up the lower few inches. The last few fills I worked harder at preventing the fines from going into the stove and this seems to prevent the no light issues. Which leads me to believe the fines are the main cause.

 

[schenkp]

I think what ever brand you by the about of fines will be constant, like every time you drop a bag it creates fines because of the pellets chipping apart etc.

 

[JBlank912]

If that is the case the situation was definitly made worse by HD's poor handling at my house of the pellets. Being this is my first season with a pellet stove its definitely a learning experience. I have some idea (and gaining more) of what to do and what to avoid for future.

 

[bigtrout]

Hi, I bought 3 tons of Penningtons here in NW PA for 237 a ton. Bought them at the local building supply, they forked the whole wrapped pallets onto my trailer and I hauled and stacked them. Not one broken bag. Once I got my Englander tweaked for low burns, I have had good luck.

They are in white bags just marked Pennington Premium Oak pellets with the Pennington Logo. They are not marked Natures Heat. The date codes on the bag say they were made in Sept 08.

I tried a bag or two of Country Boys(have 2 tons coming) and a few bags of Somersets(neighbors have them but not available here right now). Both of these brands burn good and these Penningtons burn the same as they do in my stove.

I'd rate them as good pellets.

High heat output, not alot of dust(I was the only one to handle them), no issues with clinkers or soot even on low in my Englander 25-PDV. They do make a little more ash than the Country Boys and Somersets, but not enough that it will matter if you clean the burn pot every day like Englander recommends.

 

[JBlank912]

The one's I have are Penningtons Nature's Heat. They have no date code on them. HD's delivery was atrocious. They clobbered the pallets and had to replace 14 bags due to there breakage. From what I learned here that probably has a lot to do with the headaches.

 

[slls]

I bought 4 bags from Walmart, bar coded and dated 8-29-08 Natures Heat. Haven't burned any yet.

 

[oil-schmoil]

I have bought 2 tons of Pennington from the dealer that sold me the stove. (Magnum Baby Countryside) . They are labeled as Nature's Heat. on the bag it says Premium Hardwood Pellets for 299.00 per ton. I just installed the stove on saturday and on the virgin burn, they threw alot of heat seemed to burn clean to me. I also bought about a dozen bags at wallmart that are labeled as Natures heat with Premium wood pellets on the bag. so I am assuming these are softwood. I have'nt tried them yet. They cost me 4.94 a bag last week. stopped by yesterday they are now 5.75 per bag. Being a newbie pellet head I don't know all the pros and cons about the 2 types but ive heard good things about both.

 

[woodsman23]

299 a ton no way i'd go back to propane.

 

[hossthehermit]

The one's I have are Penningtons Nature's Heat. They have no date code on them. HD's delivery was atrocious. They clobbered the pallets and had to replace 14 bags due to there breakage. From what I learned here that probably has a lot to do with the headaches.

Let's just sue all the pellet manufacturers, and the bagging plants, and the individual forklift drivers, and maybe the people that made the pallets, oh, and maybe the printers that didn't put a date code on them, we'll have money enough to buy oil.

 

[pelletizer]

I bought 3 tons back in early June and they burn good no issues here, I would like ot try other brands as well,
Maybe there should be like a "pellet swap shop" or pellethead night you know like they have the car hop night show things in the summer?
Even could have all pellet heads in local areas get together to swap stories and pellets and well there should be brew involved but no driving home blazed.
As for fines you all must have seen the video post on the fines being vacuumed out it is cool....

Later off to mow/mulch leaves befor it is dark.

 

[Steveo]

I had a different brand than the Pennington with lots of fines and I did not want the fines in my stove, so I got a huge strainer and strained as many fines out as I could and had no problems. I actually got a whole ziplock bag full of fines strained out of one bag of pellets. Again not Pennigton but one of the pellets made in maine.

 

[pelletizer]

Cool cat dude! an actual battle cat!

 

[roadrat]

I bought 2 tons of the pennington natures heat from HD for $224 ton, I have gone thru about 5 bags with no problems, I think the ash is a little high but managable.

bill

 

[schenkp]

I had a different brand than the Pennington with lots of fines and I did not want the fines in my stove, so I got a huge strainer and strained as many fines out as I could and had no problems. I actually got a whole ziplock bag full of fines strained out of one bag of pellets. Again not Pennigton but one of the pellets made in maine.

Nice what brand are they so i can avoid them in the future.

 

[schenkp]

I bought 2 tons of the pennington natures heat from HD for $224 ton, I have gone thru about 5 bags with no problems, I think the ash is a little high but managable.

bill

Me too

 

[rvasupersport]

I just picked up a ton of the pennington hard wood oak pellets (white and yellow bag) from Southern States for $270.00. I figured that they would have been cheaper seeing as how they are made only an hour and a half away. I got about 1000 sq ft to heat so we shall see how long they last. It still hasnt got cold enough to turn on the stove yet but lets hope they do good.

 

[globewyre]

I burned a few bags of pennington pellets. Nature heat and bag that say pennington pellets. They burned OK for me to. There is not a lot of choices out there for pellets. The HD, walmart, TSC and ma and pa shops are out of pellets. They all say they are expecting more and to call back. I have 2 tons and another ton on hold. Right now, some people do not have a choice. You burn what is in stock.

 

[JBlank912]

As I said earlier I bought 3 tons of Penningtons from HD. They have alot of fines and no date code. This made me wonder if they were this years. I contacted Pennington's customer service. A very nice lady spoke to me about the situation and asked me to send a couple of handfuls as a sample along with an empty bag. I sent about 2 pounds from one bag and 2 empoty bags. I figured if I didn't hear from her in a week or 2 I would call her. Well, she called me, basicaly a few days after I shipped it and verified they were from last year from the Indiana plant. She asked me what I thought was fair, figuring I am using them and just loosing the last 2-3 pounds, I said how about half, she counter offered with offering me over 80% of what I paid plus shipping for the pellets and shipping for the package I sent her. Now thats customer service. The fault lies with HD not Peenington in my opinion, there Distribution Center had old stock and shipped it out as new. Pennington in my opinion made Very Good on the problem (much better then I hoped for) and extremely fast. From what I have read on the forums, this years batch would have avoided the headaches, but Pennington is standing behind there product and I could not have asked for better.