Anyone know anything about Pennington OAK pellets?

[imacman]

I just bought 10 bags of Lignetics hardwood pellets from a lady who was selling them on Craig's list. When I went to pick them up, she also said she had 3 bags of "other" pellets that she forgot she had, but they had been outside for a few weeks....did I want them?

Well, I was getting the Lignetics for $4.50/bag, and she said I could have the "others" for $3/bag.....so I took a look and they were Pennington. Now, I remember hearing all kinds of bad things about them on this forum, and was leary, but offered her $2.50/bag, and she took it.

So, my kids and I loaded all the bags into the TrailBlazer, and headed home. It was then that I noticed that they said "Hardwood - Oak" on the front. I opened a bag, and sure enough, that great Oak smell came out. The pellets were very light in color, and seemed dry, so I poured a bag into the stove.

Let me tell you...they were THE best burning pellet I have used! Nice light fluffy ash that blew right out of the burn pot, No clinkers at all (and I was burning on LOW all night), and nice smell and great heat!! But I never remembered anyone on here saying that Penningtons were Oak.

So I took a look at the Pennington website, and all they have listed are Natures Heat....nothing about Oak pellets.

Anyone know anything about these?

 

[imacman]

Bump. I guess everyone is as much in the dark about these pellets as I am.....

 

[MassPellet]

If they were from a yellow bag beware. I burned 3 tons of Pennington Oak pellets and they were filled with fines (sometimes 3-4 cups) and often had other surprises like sticks and rocks inside. Also my 3 tons had multiple bags with water damage, and were unusable - 18 bags in my last pallet alone.

 

[imacman]

If they were from a yellow bag beware. I burned 3 tons of Pennington Oak pellets and they were filled with fines (sometimes 3-4 cups) and often had other surprises like sticks and rocks inside. Also my 3 tons had multiple bags with water damage, and were unusable - 18 bags in my last pallet alone.

No, these were in a white bag w/ yellow printing, and had almost no fines...maybe a 1/2 cup. No rocks, sticks, or anything out of the ordinary. All 3 bags burned great w/ no problems at all.

I guess my main question was were did they come from? Pennington doesn't even mention Oak pellets on it's website. Did you buy yours recently, and where?

Thanks

MM

 

[rayboggsjr]

I bought 5 bags with my new stove. They seemed to light easy and burn great but they seemed to have a lot more ash than the Somersets we burned. We got ours at a local Tsc store. I don`t know if these are made by the Pennington seed company or not. I would definatley burn them again.

 

[JBlank912]

I had the Pennington's Natures Heat. Lotsa posts about them but I did OK (alot of fines, but company made good on them for me).

I had Clean Fire, and tried a few bags of someothers, Green Team, future fuel, Rocky Mountain and main woods.
I needed 1 last ton, and I thought the local hardware store had Stove Chow, its what there web site said. Instead it was Pennington Oak. I figured OK I managed with the Pennington Natures Heat, these should be similar. WRONG! They burn very dirty, the most ash of any brand I burned and the dirtiest burning. I'm glad I only got 1 ton. I would not touch them again ever.

 

[imacman]

......They burn very dirty, the most ash of any brand I burned and the dirtiest burning. I'm glad I only got 1 ton. I would not touch them again ever.

I'm curious....you and I have essentially the exact same stove, but seem to differ on the burning characteristics of the Oak pellets. I'm not sure what "dirtiest burning" even means. What heat setting and what air control setting were you using?

 

[JBlank912]

I have an OAK, the air setting is between 2 and 3. Yet the Pennington Oak, dirty the glass faster and darker then the Pennington Natures Heat (and they dirtyed pretty fast). The ash builds up inside the stove at twice the speed of the Natures Heat to the point that in 3-4 days of regular burning I need to dump the ash or it will overflow the front lip when I open the door to clean it. The rear brick and heat exchangers get blacker then any other pellets and I find they don't just get blacker but get a thicker layer of ash built on them. Other pellets left a thin coating, mostly whitish after burning, these leave a thick layer almost like a low pile rug.

I burn on heat level 3 mostly and highest fan setting. The Clean fires 9which burn very hot) I can lower to 2. The Naturesheat I burned on 3-4 but that was during the colder months. Living on top of the mountain this winter has been a cold one. I have emptied the cleanout T twice this season just in case. I have done a thourough cleaning on the stove several times since I started burning these pellets in case that was thwe cause of the ash build up and dirtier burn. It seems to just be the way these Pellets are.

 

[imacman]

That's amazing, JRB. I had totally the opposite results from those 3 bags of Oak pellets. Yes, they did have a bit more ash, but nothing out of the ordinary, but I had NO issues with the glass getting "dark" very quickly.

Not saying that your doing anything wrong, but just make sure that everything in your stove is really clean.....I'm pretty particular to cleaning the stove often (every 3-4 days).

I also pull the combustion blower every month and scrape the fins and behind the impeller, clean the ash traps that are behind the little bolted covers on the sides, bang on the metal plate with a small hammer to knock loose "crud" down, remove the "brick" and bang on the metal behind it, and also bang on the vent pipe (not with a hammer, though...LOL) to get stuff loose there too.....if you don't do these things, you'd be amazed what is trapped where you normally can't see it.

About the only thing I HAVEN'T done is the leaf blower trick, but that's coming as soon as I stop burning for the summer....very curious what comes out with that.

Anyway, for what it's worth, those Pennington Oak pellets burned great for me (even better than the Lignetics Hardwood, which I love).....wish I could find more.

 

[JBlank912]

Once I felt they were burning so dirty I did and extra complete cleaning. Took the exhaust blower out to clean it, cleaned the trap doors on the sides, pulled the bricks and cleaned them front and back, and so on. It burned nicer but got dirty fast.

As for finding them, I got mine from McAfee Hardware in McAfee (Vernon) , NJ. He may still have them if you want to try.

 

[imacman]

As for finding them, I got mine from McAfee Hardware in McAfee (Vernon) , NJ. He may still have them if you want to try.

Thanks JRB.....if you happen to see this post, and have the hardware store's phone # handy, could you PM it to me? Thanks!