Atlas Pellet Plants Closing Down

[tchdngrnby]

Appears the bank has filed breach of contract and Coeur d' Alene Fiber Fuels, Inc. dba Atlas Pellets will have secured operations as of tomorrow 12/23/2010. They put out a great product unfortunately, this is another example of upper management sucking the life out of the business and leaving a mess for its employees. The Hansen's should be ashamed of themselves.


http://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/waedce/2:2010mc00020/52201/
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/idaho/iddce/1:2010cv00498/26688/

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Appears the bank has filed breach of contract and Coeur d' Alene Fiber Fuels, Inc. dba Atlas Pellets will have secured operations as of tomorrow 12/23/2010. They put out a great product unfortunately, this is another example of upper management sucking the life out of the business and leaving a mess for its employees. The Hansen's should be ashamed of themselves.


http://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/waedce/2:2010mc00020/52201/
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/idaho/iddce/1:2010cv00498/26688/

There's a lot of that that goes on.

 

[morsnow]

Another good reason to buy local. After all isnt one of the reasons we burn pellets to prevent our money going overseas and out of the country?

 

[Idahokid]

They were blowing out there pellets at 150 a ton.I picked up a ton. Just when I had a great source.Darn.

 

[jtakeman]

I burned some Atlas Country Pine and was impressed with them. A shame were going to lose them!

 

[Idahokid]

There northwest pride were a good pellet to.It was handy getting pellets on the way home from Spokane.

 

[Rooscooter]

They were blowing out there pellets at 150 a ton.I picked up a ton. Just when I had a great source.Darn.

I talked to a local Stove Shop today and the scuttle butt is that the plant will run again.....when and who owns it will be the question. I also understand that they will be posting on Craigslist when they will be liquidating the remaining pellets and energy bricks. The pellets could be as low as $129/ton if you can carry.

 

[Idahokid]

Thats good to hear.I have 70 bags left.This next Saturday is going to be cold.Were in Spokane do you live?I live in Hayden Lake.

 

[Rooscooter]

Thats good to hear.I have 70 bags left.This next Saturday is going to be cold.Were in Spokane do you live?I live in Hayden Lake.

I live in the Northwood area. I also have a small cabin on Pend Oreille Lake in Bayview.

 

[Idahokid]

I bought my stove from Andy's this year.I love the thing.I go by Atlas twice a day when I go to Spokane and then back to Idaho.I work for Kenworth and Idaho is my territory to call on customers.I went by there on the 23rd of Dec. and they were cleaning house.Looked like all the office stuff was going into a dumpster.I will keep you posted on what I see.Dave

 

[Idahokid]

Went by there this morning and they had 50 pallets of pellets left.They said they were done.Most of the piles of sawdust are gone to.The office had a little furniture.A month ago there were hundreds of pallets of pellets everywhere.Looks pretty empty.I will keep the forum posted.

 

[Rooscooter]

Went by there this morning and they had 50 pallets of pellets left.They said they were done.Most of the piles of sawdust are gone to.The office had a little furniture.A month ago there were hundreds of pallets of pellets everywhere.Looks pretty empty.I will keep the forum posted.

Great....let me know if you find out when they will liquidate those pallets of pellets. I will need another ton this year.

 

[Idahokid]

You better go now.

 

[Pellet Girl 76]

The pellets have been on liquidation for a couple of months now. They don't have anything left but pine pellets.

 

[Idahokid]

They were a great pellet.I guess ligs are next.As in my next choice of pellets.I better edit that.

 

[Rooscooter]

They were a great pellet.I guess ligs are next.

Is Lignetics in trouble? I quit using them last year after I got some pretty bad bags.....they reimbursed me but once bitten.......

Have you tried Rocky Canyon Ultra Premium Red Fir pellets? I ran a few bags earlier this year and got very good heat out of them. My only complaint was the amount of dust in the bags. The may take the local market that Atlas used to have.

 

[jtakeman]

I wouldn't be surprised. Hopefully they can hang in there a bit! With oil on the climb again, I think we will see many of the ex-pellet burners coming back and new ones jumping on board.

There perdicting gas as high as $5.00/gallon by 2012 and #2 fuel oil close to that. Deisel will be higher of coarse. So pellets should be popular again. We should see corn, grass pellets, and other biomass getting more active.

 

[Idahokid]

Ligs are my next choice of pellet rooscooter.I have never tried blazers.

 

[Rooscooter]

Ligs are my next choice of pellet rooscooter.I have never tried blazers.

I swore off Lignetics last year after most of the bags in a 1 ton delivery burned like crap. The pellets had soil (dirt) in the mix and created glass in my burn pots. In prior years Lignetics were my first choice. To their credit they purchased back my ton and indicated that it was a known issue and they made corrections to the process to ensure that it wouldn't happen in the future. I decided to move on with so many good pellets in our area.

This year I have 2 tons of North Idaho Energy Pellets and 1 of Westwood Premium Pellets (also known as Okanagan's). I also have a few bags of Rocky Canyon Red Fir Pellets that are very good. I had a few bags of Armstrong Super Premium that I burned earlier in the year that I liked as well.

I've heard great things about the Blazzers, but haven't found any locally to buy and try.

Take care out there its going to be cold and the roads are a mess.

 

[littlesmokey]

Because a company goes under with the bank doesn't mean his neighbor is going under.

Those dissatisfied with Lignetics should re-think the company. They made a conscientious effort to acknowledge a problem and not leave you holding the bag (double entendre not intended). If they are still in business and threiving like I have heard they will be there tomorrow.

Frankly, three years ago I got a really bad tank of gas from my local service station. They reimbursed the cost of the gas and paid for flushing the lines. Still shop there and am satisfied every time I pay the cashier. Hard to "write off" the ones that do the right thing.

 

[jtakeman]

Because a company goes under with the bank doesn't mean his neighbor is going under.

Those dissatisfied with Lignetics should re-think the company. They made a conscientious effort to acknowledge a problem and not leave you holding the bag (double entendre not intended). If they are still in business and threiving like I have heard they will be there tomorrow.

I didn't think you saw the Lignetics issue out west?

 

[Rooscooter]

Because a company goes under with the bank doesn't mean his neighbor is going under.

Those dissatisfied with Lignetics should re-think the company. They made a conscientious effort to acknowledge a problem and not leave you holding the bag (double entendre not intended). If they are still in business and threiving like I have heard they will be there tomorrow.

Frankly, three years ago I got a really bad tank of gas from my local service station. They reimbursed the cost of the gas and paid for flushing the lines. Still shop there and am satisfied every time I pay the cashier. Hard to "write off" the ones that do the right thing.

The issue with Lignetics of Idaho was pretty wide spread in this area. Several outlets quit selling them last year due to the quality drop off. I was not implying or inferring that Lignetics was in trouble financially....only reacting to what was in the post I was responding to.

I am very grateful that, in this day and age, a company would step up and replace 27 bags of pellets. The unfortunate part is that many of the replacement bags had the same issue as well. Over half of the bags were very dirty and wet. These were supposedly directly from the factory after they "corrected" the problem.

I am fortunate to live in an area with many quality pellet mills and have a bunch of choices when I shop. Lignetics are priced at or near the top of the heap and they don't get marked down often. When I can buy North Idaho Energy Pellets or Okanagan Pellets for $40.00 less a ton I don't think twice. My buying decisions on pellets is based on pellet quality first, what is available close to my house second and finally, which quality pellet I can get delivered for the least expense. Lignetics doesn't qualify on the second or third points anymore.

 

[jtakeman]

The issue with Lignetics of Idaho was pretty wide spread in this area. Several outlets quit selling them last year due to the quality drop off. I was not implying or inferring that Lignetics was in trouble financially....only reacting to what was in the post I was responding to.

I am very grateful that, in this day and age, a company would step up and replace 27 bags of pellets. The unfortunate part is that many of the replacement bags had the same issue as well. Over half of the bags were very dirty and wet. These were supposedly directly from the factory after they "corrected" the problem.

I am fortunate to live in an area with many quality pellet mills and have a bunch of choices when I shop. Lignetics are priced at or near the top of the heap and they don't get marked down often. When I can buy North Idaho Energy Pellets or Okanagan Pellets for $40.00 less a ton I don't think twice. My buying decisions on pellets is based on pellet quality first, what is available close to my house second and finally, which quality pellet I can get delivered for the least expense. Lignetics doesn't qualify on the second or third points anymore.

I thought it was only out this way for the Lignetics quality issue's. We were seeing some Blue lettered and Pres to logs brands with crappy results. Yet others were raving about them. Just couldn't trust what you might get. The green lettered lignetics seemed more stable, But did contain more ash than what we had come to expect from them. Still burned very hot. Like you said, When there charging top $$$ for the Lignetics name one would expect better overall performance. On a brighter side, This seasons have been getting better reviews from the blue lettered bags. The Pres to logs have had some negitive comments but that could be just some old stock from last seasons mishap.

I got lumped up pretty good last season for commenting on the "lack" of quality I found in some of the Lignetics brands. I didn't even dare to test them again this season and Wasn't going there! Makes me feel better that I wasn't the only person seeing quality issues.

 

[Rooscooter]

The issue with Lignetics of Idaho was pretty wide spread in this area. Several outlets quit selling them last year due to the quality drop off. I was not implying or inferring that Lignetics was in trouble financially....only reacting to what was in the post I was responding to.

I am very grateful that, in this day and age, a company would step up and replace 27 bags of pellets. The unfortunate part is that many of the replacement bags had the same issue as well. Over half of the bags were very dirty and wet. These were supposedly directly from the factory after they "corrected" the problem.

I am fortunate to live in an area with many quality pellet mills and have a bunch of choices when I shop. Lignetics are priced at or near the top of the heap and they don't get marked down often. When I can buy North Idaho Energy Pellets or Okanagan Pellets for $40.00 less a ton I don't think twice. My buying decisions on pellets is based on pellet quality first, what is available close to my house second and finally, which quality pellet I can get delivered for the least expense. Lignetics doesn't qualify on the second or third points anymore.

I thought it was only out this way for the Lignetics quality issue's. We were seeing some Blue lettered and Pres to logs brands with crappy results. Yet others were raving about them. Just couldn't trust what you might get. The green lettered lignetics seemed more stable, But did contain more ash than what we had come to expect from them. Still burned very hot. Like you said, When there charging top $$$ for the Lignetics name one would expect better overall performance. On a brighter side, This seasons have been getting better reviews from the blue lettered bags. The Pres to logs have had some negitive comments but that could be just some old stock from last seasons mishap.

I got lumped up pretty good last season for commenting on the "lack" of quality I found in some of the Lignetics brands. I didn't even dare to test them again this season and Wasn't going there! Makes me feel better that I wasn't the only person seeing quality issues.

I think the issue with quality consistency in our area has more to do with fiber availability than anything else. Since 2008 mill production in the NW is down around 50% in aggregate while pellet use is down only 10% or so. Reputable pellet mill are most likely importing or buying fiber from sources they might not be familiar with the recent past resulting in quality issues. Pellet prices going down on a national level is helping either I would suspect.

Have you ever tested North Idaho Energy Pellets? These are my new favorite around here. They are from a small mill near Bonners Ferry, ID. They burn very hot (almost as hot as Okanagan Pellets) and produce 1/3 less ash than anything else I've tried. To date they haven't had any quality issues that I've noticed.

 

[jtakeman]

Have you ever tested North Idaho Energy Pellets? These are my new favorite around here. They are from a small mill near Bonners Ferry, ID. They burn very hot (almost as hot as Okanagan Pellets) and produce 1/3 less ash than anything else I've tried. To date they haven't had any quality issues that I've notices.

I don't see many brands from your area. But you never know, Someday maybe? I can say that most of the western stuff I have tested has been better than the majority of the stuff we usually see over here! Was very Impressed with the Atlas Country pine and Blazers. Of coarse the Okies and Spruce Pointes have been doing well too. I also got to try the SIH hardwoods and they were very good. Kind of spoiled me as these brands would be more expensive than our local stuff due to logistics. But I love seeing how good they are. I'll keep an eye out for them!

From what I see here, The mills that take pride in there product are working hard to keep there stuff A#1. Vermont Wood Pellets is doing a great job with there softwood pellet. We are also seeing some mills step it up to meet what we would expect from a good pellet. MWP is one and Corinth has also made some serious improvements to there process. The mills that have failed are the ones not keeping tabs on there quality. Word spreads fast of ill product. And its hard to recover from that! Some just will never bother again.