Equine Bedding Pellet at TSC

[Peterfield]

Based on post I have read in various threads here, I picked up a couple of bags of horse bedding pellets at TSC to try. I let my present pellet, Maine's Choice, run dry and then lightly cleaned the stove and threw in the horse pellets. As described in other posts, the heat has been fine, the ash average and the glass on my stove is staying remarkably clean. Also, the two bags I emptied into the hopper had very little sawdust/fines as compared to others I have tried, including the Maine's Choice I have been using. Now, at $5.00 a bag on sale and $6.00 a bag regular price, I wouldn't run out and buy a ton but on the other hand, for those shouting there's a shortage or I can't find any pellets, this is a reasonable alternative in the short run to keep heat in your home while searching for your Set's, or whatever.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

TSC does offer a bulk discount on those according to the sign I saw hanging in the Equine section of the store. I didn't ask the price as I was in a hurry.

 

[Peterfield]

I was not aware of that, thanks.

 

[Skier76]

Nice review. Seems like it could be a good alternative if there are no other pellets around...or the ones available are sub-par.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

...Other's have claimed that the TSC Pine bedding pellets are decent burners and smell good - for me they were on par with the crappy Currans and I couldn't even detect any pine scent to make me feel better about paying more for them than other pellets I've been burning.

Just saw this in another thread on here. I have seen some other reviews of these pellets that were so-so as well. I decided to stop to a different TSC store and see what the bedding pellets looked like. The ones I have gotten from my usual store are BRIGHT blonde in color and smell like pine strongly. Strong enough to smell through the bag. They burn white flame hot and have so little ash you'd think they were super premium pellets.

At the other TSC location, their bedding pellet stock was darker in color. Just like Green Supreme actually. Since they were still on sale, I bought 5 bags to test. Bags are exactly the same. UPC is the same. However, the address of the TSC office listed on the bag was a different one in TN than from my usual stock. That's it though, bags all the same other than that.

Once I got home and was able to compare the pellets side by side, you could really see and smell the difference. As said, my usual TSC store's pellets are bright blonde and smell of strong pine. The other ones are darker in color, like Green Supreme, and smell like crayon wax. No kidding, like a fresh opened box of crayolas.

Since I had just gotten home from work, the hopper was empty, perfect. Dumped 3 bags of these new ones in and checked back 2 hours later. Now, temp in the house stayed the same, glass didn't get black, and no settings had to be changed on my stove. But holy hell the ash off these when compared to the blonde ones...Jesus H. Like I said, the blonde ones have almost no ash. I can burn 10 bags and not even have to consider removing ash. The ash of the blondies is also very light in color and small. Now these new ones have a dark grey ash that is large and fluffy. Still getting heat no issues, but ash production doubled.

I am thinking this is why there are mixed review about these from folks. Make sure your TSC has the blonde ones. If they don't, just pass on 'em and get regular pellets instead.

 

[bogieb]

Just saw this in another thread on here. I have seen some other reviews of these pellets that were so-so as well. I decided to stop to a different TSC store and see what the bedding pellets looked like. The ones I have gotten from my usual store are BRIGHT blonde in color and smell like pine strongly. Strong enough to smell through the bag. They burn white flame hot and have so little ash you'd think they were super premium pellets.

At the other TSC location, their bedding pellet stock was darker in color. Just like Green Supreme actually. Since they were still on sale, I bought 5 bags to test. Bags are exactly the same. UPC is the same. However, the address of the TSC office listed on the bag was a different one in TN than from my usual stock. That's it though, bags all the same other than that.

Once I got home and was able to compare the pellets side by side, you could really see and smell the difference. As said, my usual TSC store's pellets are bright blonde and smell of strong pine. The other ones are darker in color, like Green Supreme, and smell like crayon wax. No kidding, like a fresh opened box of crayolas.

Since I had just gotten home from work, the hopper was empty, perfect. Dumped 3 bags of these new ones in and checked back 2 hours later. Now, temp in the house stayed the same, glass didn't get black, and no settings had to be changed on my stove. But holy hell the ash off these when compared to the blonde ones...Jesus H. Like I said, the blonde ones have almost no ash. I can burn 10 bags and not even have to consider removing ash. The ash of the blondies is also very light in color and small. Now these new ones have a dark grey ash that is large and fluffy. Still getting heat no issues, but ash production doubled.

I am thinking this is why there are mixed review about these from folks. Make sure your TSC has the blonde ones. If they don't, just pass on 'em and get regular pellets instead.

Huh, nice to know what to look for if I ever go into a TSC again.

 

[Lake Girl]

However, the address of the TSC office listed on the bag was a different one in TN than from my usual stock.

What's the TSC office listing on the bag of "blondies" that are your usual stock?

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

It's also in TN, but a different address.

I'd have to look at a bag once I get home.

 

[Peterfield]

Plead post as I am interested also.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

Ok pellet comparison and address of the good (blonde) pellets.

(broken image removed)

Good ones on the right obviously. Ashy ones on left.

(broken image removed)

Address of good pellets. Ashy ones couldn't get the bag. Too far down in the garbage lol.

(broken image removed)

This is how the blondies burn.

 

[Pete Zahria]

I checked our TSC today to see what they had.. they a few Green Supremes,
which I thought odd... as Lowes did not have any...
But to the topic, I checked out the animal stuff too.
To me, the pellets were MUCH smaller (in length), and yes darker in color.
Similar to the Chows (in color).
So it's been my experience, and thinking, that you feed more pellets into
the auger (by volume) the smaller the pellet. So indeed, they can make your
stove hot.. but at the expense of burning more fuel, in a shorter time..
So they could be substantially less BTU per pound..
I did ponder getting a bag... but knew some of you guys would try them

Dan

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

Darker are the undesirable ones.

 

[bogieb]

I checked our TSC today to see what they had.. they a few Green Supremes,
which I thought odd... as Lowes did not have any...
But to the topic, I checked out the animal stuff too.
To me, the pellets were MUCH smaller (in length), and yes darker in color.
Similar to the Chows (in color).
So it's been my experience, and thinking, that you feed more pellets into
the auger (by volume) the smaller the pellet. So indeed, they can make your
stove hot.. but at the expense of burning more fuel, in a shorter time..
So they could be substantially less BTU per pound..
I did ponder getting a bag... but knew some of you guys would try them

Dan

If you were at the TSC in Merrimack, those were the ones I tried, and found wanting.

 

[Pete Zahria]

If you were at the TSC in Merrimack, those were the ones I tried, and found wanting.

Rochester..........

 

[OhioBurner©]

Well I am trying them out. Good pellets are getting hard to find around here right now and I'm into my last ton. I noticed these bedding pellets were on sale in this weeks flier 2 for $9 plus 10% off your total order. That put em $202 / ton, can't get any other pellet around here for that, especially softwood (only other softwood pellet I have found is AWF white pine for like $6.59/bag and they get worse reviews than these).

The ones they had here matched the blonde one and the same bag from TN as yours Johnny.

Last I bought a whole ton of eco bricks there they gave me a 5% discount, but they didn't give me any bulk discount on the bedding pellets other than the current sale price and the 10% off everything sale.

 

[bogieb]

Sounds like if you got the blond pellets, you should be happy - hey, and at $202/ton, an awesome price!

 

[F4jock]

Just saw this in another thread on here. I have seen some other reviews of these pellets that were so-so as well. I decided to stop to a different TSC store and see what the bedding pellets looked like. The ones I have gotten from my usual store are BRIGHT blonde in color and smell like pine strongly. Strong enough to smell through the bag. They burn white flame hot and have so little ash you'd think they were super premium pellets.

At the other TSC location, their bedding pellet stock was darker in color. Just like Green Supreme actually. Since they were still on sale, I bought 5 bags to test. Bags are exactly the same. UPC is the same. However, the address of the TSC office listed on the bag was a different one in TN than from my usual stock. That's it though, bags all the same other than that.

Once I got home and was able to compare the pellets side by side, you could really see and smell the difference. As said, my usual TSC store's pellets are bright blonde and smell of strong pine. The other ones are darker in color, like Green Supreme, and smell like crayon wax. No kidding, like a fresh opened box of crayolas.

Since I had just gotten home from work, the hopper was empty, perfect. Dumped 3 bags of these new ones in and checked back 2 hours later. Now, temp in the house stayed the same, glass didn't get black, and no settings had to be changed on my stove. But holy hell the ash off these when compared to the blonde ones...Jesus H. Like I said, the blonde ones have almost no ash. I can burn 10 bags and not even have to consider removing ash. The ash of the blondies is also very light in color and small. Now these new ones have a dark grey ash that is large and fluffy. Still getting heat no issues, but ash production doubled.

I am thinking this is why there are mixed review about these from folks. Make sure your TSC has the blonde ones. If they don't, just pass on 'em and get regular pellets instead.

Take it from one who has been married ro one for 35 years, blondes ARE more fun.

Seriously, as I said in another thread, my test with the blonde pellets showed good performance.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

My wife is blonde and "equipped" like yours. I know exactly what you mean!

 

[F4jock]

My wife is blonde and "equipped" like yours. I know exactly what you mean!

Yep. Real hot with very little ash. . . . . . .

 

[Peterfield]

Sorry, I had to turn the stove down some. Getting warm in here.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

Yep. Real hot with very little ash. . . . . . .

Lol!

 

[OhioBurner©]

Well I've gone through probably 10 bags and so far so good. Burning them now through this arctic blast. I don't have an accurate way of measuring their performance currently, but seem to burn as well as anything else I've tried including Sets. Seem very much like AWF ultra premium white pines. I still get lots of ash, 2 days and my cradle has as much ash as it can hold maybe 2" high and a couple inches high of ash all along the bottom edge of door, but I think that's just the way the Englanders burn.

But they do tend to stick to my hopper - again very similar to AWF white pines. Last night when I got home the auger was just about showing and I had 50-60 lbs of pellets wicked up the sides.

 

[F4jock]

Well I've gone through probably 10 bags and so far so good. Burning them now through this arctic blast. I don't have an accurate way of measuring their performance currently, but seem to burn as well as anything else I've tried including Sets. Seem very much like AWF ultra premium white pines. I still get lots of ash, 2 days and my cradle has as much ash as it can hold maybe 2" high and a couple inches high of ash all along the bottom edge of door, but I think that's just the way the Englanders burn.

But they do tend to stick to my hopper - again very similar to AWF white pines. Last night when I got home the auger was just about showing and I had 50-60 lbs of pellets wicked up the sides.

If you put a Guinea pig in the hopper it'll run around and knock the pellets down. Don't try it with hamsters or gerbils though. They tend to slip through and jam the auger!

Now if you are an animal / rodent lover ant the thoufht of possibly broiling a Guinea pig revolts you you can always do this. Being a chemical engineer I have a very sensitive balance from my lab days of carefully weighing (legal) chemicals. I've found that if you weigh each pellet and put the heavier ones on the sides they tend to push the lighter ones in the middle in and you'll have less problems. Think of the time THAT will kill. . . . . .

 

[meisen]

I picked up five bags the other day to try em out. The pellets in the bags I got were the "blondies" but also miniscule. Like average pellet size close to 3/8" or so and nothing over 1/2"! They burned very hot in both of my stoves with a fair but not excess amount of blackish ash. Less ash than a bag of stove chows burned just prior. I'm mostly attributing the heat to pellet size but on setting 3 my bosca felt like it was spewing hellfire into my living room. I guess good to know, they work. Maybe an alternative for an extra cold day. One could jam a bit of extra heat from their stove by putting these in however at a cost of both higher poundage used and the $324/ton price after tax.

 

[OhioBurner©]

I came home this morning from the nightshift and found a cold house (48-52º, brrr). The wood stove had went out and was stone cold (that was mostly expected), but the pellet stove went out too. I realized I didn't top it off before I went into work but it should have had enough pellets in it...

These seem to have a high amount of fines, and the sticky nature of the pine pellets in conjunction with the fines and the Englander hopper which tends to buildup pellets and...

Almost a full bag of pellets left in the hopper and the stove ran dry and went out cold! lol

Other than that they seem to be burning ok. I reserve judgment for a bit yet - made a lot of changes to my system recently. Relined my chimney, but then my burn pot disintegrated. Just got the new burn pot in yesterday. But now I have all these new parts I was to do a deep clean, got a new combustion blower gasket so maybe Sunday I'll do a deep clean including the combustion blower and then after a couple weeks I'll hopefully have a good idea of how these burn with a system that's working better.