Future Fuel II

[4124elad]

I purchased a ton of Future Fuel II from Home Depot in Rockland Maine for 269 a ton on the 16th.

They are going back in the morning. They are not premium.

Burning them in a Quad Santa Fe. Have burned 3.5 bags. The first bag had a piece of plastic in that I pulled from the auger.

The pellets clinker up so bad that withing a half a bag I need to clear the burn pot to keep the stove on auto.

I was suspicious of these from the start. The pellets are multicolored and I suspected the large yellow chunks were corn. Smelled strongly of spruce.

This morning I had a pellet bridge in the drop shoot as the pellets were so long. I aimed my camera up the shoot and in the picture it looked like a piece of plastic bag was rapped around the auger.

So I emptied the hopper and pulled the auger. It was a 2 by 2 paper tag. The tag says " whole corn 50 pounds". Interesting.

Anyway Home Depot recieved a load of Penningtons today and I am going to trade them in.

These are the first pellets I have had any problems with. I thought the stove would burn anything.

I was mistaken.

Dale

 

[4124elad]

Here is the proof.

 

[Matt715]

Wow, I saw those at my home depot the other day and I was going to try a couple bags. I guess now I am not lol..

 

[imacman]

4124elad, sorry you got stuck with those "wood" pellets, but thanks for posting those pics and letting everyone know about them....you may have saved some people a lot of grief.

 

[staplebox]

Wow. Thanks for the heads up.
It's almost like someone was trying to make the worst wood pellet product ever.
Maybe that guy in CT/MA who doesn't deliver the pellets people paid for can become a distributor for this product.
The worst distributor + the worst pellets sounds like a match to me.

 

[4124elad]

I did a water test on the pellet this morning.

I took a handfull of the future fuel and placed it in a glass of water.

I also placed a handfull of "greene team" pellets and did the same.


The greene team dissolved completely within 3 minutes.

After twenty minutes the Future fuel still had complete pellets.

Then I used paper towels to squeeze all the water out of the samples.

Placed the samples on some paper and took some pictures.

I think I see what the problem is.

 

[4124elad]

Just an update.

I returned the entire ton to Home Depot in Rockland.

I showed the manager the clinkers and the results of the water test.

He exchanged them for a ton of Penningtons for 256 a ton.

Even after explaining to him that these did not meet the premium standard he put them out front with a
big sign that says premium.

Do not buy these! Ask for the Penningtons.

 

[drizler]

Those really do look horrid to say the least. Take a look at that bag too. It looks like something that some huckster threw together for a quick rip off. My question is who does the purchasing for these box stores? Do they look at anything at all but the price. Cheesey bland looking bags like that are a dead giveaway to buy no more than one or two and try them before you commit to a large quantity. Crap like that and they aren't even decently priced, wow.

 

[Schultzz]

Those really do look horrid to say the least. Take a look at that bag too. It looks like something that some huckster threw together for a quick rip off. My question is who does the purchasing for these box stores? Do they look at anything at all but the price. Cheesey bland looking bags like that are a dead giveaway to buy no more than one or two and try them before you commit to a large quantity. Crap like that and they aren't even decently priced, wow.

Buyers for most chains like that are only interested in price, slotting fees and kickback. We supply bundles of kiln-dried USDA approved hardwoods to chains. You would think these idiots care about quality but they do not. Now they buy their bundles from a competitor whose quality varies greatly. Write a letter to the top management and let them know about your experience. Someone needs to tell these buyers to get real.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

actually my sister is burning them right now and they are doing fine in her 10-CPM , i burned a couple bags we brought back from ohio and they did ok in my stove, other than that i do not have any input as i havent interacted with the company at all, they are listed by the PFI and they do have contact info there , here is the contact info for the company , i'd give em a shout and maybe forward the pictures to them. if you do , and they ask information of you about the fuel , be honest, dont embellish or exaggerate as if they ask this it in my opinon would be to help them make a better product for you. most pellet companies i have interacted with have been extremely easy to work with and usually listen well. they want you to be happy with their product and usually they will try to square things with you if somthing untowards happens.anyway , here is the information to contact the company , bear in mind they will likley not be at work for the holiday so you might wait until monday to contact them if by phone.

FutureFuel Chemical Company Batesville, AR (800)900-4275 Richard Sparks here is the link where this info came from if you wish to look it up. (broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/fuelAvailability.cfm)

 

[4124elad]

Thanks Mike

You are a fair man and a fine member of this forum. I for one believe you and everyone at your company are striving to build the best product that you can.

The only problem with your product is that it does not have a simple on off switch and needs someone to care about what they are doing.

When I see someone looking at your stoves I always point out the benifits that my Quad Sante Fe does not have. I might very well be returning the Sante Fe to the dealer soon for a full return of my investment. For some reason this stove will not begin to heat 650 square feet. I can hold my hand indefinately in front of the heat output.

I have heated the same space with two 1500 watt 10 buck heaters before.


But back to the topic................

This fuel was completely out of line and totally out of spec. My stove has burned everything I threw at it until I used this product.

Mike you are correct. I will do my best to pass this on to the responsible party instead of just posting drivel on the internet. That is the responsible thing to do.

More on this later

Dale

 

[kinsmanstoves]

actually my sister is burning them right now and they are doing fine in her 10-CPM , i burned a couple bags we brought back from ohio and they did ok in my stove, other than that i do not have any input as i havent interacted with the company at all, they are listed by the PFI and they do have contact info there , here is the contact info for the company , i'd give em a shout and maybe forward the pictures to them. if you do , and they ask information of you about the fuel , be honest, dont embellish or exaggerate as if they ask this it in my opinon would be to help them make a better product for you. most pellet companies i have interacted with have been extremely easy to work with and usually listen well. they want you to be happy with their product and usually they will try to square things with you if somthing untowards happens.anyway , here is the information to contact the company , bear in mind they will likley not be at work for the holiday so you might wait until monday to contact them if by phone.

FutureFuel Chemical Company Batesville, AR (800)900-4275 Richard Sparks here is the link where this info came from if you wish to look it up. (broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/fuelAvailability.cfm)

Mike, are you cheating on me with these pellets? I thought we had a relationship. I guess I was wrong......

Happy New Year and cheers
Eric

 

[petejung]

I burned a ton of Pennington's in my stove this year (25PDVC) and they sucked, just like they did last year. I suspect they were probably last year's pellets.

Well, I needed another ton, and everyone around town is sold out except HD, who had the Future Fuel 2. I haven't had a lick of trouble out of them in my stove, they burn great, low ash, no clinkers. They do smell very sprucey...

I'll take them over Pennington's for my 25PDVC any day.

 

[InsaneWayne]

...Well, I needed another ton, and everyone around town is sold out except HD, who had the Future Fuel 2. I haven't had a lick of trouble out of them in my stove, they burn great, low ash, no clinkers. They do smell very sprucey...

I'll take them over Pennington's for my 25PDVC any day.

That's hard to believe. I was about to buy a ton in Newinhgton, NH. Home Depot, but decided to just pick up a few bags instead.
They were full of crap. Lots of dust and slivers of wood. Had to clean the burn pot 4 times for each bag.

STAY AWAY FROM FUTURE 2! They are not premium as stated on the bag.

 

[4124elad]

Well I am halfway through the ton of Penningtons that replaced the Future Fuel II.

The peningtons have not caused any problems with the stove at all. The ash residue is what I would expect and have not had any problems with clinkers.

Interesting though. When I mix 4O pounds of penningtons with 4 pounds of corn the output temp of the stove on meduim goes from 240 to 300-325.

I did think corn had less btus then pellets.

I am hard pressed to believe the claims that any 40 pound bag of pellets equals 2.5 gallons of fuel oil. Since this is my 5th heating season in the same home the numbers just are not relating to my previous experiences heating the same space.

I believe more testing and acountability is needed at the manufacturing level.

At the moment the standards and terminoligy are meaningless. Hopefully it is inexperience and not profit that is driving the pellet industry to provide an out of specification and dangerous product to users who's homes and lives depend upon recieving a premium product.

Your experience may vary.