Greene Team pellet length

[gbreda]

Hi all

I have been burning Greene Team Premium (white bag/green lettering) so far. Not the Gold version.

So far they seem to give decent heat (dont have any other comparison yet). I have no clue to ash content comparison yet.

The one thing I dont like is the very inconsistent lengths. ALOT of 1.5, a good amount of 2” and even some almost 2.5-3”. I tend to go though and break up whatever long ones I see. I had not done this in the last bag, so last night I heard the “Harmon Pellet Guillotine” snapping away quite a bit.

Has anyone else encounted the long pellets as well? I am still on my first pallet, but I would assume (go ahead and say it ) that there is a good chance my pallets are from the same batch.


Geno

 

[jtakeman]

Do the bags have a PFI label on them?

The Harman should handle them ok. Last year I purchased a few bags of furnace grade Oak pellets that had very long one's in there. A friend that has a Harman(P68) also went along and got a few bags too. Both our stoves burned them fine. Just a lot of odd noise's were heard. No auger jams at all. I think we found some that were close to 4' long too.

jay

 

[gbreda]

The bags do have the PFI label on them. Just checked my hopper and pulled 3 or 4 that approach 2" and 2 that are 2". This is after I had sifted through earlier this morning breaking some up.

The stove is handling them so far.

Geno

 

[jtakeman]

Just for giggles. Probably best to take a photo of some long ones. Take the picture next to a ruler or scale. So we can see the length.

If I am not mistaken on of the PFI standards is overall length. Which should not exceed 1½ inches in total length on a Premium pellet. If there using the PFI label they are required to hold the spec's.

jay

Edit:
Is this the pellets? Check attached photo.

 

[imacman]

If I am not mistaken on of the PFI standards is overall length. Which should not exceed 1½ inches in total length on a Premium pellet. If there using the PFI label they are required to hold the spec's. .......

The actual PFI standards for pellet length state that ALL grades of pellets that have the PFI stamp on them must have less than 1% of the pellets that exceed 1.5".

 

[gbreda]

Just for giggles. Probably best to take a photo of some long ones. Take the picture next to a ruler or scale. So we can see the length.


Edit:
Is this the pellets? Check attached photo.

Yup, that be them

Here is a pic of what I took out of the hopper. This is after I have already broken some up.

Will take more if I find larger ones in the next bags.

 

[jtakeman]

If I am not mistaken on of the PFI standards is overall length. Which should not exceed 1½ inches in total length on a Premium pellet. If there using the PFI label they are required to hold the spec's. .......

The actual PFI standards for pellet length state that ALL grades of pellets that have the PFI stamp on them must have less than 1% of the pellets that exceed 1.5".

So you would have to grab all the long ones and weigh them. 1% of 40 lbs. is .4 lbs total. If you get more than .4 lbs. there out of spec.

Otherwise you would have to do a lot of counting. and counting and counting.

 

[gbreda]

I think 1% of 40lb is .4 of 1 lb, correct?

 

[jtakeman]

I think 1% of 40lb is .4 of 1 lb, correct?

Yes, I missed the decimal point.

.4 lbs total. I fixed!

 

[Trickyrick]

How are they for heat. I'm going to get the sheetrock to close in my insert and might pick up a couple bags. I have burned New Engaland and love them but at $280 a ton is high and the Lignetics I recently ren had very poor heat and at 310 a ton they are too expensive. Just burned some fireside ultras and they are burning hot but seem to have more ash, I think the heat may be due to the fact that there arn't any pellets longer than about 1/2 inch (225/ton if I get 2 tons).

 

[amick780]

I would at least contact the company and see if they will do anything for you. I am sure if you have a bunch of long ones allot of other people do as well, and I am sure greene team has heard about it. Nothing more annoying then listening to the harman auger motor groan then snap as it breaks the pellets. I know it is distracting to me.

 

[gbreda]

Heat seems OK. Dont have any temp readings nor have I burned another brand to compare to.

I did notice last night that when it was firing high and hard, I could not keep my hand in front of the air blowing out for more than a few seconds.

 

[jtakeman]

PFI spec's are here:

(broken link removed to http://twinportstesting.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41)

Click on standard documents. Go to page 3.

Direct link would not work! But if you add % 20 .pdf (with no spaces)after copyright it should!

(broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.org/2/StandardSpecificationWithCopyright) % 20.pdf

Just fyi.

 

[gbreda]

Basicaly, Greene Team are probably within spec or close to the limits. Maybe this is the diff between the white bag and the Gold version that Geek has. I'd be curious to see if his has the long ones too.......

 

[Doocrew]

Take a look at the upper left hand corner of the bags you have and see if it says "08-08". I just started using bags from a ton that has this code on it and have found the same thing with the pellets. Others have not been that way. They seem to burn OK and have not caused any auger problems for me.

 

[LIpelletpig]

I've been buring the same Green Team Pellets as well and they are also long in length. With the occasional snap of the pellet in the auger I really happen to like these pellets. No jams or bridges and ash is on the lower side for a Big Box store pellet. Heat output is also surprisingly good. For the price and availability you can't go wrong.

 

[Doocrew]

I've been buring the same Green Team Pellets as well and they are also long in length. With the occasional snap of the pellet in the auger I really happen to like these pellets. No jams or bridges and ash is on the lower side for a Big Box store pellet. Heat output is also surprisingly good. For the price and availability you can't go wrong.

I agree. I have been very pleased with them so far.

 

[Trickyrick]

Just got 4 bags to test and the first one will go in tonight. Yea some LONG pellets. I found one that was easily 4 inches long. most are under that 1.5" length though.

As long as the heat is there and my Harmon can burn them then I may have found my choice for this year. At 225 a ton that is reasonable...

 

[imacman]

....I found one that was easily 4 inches long......

YIKES! :gulp:

 

[gbreda]

Take a look at the upper left hand corner of the bags you have and see if it says "08-08". I just started using bags from a ton that has this code on it and have found the same thing with the pellets. Others have not been that way. They seem to burn OK and have not caused any auger problems for me.

Mine say 02-09. Just opened another bag and same thing. Alot of longer than 1.5. A few around 3.

But I have to agree with the heat output. Its heating my 1st floor easily to 65 plus from the unfinished and still uninsulated basement with no problem. In the past, I would not get even to 65 with FHW oil-Too expensive. 2nd floor around 58, but all that's there are bedrooms and I dont like it warm for sleeping.

Overall, the stove is handling them very well. I wanted to see if this was normal or a bad run from the plant.

 

[MassPelletburner]

I once knew a girl that said the longer the better....but in this case the first night of burning with the Green Team (purchased at Lowes, N.A. Mass) one of these suckers bridged and shut me down in the middle of the night. I had 10 bags ... so as needed I sliced them open and a scoop at a time I dumped them into the cover of a paper box and sifted out the long ones by sight, breaking them in half, then dumping them into a Red Sox Bucket I got for Xmas last year ( Never knew what I was going to use that gift for.... a barf or two after the Evil Empire Struck again maybe..) Then dumping the bucket into the hopper has solved that problem. Now with six bags left I mix one scoop of sorted Green Team with one scoop of Presto-Logs that I don't have to sort and the whole process of filling the bucket happens twice has fast. Can't wait till the Green Team are gone and I'm onto the rest of my 3 tons of Presto-Logs and Lignetics.

 

[Meneillys]

We just had 6 tons brought back to us for refund because of the pellets being to long lots of 1.5" and some up to 3". These were New England Wood Pellets made in NY. From over 900 tons sold this year this was the first time seeing it. Jammed the guys stove up a couple of times. I think the mills have gotten slack in quality in order to have high production to meet the needs.

 

[gbreda]

We just had 6 tons brought back to us for refund because of the pellets being to long lots of 1.5" and some up to 3". These were New England Wood Pellets made in NY. From over 900 tons sold this year this was the first time seeing it. Jammed the guys stove up a couple of times. I think the mills have gotten slack in quality in order to have high production to meet the needs.

Now that's encouraging.

In order for a company to meet increased needs, they need to maintan quality as well. Otherwise consumers will look elsewhere.

 

[Meneillys]

I agree quality over quantity is what I would like to see. Some one form the plant came out last night and gave us some info. PFI standards say less than 1% can be over 1.5 inches. That's ok if your stove can handle a long pellet once and a while. Some stoves cant and will jam up. According to the PFI website they are going to be amending the standards. NEWP now knows of the problem and is going to address it. I also learned that when the trees were harvested makes a difference on the pellet length. Sorry I know this has nothing to do with Green Team pellets just thought it might be some good info to put out there.