If you had to choose... Clean Energy, Stove Chow or Penington?

[ineclipse]

Want to get set up now for the winter with prices being down.
Both Lowes and HD have the same deal going on... $209/ton when buying 5 tons, and my choices are coming down to Clean Energy, Stove Chow or Pennington Pellets. (Unfortunately, Lowes just sold out of their latest stock of Greene Team, which I'd have grabbed if I could.)

This is only my second season on pellets, and I burned between 4-5 tons for the winter last year, and paid almost $300/ton! OUCH!! (Was for Eureka pellets, which seemed quite good and get good reviews here.) So I REALLY like the prices I'm seeing now, but no one in my area is carrying the Eurekas - or the Lignetics, which seem to get some pretty high praise here too.)

Whatever anyone can say about these brands - Clean Energy, Stove Chow & Pennington Pellets, I'd be grateful. (I know there are already some comments about Stove Chow and Penington here... but they're sort of inconsistent. Just looking for a refresher on what folks think of these...)

Thanks!

PS- I posted a request regarding other brands about a month ago, and based on the feedback I got decided to hold out. Cost wise, I'm glad I did. (Thanks to all who replied to me last time!)

 

[flashbang]

Very subjective due to stove makes, but Natures heat seems to be the best for me. 4 tons last year no problems. Hard wood with very little fines.

 

[welshcob]

I can't give you a comparison of the specific brands. But I can say that last year (first year with a pellet stove) I burned three tons of Clean Energy from Lowes, followed by 3/4 ton Lignetics. After all the hype here about Lignetics I was somehwat disappointed. They seemed to burn a tad hotter than the Clean Energy, but there were a LOT more fines with the Lignetics. I plan on getting 4 ton of Cleasn Energy from Lowes this month - current sale price is about $215 a ton in that quantity, so I'm a happy camper.

 

[imacman]

......Lignetics I was somehwat disappointed. They seemed to burn a tad hotter than the Clean Energy, but there were a LOT more fines with the Lignetics.........

I'm surprised Terrier. I found the 2 tons of Lignetics I had (1 ton hardwood, 1 ton softwood) to have very little fines....maybe a half cup per bag. Maybe you got some that had been handled a lot?? Did they come on the pallet with the shrink wrap still on them the way the factory ships them out?

Sorry if I "hijacked" this thread a little..... %-P

 

[welshcob]

Mine are Lignetics mixed hardwood and conifer - "Lignetics" in green print and "Wood Pellet Fuel" in yellow outlined in red. I THINK I picked these up at Tractor Supply - if you remember, last year was a bit tight for pellets, so we grabbed them wherever we could find them. But I bought the full pallet and it was extremely well wrapped. Just dusty - I had to pay a lot more attention to cleaning out the auger chute.

 

[welshcob]

Wait a minute! I just re-read your post - you think half a cup of fines per bag is GOOD? Try the Clean Energy, you will enjoy them.

 

[imacman]

Wait a minute! I just re-read your post - you think half a cup of fines per bag is GOOD? Try the Clean Energy, you will enjoy them.

I said "maybe" half a cup....mostly it was much less.

As for the Clean Energy, the local Lowes did have some a while back.....I didn't get any to try, as they sold out pretty quick. If I see any, I'll buy 2-3 bags and give them a try....thanks!

 

[ineclipse]

......Lignetics I was somehwat disappointed. They seemed to burn a tad hotter than the Clean Energy, but there were a LOT more fines with the Lignetics.........

Sorry if I "hijacked" this thread a little..... %-P

Are you kidding? You give some of the best answers on here. You can hijack a thread of mine anytime!

But seriously, it's good to have seen this little back and forth... certainly Terrier is giving a solid review to the Clean Energy pellets which is the first strong opinion about them one way or another I've seen. And with all the great reviews here for Greene Team, I'm thinking Lowes is really on the ball this year. I was starting to lean towards ordering the Stove Chow from HD, but now I'm back on the fence. Nothing like being decisive!

 

[mark d fellows]

Stove Chow. It has been a good pellet in the past. Some bags are great, bags from another pallet are good. Overall a good pellet.

 

[welshcob]

Macman, I'd be interested in hearing what a more experienced pellet pig thinks of the Clean Energy. As I said, they are clean but the Lignetics did seem to produce more heat.

 

[woodsman23]

The best pellets out there to date in IMHO are rocky mountain and lignetics hands down. rocky's NO fines, burn great smell even better have a great handle on the bag and ash is normal, liges are high heat low fines, low ash. dry creek comes in a distant 3rd...

 

[ineclipse]

Wow! Just paid $178/ton (yes, you read that correctly!) for 5 tons of Clean Energy or possibly Greene Team pellets from Lowes! (The brand I'll get will depend on what the store gets in by my Sept 28 delivery date.) I am absolutely thrilled to say the least.

For those who care to read on, here's the not-so-straightforward tale of how I got such a ridiculously low price...
I had read here in the forums about the ol' 10% coupon for Lowes contained in the change-of-address packets at the Post Office, so I stopped by there and grabbed one on my way to the store. My plan was to stop at Lowes and see if I could get them to accept the coupon on a bulk order. If they would, I would order 5 tons (oink oink!) of either Clean Energy or Greene Team depending on availability. (If they would not accept the coupon, I was then going to go forward with an order I already had on hold at Home Depot for 5 tons of Stove Chow.)

Once at Lowes, I decided to go directly to the seasonal department and place the pellet order with them instead of at the service counter, and then head to the register to pay. The guy in seasonal took the order no problem, scheduled my delivery for 9/28 and told me I was in line for the Clean Energy pellets but that he'd write me in for Greene Team as a preference, in case they get a truckload of those in the meantime. I then told him that I had the 10% discount card and asked whether they'd accept it at the register. He simply told me to give the cashier the card when paying. I then proceeded to the cashier and she called up the order and I gave her the card. Now, if their system would have accepted the card at that point, without hassle, then the regular bulk discounted price of $209/ton would have come down to $188/ton, which would have certainly been fantastic! But the system did not accept the card because of the already discounted bulk purchase price. So ok, I told the cashier that with this being the case, that I wanted to cancel the order and I'd head to Home Depot where they head a pellet brand I preferred. She said, "Oh no, no, don't do that... let me call my supervisor." ;-)) So the supervisor gave her the ok to use the coupon and override the system. Great! But then the cashier proceeded to have some massive issues getting the system to actually accept the override, and after numerous attempts she just decided to manually punch in a 'per bag' price which would get us to the correct amount. But with this as well, she had issues to accomplish. So I just stood there waiting for her to figure it out... this entire process took about 10 or 12 minutes. Finally she said 'Ok, got it, and after the 10% coupon your total comes to $890." I thought ok, that sounds pretty close, so I paid and left. But when I got home and did the math and came up with $178/ton instead of $188/ton I then noticed on the receipt that she had entered in a 'per bag' price of $3.56/bag, multiplied it by 250 bags (5 tons), and lo and behold... $890! So of course it seems I just got pretty lucky with that extra $10/ton off, but for getting them to accept the 10% coupon (and thus a price of $188/ton), that was as simple as saying I was going to Home Depot if they couldn't take the coupon! These stores hate knowingly losing business to each other.

So... I can now say that with a quick stop at the Post Office and a little nuance at the store, you can probably get your pellets out of Lowes for as low as $188/ton! (Or only a few dollars more per ton if you're buying 3 or 4 tons instead of 5.) Certainly worked for me... and then some!

Good luck to all of you with your pellet buy for the season.
Oink oink.

 

[imacman]

Just got back from my local Lowe's tonight (Newburgh, NY - Hudson Valley), and wanted to report what pellets they have in stock.

At this moment, they had about 4-5 tons of American Wood Fiber (hardwood), about 10 tons of the Clean Energy (that Terrier Lady raved about above), and they also had about 5 tons of Lignetics Pres-To-Logs.

Didn't ask about price, but I'm assuming the bulk discount price is still in effect. The addition of the 10% change of address coupon that Ineclipse mentioned above would make the 5ton bulk order a great deal.

I love the fact that people are getting pellets that are closer to $200 than the $300 they were last year. I guess I should have waited longer before I "pulled the trigger", but hey....my pellets are all stacked (3+ tons in the basement already), I got a decent price, and hindsight is always 20/20. :smirk:

 

[welshcob]

The discount price at Lowes is supposed to be in effect until the end of the month. I've been holding off waiting to get the grandsons in place to unload and stack. Last year I found that one Lowes store would NOT let me buy several ton and pick them up on multiple trips, but another store was ever so pleasant - "sure, we'll put your name on the pallets and you can come pick them up over the weekend." I found I could take one pallet home in the 3/4 ton pickup, then come back with the 18 foot stock trailer and let them fork-lift two more pallets into there. The first ton went into the enclosed front porch, and the rest got moved from trailer to porch as the need arose over the winter - worked a treat with minimal handling and by the time I needed the fourth ton it was almost spring already. With luck it will work out as well this year.

 

[mark d fellows]

StoveChow

 

[MainePellethead]

As I have said in other posts etc Doesnt matter how much you pay...200 or 280 a ton....its a hit or miss. You can get bad from one year and good from another. I sometimes just buy and cross my fingers lol....but I never get my whole winters supply of one brand....

......Lignetics I was somehwat disappointed. They seemed to burn a tad hotter than the Clean Energy, but there were a LOT more fines with the Lignetics.........

I'm surprised Terrier. I found the 2 tons of Lignetics I had (1 ton hardwood, 1 ton softwood) to have very little fines....maybe a half cup per bag. Maybe you got some that had been handled a lot?? Did they come on the pallet with the shrink wrap still on them the way the factory ships them out?

Sorry if I "hijacked" this thread a little..... %-P

 

[MainePellethead]

I bought 30 bags of Clean Energy....I havent burned any yet but I will burn those first...I opened a bag....seemed to have more fines thatn others....hope they burn good.

Wait a minute! I just re-read your post - you think half a cup of fines per bag is GOOD? Try the Clean Energy, you will enjoy them.

 

[MainePellethead]

I have to agree woods on the rocky Mountains. Got to say they are the best I have ever burned....very good pellet. I burned maybe a ton last season of them and didnt see anymore.

The best pellets out there to date in IMHO are rocky mountain and lignetics hands down. rocky's NO fines, burn great smell even better have a great handle on the bag and ash is normal, liges are high heat low fines, low ash. dry creek comes in a distant 3rd...

 

[imacman]

Wait a minute! I just re-read your post - you think half a cup of fines per bag is GOOD? Try the Clean Energy, you will enjoy them.

This is an older thread, but I just ran a bag of the Lowes Clean Energy pellets through the vacuum pellet cleaner in preparation for test burning this weekend, and wanted to report the "fines" situation that Terrier Lady said was so good with these....the verdict is LOTS OF FINES!

And they are very coarse. The pic of the measuring cup (1/2 cup) is what was left in the bottom of the bag AFTER the rest went through the vacuum system. I visually saw a LOT of fines coming out of the bag as I poured, and so decided to measure what was left. Again, totally un-scientific, but I guestimate that an additional 2-3 times as much ended up in the vacuum.

With all of this, I hope at least they burn good & hot.

 

[welshcob]

Wow! That was not my experience, but (a) I don't vaccuum my pellets so I'm talking about what's left in the bag, and (b) that was last year's Clean Energy. Sorry if I led you astray! To be clear, I burned three tons of Clean Energy last year followed by about 3/4 of a ton of Lignetics, and I found the Ligentics burned hotter (that's perceptual, not scientific) and had a lot more fines. This year I am starting in on three tons of Green Team along with the leftover Lignetics, and the Green Team seem really clean too. I wonder if it really IS the handling - my local Lowes tends to be a little cranky about things, but the one 15 miles away seems to understand pellets and make it really easy for me...the pellets Ive gotten from them have been just fine. While the Clean Energy and Green Team all came from the "better" Lowes, the Ligentics were from a Tractor Supply. As they say, YMMV...

 

[imacman]

......While the Clean Energy and Green Team all came from the "better" Lowes, the Ligentics were from a Tractor Supply. As they say, YMMV...

Absolutely true. And we all know you weren't trying to lead anyone astray...it's just the nature of pellets.....some good one year, the next bad.

BUT, if you can get the pellets at the $215/ton price you mentioned in your other thread, and they seem to burn hot, I would "look the other way" in regards to the fines (or build the $20 pellet cleaner and have 0 fines).

 

[jtakeman]

......While the Clean Energy and Green Team all came from the "better" Lowes, the Ligentics were from a Tractor Supply. As they say, YMMV...

Absolutely true. And we all know you weren't trying to lead anyone astray...it's just the nature of pellets.....some good one year, the next bad.

BUT, if you can get the pellets at the $215/ton price you mentioned in your other thread, and they seem to burn hot, I would "look the other way" in regards to the fines (or build the $20 pellet cleaner and have 0 fines).

If you make the $20.00 pellet cleaner, Spend the extra $ for the vacuum attachment. The cleaning person will thank you for it. Otherwise you will be dusting a lot more often. I cheaped out at first. But its on there now!

jay

 

[UncleAnthony]

have used alot of clean energy, very good pellet, good heat, a little more ash than others.

have not used stove chow, posts here are favorable.

have used penningtons, did not like, not much heat.

good luck !