My 2014-2015 Review - New England Wood Pellets (NEWP) and Cleanfire Hardwood

[Proulx06]

Background: brand new Accentra 52i insert installed in November 2013. Used as primary heat source for 2500sq ft home. Used Cleanfire Hardwood (very satisfied) and Maine's Choice (eh, ok, during the 2014 shortage) last season.

This year I stocked up early with two tons of Cleanfire Hardwood ($289/ton from woodpellets.com) and two tons of New England Wood Pellets ($279/ton from the Stove Shoppe in Manchester NH).

Burned the NEWPs first and loved them. Very little ash, great heat, cleaned the stove once every week or two. Not many fines in the bags.

Switched over to the 'more expensive' Cleanfire Hardwoods in early January and it's been nothing but trouble since. The bags literally seem to have an inch of sawdust at the bottom of each bag, and my stove has run like crap since we switched over. It's now early Feb and I've had the unit pulled out from the fireplace twice to give it a full cleaning to clear the six-blink error (with subsequent overnight shutdown, of course). I seem to vacuum 2-3x per week, which is far more than with the NEWPs, and my glass is dirty a few hours after a full cleaning. Given the price, I'm very disappointed with this year's Cleanfire Hardwoods and won't plan on purchasing them again. I just switched over to my second ton of them and will suffer through them until they're gone.

Anyone have similar experiences this year? Does anyone at woodpellets.com frequent this board at all? I may shoot them a note just to let them know of my experience. Curious if I just got a bad couple tons or if this whole season is no good for that brand.

 

[dlavigne7324]

Background: brand new Accentra 52i insert installed in November 2013. Used as primary heat source for 2500sq ft home. Used Cleanfire Hardwood (very satisfied) and Maine's Choice (eh, ok, during the 2014 shortage) last season.

This year I stocked up early with two tons of Cleanfire Hardwood ($289/ton from woodpellets.com) and two tons of New England Wood Pellets ($279/ton from the Stove Shoppe in Manchester NH).

Burned the NEWPs first and loved them. Very little ash, great heat, cleaned the stove once every week or two. Not many fines in the bags.

Switched over to the 'more expensive' Cleanfire Hardwoods in early January and it's been nothing but trouble since. The bags literally seem to have an inch of sawdust at the bottom of each bag, and my stove has run like crap since we switched over. It's now early Feb and I've had the unit pulled out from the fireplace twice to give it a full cleaning to clear the six-blink error (with subsequent overnight shutdown, of course). I seem to vacuum 2-3x per week, which is far more than with the NEWPs, and my glass is dirty a few hours after a full cleaning. Given the price, I'm very disappointed with this year's Cleanfire Hardwoods and won't plan on purchasing them again. I just switched over to my second ton of them and will suffer through them until they're gone.

Anyone have similar experiences this year? Does anyone at woodpellets.com frequent this board at all? I may shoot them a note just to let them know of my experience. Curious if I just got a bad couple tons or if this whole season is no good for that brand.

I bought the clean fires my first year from
Woodpellets.com bought 4 tons wasn't happy I called and complained and they. Swapped them out for something else free of charge.

 

[Proulx06]

Wanted to followup...by the time I worked through the issue with the Cleanfire Hardwoods, I only had a half ton left (out of two tons...it got really cold last month). After sending them photos, they determined that I was dealing with water damaged pellets, which accounted for the incomplete combustion issues and excess ash. They ended up giving me a $50 credit for each ton, which I flipped into 15 bags of Cleanfire Pacifics. So far so good with those...

 

[Tonyray]

Wanted to followup...by the time I worked through the issue with the Cleanfire Hardwoods, I only had a half ton left (out of two tons...it got really cold last month). After sending them photos, they determined that I was dealing with water damaged pellets, which accounted for the incomplete combustion issues and excess ash. They ended up giving me a $50 credit for each ton, which I flipped into 15 bags of Cleanfire Pacifics. So far so good with those...

Pellets that got wet usually Swell up like double the size and sometimes crumble...
did your pellets look normal?
can't see wet pellets looking normal.even after they dry..

 

[Jack Morrissey]

If they were water damaged pellets, trust me, you would know....

 

[wildbill]

NEWP"S !! Awesome pellets, like you said not many fines burn super clean and hot. I don't think I'll burn anything else

 

[Peterfield]

Just so you know, Green Supreme's are the EXACT same pellet as NEWP's. Took a tour of the plant last week and saw this in person. Thinking is posting about stuff I learned that contradicts long-held beliefs about the pellet market.

 

[Twinturbo6.4]

Just so you know, Green Supreme's are the EXACT same pellet as NEWP's. Took a tour of the plant last week and saw this in person. Thinking is posting about stuff I learned that contradicts long-held beliefs about the pellet market.

You saw the different bags at the plant?

 

[Peterfield]

Yes, both bags and only one processing line. The mix/batch is the same and they use just one "recipe" at the plant. It is true that the pellets from the Jaffrey plant are a little different from the plants in NY and the one in PA. It was explained that the NH plant has more oak in the hardwood part of their recipe than their other plants due to its availability and that is what constitutes the difference.

 

[JRA]

I burnt green supreme for my first ton ever last year. This was before I found this site and before I started researching pellets (I thought all pellets were the same). The green garbage left so much ash and clinkers it was ridiculous, had to clean my stove every two days. My whole stove was full of black thick soot to. Since then i have burnt over 20 different brands and havent had any trouble as I did with gs. I was going to try newp until I saw on the bags of gs "new england wood pellet product". I called the plant after burning that first horrible ton last year and they confirmed that gs and newp were the same blend as Peterfield stated. I never tried them after hearing that. A member on this site posted a pic of rubber in their pellets as well. All set with newp I would rather burn those two inch long pennington from walmart that chews through augers like a mouse through cheese.

 

[jackhammer]

I burnt green supreme for my first ton ever last year. This was before I found this site and before I started researching pellets (I thought all pellets were the same). The green garbage left so much ash and clinkers it was ridiculous, had to clean my stove every two days. My whole stove was full of black thick soot to. Since then i have burnt over 20 different brands and havent had any trouble as I did with gs. I was going to try newp until I saw on the bags of gs "new england wood pellet product". I called the plant after burning that first horrible ton last year and they confirmed that gs and newp were the same blend as Peterfield stated. I never tried them after hearing that. A member on this site posted a pic of rubber in their pellets as well. All set with newp I would rather burn those two inch long pennington from walmart that chews through augers like a mouse through cheese.

New England was the only pellet my old Breckwell liked. I tried several starting in the late 90's and found them to be the best in my stove. Now that I hear how many "better" pellets are out there, I look forward to trying them in my new stove. Things have changed over the years.

 

[Twinturbo6.4]

New England was the only pellet my old Breckwell liked. I tried several starting in the late 90's and found them to be the best in my stove. Now that I hear how many "better" pellets are out there, I look forward to trying them in my new stove. Things have changed over the years.

Your harman will eat anything, mine does.

 

[Tonyray]

New England was the only pellet my old Breckwell liked. I tried several starting in the late 90's and found them to be the best in my stove. Now that I hear how many "better" pellets are out there, I look forward to trying them in my new stove. Things have changed over the years.

have burned 20 different brands in my Harman P61A...
everything so far has burned fine..
some we're mountains of ash[ think most Big Box store pellets] and others low to zilch ash...