Northeast Pellets - stay away!

[lowb35]

We buy our pellets at Lowes because we get the military discount. We had been getting the Greene Teams, but the last time I bought a ton I took a chance on the lower grade pellets since with the bulk discount + military discount they're $222 a ton. We do the buy now/pick up later option so that we get 10-15 bags per visit. Figured that since I clean the burn pot and chamber every day, I could out-clean any difference in pellet quality. We originally had a choice between Green Supreme Allegheny (very similar to the Allegheny brand that Lignetics also makes) and the Curran blend and went with the GS, since we had a less than stellar experience with TSC bagged Currans last year. The GS generated a little more ash than the GT but overall burned as well in our CAB50, and I was happy to have saved $70 a ton.

Well, last visit our Lowes had Northeast Pellets from Maine (yellow and red bag) instead. Here in southwestern NY we usually get a wide variety of PA made pellet brands, Dry Creeks which are local, GS and sometimes Currans, but never these. They loaded 12 bags of Northeasts in my car and off I went.

Northeast Pellets are by far the worst I have ever burned. Ever. They claim on the bag that fines are less than .05%, but I've sifted 5 bags so far (this is the first time I found so many fines I was afraid *not* to sift) and sifted out an average of .8-.9% by weight. Usually when I clean my burn pot I can still see the second row of holes before cleaning no matter what pellets I've burned, but not today. Only went 18 hours before I had to clean an ash clump that covered all but the top row. The bottom of the burn pot was black and had to scrape more than usual to get it clean enough for my liking. Also saw evidence of moisture on the baffles so they have a lot of moisture. It doesn't look like the bags got wet--seemed dry when I sifted them--and the bags I got were all sealed so I don't think it was due to the pellets getting ruined during transport. I store my pellets in a dry place as well.

BTW, just did a full deep clean of my stove late last week, including the entire vent system so the stove was clean and running beautifully until I put this junk in. Yes, I have an OAK.

Makes me wonder if they're shipping them further away from Maine because they're so bad they can't sell them closer to home?

Next time I pick up pellets hopefully they'll still have the Curran blend. The last time I burned Currans they smelled funky and were a bit ashy, but at least they won't ruin my stove. Otherwise, I'll get my money back for the pellets I haven't picked up yet and go back to the Greene Teams.

 

[SciGuy]

We buy our pellets at Lowes because we get the military discount. We had been getting the Greene Teams, but the last time I bought a ton I took a chance on the lower grade pellets since with the bulk discount + military discount they're $222 a ton. We do the buy now/pick up later option so that we get 10-15 bags per visit. Figured that since I clean the burn pot and chamber every day, I could out-clean any difference in pellet quality. We originally had a choice between Green Supreme Allegheny (very similar to the Allegheny brand that Lignetics also makes) and the Curran blend and went with the GS, since we had a less than stellar experience with TSC bagged Currans last year. The GS generated a little more ash than the GT but overall burned as well in our CAB50, and I was happy to have saved $70 a ton.

Well, last visit our Lowes had Northeast Pellets from Maine (yellow and red bag) instead. Here in southwestern NY we usually get a wide variety of PA made pellet brands, Dry Creeks which are local, GS and sometimes Currans, but never these. They loaded 12 bags of Northeasts in my car and off I went.

Northeast Pellets are by far the worst I have ever burned. Ever. They claim on the bag that fines are less than .05%, but I've sifted 5 bags so far (this is the first time I found so many fines I was afraid *not* to sift) and sifted out an average of .8-.9% by weight. Usually when I clean my burn pot I can still see the second row of holes before cleaning no matter what pellets I've burned, but not today. Only went 18 hours before I had to clean an ash clump that covered all but the top row. The bottom of the burn pot was black and had to scrape more than usual to get it clean enough for my liking. Also saw evidence of moisture on the baffles so they have a lot of moisture. It doesn't look like the bags got wet--seemed dry when I sifted them--and the bags I got were all sealed so I don't think it was due to the pellets getting ruined during transport. I store my pellets in a dry place as well.

BTW, just did a full deep clean of my stove late last week, including the entire vent system so the stove was clean and running beautifully until I put this junk in. Yes, I have an OAK.

Makes me wonder if they're shipping them further away from Maine because they're so bad they can't sell them closer to home?

Next time I pick up pellets hopefully they'll still have the Curran blend. The last time I burned Currans they smelled funky and were a bit ashy, but at least they won't ruin my stove. Otherwise, I'll get my money back for the pellets I haven't picked up yet and go back to the Greene Teams.

I've burned a bit over a ton of Curran blended pellets this winter with decent results. The produce a bit more ash than the Golden Softwoods I used last year but overall are working fine.

 

[lowb35]

Yes - I'm burning them now. I was able to take back the Northeast pellets and picked up the balance of my ton, which is a mix between more GS Allegheny and the Curran blend. The GS Alleghenys burn hotter and with less ash, but my stove is burning the Currans just fine. Fluffy ash but easy to clean and not many clinkers. The TSC Currans I burned last year were the hardwoods - I'm finding that the blend is a little better than the Curran hardwood. I also have a better stove and vent system this year which makes a big difference.

 

[Bill A]

So I decided to give these pellets a try since they are being sold by a TSC in Sussex NJ. TSC lists them as a softwood pellet and from the color and smell I would have to agree. Not a lot of fines in the two bags I've burned, no foreign matter that I've found such as corn or dirt.
Overall they burn well, fairly hot, with a moderate amount of dark grey, almost black fluffy ash.
TSC is about 30 cents a bag cheaper than HD or Lowes so that is a plus too.
Not as good as the Virginia Goldens that I was able to buy from them 2 years ago, but a decent pellet at least as good as the Green Supremes have been this year.
I will update if after a few more bags my opinion changes.

 

[Tonyray]

So I decided to give these pellets a try since they are being sold by a TSC in Sussex NJ. TSC lists them as a softwood pellet and from the color and smell I would have to agree. Not a lot of fines in the two bags I've burned, no foreign matter that I've found such as corn or dirt.
Overall they burn well, fairly hot, with a moderate amount of dark grey, almost black fluffy ash.
TSC is about 30 cents a bag cheaper than HD or Lowes so that is a plus too.
Not as good as the Virginia Goldens that I was able to buy from them 2 years ago, but a decent pellet at least as good as the Green Supremes have been this year.
I will update if after a few more bags my opinion changes.

View attachment 307820 View attachment 307821 View attachment 307822

The

So I decided to give these pellets a try since they are being sold by a TSC in Sussex NJ. TSC lists them as a softwood pellet and from the color and smell I would have to agree. Not a lot of fines in the two bags I've burned, no foreign matter that I've found such as corn or dirt.
Overall they burn well, fairly hot, with a moderate amount of dark grey, almost black fluffy ash.
TSC is about 30 cents a bag cheaper than HD or Lowes so that is a plus too.
Not as good as the Virginia Goldens that I was able to buy from them 2 years ago, but a decent pellet at least as good as the Green Supremes have been this year.
I will update if after a few more bags my opinion changes.

View attachment 307820 View attachment 307821 View attachment 307822

Those virginia Goldens I am pretty sure are made by same company that make a very good softwood we get here in Pa. EasyBlaze softwoods. High btu and low ash. I burn them along with Matra. Softwood out of Canada.

 

[batchman]

I wound up buying 4 tons of Easy Blaze softwoods but was unable to try them first. Never doing that again. Pellets are good, but the fines are ridiculous. Not able to sift first, but just trying to keep what I can out of the hopper, I am getting a full cup of dust and “mini sticks” out of each bag. I spend a good 10 minutes per bag plucking out the feedable pieces out of the bottom of the bag.

There is no fines catch in my stove so I just do what I can to minimize what goes in. I don’t see a lot in the bottom of the hopper so maybe it’s all ok, but I just don’t trust the auger bushing to not get all buggered up.

At least this gave me a supply of sawdust when I needed some, but wow do I need more uses…

Plucking partial pellets,
- Jeff