ThermaGlo Pellets

[woodmakesheat]

I picked up 10 bags of these at Home Depot because, well, I'd never heard of them before and wanted to see if they were any good.

I liked the output temperature (240F) of these, that's 10-15 degrees hotter than average for my stove.

But as you can see below, my nickname for these pellets is "ash mountain." When I first put them in the stove had been running for several days and they seemed to make a lot of grey/black junk in the pot, so I decided to clean the stove and give them a fresh start. This is a picture of the stove after 3 days. Yes, that mountain range on the lip of the door is the most ash I've ever seen - even after running the stove for 2 weeks using Fireside Ultra pellets. Oh, and there are so few fines I didn't even notice any.

 

[Skier76]

Very timely review! I took a walk around the local HD's garden center at lunch and spotted a few tons of these. I had never heard of them before. I scanned the bar code with the app on my phone: Northeast Wood Products out of Uncasville, CT. But the shipping label was from Ohio (I think).

They didn't have any individual bags to try, which was disappointing. But they were running low on the Nation's Choice bags they had out. Maybe I'll head over later this week and see if there's any of these to try out.

 

[DrewBoogie]

That's my backyard. Turns out the are owned by the Mohegan Tribe that runs Mohegan Sun, hence the uncasville address. The production takes place in Ohio. They essentially bought Penningtons pellet line, which is Natures Own pellets, right? Walmart in Waterford had some Pennington Pellets the other day and I thoght the bag said Natures Own.

 

[DrewBoogie]

This is the link I forgot in that last post.

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-mohegan-pellet-fuel-20140529-story.html

 

[Skier76]

I grabbed two bags. We'll see how they do.

 

[bogieb]

The HD in Manchester, NH is finally out of FSU's. When I went in earlier today they were out but the truck had just come in so I waited. Turns out they are Therma Glo's so I grabbed 6 bags. I can hardly conceive that they would be any ashier than the Currans that I've been running in the Harman, so ashiness is not a big deal. As I was stacking them in the basement, I noticed that there weren't any noticeable fines - a nice change from every other brand I've used.

 

[fireitup]

Bought half a ton yesterday at Southington HD. Was down to 2 bags of Chow, and look what's coming our way! Started burning last night; so far, so good. Pulled the insert out yesterday as well for my post-ton cleaning, so she's burning and breathing nicely, I should think. Curious what the ash buildup will be compared to the Chows that I've been using almost exclusively. With the Chows, I'm vac-ing every 2 days, sometimes 3. My firebox fills completely with approximately 1" of ash per day when burning on 3-setting with my P23 insert. Interesting link above by DrewBoogie regarding the connection between the Tribe and the ex-Pennington mill.

 

[Skier76]

I burned through my two bags. Not bad. Decent heat output, ash wasn't too bad. I need another ton, so these are on the shortlist. Depends what the local HD has this week.

 

[bogieb]

I'm actually pretty happy with Thermo Glo. They burn much hotter than the crappy Currans I got this year (disclaimer, the Currans I got last year were much better than this year's offering). They also produce less ash. They are actually better than anything else that has gone into the Harman this year except maybe left over Currans from last year (I've burned Currans, Maine's Choice, TSC pine horse bedding, Heat'rz).

I haven't used FSU's in the Harman though, those are reserved for the Hastings, so can't compare with those.

 

[woodmakesheat]

I'm actually pretty happy with Thermo Glo. They burn much hotter than the crappy Currans I got this year (disclaimer, the Currans I got last year were much better than this year's offering). They also produce less ash. They are actually better than anything else that has gone into the Harman this year except maybe left over Currans from last year (I've burned Currans, Maine's Choice, TSC pine horse bedding, Heat'rz).

I haven't used FSU's in the Harman though, those are reserved for the Hastings, so can't compare with those.

Just goes to show you never know what you're gonna get. I had a couple of bags that were so bad I was afraid that the entire exhaust path was going to get clogged up and suffocate the fire - they were that bad. I'm actually afraid to try them again after the carbonfest they produced. Based on other replies here, I must've got a bad batch or wet pellets.

 

[Cadman2004]

These Therma Glo pellets are junk.
Had been burning Stove Chow most of last year and was nearly out of the 3 tons I bought at the beginning of this season. So I called the Manchester HD and they told me they had 30+ tons of Chow so I rushed over to score a ton. After paying and waiting forever the forklift finally arrives at my truck with my pellets. I immediately notice the plastic wrapping was black and not the usual white so I asked the guy to verify what was actually inside. Sure enough it wasn't Chow it was Therma Glo. I explained I wanted the Stove Chow the service desk told me I was getting and asked him to take them back and bring me a ton of Chow. well, it turns out all they had was Therma Glo. since it was already paid for, and I was nearly out, I reluctantly took the ton of TG. Big mistake.
When I opened the first bag I noticed they smelled like pressed board furniture and also noticed all the bags had white labels covering the specifications / standards they meet. Apparently they have changed the content of their product. After reading the manufacturer's web site I noticed that they are Super Premium and "are produced from 100% recycled natural wood fiber"
These things do burn very hot but totally fill my stove with ash in 2 days. They produce lots of klinkers and coat the inside of the burn pot and back plates with nasty black crud that I can barely scrape off with a putty knife.
In my opinion they are crap and I will never buy them again. Unfortunately I am stuck with nearly a ton of the crap!

 

[bogieb]

For those that have been able to access good pellets, these may not seem to be very good, but as someone who bought 3 tons of a really crappy pellet, these are a nice breath of fresh air, both heat wise and ash wise. I've never even seen a bag of Stove Chow, or other good pellets besides the FSU's (which some say are garbage), so it all depends on what you are used to and how your stove reacts to certain pellets. I've also never had a bag of pellets that actually smell like wood to me, just some smell less like glue to me than others.

Other's have claimed that the TSC Pine bedding pellets are decent burners and smell good - for me they were on par with the crappy Currans and I couldn't even detect any pine scent to make me feel better about paying more for them than other pellets I've been burning.

 

[woodmakesheat]

So back to 100% FSUs - you can see below no ash on bottom lip of door and ash is not even piled up to lip of burn pot. This is after 4 days, ThermaGlo pic in original post is after 3 days. And now I get ash sticking to the fiber board ever since the ThermaGlo pellets left a permanent dark brown stain in that area.

 

[Skier76]

I ended up with a ton of these. Not bad...not great. A little lower on the heat value vs the AWFs and Okie Golds. A bit more ashy too. But they'll get us through the rest of the winter, so I'm happy with that. A decent middle of the road pellet.

 

[Cadman2004]

I also have that crusty stain on the back panel of my stove. Can't even scrape it off with a putty knife.

 

[woodmakesheat]

I also have that crusty stain on the back panel of my stove. Can't even scrape it off with a putty knife.

The ThermaGlo pellets ruined my fiberboard - now ash sticks to that area and there's no way to "clean" something that's become embedded in the board.

 

[bogieb]

Just cleaned out the Harman Saturday and nothing unusual on the back of my stove (concrete fire blocks). The fan did have reddish residue on it instead of the normally brown residue - but that is out of sight so I don't care about color. I was been running ThermaGlo exclusively for about 5 days (not mixing), but the pallet pile got down to the level where I had mixed the Currans in with other stuff. I put a bag of Currans in, and boy howdy could I tell it Sunday night when I went fill the hopper I had to sweep the ash off the burn pot. the fire was almost smothered, it is so thick, dark and heavy.

Sad as it is to some of you, I felt somewhat spoiled by the ThermaGlo pellets. Now I am back to the really crappy stuff.

 

[SXIPro]

These are by far the ashiest pellets I've ever burned in 15 years. I can't even go a week without emptying my ash pan and I can typically go 3-4 weeks. Decent heat, unbelievable ash.

 

[Cadman2004]

It only gets worse. The ash from these pellets even clogged up my ash vac. The filter and screen was caked up with a layer of clay like powder.

 

[Jake86]

Well, unfortunately I'm reading this thread after buying THERMO GLO at Home Depot. Grabbed several along with some other customers. Hope they have fixed the ash problem by now. I'll let you know.

 

[bogieb]

I got a couple of tons this year (was hoping for Chows to be delivered, but it was the TG's). They are still ashy, but produce decent heat. My biggest issue with them is that they go anywhere from 1/2" to 2-1/4" long. I also haven't noticed any real staining from them this year. Still a lot less ashy than Currans blend so can't complain for the price - which even this year is cheaper than last year's Currans.