What is "Home Depot" brand pellet?

[EastMtn]

I just got off the phone with an HD customer associate. She said that they were only selling the "Home Depot" pellets this season. When I asked her who made the pellets in two different ways to makes sure she understood me, she repeated the same phrase, "they are the Home Depot Brand." This being my first year with a pellet stove does anyone have an idea who bags the pellets for HD? Is it worth a shot? I didn't get a price from the associate but the online price for this location was $229/pallet.

 

[Bioburner]

They will probably bag whatever they can get from a local mill.

 

[imacman]

Best bet is to go look at the bags in person....if you get an address of of them, we usually can figure out who made them.

Or, you might find out that the "customer associate" was really just being lazy and didn't want to bother even looking at them.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I never knew that HD had some mills bagging for them....haven't seen that here in New England.

 

[Stevekng]

I never knew that HD had some mills bagging for them....haven't seen that here in New England.

They don't. They contract with the mills to get the pellets bagged with whatever brand the mill contracts for by the corporate region. For example; FSU,Lignetics,Green Team,etc. In addition, the store and the mill contract for specific amounts(usually by the truck load or tons). When that contract is satisfied, the store will seek a new contract with whatever mill gives them the best price for a pellet they can sell. There are a few exceptions because some stores,Agway for example, will carry no-name pellets from time to time.

 

[jtakeman]

For the most part, Pellet mills have a named brand(for sale at pellet dealers and stove shops) and an off brand(for sale at retail stores). This was done to stop the pellet dealers complaining that the retail sales were selling the brand cheapier and not being able to compete with the retail stores. HD and Lowes contract some mills to bag their pellets. The mill will ad HD or Lowes branding to the bags. They also carry other generic brands and its a pretty long list.

HD has FSU(bagged by Energex) and Winter Warm(bagged by Hamers) in the past as branded pellets.

Lowes has been using Greene Team as their primary brand. They even charge more for the Greene Teams than the other generic brands they sell.

Last season in my area, Pres to logs were the dominent pellet at HD. Timber Heats were the Lowes and TSC was Green Supreme and Maine Woods. This will very season to season and By regional location.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

I could be just numb here but the two of you are contradicting each other....I agree with you J in that, HD is the only store I've seen FSUs in and yes I know they are Energex. What I'm saying is that I've never seen an HD or Lowes logo on any bag of pellets that I have purchased here in New England. Have you?

 

[Bioburner]

May not have a store logo. Just a bag or brand that is not offered by another store to prevent price matching.

 

[StormPanic]

My local Home Depot in Salem NH has Nations Choice right now. Not even going to try those. Worst case I can get Geneva's for $230 / ton at the local Dodge Grain.

 

[jtakeman]

I could be just numb here but the two of you are contradicting each other....I agree with you J in that, HD is the only store I've seen FSUs in and yes I know they are Energex. What I'm saying is that I've never seen an HD or Lowes logo on any bag of pellets that I have purchased here in New England. Have you?

The old FSU bags did have "bagged for Home Depo" on the labeling and Pretty sure Winter Warm also did.

AFAIK, The mills only contract certain mills for the exclusive brand. The other contracts aren't with mills, But with local pellet wholesalers in the general region where the HD-Lowes-Ect. warehouse is.

 

[john193]

@jtakeman - so with the rebranding of pellets for the big chains, is there any difference in quality than what the retailer sells? Or is it simply a relabeling of the same stuff?

 

[jtakeman]

@jtakeman - so with the rebranding of pellets for the big chains, is there any difference in quality than what the retailer sells? Or is it simply a relabeling of the same stuff?

AFAIK its the same goods in a different bag..... Made in the same mill with the same fiber stocks. Process is unchanged.

 

[kenstogie]

Last year they had North Americans and some had Somersets. I liked the somersets ..... the North Americans not so much.

 

[EastMtn]

I went to HD today to get a visual. below are pics of the bag. The Manager said they were made by Forest Energy. It's an Arizona company that sells Terramigos, Heatr's, and GreenTree. Definitely sounds as though the manufacturer will vary by selling region. The Heatrs reviews on WoodPelletReview were mostly negative, due in part to the large amount of fines. $249/ton now but manager says once the winter season products are in full swing the price will drop to $196/ton and stay there for the duration.

 

[Woody1911a1]

wow HDX brand pellets . definitely confuses things . guarantied they'll be different brands bagged as such depending on where you live .

last weekend when i was at home depot all they had was half a pallet of FU's . Lowes had only a half pallet of hearthsides .

hey maybe they'll be totally awesome

 

[jtakeman]

I went to HD today to get a visual. below are pics of the bag. The Manager said they were made by Forest Energy. It's an Arizona company that sells Terramigos, Heatr's, and GreenTree. Definitely sounds as though the manufacturer will vary by selling region. The Heatrs reviews on WoodPelletReview were mostly negative, due in part to the large amount of fines. $249/ton now but manager says once the winter season products are in full swing the price will drop to $196/ton and stay there for the duration.
View attachment 111127View attachment 111126

UPC code verifies that its Forest Energy. They make Heat-R's, TerrAmego and Green tree pellets.
(broken link removed to http://www.forestenergy.com/our-products/wood_pellets.htm)

 

[EastMtn]

UPC code verifies that its Forest Energy. They make Heat-R's, TerrAmego and Green tree pellets.
(broken link removed to http://www.forestenergy.com/our-products/wood_pellets.htm)

View attachment 111143

Thanks for the verification JT.

 

[subsailor]

I could be just numb here but the two of you are contradicting each other....I agree with you J in that, HD is the only store I've seen FSUs in and yes I know they are Energex. What I'm saying is that I've never seen an HD or Lowes logo on any bag of pellets that I have purchased here in New England. Have you?

X2. TSC now has MWP putting the TSC name on their pellets.

 

[BrotherBart]

You guys caused this with all of your reviews of pellet brands.

 

[Harman Lover 007]

You guys caused this with all of your reviews of pellet brands.

We know that...

 

[Stevekng]

I could be just numb here but the two of you are contradicting each other....I agree with you J in that, HD is the only store I've seen FSUs in and yes I know they are Energex. What I'm saying is that I've never seen an HD or Lowes logo on any bag of pellets that I have purchased here in New England. Have you?

Didn't know about the different names (I'm saying names instead of brands) on the Big Box bags not being offered by other stores. But does any one know of two different names on rebranded pellets made by the same mill being sold in the same area?

 

[jtakeman]

Didn't know about the different names (I'm saying names instead of brands) on the Big Box bags not being offered by other stores. But does any one know of two different names on rebranded pellets made by the same mill being sold in the same area?

A couple seasons ago we had Home Depo offering Winter Warm(Hamers) and TSC offering Hardwood Heat(also Hamers). Lowes was offering Nature's Own(Energex CA), Stove Chow(Energex). TSC had Premiers(Energex) Premier Softwoods(Energex CA) and HD had FSU's(also Energex CA). This cold be a long list?

Seems we are going to see more of this. This season TSC has several mills bagging their store brand(IE- MWP in my area). Now it looks like HD is doing the same with their store branded stuff.

An insider told me the only way to tell which mill they are from is by the UPC code on the bags. Pretty sure the reason for several mills stock in the same bag is to reduce shipping or as they say Logistic's reasons. With the UPC code trick we should be able to figure this stuff out.

 

[EastMtn]

Ya know, sometimes I wonder about those customer associates. I talked to 2 Lowes associates over the phone and they both told me that they didn't have any in stock. So I called back again and asked to talk to the manager. 'Lowe' and behold, pun intended, the manager says "oh yeah, we have 30-40 pallets of hardwood and softwood in stock." I guess it's another trip to town to get a visual.

 

[imacman]

Here's the "rebranded" AWF pellets I got from Lowes a while back....."Premium" brand....they also had rebranded Dry Creek..."Timber Heat"....a ton of each went into the "stash"....ready for winter.

 

[kenstogie]

Jeez I wish they would keep them in the regular bags. It would be easier for me/us.