# Athens Wood Pellets intial review



## Fire It Up

Anyone have any thoughts on these that might have burned a few. I usually burn 4 tons a year and this year I picked up a coupel tons as my regualr brand was being bought up instantly from all these panic mongers. 



Well I have burned 4-5 bags now and these are my thoughts. I'm curious as to yours. 

++++
Heat output doesn't seem any difference from any other premium brand I have used. 

Edited to remove comment on ash content Didn't realize the wife was cleaning the stove on top of my cleaning. 

The pellets are clean. No dust, no fines, very clean. 


---------
Auger has jammed twice due to size of pellets in my Castille. Never jammed since I have owned it except these times. 

Ash content is the poorest in all the brands I have burned. 

Discrepency in burning. The flame is up, flame is down, it's almost out, it's filling the stove. 

The pellets seem to stick a bit in the hopper and don't free flow like all other brands I have. It's not like they are tacky, but something isn't right. Will report back. 

So the verdict is out. I haven't burned enough of these, but so far to me I rate them with the cheap walmart and HD brands I have burned in the past. 

Anyone else?


----------



## mjbrown

I bought 2 ton of these, after burning a few bags in my harman P38. I like them alot...i did have the issue with not sliding down in the hopper and tried the car polish suggestion from another thread. it seemed to work quite well.i am waiting til the end of the month, and in hopes of getting another 2 ton to be set for winter. at 215 per ton direct from the mill, i will burn these even if i do have to open the hopper before bed, and move the pellets wround.  just my .02


Mike


----------



## pellet0708

Agree with all of the above but are the first pellets we have every burned so have nothing to compare to.  Ours are quite broken up, very small pieces.  About 6 cups of ash after 3 bags.  Is this normal? But not jamming.


----------



## hossthehermit

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> Agree with all of the above but are the first pellets we have every burned so have nothing to compare to.  Ours are quite broken up, very small pieces.  About 6 cups of ash after 3 bags.  Is this normal? But not jamming.



Sounds like a lot of ash, but what do I know?


----------



## lessoil

While waiting for our 4 tons, I picked up 4 bags of LG pellets from Canada
and 2 bags from Athens.
The 1st bag we burned was from LG. Burned well with little ash. The pellets were
light in color like a hardwood floor.

The next bag was from Athens. The pellets are quite dark in color.
They seem to burn well but do leave quite a pile of ash in the burn pot.


----------



## compressedwoodsupplier

Being a Dealer for maine woods and have owned a pellet stove for 5 years. I have found that the Athens pellets are not bad at all yes they are a little smaller then others i have burned but they do burn really well in my stoves I sell and the one i have at my house. any questions or concerns please keep me informed.


----------



## wak1954

I have burned 4 other brands of pellets in the stove, with no problems. The Athens product has jammed 3 times,has irregular feed rate, smokes up the glass, and has actually smothered the fire, leaving a pile of fresh pellets in the burn box, with no flame.
    I have 3 tons of these and need find a way to burn them without waking up to a cold house in the middle of the night.
    I would appreciate any helpful suggestions.


----------



## Fire It Up

I need to take back my comment on the low ash. These things can’t be considered premium, can they? My wife is home with the baby and I didn’t realize she was cleaning it in the morning, and then me in the evening. We aren’t really burning many pellets as it hasn’t been cold. 

This is the second morning in a row that I have woken to a cold house. The Castille can’t light the pellets when it kicks on because of the amount of ash build up in the firepot. It’s not clinkers, just cups and cups of ash. With the Cubex I burn I clean the firepot every 3 days when burning non stop. With these I have to clean it every 12 hours and that’s when I’m burning little. I’m thinking I am getting 2-3 cups of ash per bag at this point. 

I didn’t go heavy on these pellets because of the unknown and I am glad. I think I have 1.5 tons. Guess they will be good for outside fires in the pit. 

Very disappointed in these in my Quadrafire and I have burned probably 6 different brands over the years in the stove.


----------



## pellet0708

burned through 5 bags now and they burn very well with no clinkers and the feed rate with my stove is very uniform. My complaint is the ash and the quality of the pellets. It is rare to find one over 1/4 inch long and most of the bag is just broken pieces not even in pellet shape. Thought the couple bags on top might have gotten beat up but they all seem like that. They burn though and the stove puts out heat so I guess we will continue on.
I did throw in a bag of Corinth to try and had about the same amt. of ash but pellets were more uniform.


----------



## DAGME

Thanks for the posts!  We just bought two tons of Athens Pellet and are anxious to see how well it burns.  We were able to get it within a week of placing the order (other places had at least a month waiting list), and being that it is a local company we wanted to support it. That being said, I'm pretty concerned to hear about the potential high ash output.

My wife and I are new to Pellet Stoves, so this will be a new experience.  Our newly purchased house has an Enviro EF2i that doesn't look like it was well maintained by the previous owners - following the user manual has been an adventure!  We're also waiting for a Quadra-Fire Castile to come in sometime this spring.

More reviews of Pellet brands (including Athens) are appreciated by us newbies.


----------



## gbeane

I'm a bit concerned after reading this.  In June I had ordered 3 tons of Corinth pellets from Dysarts (I am in the Bangor Maine area).  I was told about 3 weeks, I called back in a month and they ysaid it would probably be another month.  I called back in another month and he said they hadn't been getting Corinth pellets anymore for some reason, he didn't know why, and that if I switched my order to Athens I would get them sooner.  I asked about the Athens pellets and he said they were premium low ash and the only major difference was that they were 80% hardwood, but that it wouldn't make that much of a difference.  3 weeks later I had my 3 tons.

One bag on the bottom of one of the pallets was damaged by the forklift and I got to see the pellets.  They were fairly dark in color and were all quite small in size.

I hope I don't have too many problems with them... although I'm still waiting for that stove I ordered in May so I don't have anything to burn them in right now....


----------



## richkorn

I had the same issue with Corinth. I ordered 3 tons on Aug. 6th and they never came in. My pellet dealer said he has no idea and as far as he knows, they're currently not making any, or at least not shipping any. I got 3 tons of the Maine Woods (packaged in white bags) by MM Ltd. in Swansea, MA. The supplier showed me them, and yes all the pellets are small, but he commented on how they look (color-wise) very similar to Lignetics. We looked at them side by side and they looked the same except for the small size.

I'm wondering what the other 20% is, softwood?  If that's the case then that's fine by me.

Bottom line, it's all I have so it's what I will burn.


----------



## DiggerJim

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> About 6 cups of ash after 3 bags.  Is this normal?


PFI rated Premium pellets can have up to 1% ash content (by weight). That means a bag of premium pellets can produce 6 1/2 ounces (by weight) of ash per bag. Roughly converted based on fly ash weighing 75lb/cu ft (DOT standard in FHWA--IF-03-019) that would mean .69 oz/cu in or 10 oz/cup. So a premium pellet should only create about a half cup or so of ash per bag. 

Be interesting to know what people's experience is with ash - anyone seeing a lot more than 1/2 cup of ash/bag or a lot less?


----------



## pellet0708

Again, my Athens Maine Woods pellets are producing a lot of ash but as long as they are not cloggging up my stove I'll have to put up with it for this year. Probably burning through them a lot faster given the small pieces.   Have picked up single bags of other brands to see the difference.


----------



## sparkydog00

Seeing as I have only burned 3 bags of them...and the weather really isn't that cold...I can't rate the heat output of these pellets from Athens. But I can safely say they seem to burn just fine in my Harmen Accentra Insert. No problems with the feed. The pellets are darker than last years left over bag of Cubex. And the size is uni-formally small. 
They seem to burn with the standard amount of ash and clinkers. 
With the ash deposits I scraped from my burn pot ( I do it everyday when burning sometimes more) I would rate them about the same as last years New England Pellet (the standard bags) but definitely worse than Cubex (incidently the best pellet I have burned).
The amount of fines was low to average.
I hope I am as happy burning these pellets in February...since I own 3 tons of them.


----------



## lessoil

Had 4 tons delivered yesterday.
They do burn well but have a bit more ash.
I thought I was getting Northeast Pellets.
At this point, I bought from the 1st distibutor.

Stay warm!!


----------



## richkorn

Gave two bags to my brother-in-law, they clogged up his auger. Brand new Lopi Leyden.

I opened a bag and they look like crap, all broken up, dust, small crap etc... Opened a 2nd, same thing. This is not looking good, I have 3 tons of these. Maybe I can sift them.

Mine are the Maine Woods in the M&M;Ltd. white bags.


----------



## richkorn

You guys that have the Maine Woods pellets - What does the bag look like, does it say Maine Woods???

Mine are Maine Woods but they are packaged in bags that say M and M Ltd. in Swansea, MA.

I'm wondering if the ones I got are trucked to Mass. and then bagged --and that's how they got so broken up and crappy?

Thanks.


----------



## lessoil

richkorn said:
			
		

> You guys that have the Maine Woods pellets - What does the bag look like, does it say Maine Woods???
> 
> Mine are Maine Woods but they are packaged in bags that say M and M Ltd. in Swansea, MA.
> 
> I'm wondering if the ones I got are trucked to Mass. and then bagged --and that's how they got so broken up and crappy?
> 
> Thanks.



I will start breaking the pallets down this week.
I'll take some pictures for you.

I bought 2 bags last month. They were not broken up at all.
These 2 bags were from a different dealer.
I still have one of those left so can compare.

Stay Tuned!!


----------



## DAGME

Finished cleaning the Enviro EF2i and burned the first bag of Athens pellets.  I was surprised how quickly we burned through a bag.  40lb bag produced about 2 to 2.5 cups of ash, which seems high to me (albeit, we are new to pellet stoves).

The size of the pellets looks similar to what I have seen with other brands - they didn't strike me as much smaller.  The bag we opened had very little sawdust too.

We spoke with a stove dealer and technician yesterday who didn't think highly of Athens pellets at all - called them cr*p basically.  He said the dark color was probably due to a lot of bark in the mix.  He also said that the quality might be improving since the Athens plant first went online - I guess they used to have to truck the manufactured pellets to be bagged offsite, and then trucked back to Athens to be distributed.

Also, this dealer said that the Corinth Maine pellet mill had a fire a few months back, which may explain why they haven't been putting out pellets.  Can anyone confirm this?


----------



## strangemainer

I picked up 2 bags (6.59 per!) at the hardware store in Cornish just to try them...

THEY SUCK! 

Lots of ash, low heat output, just horrible.
Its to bad because I really wanted to support a local business. Oh well.


----------



## allenfrme

Same result, I picked up 2 tons in Sanford, and they are very high ash. I have not had any problems with fedd, just high ash and low heat. They reported earlier in the year they were making 'industrial grade'. I wonder if they're only shipping that grade.  These are worse than the junk I got from Wal Mart late last year. My preference is New England.


----------



## richkorn

allenfrme said:
			
		

> Same result, I picked up 2 tons in Sanford, and they are very high ash. I have not had any problems with fedd, just high ash and low heat. They reported earlier in the year they were making 'industrial grade'. I wonder if they're only shipping that grade.  These are worse than the junk I got from Wal Mart late last year. My preference is New England.



I think you're right. This stuff looks industrial to me, it's awful.


----------



## Steveo

I have one ton of the Athens pellets and they do leave a lot of ash in the burn pot. I also noticed that the glass on the door gets dirty faster while burning these pellets. I am burning this ton now before it gets to cold in case they cause any problems. Then I will burn my Green Team which I love.


----------



## gbeane

Steveo said:
			
		

> I have one ton of the Athens pellets and they do leave a lot of ash in the burn pot.



this sucks.  I ended up with Athens because it seemed like the only thing I could get before winter.  The guy at Dysarts claimed they were premium low ash pellets and that I wouldn't have any problems.  I switched to taking the Athens because they couldn't get the kind of pellets I wanted (Corinth because I like to support Maine businesses).

I haven't burned any yet, but if they are as bad as they say I will definitely be getting something else for next winter.  Dysarts also sells Energex, but they charge a lot more per ton... I guess you get what you pay for....


----------



## pellet0708

Is there any recourse we could take like if we bought any bad product?


----------



## wak1954

Mine read Maine Woods Pellets  Athens Maine with the phone #


----------



## richkorn

gbeane said:
			
		

> Steveo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have one ton of the Athens pellets and they do leave a lot of ash in the burn pot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this sucks.  I ended up with Athens because it seemed like the only thing I could get before winter.  The guy at Dysarts claimed they were premium low ash pellets and that I wouldn't have any problems.  I switched to taking the Athens because they couldn't get the kind of pellets I wanted (Corinth because I like to support Maine businesses).
> 
> I haven't burned any yet, but if they are as bad as they say I will definitely be getting something else for next winter.  Dysarts also sells Energex, but they charge a lot more per ton... I guess you get what you pay for....
Click to expand...


Same situation here, had 3 tons Corinth on order and they never came in. Dealer was kind of stuck and didn't know when he'd get them or even what the price would be. I didn't want to get stuck with nothing and he had these Maine Woods things in stock. Like a fool I bought three tons; They are total crap and I'm stuck with them.  should have gone to Tractor Supply back in July.

I guess I can't blame him, he probably had no clue on how bad they were. I'll be smarter next Spring.


----------



## Fire It Up

Burning consistently all day. At this rate, I'll burn through these junkers and get into my stash of Cubex. These Athens pellets now that I have been buring them daily get my rating of an F. I can only get through about 14 hours of on and off buring before the ash completely fills my burn pot preventing a new fire from starting. The heat output is ok, but I have to put my feed rate on the highest setting because they burn so quick. If I was burning full time, like in January I do, I think I would be going through 2+ bags a day. 

Buyer beware. These are hands down the worst pellets I have every burned in my stove over the years and I feel ripped off due to the fact that they claim to be permium. I'm getting like a coffee can full of ash for a half bag at this point 

I switch over to Cubex and I can run my stove for 3 days straight without a cleaning or hiccup. I get 12-14 hours with these pellets before my stove stops working. Not impressed. 

I am convinced that these are primarily cedar park from left over blanks due to the color. High bark content they are shoveling in the hoppers as quick as they can.


----------



## richkorn

Fire It Up said:
			
		

> Burning consistently all day. At this rate, I'll burn through these junkers and get into my stash of Cubex. These Athens pellets now that I have been buring them daily get my rating of an F. I can only get through about 14 hours of on and off buring before the ash completely fills my burn pot preventing a new fire from starting. The heat output is ok, but I have to put my feed rate on the highest setting because they burn so quick. If I was burning full time, like in January I do, I think I would be going through 2+ bags a day.
> 
> Buyer beware. These are hands down the worst pellets I have every burned in my stove over the years and I feel ripped off due to the fact that they claim to be permium. I'm getting like a coffee can full of ash for a half bag at this point
> 
> I switch over to Cubex and I can run my stove for 3 days straight without a cleaning or hiccup. I get 12-14 hours with these pellets before my stove stops working. Not impressed.
> 
> I am convinced that these are primarily cedar park from left over blanks due to the color. High bark content they are shoveling in the hoppers as quick as they can.



I agree 100%, I get a cup of ash after an hour and have to scrape the pot after just a few hours. Ripped off?  YES

Maybe I'll send off an email to PFI to let them in on this.


----------



## DAGME

Second day burning --- to add to the conversation.

Nothing new here, we're disappointed with these pellets.  Started last night's fire at 10:00pm.  By 1:00am, the burnpot liner on our Enviro EF2i was more than half full with ash. By 5:00am (yes, I'm an insomniac), the burnpot liner was nearly filled with ash and clinkers. I am seriously afraid that if we leave it overnight or while we're at work, we're at risk of a fire!

I'm planning on calling the dealer we bought these from to tell them not to sell 'em to anyone else.  I might even draft a letter to Maine Woods Pellet Co.  The problem could be that Maine Woods seems to be the only company that is getting pellets to the non-chain hardware stores in short time frames.  We really wanted to support a local Maine company, but it appears Athens doesn't quite have it together yet.  I hope this is due to a "learning curve" at Athens and not a result of rushing poor quality pellet to the market to make a quick $$.


----------



## DAGME

By the way, here is the contact information for Maine Wood Pellet Company LLC (the makers of Athens). 

http://www.mainewoodspelletco.com/contact.html

Check out the pellet in the picture - that looks nothing like the dark pellet I have.


----------



## richkorn

I just sent an email off to PFI complaining about the M and M Ltd. bags (Maine Woods) that I have that are labeled as PFI Certified Premium. Now, there is no PFI logo on the bag, but it does say PFI Certified. Someone putting out fraudulent product maybe? I'm almost afraid to burn these things. What a waste of money.


----------



## lessoil

richkorn said:
			
		

> I just sent an email off to PFI complaining about the M and M Ltd. bags (Maine Woods) that I have that are labeled as PFI Certified Premium. Now, there is no PFI logo on the bag, but it does say PFI Certified. Someone putting out fraudulent product maybe? I'm almost afraid to burn these things. What a waste of money.



Well I am very concerned as I have 4 tons sitting in my yard!
richkorn, can you post their email address???
I will contact them also.
The heat seems fine, but the ash seems to form a dam in the burn pot.

I have burned a couple of bags of LG out of Canada and they burned very very clean
compared to the Athens Pellets.

Thanks


----------



## richkorn

lessoil said:
			
		

> richkorn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just sent an email off to PFI complaining about the M and M Ltd. bags (Maine Woods) that I have that are labeled as PFI Certified Premium. Now, there is no PFI logo on the bag, but it does say PFI Certified. Someone putting out fraudulent product maybe? I'm almost afraid to burn these things. What a waste of money.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well I am very concerned as I have 4 tons sitting in my yard!
> richkorn, can you post their email address???
> I will contact them also.
> The heat seems fine, but the ash seems to form a dam in the burn pot.
> 
> I have burned a couple of bags of LG out of Canada and they burned very very clean
> compared to the Athens Pellets.
> 
> Thanks
Click to expand...


sales@m-mltd.com

My supplier forwarded my complaint to M&M;and he said he'd get back to me. I can't burn these and want to return them asap.


----------



## sparkydog00

SparkyDog said:
			
		

> Seeing as I have only burned 3 bags of them...and the weather really isn't that cold...I can't rate the heat output of these pellets from Athens. But I can safely say they seem to burn just fine in my Harmen Accentra Insert. No problems with the feed. The pellets are darker than last years left over bag of Cubex. And the size is uni-formally small.
> They seem to burn with the standard amount of ash and clinkers.
> With the ash deposits I scraped from my burn pot ( I do it everyday when burning sometimes more) I would rate them about the same as last years New England Pellet (the standard bags) but definitely worse than Cubex (incidently the best pellet I have burned).
> The amount of fines was low to average.
> I hope I am as happy burning these pellets in February...since I own 3 tons of them.




Okay

I have burned several more bags...These pellets produce way too much ash to be considered premium quality. The ash is of a heavy nature too. The ash doesn't seem to evacute the burn pot as easily as any other pellet I have burned. Needs constant attention cleaning the burn pot. Will have to say ...am not very happy with them at this writing. And I have a little less than 3 tons of this crap to burn. Will definitely be writing the company to state my disappointment with their product.
Anybody have an idea what the feed rate should be for crappy pellets on my Harmen Accentra? It burns all the pellets I have had to date at betweeen 4 and 5. The Athens pellets might need a different setting. Should I increase or decrease the feed rate.


----------



## pellet0708

There are actually black specks and long streaks through these pellets.  That can't be regular saw dust.  Must be bark to be black.??


----------



## j00fek

after buring 6 bags of these pellets im am not satisfied. 

lots of ash, window is almost black

looks like we can place these with the 2007 version of penningtons

JUNK


----------



## richkorn

Returning my 3 tons Sat. morning for refund.


----------



## NEW2PS

This is my first time burning pellets and I'm very glad I read this thread. I purchased the Athens pellets (because it was all I could find and I was told they were top shelf pellets). I after a week of steady burning I was ready to sell my pellet stove because I had to clean the burn pot atleast 2 times a day. Now it sounds like I am just burning crappy pellets. In the Waterville ME area I don't know anyone selling anything but the Athens pellets. Does anyone know where I can get another brand. Right now it is hard to get any pellets period.


----------



## compressedwoodsupplier

I have burned pellets for five years and these pellets dont seem any different. Put out a nice heat and im not getting the ash content you all are talking about.. Not sure whats wrong but not sure its the pellets.


----------



## pellet0708

I got my 4 ton very early on and they are just broken pieces.  A friend purchased some just recently and they are much better shape.  My guess is that the early batches had QC issues.
After burning penningtons to try, the Maine woods burn cleaner, in that there are no clinkers and they don't leave black soot everywhere but there is a ton of ash and I have to stir the burn pot 3 times a day or it goes out.  This did not happen with the penningtons so has to be the ash.   As I said in an earlier post, they have black all through them which has to be bark since I've never seen black saw dust.


----------



## wak1954

I'm still having aproblem with these pellets binding in my stove. The ash quantity is incredible, to the point where it puts out the fire if not tended to constantly. Last evening I came home to a cold stove with ashes surrounding a small pile of unburned pellets. The auger was bound up where as I had to take the drive motor off and work the auger back and forth with a pair of vise grips until it was free.
   I have had some success mixing the Athens pellets with any other kind of pellets so that they won't bind the auger. I would be interested to hear from any other people who are having the same, or similar problems.


----------



## sinnian

compressedwoodsupplier said:
			
		

> I have burned pellets for five years and these pellets dont seem any different. Put out a nice heat and im not getting the ash content you all are talking about.. Not sure whats wrong but not sure its the pellets.



Sorry, would have meant more to me if you were not a dealer.  ALL these other people can not be wrong, AND no one else has posted here about the great luck you have had.


----------



## richkorn

wak1954 said:
			
		

> I'm still having aproblem with these pellets binding in my stove. The ash quantity is incredible, to the point where it puts out the fire if not tended to constantly. Last evening I came home to a cold stove with ashes surrounding a small pile of unburned pellets. The auger was bound up where as I had to take the drive motor off and work the auger back and forth with a pair of vise grips until it was free.
> I have had some success mixing the Athens pellets with any other kind of pellets so that they won't bind the auger. I would be interested to hear from any other people who are having the same, or similar problems.



Oh man, I thought my problems with these pellets were bad; nothing compared to yours. I'm not putting 1 tiny pellet of these in my stove any more. 146 bags going back tomorrow. I have about 70 lbs. of these in garbage bags that I'm giving away for wood stove burning.


----------



## ajwoodman

I think you guys are really being tough on these pellets.  I have three ton of them sitting in my basement and I will burn them.  They haven't caused any problems with my stove except for alot of ash and I would probably say lower heat output but that's it.  It is their first year and I say they just are having a problem with qc.  They will get their act together.  In other words, although they are not the best, I feel they are burnable


----------



## Steveo

ajwoodman said:
			
		

> I think you guys are really being tough on these pellets.  I have three ton of them sitting in my basement and I will burn them.  They haven't caused any problems with my stove except for alot of ash and I would probably say lower heat output but that's it.  It is their first year and I say they just are having a problem with qc.  They will get their act together.  In other words, although they are not the best, I feel they are burnable



If you like them I have a ton of them that I will sell to you.


----------



## malibuman00

It is clear they are having qc problems, my father bought some of these early in the spring and is pellets look nothing like mine.
I waiting for a picture from him to post.  Here is a picture of what my pellets look like.  The flash actually made them look lighter.
His pellets actually look like what most wood pellets do, light in color and uniform in size.  Are they now using different materials?  I thought no way these are the same company, but they are.  I purchased 1 ton of these, which I'm glad I do not have more.  I called the dealer with my concerns and he said they would produce a lot of ash and to return any bags with sawdust.  I was never informed of that at purchase, I was told they are good pellets.  This company needs to own up on selling poor pellets and remove premium from the bags


----------



## sparkydog00

fireitup said:
			
		

> It is clear they are having qc problems, my father bought some of these early in the spring and is pellets look nothing like mine.
> I waiting for a picture from him to post.  Here is a picture of what my pellets look like.  The flash actually made them look lighter.
> His pellets actually look like what most wood pellets do, light in color and uniform in size.  Are they now using different materials?  I thought no way these are the same company, but they are.  I purchased 1 ton of these, which I'm glad I do not have more.  I called the dealer with my concerns and he said they would produce a lot of ash and to return any bags with sawdust.  I was never informed of that at purchase, I was told they are good pellets.  This company needs to own up on selling poor pellets and remove premium from the bags



Agreed...
They are selling standard grade pellets at premium grade prices.  I have not yet decieded what i am going to do with these pellets. Since I own a little less than 3 tons of them. I can't fault the point of sale...they did what they were supposed to do..deliver 3 tons of premium pellets. And they did a great job at that. Granted I am at fault for not following pellets basic rule number 1...buy 10 bags of the brand if you have never used them before...see how they burn them go back...but in the pellet rush of 08 I didn't follow iit.
Feel like the general public has been hoodwinked. The mill has used inferior materials in the making of these pellets. Whats worse is according to your post...they had things together earlier in the year...when your dad got his pellets...then in the rush to fill the niche left by the pellet storage...they ground up anything the could find and pressed it into pellets....sounds like sheer greed to me.
I am not being too hard on this company. These pellets should be selling at standard grade pricing. They produce too much ash to be considered premium grade.
I will say that these pellets produce so much ash that they would be unusable in any top feeding pellets appliance.


----------



## wak1954

The pellets shown in the picture look far superior to the Athens that I have. My longest pellet is 3/8" long, with no gloss at all. I'm having a hard time finding other pellets to mix with them so that they will burn without binding up the auger.


----------



## akakii

I'm having pretty much the same experience as everyone else here.  The pellets are small and broken up, with lots of fines in the bag.  The photo on their website bears no resemblance to what I've got.  They seem almost sticky, as others have mentioned.  It's almost like they're damp.  They are creating abnormal amounts of heavy ash, definitely the worst out of the 6-7 brands I've burned.  I've burned four bags so far and my ash pan is almost full (for comparison, I burned maybe 20+ bags of Corinth last season before emptying the ashes).  It hasn't been cold enough for me to leave the stove on full time yet so I don't have a good sense of heat output.  I hope it's not too bad since I have four tons of these sitting in my garage.  These are also the first pellets I've bought that don't have any information at all about grade, ash, fines, etc.  Kind of like a no-name generic.  I'm going to let the dealer and producer know what I think of these pellets.


----------



## slls

I would like some one with Athens pellets to do a moisture check. Here is the test by Mike.

1- 1/2 cup pellets in a glass bowel, no plastic 
2- cover with a plate
3- microwave for 45 secs to 1 min
4- remove plate and turn on end, no water should drip. Thanks


----------



## ajwoodman

I did the test. There was no water drip at all.  A very little bit of moisture on bottom of the bowl but that was it.  What does this mean?? Is this normal or abnormal??


----------



## Steveo

slls said:
			
		

> I would like some one with Athens pellets to do a moisture check. Here is the test by Mike.
> 
> 1- 1/2 cup pellets in a glass bowel, no plastic
> 2- cover with a plate
> 3- microwave for 45 secs to 1 min
> 4- remove plate and turn on end, no water should drip. Thanks



That is not really an accurate test. If you want to know what the moisture content of the pellets is, you need to test them in a moisture analyzer(I sell and service them). The moisture analyzer has a scale built in and a lamp that heats the product(pellets) and when complete the analyzer will give you the moisture content of the pellets.


----------



## Xena

Just a thought.  One of more of you folks should
email the MFG a link to this thread so they can see
for themselves how many are unhappy with the
product.


----------



## lessoil

zeta said:
			
		

> Just a thought.  One of more of you folks should
> email the MFG a link to this thread so they can see
> for themselves how many are unhappy with the
> product.



Great idea!!
I just sent out an email with a link to this thread.
Hope they take the time to check out our comments!

*Email I sent:*

I have just purchased 4 tons from a distributor here in Rumford.
They seem to burn well but leave a heavy and quite honest large
deposit of ash. I am burning them in a Harman P61.

Please see the link below which shows a growing number of dissatisfied customers.

Regards,

Mike

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/24941/P0/


----------



## tumbles

Boy oh boy you guys are bumming me out.   I have one ton of the Athens pellets  and I plan on mixing them with a better brand of pellets (Energex or Hamer).   I hope this works.   I'm new to burning pellets  but I didn't realize the type of pellets varied so wildly.   I'm from Maine and wanted to support a Maine business, but they better get their sh## together or they won't be in business much longer.   I'm going to try them but I won't ruin a new stove with crappy pellets.   Maybe if enough people return them they'll get the message.  On the positive side, oil is dropping like a stone.


----------



## wak1954

We did the microwave moisture test on 3 varieties of pellets, with the following rsults.
Green Team, No Moisture
Pennington,  Some Moisture
Athens,  Dripping
The Penningtons and the green team were picked up in the last few days where they were stored outside.
The Athens were part of 3 tons that were delivered over a month ago and stored inside immediately.
What does this prove and what are my options?


----------



## j00fek

im currently in the process of trying to return a ton, hope i can find my receipt...

after 6 bags my glass was black, getting clickers, 90% more ash compared to green team. i emptied my hopper of these and got about 2lbs of fines w/80lb hopper ext on...


----------



## richkorn

I returned my 3 tons yesterday. My supplier was excellent to deal with and acknowledged a problem with these pellets. Picking up a ton of Lignetics tomorrow and 2 more tons next month. All is good now.


----------



## slls

ajwoodman said:
			
		

> I did the test. There was no water drip at all.  A very little bit of moisture on bottom of the bowl but that was it.  What does this mean?? Is this normal or abnormal??



According to Mike, the moisture content is good, normal.


----------



## slls

wak1954 said:
			
		

> We did the microwave moisture test on 3 varieties of pellets, with the following rsults.
> Green Team, No Moisture
> Pennington,  Some Moisture
> Athens,  Dripping
> The Penningtons and the green team were picked up in the last few days where they were stored outside.
> The Athens were part of 3 tons that were delivered over a month ago and stored inside immediately.
> What does this prove and what are my options?



The dripping means higher than normal moisture content, what I suspected reading about the small pieces and pellets come apart easy. 
With high moisture they will not burn as efficient as normal pellets, lower heat value. Some model stoves may get jammed augers.


----------



## lessoil

lessoil said:
			
		

> zeta said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just a thought.  One of more of you folks should
> email the MFG a link to this thread so they can see
> for themselves how many are unhappy with the
> product.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Great idea!!
> I just sent out an email with a link to this thread.
> Hope they take the time to check out our comments!
> 
> *Email I sent:*
> 
> I have just purchased 4 tons from a distributor here in Rumford.
> They seem to burn well but leave a heavy and quite honest large
> deposit of ash. I am burning them in a Harman P61.
> 
> Please see the link below which shows a growing number of dissatisfied customers.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mike
> 
> https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/24941/P0/
Click to expand...



*Reply to 2nd Email:

I will pass this on and read the posting. 
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T;*
________________________________________
From:
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:55:09 -0400
To: <wscarden@m-mltd.com>
Subject: RE: Athens Pellet Quality

William,

Compared to the LG pellets out of Canada(light brown) the Athens pellets(dark green??)
leave quite a bit more ash.
I will have to clean the burn pot much more often than with LG. Also, my stove is a bottom feed.
The ash tends to make a dam towards the outside of the burn pot.

There are some folks at Hearth.com that have top feed. In their case, the ash actually snuffed out the fire.

Thanks for the reply and if you have a chance, please read through the posts at the link below.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/24941/P0/
This will give you an idea of the problems others are having.

There are quite a few people who visit that site. Athens pellets are not being spoken well of at the moment.
Some customers are returning the Athens pellets for a refund and others are not going to buy Athens pellets again unless this changes.

Regards,

Mike


----------



## Fire It Up

Another update. 

Burned a couple more bags from a different ton I purchased at a different time of the Athens. Same results. 

Pellets are tacky and don't slide down in the hopper well of my Castille. Never have I had this issue with any pellets I have burned over the years. 

Ash content is unacceptable. I have to turn off the stove every morning and before bed and clean thoroughly to ensure 8-10 hours of burning. If I don't do this before bed and in the morning, the ash will prevent a new fire start up. I can fill my whole burn pot with ash in a session. 

So the stove isn't feeding correctly, so I have to move the pellets around in the hopper to get them to fall right into the auger shoot, and I have to clean the stove twice a day. 

I'm stuck with these pellets, and am not seeing any other brands around for sale that are actually in stock, so I guess I have to just deal with it. Think I paid 260 a ton for them. Outrageous. 

I fully believe unless otherwise told, that they bagged up the industrial grade pellets they make and sold them to residential consumers while the demand was high and they could strike while the iron(stove) was hot. 

Feel ripped off, but it's my own fault for buying an untested product.


----------



## slls

That is the reason I would not buy new manufacture pellets until they went through a winter. My son-in-law is not going to get the 2 tons he ordered.


----------



## wicked thrifty

Pellet burner since 2005, burned 8-10 different brands.  Always slight differences, even between different batches of the same brand.  Am trying Athens pellets for the first time, have used 15-20 bags thus far.  Initial observations: 1) higher ash content  2) occasional clinker in burnpot  3) many LARGE pellets (1.5") which have twice caused bridging over auger feed tube.  All in all, generally satisfied.

Danson shop heater since winter 2005
Napoleon NPI40 insert soon to be installed in other end of the house


----------



## sinnian

wicked thrifty said:
			
		

> Pellet burner since 2005, burned 8-10 different brands.  Always slight differences, even between different batches of the same brand.  Am trying Athens pellets for the first time, have used 15-20 bags thus far.  Initial observations: 1) higher ash content  2) occasional clinker in burnpot  3) many LARGE pellets (1.5") which have twice caused bridging over auger feed tube.  All in all, generally satisfied.
> 
> Danson shop heater since winter 2005
> Napoleon NPI40 insert soon to be installed in other end of the house



It's funny, first post and their results with the pellets are totally different, other then the dealer's.

Well I hope the two of you continue to enjoy your Athens pellets  :smirk:


----------



## pellet0708

Agree with "Fire it UP".  Have to clean the burn pot morning and night or ash will choke the fire out.  Plus have to keep hopper full since they don't slide.  A lot of work when I hear others saying they only worry about the ash every three days or so.  Plus we are not burning 24/7 yet.


----------



## gbeane

When the Athens mill first started producing, they were only selling industrial grade in bulk.  They even admitted they hadn't gotten to the point where they could produce premium pellets for residential appliances.  They sold by the truckload to places like the Sappi papermill in Skowhegan.  I think they saw the run on pellet sales early and stepped in to fill the void, but had an inferior product. 

I am not impressed.  I will not buy Athens pellets again, and I would like to support Maine businesses. 

I only took these because it looked like it might be the only ones I could get before winter and the dealer told me they were premium low ash (I had ordered Corinth pellets, but the dealer stopped getting shipments of them and didn't know why or when they would get them again)


For what it is worth, the dealer has agreed to take the pellets back and let me buy some Energex pellets instead (I have to pay the difference in price between the two though).  I think I will probably do this, but I'll keep one ton of the Athens pellets to hold me over until I get the Energex.  If I get the Energex before my remaining Athens ton runs out I'll mix them.


----------



## sparkydog00

Just wanted to keep this issue burning close to the top of the forum.
These pellets are not premium quality.


----------



## ajwoodman

I have to agree, these pellets are not premium. We have all been had.  Next thing is, what to do. I have three tons sitting in my basement that I bought from O'hara Ice. They delivered them to the garage. We then moved them down to the basement and they are all neatly stacked.  How would I return them???  I think I willl have to burn them so is it possible to be able to mix them and get better results?  Is that a possibility?  Will that mess up the stove?? First year of burning pellets here and need advice.  Thanks.


----------



## wak1954

I have had some success in mixing the Athens pellets with Green Team. The last time I tried mixing them with Penningtons and the auger got bound up again. I wish you luck. We are all in the same predicament, and looking for a resonable answer.


----------



## jenrn54

Two places in Waterville, Maine getting Athens pellets next week.  After reading about all your thoughts and experiences with these pellets---buy or not?  $265/ton.


----------



## pellet0708

Had a friend than picked some up in Waterville two weeks ago and they were much better than mine that I purchased in the spring.  Maybe they have fixed the problems.  Might be all you can get.


----------



## DAGME

I wanted to post an update on my experience with the Athens pellets.  I tried a few bags from each of the two tons we purchased and found a pretty big difference in the quality of the pellets from the different tons.  Pellets from one of my tons created a lot of ash (as reported by many here) -- a 40 lb bag filling the burn pot with ash twice.  But bags from the *other* ton burned very well and created very low amounts of ash -- burning through 2 40lb bags with little noticeable ash buildup.  

Interestingly, both of these tons were bought at the same time from the same dealer - but I have no idea how long one of them might have been sitting around the Athens plant.

When I return home (from sunny San Diego!), I plan on contacting the Athens' folks directly to discuss the matter.

BTW, we've been looking to buy a third ton of pellets from someone here in the Lewiston/Auburn area, but we are finding that almost everyone around here is getting the Athens' pellets.  They are definitely hitting the Maine market hard - so I really hope they deal with the QA/QC issues soon.


----------



## lessoil

jen said:
			
		

> Two places in Waterville, Maine getting Athens pellets next week.  After reading about all your thoughts and experiences with these pellets---buy or not?  $265/ton.



We paid $314/ton delivered: $265 is a good price!
If you can, try some first.
Depending on your stove, the ash might not be a huge problem.
They do burn well in our P61. If I let the burn pot go for 2-3 days,
I think the ash would eventually be pushed over the edge by new pellets
fed from the back.

Good Luck!!


----------



## jenrn54

Thinking about buying 2 Ton of these.  My other question is---are they softwood and do they burn up faster?  Right now I am burning hardwood pellets and have my auger feed set to 2 seconds on.
Thanks for the info!


----------



## pellet0708

They are 80 hardwood 20% soft.


----------



## lessoil

jen said:
			
		

> Thinking about buying 2 Ton of these.  My other question is---are they softwood and do they burn up faster?  Right now I am burning hardwood pellets and have my auger feed set to 2 seconds on.
> Thanks for the info!



We have our feed rate at 4. I am still trying to come up with the best settings.
Because the room it is in is only 12'X12', the stove cycles quite often. (Room temp mode)
We are heating a 24'X32' Cape.
I will have a better idea when it is -10 and the wind blowing!!


----------



## sparkydog00

jen said:
			
		

> Two places in Waterville, Maine getting Athens pellets next week.  After reading about all your thoughts and experiences with these pellets---buy or not?  $265/ton.



If you have ANY and I mean ANY other pellet available then NO.
If you have a top feeding stove..then NO.


----------



## malibuman00

If they are the only pellets you can get then I would make the purchase.  However, if you can wait and find anything else then I would wait.  These pellets have to many variations per ton and even per bag.  Some are good and some are bad. It is clear they do make a ton of ash.  I have been dealing with this by mixing the pellets with another brand.  I am glad I only have one ton to burn.  If I had known about these issues I would have not made the purchase.  You may want to purchase a few bags and try them out in your stove.  I also know that a member sent an email to Maine Woods regarding concerns about the pellets and is waiting for a response.


----------



## lessoil

fireitup said:
			
		

> If they are the only pellets you can get then I would make the purchase.  However, if you can wait and find anything else then I would wait.  These pellets have to many variations per ton and even per bag.  Some are good and some are bad. It is clear they do make a ton of ash.  I have been dealing with this by mixing the pellets with another brand.  I am glad I only have one ton to burn.  If I had known about these issues I would have not made the purchase.  You may want to purchase a few bags and try them out in your stove.  I also know that a member sent an email to Maine Woods regarding concerns about the pellets and is waiting for a response.



I sent the email and am still waiting.
I'll post their reply as soon as they respond.


----------



## jenrn54

Ok, now I have opportunity to buy 2 ton of Corinth Wood Pellets. They claim to be hardwood pellets.  Anyone burn these, like these?


----------



## Res5cue

I bought my pellets from dysarts, by bulk 1 ton sacks. They told me they were supplied by athens. This would now make sense, since they are extremely small pellets .25" length. This will be the last time I buy bulk without going to dysarts and looking at the pellets before I purchase them.

As far as other sources, in Bangor, Sams seems to be getting regular shipments in, first come first serve basis. My buddy walked in and they just happend to still have a ton that day. Other days you have to wait from 2 a.m., but still worth the try to just pop in and check.


----------



## Saltair

Just found this thread. first time pellet stove owner running a NPI40. I went in with my Dad on enough of these to get us through the winter. I knew there would be some variation between pellet brands but had no idea how much. I though I wasn't using the stove right. After two bags I had rounded up a dust pan with ash and clinkers just from the burn pot and the rest of the stove was a mess. Last night I cleaned the stove and emptied the hopper to fill it with a Canadian brand I had a couple bags of. My Dad started with these and had good luck. He han't burned any of the Athens yet. It burned all night and while the glass is still blacker than I expected there is very little ash in the stove. In in previous night the pot would be almost full of ash. Maybe it wasn't operator trouble after all. We bought so many becuase as others have said they were all that you could get. Should have waited I guess. Expensive lesson learned. Dont know if it is even possible to return them...


----------



## redbullguy

We almost purchased Maine Woods pellets yesterday from Home and Hearth in Hampton Falls, NH for $250 ton.  After reading this thread I found some NEWP in southern NH for $299 ton.  We have good luck with NEWP and like the way they burn with low amounts of ash.  For the $50 difference we purchased a better pellet with less mess and what I think is better heat output.

After buying our stove from Home and Hearth they have turned out to be jerks when buying pellets.  They will never see a penny of my money again!!


----------



## muss

Got 5 tons  of   Athens           delivered  in July ,"OINK OINK"  . Put my 1st bag in last nite. Set at 64 & at 5 this morning had to jack it up to 70 then at 10 i had to put it 74 , finally at about 11 the house is warm . The pellets are mostly broken pieces . I am so screwed  :sick:   I have 3 ton in cellar & 2 ton in garage . No way am i gonna be able to bring them all back . When i am up for the day , i like to keep the thermostat at 70 & run on auto & low but i won't be able to the rest of the winter cause of these pellets . Good luck to anyone else out there with these early pellets . Paid $219 a ton plus $30 each ton delivery . $249 each but hell, if they are all shitty pellets then i'm f@#ed.   Muss


----------



## muss

Just put in another bag of Athens . Was about 50/50 . No jam as of yet .Hopefully i won't have to keep it at medium with this bag to get good ,decent heat. I've been kinda straining 'em in a big collander but it's a major pain as the room gets full of dust ,more so than the other 4 brands i've burnt  :shut:  Muss


----------



## novah

compressedwoodsupplier said:
			
		

> I have burned pellets for five years and these pellets dont seem any different. Put out a nice heat and im not getting the ash content you all are talking about.. Not sure whats wrong but not sure its the pellets.



What color are the pellets - real dark or light like the picture on their website?


----------



## novah

redbullguy said:
			
		

> We almost purchased Maine Woods pellets yesterday from Home and Hearth in Hampton Falls, NH for $250 ton.  After reading this thread I found some NEWP in southern NH for $299 ton.  We have good luck with NEWP and like the way they burn with low amounts of ash.  For the $50 difference we purchased a better pellet with less mess and what I think is better heat output.
> 
> After buying our stove from Home and Hearth they have turned out to be jerks when buying pellets.  They will never see a penny of my money again!!



Where did you find the NEWP?


----------



## redbullguy

East Coast Lumber in Hamstead, NH


----------



## pelletuser

I have been using the Athens pellets in my Harmon Stove for about 2 months now. They burn very well and I have not had to clean the glass yet. This is a record for my glass staying clean in the 15 years that I have owned pellet stoves. The ash is slightly more than some and this weekend will be the first time I empty my ash pan. However I don't have any soot on the inside of the stove . I have burned approx 25-30 bags so far. The pellets are shorter than most but I don't have a lot of dust in the bags. In the 15 tears that I have burned pellets i have burned a lot of different pellets in 3 different stoves that I have owned. I have found that every time i changed brands of pellets i needed to change my stove settings to get the maximum efficiency from my stove. I have found the Athens pellets burn best in my stove at a feed setting of 1.5. I set the room temperature to what I need and adjust the circulating fan to a level that does the job. I would prefer to have the stove run longer to maintain temperature than constantly turn off and on.
I know several other people who have different model stoves with dampers who have increased the air and reduced the feed rate and are having good luck with the pellets. As with anything this probably won't work for everyone but may be a start.
Hope this helps.


----------



## allenfrme

After trying some bags from my second ton I purchased, I suspect we're all seeing the problems of a startup company, that just can't take a pause to get things in order quickly. The second ton of Athens pellets burns OK, still has an enormous amount of ash, but less dust, and some longer pellets.  I had to empty my ash buckets after 8 bags of pellets with the first ton, but after 15 bags with this lot. 
I'll probably keep mixing my purchases, half NE and half Athens. My PF100 furnace should have no problems with the increased ash, and certainly has a larger ash bucket.  The P68 will get mostly the NE ones. 

I do agree, that everytime you change pellets, or even between years , you have to try changing flow settings until you find a good setting. But, I think a lot of us have learned there are tims when you want the temp to remain steady, and there fore a higher blower setting, and sometimes at night, a lower blower setting and more temp variation. 

I bet we all also agree, there are some folks who are going to have a had time going to anything after a set the thermostat oil or gas furnace !  I little more weekly cleaning work but a lot less work writing oil payment checks !


----------



## pellet0708

I don't get soot and they burn nicely but the ash is unbelievable. 6 cups per bag.  Setting can not improve ash amts. can they?


----------



## ajwoodman

I have to agree after burning about 15 bags that some are better than others. Also, I think we learn to deal with certain things.  The ash is definitely more, and I think the heat output isn't quite up to par but other than that I am not finding clinkers and no problems feeding.  I think that I also, will mix with other brands. Everything should be okay doing that. I do think that the first year in business is a trial just like the first year burning pellets is a trial. I don't think they meant to put out any bad product so I will give them another shot.  (I won't buy three tons at a time though!!) HAHA>


----------



## Noreasta

You will find that a bottom feed stove like Harman will burn them better because by nature the bottom feed pushes most of the clinkers and ash build up out of the burn pot.  My top feed Lopi Yankee hated these pellets.  

There was also sand or by my hypothesis roofing material in my Athens pellets given their dark color and the fact that I found something that looked very much like a nail in my first bag.  Some creosote build up on the surfaces in the stove instead of just ash and my burn pot would get clogged every half a bag or so with a plug of sand/silica that was pretty much solid, I saw someone compare this to a pumice stone elsewhere and it's pretty accurate.  If I had kept these pellets I figure I would have come home from work just about daily to a stove that had shut down because of the clogged burn pot.  I found myself needing to clean the stove about every 1/4 of a bag or just about daily to keep the stove burning reliably and it's not even cold out yet.  

I would guess these are industrial grade pellets in a premium pellet bag.  I've burnt 2 bags of Corinth pellets since I returned the 2 tons of Athens and they are still burning the creosote out of my stove.


----------



## pellet0708

Being a first time burner I didn't know if this was normal or not but you are right about the grit in these pellets.  When I clean out the burn pot there literally is sand in the bottom.  Some of the granuals are pure white like salt but hard as stone.  This is some strange stuff.


----------



## lessoil

I may have found something which could help Athens pellet burners.
After reading a few articles online, I came to the conclusion that
my problem (High Ash) may be due to incomplete burning.
Some of the ash I have had to deal with had what looked like
a caramel glaze on the top. There were also clumps of ash.

Yesterday I increased the speed of the combustion fan. (Hotter Fire in burn pot??)
I turned the adjustment screw maybe 1/8 of a turn clockwise.
Unless the pellet composition has changed in the last week (Highly Unlikely),
the burning does look better and more complete.
There is a bit more ash left behind as compared to LG pellets but the
color is now light gray as compared to the very dark gray color before.
The ash is now only about the height of a pellet as compared to almost 1 in.


----------



## pelletuser

After about 25 bags I decided to emplty the pan on my Harmon Advance and take a look at the ash. I was pleasantly suprised that the ash pan was only 3/4 full and I would estimate about 6-8 pounds of ash. Not too bad The ash pan was not sooty and the ash had a granular quality. I believe this may be caused by the higher mineral content of hard wood chips in any case My hands were still remarkably clean so i decided to do some more observations. I should tell you I don't use a vacumm or gloves or any of that stuff when I clean the stove and I normally spend more of my time washing my hands and cleaning up soot than cleaning the stove. 
First i found only a small amount of fines in the fire pot. No clinkers. ( I usually brush off the firepot with the tool once a week or so (never any clinkers). The glass only had a small amount of fogging and dust and cleaned up with warm water on a cloth (This was the first glass cleaning this season) In general the inside of the stove looked clean, dusty and had the ash on surfaces but clean. I actually brushed the ash from the surfaces with my hand and only got dusty no soot. I checked the heat exchangers and found them to be pretty clean they were lightly and evenly coated they didn't need cleaning nor would I usually expect them to at this time. I believe that the quality of the ash makes it more apparent in the visible areas of the stove but your heat exchanger and flue etc may stay cleaner.

After I was finished I went to the sink to cleanup and my wife came over to get the dish soap out (this was the only thing that would normally get the soot off my hands). Not only did I not need it but I only needed warm water and a small amount of hand soap.

I wish everyone was having the same experience with these pellets as me. 
I tend to agree there must have been some QC issues on some earlier shipments during their startup and ramp up times and this could account for some of the radicly different experinces. Also I believe that stove adjustments are key and uncombusted product ( poor combustion) could appear as ash and would certainly soot up the works. Don't forget pellets are combusted not burned and need an efficient fuel air mixture. Most of the owners manuals have these instructions as well as proper cleaning procedures. You people new to pellet burning remember there isn't any substitute for regular cleaning and learn to think about the money you are saving and the environment when you are doing it. Don't be afraid to experiment until you get the results you want.

What works for one may not necessary work for you. Just don't give up. Call the stove suppier,manufacturer, and pellet manufacturer. No one wants you to be unhappy and they are all trying to do the right thing.


----------



## Saltair

"I found something that looked very much like a nail in my first bag. "

This is the second time I have heard of this. The first time the guys auger jammed becuase of a nail in the bag. These pellets are awful


----------



## Panhandler

pelletuser said:
			
		

> After about 25 bags I decided to emplty the pan on my Harmon Advance and take a look at the ash. I was pleasantly suprised that the ash pan was only 3/4 full and I would estimate about 6-8 pounds of ash. Not too bad The ash pan was not sooty and the ash had a granular quality. I believe this may be caused by the higher mineral content of hard wood chips in any case My hands were still remarkably clean so i decided to do some more observations. I should tell you I don't use a vacumm or gloves or any of that stuff when I clean the stove and I normally spend more of my time washing my hands and cleaning up soot than cleaning the stove.
> First i found only a small amount of fines in the fire pot. No clinkers. ( I usually brush off the firepot with the tool once a week or so (never any clinkers). The glass only had a small amount of fogging and dust and cleaned up with warm water on a cloth (This was the first glass cleaning this season) In general the inside of the stove looked clean, dusty and had the ash on surfaces but clean. I actually brushed the ash from the surfaces with my hand and only got dusty no soot. I checked the heat exchangers and found them to be pretty clean they were lightly and evenly coated they didn't need cleaning nor would I usually expect them to at this time. I believe that the quality of the ash makes it more apparent in the visible areas of the stove but your heat exchanger and flue etc may stay cleaner.
> 
> After I was finished I went to the sink to cleanup and my wife came over to get the dish soap out (this was the only thing that would normally get the soot off my hands). Not only did I not need it but I only needed warm water and a small amount of hand soap.
> 
> I wish everyone was having the same experience with these pellets as me.
> I tend to agree there must have been some QC issues on some earlier shipments during their startup and ramp up times and this could account for some of the radicly different experinces. Also I believe that stove adjustments are key and uncombusted product ( poor combustion) could appear as ash and would certainly soot up the works. Don't forget pellets are combusted not burned and need an efficient fuel air mixture. Most of the owners manuals have these instructions as well as proper cleaning procedures. You people new to pellet burning remember there isn't any substitute for regular cleaning and learn to think about the money you are saving and the environment when you are doing it. Don't be afraid to experiment until you get the results you want.
> 
> What works for one may not necessary work for you. Just don't give up. Call the stove suppier,manufacturer, and pellet manufacturer. No one wants you to be unhappy and they are all trying to do the right thing.



Didn't even need soap. Looking forward to more of your posts.


----------



## Panhandler

'they're all trying to do the right thing." OK I new that.


----------



## BJN644

Saltair said:
			
		

> "I found something that looked very much like a nail in my first bag. "
> 
> This is the second time I have heard of this. The first time the guys auger jammed becuase of a nail in the bag. These pellets are awful



Here is some food for thought.

If you are familiar with the Athens area then you know that the owners of the mill tried unsuccessfully to start up a biomass plant that would burn construction demolition debris. The locals vehemently opposed this plan and won.

Could it be that the owners have found a use for this demolition debris in pellet manufacturing?


----------



## pellet0708

Pelletusers experience was pretty miraculous with ANY brand of pellet.  Not to get dirty cleaning your stove?
Glad you have a positive experience.  All I know is that penningtons, which most people dislike are much better in my stove than the Athens.
Now I'm worried what exactly is in the Athens and could it be harmful debris?


----------



## Noreasta

BJN644 said:
			
		

> Here is some food for thought.
> 
> If you are familiar with the Athens area then you know that the owners of the mill tried unsuccessfully to start up a biomass plant that would burn construction demolition debris. The locals vehemently opposed this plan and won.
> 
> Could it be that the owners have found a use for this demolition debris in pellet manufacturing?



I'm not familiar with the Athens area but after some hours reading up on what is acceptable in industrial grade pellets and what comprises "Premium Wood Pellets" I came to the same conclusion.  The nail I actually found while I was looking over that first bag of pellets in the hopper thinking "Gee, these sure don't look like the sample they had on display and on the web page."  Very glad the nail didn't go through my stove, I had only had it for 3 weeks and had just run out of my Cubex pellets which burned wonderfully by the way.  I will definately be using them next year if I can find them.

For this year though, how do you guys feel about Lignetics or Corinth pellets?  I've been borrowing Corinth pellets from family until I can find my own, they seem to burn well but I might only be able to get the Lignetics before cold weather hits.


----------



## pelletuser

I haven't used the Corinth pellets this year but used them last year with good success. Not familiar with the other brand.


----------



## pellet0708

Lignetics are being sold right now through Walmart under the name Forest Pride. (Googled it)   Have burned a few bags and they are great, burn real hot and not a speck of dust in the bags.


----------



## richkorn

Yea, Lignetics are excellent. I'm picking up another ton tomorrow.


----------



## gw2kpro

I've burned 35 bags of Athens this year so far in my 2 stoves.  I haven't found them to be better or worse than the Energex, Somersets, or Penningtons I burned last year.

I think all manufacturers of pellets likely struggle to produce a consistent product as they don't typically have a consistent raw material input.


----------



## sydney1963

I was so hoping that the Maine based business of pellet making would be a wonderful opportunity for our state.  On the other hand it seems like there are a lot of different opinions on this forum also.  I hope if it's something Athens can fix and they can get their s__t together and produce a quality product, Maine needs the jobs.


----------



## pellet0708

You are so right.  I will try a couple of bags next year to give them a chance before we buy elsewhere


----------



## sparkydog00

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> You are so right.  I will try a couple of bags next year to give them a chance before we buy elsewhere



This company will never get my buisness again.
They sold Industrial grade pellets at premium prices. The only thing premium about these pellets are the bags they come in. 
i feel hoodwinked!
That said...
I now have about 2.5 tons of these crappy pellets. The ash is not of the fine lightweight "fly" ash variety that all other pellets have produced to date. This is more of a sand texture...and much more weight.  The glass starts to haze over after the first bag...burn pot needs constant attention to keep clear of ash. 
This morning the crappy pellets finally binded up my auger causing the stove to shut down. 
Have burnt many brand of pellets and these are the worse to date. Like i stated before...if you have a top loading stove these pellets will not burn due to the high ash content. 
These pellets stink!


----------



## orudiskt

We just ordered a few tons of *Premium* Maine Woods pellets, and I think they must be having issues with their quality control. I had been burning Pennington, which I know a lot of people don't like, but they were much cleaner than the pellets from Athens.  

The Pennington pellets burned hotter with much less ash than the Athens brand.  Plus there is a lot of junk in the pellets that I have to clean out for the burn pot two to three times per day. Literally hardened clumps of *crap* form in the burn pot. I had to do that at most once weekly with the Pennington brand, and nothing like this. These pellets have smothered the fire once, which never has happened before with other pellets. I'm not promoting Pennington as I'm sure there a lot of other truly premium pellet brands, I'm just saying that after about 20 bags of these Athens pellets I am very disappointed.

______________
Breckwell P4000


----------



## slls

I burned 3 bags of Pennington to try, I would buy them again, good heat, a little dirtier than Energex.


----------



## pellet0708

Now that it has gotten a lot colder it is obvious the heat difference between the Athens and all the other brands I have tried.  Very little heat with the Athens.  I think this is mostly because they are so broken up they burn up fast.  Plus you have all the hard particles in them that don't burn at all!


----------



## sparkydog00

May as well turn up the burn rate on these pellets.
I have burned a little over a 1/2 ton of these pellets.
The ash content is unbelievable. It is almost like you get 40 lbs of ash for every bag. I know I am aggerating...butstill. To give you an idea...it is the middle of November and I had to empty my ash vac today. It was full. Usually only do this once a season...not once a month. Am worried that these pellets might be causing damage to my stove. 
They say they are 8-% hardwood 20 % softwood.
I would venture to guess they are 80% wood 20 % filler...and sometimes that filler isn't even flammable. 
These pellets stink...will never purchase any other products from this crackpot operation!


----------



## jtpack123

The only real issue is the TREMENDOUS amount of ash. Our Ash pan fills up every couple of days.  I have not had any jams yet but did have one fire smother out on the low setting.  That could have been a temporary jam or just some very bad pellets. I will not buy these again. I have about 1.5 tons left to suffer through.


----------



## Sue. Quadrafire

This is our first year with a quadrafire and I bought a bag of green team pellets to see how they would burn and they were great.  But they sold out so fast - it was amazing.  So I ended up buying 5 tons of pellets from Maine woods Pellet company.  What a mistake.  I clean my stove every day ... and every day it is full of ash with clinckers in the ash pan - the stove has an auto clean feature. The heat output isn't as good as the green team brand from Lowe's.  I have to burn 5  tons of these things.  Does anyone know who delivers a quality pellet in the central maine area?


----------



## pellet0708

Have better luck mixing these pellets.  Been buying some bags of penningtons at Walmart and mixing in 1/4 bag with a bag of Athens.  Does not help the ash problems but at least the fire burns better, brighter and much hotter.


----------



## j00fek

cleaned the stove after 5 day burn, 5 bags burnt

ash pan was 3/4 full, nice clickers in there this time. took me 20m to clean the glass with ceramic cleaner what a bit*h... i actually had one bag of good looking pellets then i kept burning to find what was the norm, small dusty pellets.
had 2 cups of fines in the 1 bag i used lastnight


----------



## maineteech

I have 3 tons of the Athens pellets, too.  Basicall was stuck with them when I couldn't get the Corinth brand (apparently, many people had the same problem).  The heat output seems fine, but my glass gets sooty very quickly, and there is a lot of ash.  I am constantly stirring the burn pot to get a better flame.  Seems to clog up a lot with ash and huge clinkers.  I am also cleaning the stove a lot more than I was when I burned Energex.  Oh well...I am just thankful I could get pellets in this crazy year.  I will try another brand next year, assuming the hoarding and panic doesn't set in again.


----------



## akakii

Now that I finally have my stove running full time I have a better sense of how these pellets burn.  Unfortunately, my impressions haven't changed a bit since I burned the first couple of bags in October.  If anything, I dislike them even more.

I have pretty much all of the same problems as everyone else (though I have yet to find a nail).  While I can live with higher ash output and dirty glass, what I'm really pissed about is the lousy heat output.  Heat is the reason we burn these things, right?  While I have no way to gauge it, I'd guess I'm getting about 75% of the heat out of these that I have with other pellets.  Thank god oil prices are down since I'm going to be using it more as backup.

As for those suggesting that we give the company the benefit of the doubt while they work through their startup issues, you're far more charitable than I am.  It's not like they advertised that they are new to the premium pellet business and they certainly didn't offer us a price break while they work out the kinks in their production.  They filled the vacuum in the market.  While it may have provided nice short term profit to them, it's going to hurt them in the long run.  While those of us in this forum are only a tiny sliver of the pellet market, bad news travels fast and I'm not going to hesitate to spread it.  Once I've run four tons of these things through my stove I'll never buy another bag again.  I, like others here, broke my rule of trying a few bags before buying a large quantity.  My bad.

For those that are happy with these pellets, I'd be happy to sell you mine at a very reasonable price.


----------



## jimcooncat

As far as the people behind the operation, we've only got praise for them. We were a bit frantic this season in that we had the stove hooked up and had only two bags of pellets on hand to test with, then we couldn't find any for sale. We called Maine Woods to find out that we could get on a waiting list for $215 a ton, and that they recently delivered to Spring Brook in Waterville. We called up Spring Brook, and picked up a ton there for $265. Nice people at Spring Brook, but they have a very congested area for loading the trailer.

Maine Woods called us to say they had a ton ready for us; we can only haul one at a time with our little pickup and trailer. The office help was extremely nice, and set us up for another ton in December. The guy who loaded our trailer was extremely helpful, and pitched in to throw the top ten bags off the pallet into the truck. So I can't be happier with the customer service. The product, though, is low on the quality side, although the packaging is superb.

I'd like to clear up some misconceptions in this thread. I had a good look around the plant, which had changed a lot since it was a "stick mill" that I had worked at for a short time in the eighties. I thought they were making pellets out of scraps from the wood processing operations, and maybe in the beginning they were. But it seems it's switched over to just a pellet manufacturing operation.

As I drove around the plant, there were no piles of construction debris or post-consumer biomass. Also, I could see no sawdust receiving area. Instead, there were huge piles of fresh wood chips on concrete and tar unloading areas. It seemed to me that they were making at least most of the pellets directly out of chipped trees.

I guess that the high ash content is probably from not debarking trees before chipping, and that a small amount of dirt is in the pellets as well. As far as nails and other foreign stuff in them, I haven't seen any; but I would guess that they would come from trees along a fenceline that someone nailed into. Possible that bits of barbed wire fence would make their way into such a product as well. 

I'll be experimenting with other brands, but I'm probably going to try my best to make these work for us, because they're easy to deal with, low price, and a short drive from our house.


----------



## ajwoodman

I can understand that you were pretty pleased with their customer service but their product really stinks.  I have burned a few other brands and let me tell you, to go from Athens pellets (cleaning a really dirty window and cleaning the stove daily with ten times as much ash) to a nice clean window for days and a much, I mean much, hotter fire and cleaning once a week situation there is no comparison.  I don't know about you but I work 40 hours a week and it isn't in the daily chores to be thoroughly cleaning a stove and putting up with having to use oil also just because the pellets don't throw off much heat.  I am blessed with three tons of these babies and am not very happy.  If they didn't represent so much money I think I would not even burn them.  Too bad that Athens couldn't even respond to the many phone calls and posts.  I think that really hurts their reputation more than anything else.  It is like they just don't care.  (maybe they don't)!As you can see, I am very dissatisfied with the product.  I wonder what burning that crap is going to do to everyones stoves!!


----------



## maineteech

I was told that the Athens plant was making pellets out of the trrees cut from the side of I-95 up here in northern Maine.  Don't know if it's true or if it makes any difference.  From doing a little research, I found that the high ash content is usually due to a high bark content in the pellets.  That would probably explain the dark color, too.  But I'm still a novice at this whole pellet thing.


----------



## j00fek

jimcooncat said:
			
		

> As far as the people behind the operation, we've only got praise for them. We were a bit frantic this season in that we had the stove hooked up and had only two bags of pellets on hand to test with, then we couldn't find any for sale. We called Maine Woods to find out that we could get on a waiting list for $215 a ton, and that they recently delivered to Spring Brook in Waterville. We called up Spring Brook, and picked up a ton there for $265. Nice people at Spring Brook, but they have a very congested area for loading the trailer.
> 
> Maine Woods called us to say they had a ton ready for us; we can only haul one at a time with our little pickup and trailer. The office help was extremely nice, and set us up for another ton in December. The guy who loaded our trailer was extremely helpful, and pitched in to throw the top ten bags off the pallet into the truck. So I can't be happier with the customer service. The product, though, is low on the quality side, although the packaging is superb.
> 
> I'd like to clear up some misconceptions in this thread. I had a good look around the plant, which had changed a lot since it was a "stick mill" that I had worked at for a short time in the eighties. I thought they were making pellets out of scraps from the wood processing operations, and maybe in the beginning they were. But it seems it's switched over to just a pellet manufacturing operation.
> 
> As I drove around the plant, there were no piles of construction debris or post-consumer biomass. Also, I could see no sawdust receiving area. Instead, there were huge piles of fresh wood chips on concrete and tar unloading areas. It seemed to me that they were making at least most of the pellets directly out of chipped trees.
> 
> I guess that the high ash content is probably from not debarking trees before chipping, and that a small amount of dirt is in the pellets as well. As far as nails and other foreign stuff in them, I haven't seen any; but I would guess that they would come from trees along a fenceline that someone nailed into. Possible that bits of barbed wire fence would make their way into such a product as well.
> 
> I'll be experimenting with other brands, but I'm probably going to try my best to make these work for us, because they're easy to deal with, low price, and a short drive from our house.



at least they helped you when you went there, they will not respond to phone calls


----------



## sparkydog00

They are not premium quality.
They burn with too much ash...and the ash is of a heavy nature...which suggests to me that there is something in the3 pellet that is not fully combustible. So I will stick with 80% wood...20 % filler as the make up of these pllets. They certainly have hurt their reputation with me...I wouldn't buy anymore of these pellets...even wouldn't burn them if you gave them to me free.
That said...I have over 2 tons of these pellets. If anybody likes them...make me an offer..i will sell them at a loss just to get rid of them.


----------



## ajwoodman

Ditto!! Make me an offer!!  I have about 21/2 tons. HAHA!


----------



## slls

ajwoodman said:
			
		

> Ditto!! Make me an offer!!  I have about 21/2 tons. HAHA!



No deal, them pellets have expired.


----------



## orudiskt

As much as I dislike these pellets, I will agree with _jimcooncat_ and say that my experience when I called Maine Woods was pretty good. They answered the phone right away, and the guy I spoke to was very nice.  He stated that the company I bought the pellets through should have told me about the ash...he said they are forthright in telling their customers to expect more ash because of the bark content. Also, one of the local stove dealers told me that Maine Woods has gone a long way at working out the bugs in their operations.

All that said, its not enough for me to buy these pellets again. I have to keep our stove at about twice the feed rate as other premium pellets for the same heat, and have to empty the ash pan about every 3 days.  I wish the company luck, but 3 tons of these pellets is is enough for me.

______________

Breckwell P4000


----------



## pellet0708

I thought using the word "Premium" on the product bags meant less than 1% ash??
If this is true then it is false advertising and packaging.
At least next year if we find a good brand of pellets it will seem like a vacation not cleaning the stove out every 2-3 days.
I asked two dealers specifically about these pellets and they said they were fine.  No mention of higher ash content so someone is not being truthful.


----------



## slls

New company, never seen a winter, you roll the dice.


----------



## DAGME

I'd like to believe that Maine Woods Pellet company has good intentions in producing pellets -- and I hope that 3-5 years from now they have finished the growing pains of a new company and put out a better quality product.  God knows, Maine needs the jobs right now -- and many of us Mainers would rather support a local company than have pellets trucked in from somewhere else.

That being said, I am very disappointed to hear that Maine Woods Pellet Co. brazenly puts "PREMIUM" on all of their bags, and then admits on the phone that these pellets produce lots of ash.  It is clearly a misrepresentation of the pellets, and I suspect that the company folks *know* it.  Yes, high bark content is going to increase ash output and the amount of sand particulates in the pellets, but take a look at the pellets shown on their website - they represent low bark content (lighter colored) pellets.  Also, at the $300/ton I bought them at - that represents premium pellet prices (yes, let the buyer beware).  I'd hate to think that they are taking advantage of a high demand market by rushing poor supply in.  Also,  I don't appreciate them essentially blaming the dealers selling their product -- mine at least didn't hear about the high ash production issue from the company but from customer complaints.

I still have 1 and 3/4 tons of Maine Woods Pellets - other than the ash (I clean the burnpot of my EF-2i twice a day), I will continue to burn them as a supplement to reduce how much oil we use.  Hopefully, I'll have them finished off when our second pellet stove comes in this spring/summer.  In the meantime, I'm keeping an eye out for better established pellet brands (LG, Lignetics) which may have higher availability now that oil prices have gone down.


----------



## Saltair

Good customer service is important, but only if your product is good. They are selling crap and all the smiles and good cheer in the world will not change that. I bought thee ton and was able to sell of two of them. I told the folks they burned dirty and gave them a couple bags to try and they still wanted them so I sold them. I burn an insert and the risk of problems in the hopper is too great for me so I will not burn them period. I am still trying to unload 45 bags. Someone a couple posts back mentioned premium meanaing >1% ash. I though this as well, but you need to look for the PFI stamp for that I guess. I too am concerned that they are knowingly selling an inferior product they are labeling as "premium". In fact that statement seals the deal for me. I will not be giving them a second chance unless I hear glowing reviews in the future and cant get anything else. I am bothered also that with all the bad press nobody has responded to this board or other inquiries. I certainly will not hesitate to share my experience with this misrepresented product.


----------



## sparkydog00

Another unhappy Maine Woods pellet customer...making sure this post stays close to the top...Let my misfortune be a warning to others...These pellets stink!


----------



## dbjc364

We have a Napolean S140. Athens pellets- 3 ton. We clean our stove daily-to every other day. We probaly would with any stove. Yes- we get some clinkers when we burn on high{5}. That doesnt bother me. We did our homework-asking alot of questions before purchasing the stove. We get ash-probaly 1/4-1/2 cup per bag,it lasts a day or slightly longer,that doesnt bother me either.Not sure how the man feels about it. Mostly its me who cleans it. We get good heat from the stove. If it was a wood stove-it would have to be cleaned also- and much more work involved.I'm more disgusted with the glass cleaner saying its "Ultra Cling"- when it isn't. So I dont think the pellets are bad- I think the brand of the stove is what matters most perhaps,or maybe some people weren't prepared for the daily maintenence-? I do know the man wants to try some different brands at some point. The person on the phone was quite helpful & nice-which is more than I can say for alot of companies these days.pellets were/are available in a reasonable amount of time-so overall everythings ok with us. I'm not a dealer-nor work for them-we just live in the surrounding area.


----------



## pellet0708

It is NOT the stove.  We switched over to a new brand over the holidays when we were home and were amazed at how little ash they produced compared to the Athens.  Could go 4-5 days without emptying the ash drawer and with the Athens we had to empty it every 30 hours or it overflowed.  Not to mention the ash everywhere else.  That is with the exact same setting for both brands.  The difference was striking.
If these are the first pellets you have used, then you might be fine and not know any better... yes... they are wood and they burn but the up keep is exhausting.


----------



## slls

I understand there is bark in Athens pellets, that would account for high ash. It would be classified as standard pellets not premium, standard is 3% ash compared to 1% premium.


----------



## lessoil

Picture of burn pot after 4 hours of burning after cleaning ash from pot.
The glowing pellets towards the back look like a lava flow.
This "flow" wants to build itself higher and higher until
there is only a slit for the flame.
I usually clean the burn pot 3-4 times a day.

How does this compare to everyone??


----------



## j00fek

just cleaned out my stove after a 7 day operation, burn pot was 1/4 full of gummed up ash from these nice pellets. wanted to see just how long i could burn it till it just had to be done and i found it i guess.


----------



## DAGME

I'm using an Enviro EF2i that drops pellets in from the top.  I usually clean the stove twice daily - approximately every 12 hours.  Clean up includes shutting down the stove, dumping out the burn pot (which is usually 80% full).  About 3/4 of what is in the burnpot is ash, and 1/4 is clinker.  Vacuum out the sandy ash and start the stove up for another 12 hours.

One thing: if I let it go much past 12 hours, the burn pot is so full that the flame looks like it is about to spill out and over, dropping many hot embers into the ash drawer.  At this point, there is so much ash in the burn pot that little air is getting in for combustion (the flame is tall and lazy, as if the damper was pushed all the way in).

So far, I've tolerated the cleaning work - since this is our first pellet stove season, I guess I don't know who easy it could be with higher quality pellets.


----------



## j00fek

DAGME said:
			
		

> I'm using an Enviro EF2i that drops pellets in from the top.  I usually clean the stove twice daily - approximately every 12 hours.  Clean up includes shutting down the stove, dumping out the burn pot (which is usually 80% full).  About 3/4 of what is in the burnpot is ash, and 1/4 is clinker.  Vacuum out the sandy ash and start the stove up for another 12 hours.
> 
> One thing: if I let it go much past 12 hours, the burn pot is so full that the flame looks like it is about to spill out and over, dropping many hot embers into the ash drawer.  At this point, there is so much ash in the burn pot that little air is getting in for combustion (the flame is tall and lazy, as if the damper was pushed all the way in).
> 
> So far, I've tolerated the cleaning work - since this is our first pellet stove season, I guess I don't know who easy it could be with higher quality pellets.



have you tried using full air intake? your stove is just like mine, and i use 4/5 setting


----------



## DAGME

j00fek said:
			
		

> have you tried using full air intake? your stove is just like mine, and i use 4/5 setting



When that burnpot is filled with ash and clinkers, it doesn't matter how open the damper is - it is a "choked" burn (as I call it).  As soon as I dump out the burnpot, it is back to normal.

I will be quite happy after burning the last bag of Athen's pellets!


----------



## j00fek

DAGME said:
			
		

> j00fek said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> have you tried using full air intake? your stove is just like mine, and i use 4/5 setting
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When that burnpot is filled with ash and clinkers, it doesn't matter how open the damper is - it is a "choked" burn (as I call it).  As soon as I dump out the burnpot, it is back to normal.
> 
> I will be quite happy after burning the last bag of Athen's pellets!
Click to expand...


yea, im saying after a clean burn pot, scraped then started back up with almost full air


----------



## ajwoodman

Can somebody please tell me why we haven't got any response from the Athens pellet plant????  Seems with all this bad mouthing that they would respond with some kind of response.  I don't ever want to burn another bag of Athens pellets when I finally am done burning my three tons.  I have got to the point now that I am mixing them with other brands. I mean any other brand burns better than they do. I know that people have called them and they have been invited to read this forum so that they know what people think of their pellets.  Sounds like a really bad company that really just don't care about their customers.


----------



## dbjc364

I got to say that the style of stove to the brand of pellets probaly makes a difference. I'm sure with each of us- there was a brand of pellets that the salesman recommended at the time of purchase-but of course all of us will try different brands of pellets till we're happy with the results. Installed since October 7th- The reason we bought a Napolean in particular was the design of the burnpot and auger-able to buy an extension. We looked at Home Depots-Lowes and many others-but wanted the round burnpot-less chance of unburned pellets getting stuck in the square corners in particular,that appealed to my frugal side-and didnt want to be able to see the auger-so it would look a bit more like a wood stove, and we trusted that it was a good company being on the market for so long. We also have a large ashpan on the stove.The salesperson recommended Energix-which we burned the first 3 bags-but not knowing what the heck we were doing,and at that point didnt install the outside air-we were having problems with getting a decent flame- got a bit more clinkers,and we didnt have the damper opened enough. Since then we have installed outside air and are more familiar with the operation of the stove..4:30 a.m.-I just checked the burn pot-ran on 4 all night after being cleaned at 4 p.m. yesterday-air on 4 also.Temp is 68*-very comfortable in here. There is only a little ash in the bottom-up to the first line on my finger-no clinkers- and a real nice decent flame. Window is still clean. I didn't like the price per bag of Energix-over $6,but like I said we will keep an open mind & try other brands in the near future. So its kinda like picking a laundry detergent-which one brand works better with your machine-Tide or Arm & Hammer?


----------



## krooser

One thing I'd recommend to all of you who are using Athens pellets is to give your stove a through cleaning. I can't believe that, with all the ash these things produce, that you don't have hidden areas inside the stove that are blocking good air flow and producing a poor flame.

I'd also sugggest that you email Athens a link to this thread and let them know how people feel about their product.

Good luck... you guys have many stove cleanings ahead of you.


----------



## j00fek

krooser said:
			
		

> One thing I'd recommend to all of you who are using Athens pellets is to give your stove a through cleaning. I can't believe that, with all the ash these things produce, that you don't have hidden areas inside the stove that are blocking good air flow and producing a poor flame.
> 
> I'd also sugggest that you email Athens a link to this thread and let them know how people feel about their product.
> 
> Good luck... you guys have many stove cleanings ahead of you.



i do this every 7 days with these pellets


----------



## Jester

Ive been burning the athens for about two weeks now.  One thing Ive noticed is that I have to keep the feed rate on my stove up to almost 3 before they'll buildup enough heat to let the room air blower come on.
I was feeling lazy last night and didnt want to walk all the way across the basement to get a bag of the Maine Woods, so I grabbed a bag of big clinkers(big heat)
Ive been averaging about 62-65 degrees on the second floor of the house.  I woke up this AM with the big heats having run through, and the upstairs a balmy 75.
I hadnt noticed how little heat I get out of these maine wood pellets until this morning.

Maybe they just insulate the inside of the stove with so much ash all the heat is just going up the chimney.


----------



## Saltair

dbjc364 said:
			
		

> We have a Napolean S140. Athens pellets- 3 ton. We clean our stove daily-to every other day. We probaly would with any stove. Yes- we get some clinkers when we burn on high{5}. That doesnt bother me. We did our homework-asking alot of questions before purchasing the stove. We get ash-probaly 1/4-1/2 cup per bag,it lasts a day or slightly longer,that doesnt bother me either.Not sure how the man feels about it. Mostly its me who cleans it. We get good heat from the stove. If it was a wood stove-it would have to be cleaned also- and much more work involved.I'm more disgusted with the glass cleaner saying its "Ultra Cling"- when it isn't. So I dont think the pellets are bad- I think the brand of the stove is what matters most perhaps,or maybe some people weren't prepared for the daily maintenence-? I do know the man wants to try some different brands at some point. The person on the phone was quite helpful & nice-which is more than I can say for alot of companies these days.pellets were/are available in a reasonable amount of time-so overall everythings ok with us. I'm not a dealer-nor work for them-we just live in the surrounding area.



It is not the stove. There are pages and pages in just this thread and many other threads with complaints about this product. The picture of the burn pot full of ash looks familiar I was having the same problem. My stove would not burn more than 12 hours on Athens pellets. My father's stove does somewhat better, but still the ash is awful. I have gotten other pellet brands and the difference is amazing. No more twice a day cleanings now I do it twice a week. I am dismayed that the company has in no way responded to this forum. They took advantage of a short term market situation, and took advatange of their customers. I was happy to be supporting a Maine business, but this is not how good business is done in Maine. I am done with Athens Pellets and will yell how I feel from the roof tops.


----------



## sinnian

dbjc364 said:
			
		

> We have a Napolean S140. Athens pellets- 3 ton. We clean our stove daily-to every other day. We probaly would with any stove. Yes- we get some clinkers when we burn on high{5}. That doesnt bother me. We did our homework-asking alot of questions before purchasing the stove. We get ash-probaly 1/4-1/2 cup per bag,it lasts a day or slightly longer,that doesnt bother me either.Not sure how the man feels about it. Mostly its me who cleans it. We get good heat from the stove. If it was a wood stove-it would have to be cleaned also- and much more work involved.I'm more disgusted with the glass cleaner saying its "Ultra Cling"- when it isn't. So I dont think the pellets are bad- I think the brand of the stove is what matters most perhaps,or maybe some people weren't prepared for the daily maintenence-? I do know the man wants to try some different brands at some point. The person on the phone was quite helpful & nice-which is more than I can say for alot of companies these days.pellets were/are available in a reasonable amount of time-so overall everythings ok with us. I'm not a dealer-nor work for them-we just live in the surrounding area.






			
				dbjc364 said:
			
		

> I got to say that the style of stove to the brand of pellets probaly makes a difference. I'm sure with each of us- there was a brand of pellets that the salesman recommended at the time of purchase-but of course all of us will try different brands of pellets till we're happy with the results. Installed since October 7th- The reason we bought a Napolean in particular was the design of the burnpot and auger-able to buy an extension. We looked at Home Depots-Lowes and many others-but wanted the round burnpot-less chance of unburned pellets getting stuck in the square corners in particular,that appealed to my frugal side-and didnt want to be able to see the auger-so it would look a bit more like a wood stove, and we trusted that it was a good company being on the market for so long. We also have a large ashpan on the stove.The salesperson recommended Energix-which we burned the first 3 bags-but not knowing what the heck we were doing,and at that point didnt install the outside air-we were having problems with getting a decent flame- got a bit more clinkers,and we didnt have the damper opened enough. Since then we have installed outside air and are more familiar with the operation of the stove..4:30 a.m.-I just checked the burn pot-ran on 4 all night after being cleaned at 4 p.m. yesterday-air on 4 also.Temp is 68*-very comfortable in here. There is only a little ash in the bottom-up to the first line on my finger-no clinkers- and a real nice decent flame. Window is still clean. I didn't like the price per bag of Energix-over $6,but like I said we will keep an open mind & try other brands in the near future. So its kinda like picking a laundry detergent-which one brand works better with your machine-Tide or Arm & Hammer?




I don't get it!  Do they / use Maine Woods Pellets (Athens) or Energix (sp?)????????????????????????


----------



## malibuman00

I can't help but sit back and laugh! You can say Maine Woods has great customer service, but this only comes when you would like to make a purchase.  You ask why someone hasn't sent this forum link to them?  This has been done by several members well over a month ago.  I have been following this because I feel I was misled.  I guess I'm lucky because I only purchased 1 ton of these so called premium pellets. They have failed to answer the complaints because they are in the wrong and know it. Maybe this needs to go
to the next level.  Look at the response that happened with New England Pellet taking orders of pellets and not delivering.  The AG and press is now involved.  If I was sitting on 5 tons of these I would be demanding some action.  Just my 2 cents worth.


----------



## DAGME

Another disappointed Maine Woods Pellet owner here - and I am going to be the cynic here and ask: why WOULD they respond to this forum?   Basically, they already have our money!!

I wonder if Maine's pellet producers might have a chip on their shoulder right now - listen to Maine's governor tout pellet production and use as "Maine's future" of heating energy independence.  Read the Bangor Daily News, that praises Maine's pellet producers for increasing production five fold (and are we really to expect that quality wouldn't suffer?).  With these sort of endorsements, I just wonder if some pellet producers might feel a little free to put out a misrepresented "premium" product.

IMO, the company in Athens took advantage of an opening - and a high demand - and convinced suppliers that these were "premium" pellets simply because it's printed on their very pretty bags.  Fools like me bought 2 tons at $300 per ton thinking they were premium - and because they were the only brand I could get locally without being on an insanely long wait list.  In retrospect, that should have told me something.

I'm sure the owners of Maine Woods Pellet Co. read this forum. But the reality is that the majority of pellet uses out there probably don't - why respond to a vocal minority while they are still selling pellets!  In my opinion, the best thing to do is pressure our suppliers *NOT* to carry this brand - this is true for the local hardware store (like I bought mine at), but *MOST* especially for the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart).  That's where we should be more vocal - if we call them up and complain about this product enough, or better yet - walk away from buying it (that's what I did recently, trying to buy more pellets of different brand to mix my MWP into) - that will send a message to the company they will understand.  There's a good reason why all three stove shops I went to refuse to carry this product (one shop flat out told me Maine Woods Pellet was cr*p).

If suppliers refuse to carry Maine Woods Pellets - this company will have 3 choices: improve the quality of their product, advertise it for what it is (not "premium"), or let their business dry up.  Let the buyer beware the first time, but the buyer can also use the free market to his or her advantage too.


----------



## j00fek

DAGME said:
			
		

> Another disappointed Maine Woods Pellet owner here - and I am going to be the cynic here and ask: why WOULD they respond to this forum?   Basically, they already have our money!!
> 
> I wonder if Maine's pellet producers might have a chip on their shoulder right now - listen to Maine's governor tout pellet production and use as "Maine's future" of heating energy independence.  Read the Bangor Daily News, that praises Maine's pellet producers for increasing production five fold (and are we really to expect that quality wouldn't suffer?).  With these sort of endorsements, I just wonder if some pellet producers might feel a little free to put out a misrepresented "premium" product.
> 
> *IMO, the company in Athens took advantage of an opening - and a high demand - and convinced suppliers that these were "premium" pellets simply because it's printed on their very pretty bags.  Fools like me bought 2 tons at $300 per ton thinking they were premium - and because they were the only brand I could get locally without being on an insanely long wait list.  In retrospect, that should have told me something.*
> 
> I'm sure the owners of Maine Woods Pellet Co. read this forum. But the reality is that the majority of pellet uses out there probably don't - why respond to a vocal minority while they are still selling pellets!  In my opinion, the best thing to do is pressure our suppliers *NOT* to carry this brand - this is true for the local hardware store (like I bought mine at), but *MOST* especially for the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart).  That's where we should be more vocal - if we call them up and complain about this product enough, or better yet - walk away from buying it (that's what I did recently when trying to buy more pellets of another brand) - that will send the message to a company they will understand.  There's a good reason why all three stove shops I went to refuse to carry this product (one shop flat out told me it was cr*p).
> 
> If suppliers refuse to carry Maine Woods Pellets - they have 3 choices: improve the quality of their product, advertise it for what it is (not premium), or let their business dry up.  Let the buyer beware the first time, but the buyer can also use the free market on his or her side too.



this is why i will never buy their product again, i will go to NH and get NEWP pellets next yr


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

In order to get a place like Maine Woods Pellet CO. LLC to respond you might want to first complain to the people you bought the pellets from, most of you aren't actually customers of Maine Woods Pellet.

When the place that actually buys a large amount of their less than premium pellets then complains to them they are more likely to listen.


----------



## j00fek

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> In order to get a place like Maine Woods Pellet CO. LLC to respond you might want to first complain to the people you bought the pellets from, most of you aren't actually customers of Maine Woods Pellet.
> 
> When the place that actually buys a large amount of their less than premium pellets then complains to them they are more likely to listen.



i tried this with no response, again another place i will not buy from again.


----------



## DAGME

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> In order to get a place like Maine Woods Pellet CO. LLC to respond you might want to first complain to the people you bought the pellets from, most of you aren't actually customers of Maine Woods Pellet.
> 
> When the place that actually buys a large amount of their less than premium pellets then complains to them they are more likely to listen.



Actually, I think you'll find that many of us have already done that.


----------



## malibuman00

Yes, I called the dealer with concerns regarding the high ash content and quality.  They did respond by saying that these pellets do produce a lot of ash. However, when I purchased the pellets in July, I was told that these pellets were good. I will give them the benefit of doubt that in July no one new how these would burn.  The dealer was quite nice and said if I found any really bad bags to bring them in and he would exchange them.  They did have a bag on display and this is why I feel that Maine Woods is in the wrong.
The bag states premium grade pellet, no disclaimer stating high ash content.  This dealer understand why I was concerned, but they are still buying more pellets from Maine Woods.  They had another shipment this week, they must have 50 tons of these on hand.
My stove was installed this summer and I have burning steady for about a month.  Today I decided after reading some post to do a full cleaning of the stove.  I removed the cover to expose the heat exchangers and could not believe the amount of ash I was seeing.
The heat exchangers were completely covered with ash.  I then removed the back baffles and found a ton more ash.  The exhaust path opening was filled with ash as well.  These pellets could cause some serious damage to stoves. I would love to support a Maine company, but there is no way I can do this.  We need to get the word out.


----------



## DAGME

Hello Fireitup,

Thanks for the info!  I clean the heat exchangers weekly and I too am amazed by the amount of ash that builds up in just one week.  I was planning on pulling the back baffles this weekend - I've noticed that the fire doesn't seem to be getting as much air anymore - so your observation is appreciated.

I'm planning on talking to some folks as Lowe's and HD here in Auburn this weekend too.  Unfortunately, I agree that despite hearing comments from us, the smaller stores are still selling Maine Woods - probably because they are the only pellet producer who can supply them quickly enough.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Another complaint level if you really care to bring some pressure to bear would be the state's Attorney General.

Mention possible false advertising.

Me, I'm just going to talk to the local folks and not buy anything more from them.   I've managed to make it through the first of my three tons.

Likely this afternoon I'll do a full top to bottom front to back clean out of my stove.

The ash is but one issue I've been dealing with.


----------



## slls

There are other pellets around Maine, Pennington, Forest Pride, Green Team. I tell people to avoid Maine Woods, lousy pellets.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

slls,

Like I said the ash is but one issue.  The pellet stove I have is supposed to be able to burn standard pellets which means up to 3% ash, it should be able to handle the Athens.   I have the time to handle the stove issues others don't.  

However you'll note that I said I won't buy anything else from that local company which means even more of my money will find its way outside the state.  This was their one chance at having me as a customer.  I always pay my bills and I have a to do list that is still long.  So the big boxes will win.

Oh have you ever noticed that the pellets that come clear across the country cost the same as or less than what gets made in this state.  Funny that.


----------



## slls

smoky,

 Why pay premium prices for standard pellets. I know my stove can handle the extra ash, but I can do better buying other.

I think the Athens people got in over there heads, I don't think they can afford the equipment needed to produce premium pellets. A debarker for one.

It seems to me every one but Maine has access to all different brands of pellets, is it we are at the end of the line.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

slls,

The folks at Maine Woods can afford whatever they need. 

I tend to just not buy anything else from people that sell me crap.  They get the information about the poor product and the brush off.  

I would much rather keep the money in this state instead of sending it elsewhere if you get my drift.  So now I'll give the other folks that produce pellets in Maine a chance.  Then it will be the big box stores and the Maine pellet producers can get along without my money.


----------



## thomcoastal

I am another of the unlucky one who bought Maine Woods Pellets.  Thankfully the dealer I went to was unable to fill my 4 ton order.  The pellets are basically dark green dust in the bags.  The longest pellets are 1/4 inch long.  They definitely contain sand as I washed the ash to see and there was nearly a pound and a half of sand in the ash from three bags of pellets.  I will never buy these "premium" pellets again.  Does anyone know anyone who would want to buy these pellets at a reduced cost of $4/bag - I have thirty bags left from my original 50 - they will not go into my stove again...

I got my Penningtons from Sams Club and I think they are wonderful.  Lots of heat, very little ash, no soot on the glass of my Quadrafire Mt Vernon, no problems with feeding, no issues at all.

The dealer I got the pellets from is still delivering nearly 120 tons a week from Bangor and Rockland - suddenly I have a hard time getting a return phone call from them to find out about getting my money back in exchange for the pellets.......

Never again!


----------



## sydney1963

I feel sorry for the folks that have bought these pellets and are unhappy with them.  Hopefully this start up company will get it together and produce a quality product that we can count on.  I would hate to see a Maine company go out of business because of a poor product.  Myself being from Maine, I know, if this is *truly a Maine based company * you can bet, they will do whatever it takes to make good on their product and be as competitive as the rest.


----------



## akakii

sydney1963, I think they've done so much damage to their reputation so far this season that they will have a very hard time overcoming it.  I'd like very much to support a local business, but not if they sell me crap.  The only way I'll ever consider burning their pellets again is if they give me some free bags to try out.  Until I see and hear that they have fixed their problems I will let everyone within earshot know that they are selling inferior pellets that they have intentionally misrepresented as premium.

lessoil, that photo you posted looks like it was taken of my stove.  That's pretty much exactly how mine looks after several hours of burning.  I'm cleaning the stove twice a day and still getting extremely poor performance.

I just spoke with the dealer that I got my pellets from (O'Hara).  They offered to pick them up and give me a full refund.  They're not happy with the situation, either.  They're stuck with a bunch of lousy pellets and have some unhappy customers on their hands.  They're looking elsewhere for supply and haven't been able to find anything dependable.  They did say that these pellets burn well in some stoves, but certainly didn't argue the fact that the performance is poor in others.  They also said that they read this forum and have paid close attention to what everyone has to say.  I came away very impressed and pleased with their customer service.


----------



## slls

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> slls,
> 
> The folks at Maine Woods can afford whatever they need.
> 
> I tend to just not buy anything else from people that sell me crap.  They get the information about the poor product and the brush off.
> 
> I would much rather keep the money in this state instead of sending it elsewhere if you get my drift.  So now I'll give the other folks that produce pellets in Maine a chance.  Then it will be the big box stores and the Maine pellet producers can get along without my money.



I know of 3 pellet manufactures in Maine, 2 are no good, what does that say for Maine. One in Northern Maine and one in western Maine.


----------



## pellet0708

From what I hear, people are real happy with the ones from Northern Maine. Unless things have changed just recently.
I wonder if they  are all having difficulty finding raw materials so are using junk.


----------



## slls

All I have to go by is my dealer had been burning Northern pellets last winter in there floor demo. I asked if they were any good, he said don't buy them, get Energex. 
I talked to some people familiar with people up there burning them, a good pellet to burn in spring and fall. There was also some thing about not compressed enough, doesn't sound like premium to me.


----------



## muss

With my 5 tons of Athens, i had to tinker with my stove & found they burn decent by keeping my stove clean & letting in enuff air. Also, not burning on lowest setting makes a big difference.  You get lemons- try to make lemonade.  Hell, i used to have to wash my windows(on stove) everyday, now i just have to vacuum everyday & haven't needed to wash them in 2 weeks plus. I'm really starting to think that it's not all pellets . Wood is wood & you have to adjust acordingly. Like seasoned,dry,etc. you gotta play with your stove & i found after burning for awhile the stove itself got tempermental . Hopes this helps .  Muss


----------



## sparkydog00

muss said:
			
		

> With my 5 tons of Athens, i had to tinker with my stove & found they burn decent by keeping my stove clean & letting in enuff air. Also, not burning on lowest setting makes a big difference.  You get lemons- try to make lemonade.  Hell, i used to have to wash my windows(on stove) everyday, now i just have to vacuum everyday & haven't needed to wash them in 2 weeks plus. I'm really starting to think that it's not all pellets . Wood is wood & you have to adjust acordingly. Like seasoned,dry,etc. you gotta play with your stove & i found after burning for awhile the stove itself got tempermental . Hopes this helps .  Muss



Bottom line...would you toss your money down the crapper again and purchase these inferior pellets?
Burn me once...my fault...burn me twice  ...won't happen.


----------



## dbjc364

Yup- I said the same thing- that it isnt all the pellets. Their burning ok in my Napolean. Which the stove might burn even better with another pellet brand-I wont know till I get around to buying some,but so far their ok. I make sure its clean-it is a bit tempermental also.We just broke into this new batch,and the only thing different is their not as broken up-also burning ok. What brand of stove do u have -Muss? we were told by the dealer and the manual says to use the rod to clean the heat tubes daily or more than once a day. If I forget to do this-then I have ash on them-otherwise,on a general quick daily clean-their ok. we are interested in taking off the panel to look at the motor assembly- but even with the book- still not sure how to do this-{screws}-? to see how much ash build-up is present in there after burning the one ton.


----------



## j00fek

dbjc364 said:
			
		

> Yup- I said the same thing- that it isnt all the pellets. Their burning ok in my Napolean. Which the stove might burn even better with another pellet brand-I wont know till I get around to buying some,but so far their ok. I make sure its clean-it is a bit tempermental also.We just broke into this new batch,and the only thing different is their not as broken up-also burning ok. What brand of stove do u have -Muss? we were told by the dealer and the manual says to use the rod to clean the heat tubes daily or more than once a day. If I forget to do this-then I have ash on them-otherwise,on a general quick daily clean-their ok. we are interested in taking off the panel to look at the motor assembly- but even with the book- still not sure how to do this-{screws}-? to see how much ash build-up is present in there after burning the one ton.



my father has the same stove, but we have different fuel. first he had NEWP (nh) and his stove pumped out id say 20% more heat from that fuel, now he is burning his green teams and still is putting out more heat than mine, and only cleans his once every 2.5 weeks. its the pellets.

your manual will help you with blower maint.


----------



## muss

DB, i have a lopi leyden  . I don't have a problem with heat output.  If you look at all the threads on this forum it will be common sense that most pellet stoves have a learning curve. I was one of those that tooted my horn about how great it was to set it & forget it but it soon came to be that i had to really really get to know my stove . I seriously doubt that it's all the Athen pellets .    Muss


----------



## dbjc364

If your dad has the same stove as mine- Napolean-nps40- and he's only cleaning once every 2 weeks- then no- there is no way is he going to get the heat out of these pellets. I simply know this by doing my own each day. and does your dads place have insulation?


----------



## dbjc364

I'm in the dining room-its 68*-comfortable. The living room is 70*-toasty. The living room is 18x26, not even sheetrocked yet. Thats 432=? sq ft. The kitchen is inbetween the 2. I'm not running any fans today.The winds are blowing- and this house does not like the wind-not hard but steady-its 34* outside. I hate to shut it down today, and theres only a little ash in the burnpot since burning steady yesterday afternoon. a small amount is built up behind it-so I think it'll be ok for today- and only a thin line of whatever on the glass. I'm sorry so many folks are having a hard time with this-but I'm ok with them.


----------



## pellet0708

No one ever said these pellets don't burn.  You can burn about anything.  but compaired to 5 other brands I have tried they put out little heat and tremedous ash.  The one positive thing I have said is they produce no soot and absolutly no clinkers.  But I would rather clean out a few clinkers than 4 inches of ash  every day.
The last bag I opened was all mush- every pellet broken to 1/16 inch size.  Yes I fed them in the stove and they burned but it was pitiful.
the distributors here are now taking them back no questions asked which tells you something. Supposedly the new bags coming out of the factory are fine.  I won't try them this year.


----------



## peg13

I'm a newbie at the pellet burning..... what are you all using to vacumn these babies out with ??  I have been using my shop-vac, my stove shop guy wants to sell me a $225.00 ash vac because he says I'm shooting soot all thru the living room....I put in a HEPA filter .....I'm not seeing any soot, what do you all think ??????


----------



## j00fek

peg13 said:
			
		

> I'm a newbie at the pellet burning..... what are you all using to vacumn these babies out with ??  I have been using my shop-vac, my stove shop guy wants to sell me a $225.00 ash vac because he says I'm shooting soot all thru the living room....I put in a HEPA filter .....I'm not seeing any soot, what do you all think ??????



what i think is that if it makes you feel better spend the $225 on a vacuum, myself i use the shop vac with a hepa filter as well and do not see anything going into my room where the stove is.

only thing you have to do is shut the stove off brfore you go to work when it needs to be cleaned, come home clean it then start er up, no burning down the house with a fire in the vacume that way eh...


----------



## Chris04626

Ture Value in Machias Maine are selling these ON SALE untill Sunday for $250 per ton


----------



## Saltair

dbjc - have you burned other pellets than the Athens? I loaded up with three tons of athens and had all kinds of trouble, that picture of the burn pot a page or so back was typical of my experience. I have since burned four other types of pellets with varying degrees of heat/ash output but nothing coming even close to the mess the Athens pellets were making. I had to clean my stove twice a day before, Now I do it every two or three days. The pellets will burn and I did get them to burn better as I learned about the stove, but they never burned clean, and when my father had his auger jammed by a nail in one of the bags I stopped burning them.

With regard to the shop vac vs. ash vac its a matter of opinion. The ash vac lets you clean a hot stove, but I use a six gallon shop vac with the fine dust bags and I am not getting a mess in the room. Believe me you would know. I just let the stove cool for an hour or so stir the ash around some making sure there are no buried embers and clean it out.


----------



## dbjc364

Saltair- only time we burned something else was when we first got it installed. Energix- waiting for our order from Athens to arrive. since we havent had the problems and stove seems to be doing good with these-there hasnt been any reason to go buy more of any other kind. But we will just to see if it performs better or puts out better heat with something else. Now I have a fella right here where I live that we bought our stoves -same model- within 3 weeks of each other. Actually it was him that steered us to the dealer to look at the Napolean. Now he hasnt been all that happy with Athens-but he also doesnt start his stove up like we do ours.I told him I believe he's not giving it enough air or pellets to get it going good, but he is now mixing his pellets and will increase his air. when i have enough change in my pocket- we will get one weeks worth of differnt pellets to see the difference. if it turns out other pellets burn better- then being as frugal as I am- I will mix them,as some of these prices are downright silly.


----------



## compressedwoodsupplier

I am burning the pellets in my breckwell big e and just found if i open my damper a little more the burn pot will stay cleaner. I just ran the stove last night with my damper open more then i have in the past and found this morning that the burn pot was almost empty with ash. Normally the burn pot would have been filled with ash and clinkers by the morning time. This is no excuse for the quality of the pellets but may help some people that have no other choice but burning them


----------



## j00fek

compressedwoodsupplier said:
			
		

> I am burning the pellets in my breckwell big e and just found if i open my damper a little more the burn pot will stay cleaner. I just ran the stove last night with my damper open more then i have in the past and found this morning that the burn pot was almost empty with ash. Normally the burn pot would have been filled with ash and clinkers by the morning time. This is no excuse for the quality of the pellets but may help some people that have no other choice but burning them



this is the best recommendation that you can give with these pellets. lots of air, i run on 3-4/5


----------



## Saltair

My stove ran the longest on these pellets with the damper wide open, but it only extended my burn time a few hours. My combustion fan is not strong enough to blow that heavy ash out of the pot.


----------



## lessoil

j00fek said:
			
		

> compressedwoodsupplier said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am burning the pellets in my breckwell big e and just found if i open my damper a little more the burn pot will stay cleaner. I just ran the stove last night with my damper open more then i have in the past and found this morning that the burn pot was almost empty with ash. Normally the burn pot would have been filled with ash and clinkers by the morning time. This is no excuse for the quality of the pellets but may help some people that have no other choice but burning them
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this is the best recommendation that you can give with these pellets. lots of air, i run on 3-4/5
Click to expand...


We do not have a very wide range of adjustment on the combustion blower speed.
On the higher speed the glass stayed cleaner longer.
The heavy ash was about the same in both cases. (Slower vs Faster)
Not a strong blower.

Regardless of the ash issue, they do seem to have a decent heat output.
Last night the temp got down to 22F and with the stove on the lowest
stove temp setting of 1, it was 72F downstairs when I got up this AM.

Right now it is 17F and with the stove set on 2 it is holding 74F with no problem.
Upstairs it is 65 in the bedrooms and 68 in the hallway.


----------



## akakii

I just picked up three tons of Corinth pellets from my local dealer to replace the Athens that my other supplier will be taking back next week.  As the guy was loading my trailer we talked about the problems with Athens.  He's sitting on quite a few tons and won't sell them anymore.  He's hoping that he can send them back.  He said that the Maine solid fuel board (or something like that) is bringing together all of the Maine pellet producers next week and will supposedly address the problems with Athens in some fashion.  No idea what that really means, but I'm glad to hear that the state is aware of the issue.


----------



## Saltair

Another report of debris is a bag of Athens pellets. My dad and I went in on several ton of these as they were all we could find. We both sift every bag we use. I stopped burning them weeks ago and have loudly complained ont his forum about these pellets. My dads stove will burn them ok so he has continued to muddle through. a couple days back he found a punch out from a metal electral box in a bag of pellets. A month or so ago his auger was jammed by a nail he missed when sifting. Everybody buring these things needs to be very careful. Some have suggested that its not as bad as it is being made out to be, but I cant help but wonder how bad it really is. It is a small minority of useres porting on this board. Sure seems like some construction debris found its way into some of these pellets.


----------



## muss

I was one of the 1st to bad mouth these pellets. I've since found that for the most part, it's the pellet stove owner . I deduced this by reading all the posts & my own experience of trial & error .  Besides, this is pretty much like kickin' a dead horse fore pete's sake     Muss


----------



## j00fek

we can say anything about these pellets on this board, but has anyone herd from the company yet?

i have tried at no avail


----------



## pellet0708

My dealer said the company has now "fixed " the problem.  (which means there was a problem)  The early batches like we got were just broken up crumbs.  Also said the distributors are taking them back.


----------



## tumbles

Will they pick them up too.   I think I'm going to call my dealer on tuesday and see what he'll do.  I wonder if he'll come to pick them up too.


----------



## pellet0708

I think it depends on how you got them (delivered or self pick up).


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> My dealer said the company has now "fixed " the problem.  (which means there was a problem)  The early batches like we got were just broken up crumbs.  Also said the distributors are taking them back.



When did you get yours?

Mine was in late July, and the only issue with them that I have is that they are not premium which is what I paid for.


----------



## j00fek

too bad i have only 3/4 ton left, i would send em back but i dont want to deal with them ever again...


----------



## muss

You guys will be fine once you learn how to burn  :zip:


----------



## mfranklin1

Unfortunately, I bought 3 tons of Athens pellets and I've burned about 20 bags in my Napoleon stove.  Out of the 10 different brands I've tried these are the worst....easily the highest ash content; I have to clean the stove daily, sometimes twice a day. Pellet size is rarely more than a quarter inch, tons of fines, major clinkers and they seem to burn very fast. Save your money.


----------



## Greg Tasker

Sure can attest to the complaints regarding the athens pellets,
I resisted temptation of buying a large amount of these and 
only bought 2 ton that i am sharing with bro-in law.
I could see after a few bags, these were going to leave
alot of heavy ash. I.m.o they are close in B.T.U's with the
new england (N.H) and the Corinth, which by the way were 
not very good last year. I have taken delivery of the cubex
pellets which i started burning last season, what a difference
in color, ash and heat. when i toured the athens facility last summer
i was generally impresses with the operation and did not see
any debris which some people have wrongly insiuated.
however, I was concerned with the less than scientific methods used
to mix the amount of hardwood/softwood ratio, that plus the bark
issue are areas that will need to be improved in order to receive the
premium 1% status.  
In summary, this facility has great potential to provide a good quality
pellet at an attractive price, lets not fool ourselves with the sudden
drop in oil prices, this market will continue to do well,
time will tell if maine woods pellets can prosper.


----------



## Greg Tasker

Sure can attest to the complaints regarding the athens pellets,
I resisted temptation of buying a large amount of these and 
only bought 2 ton that i am sharing with bro-in law.
I could see after a few bags, these were going to leave
alot of heavy ash. I.m.o they are close in B.T.U's with the
new england (N.H) and the Corinth, which by the way were 
not very good last year. I have taken delivery of the cubex
pellets which i started burning last season, what a difference
in color, ash and heat. when i toured the athens facility last summer
i was generally impresses with the operation and did not see
any debris which some people have wrongly insiuated.
however, I was concerned with the less than scientific methods used
to mix the amount of hardwood/softwood ratio, that plus the bark
issue are areas that will need to be improved in order to receive the
premium 1% status.  
In summary, this facility has great potential to provide a good quality
pellet at an attractive price, lets not fool ourselves with the sudden
drop in oil prices, this market will continue to do well,
time will tell if maine woods pellets can prosper.


----------



## Fire It Up

Greg, Where are you getting the Cubex? I used to get them at Rocky's Stove Shop in Augusta but supply has been limited.  These are by far the best pellets I have ever burned.


----------



## Greg Tasker

Pm sent


----------



## sparkydog00

muss said:
			
		

> DB, i have a lopi leyden . I don't have a problem with heat output. If you look at all the threads on this forum it will be common sense that most pellet stoves have a learning curve. I was one of those that tooted my horn about how great it was to set it & forget it but it soon came to be that i had to really really get to know my stove . I seriously doubt that it's all the Athen pellets . Muss



It is all the pellets. I have burned more than 8 different brands of premium pellets in this stove. None of these needed brands burned in my stove caused the amount of attention to the burn process as Maine Wood pellets. Pellets stoves really are light and forget stoves. At least if you burn any premium pellet. Therefore Maine Woods are only premium because it says so on the outside of the bag. I have serious doubts if they are all wood let alone 80 20 hard soft...I would guess 80 wood 20 anything that strays into the yard that day. 
These people should be put out of business. And as far as i am concerned they are out of business!


----------



## sparkydog00

dbjc364 said:
			
		

> I'm in the dining room-its 68*-comfortable. The living room is 70*-toasty. The living room is 18x26, not even sheetrocked yet. Thats 432=? sq ft. The kitchen is inbetween the 2. I'm not running any fans today.The winds are blowing- and this house does not like the wind-not hard but steady-its 34* outside. I hate to shut it down today, and theres only a little ash in the burnpot since burning steady yesterday afternoon. a small amount is built up behind it-so I think it'll be ok for today- and only a thin line of whatever on the glass. I'm sorry so many folks are having a hard time with this-but I'm ok with them.



Obviously not burning Maine Wood Pellets!


----------



## sparkydog00

Chris04626 said:
			
		

> Ture Value in Machias Maine are selling these ON SALE untill Sunday for $250 per ton



The price will probably go down after that!
These pellets stink!


----------



## sailordennis

Hello all, 
This is my first post but have have been a lurker for a couple weeks. I didn't find this forum until after I had purchased 3 tons of Maine woods for My Quad Castile. Boy are they junk. I was cleaning my burn pot 3 times a day and getting clinkers the size of my fist a few times. I stopped burning them after about 10 bags and switched over to green team from my local Lowes. Nice burn, low ash and tons more heat.  I made a call to Athens and spoke to Dave on Tuesday, he acknowledged the problem they had with quality this fall and offered to send me a bag of the newer batch (fed ex or through the local wholesaler). I opted for the wholesaler but had not  heard from him yet this morning so I went to the retailer I bought them from and THEY WILL TAKE THEM BACK!   I was quite happy to hear this, unfortunately I will have to rent a pallet jack (again) to get them to where a boom truck can lift them out of my garage but it will be well worth the $20 rental fee. Thanks to all that have posted about these pellets as you helped make my case with the retailer and yes, the people at Athens read this forum. Good luck to you all.


----------



## j00fek

if they read the forum why wouldn't they sign up and post like the pennington rep?


----------



## Saltair

sailordennis said:
			
		

> I made a call to Athens and spoke to Dave on Tuesday, he acknowledged the problem they had with quality this fall and offered to send me a bag of the newer batch (fed ex or through the local wholesaler). I opted for the wholesaler but had not  heard from him yet this morning



Let us know how this "new" batch burns I sold all three tons I had, but my dad is stuck with about three tons of them. I would be very curious to see if they are really better...


----------



## lessoil

Yesterday had to run the stove up a bit because of the cold.
The Athen's Ash snuffed out the fire a couple of times.
Have to clean the front of the burn pot every 5 hours to prevent this.
Sure hope the quality issues will be resolved.

We have just 3 tons left out of the original 4.
Good heat but the Ash........

0F this AM 78F downstairs and 64-70 range upstairs!!
Love it!!


----------



## sailordennis

Saltair said:
			
		

> sailordennis said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I made a call to Athens and spoke to Dave on Tuesday, he acknowledged the problem they had with quality this fall and offered to send me a bag of the newer batch (fed ex or through the local wholesaler). I opted for the wholesaler but had not  heard from him yet this morning
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Let us know how this "new" batch burns I sold all three tons I had, but my dad is stuck with about three tons of them. I would be very curious to see if they are really better...
Click to expand...


I will if I ever get them. I have been buying a few bags of Green Team at a time at the local Lowes and will not do a bulk order of the Athens pellets unless the sample bags are absolutely stellar.  I am going to try Wall Mart and HD this PM and see what they have as well. I should have done this all prior to ordering the Maine woods and I would not be dealing with this during the heating season! Live and learn.


----------



## jimcooncat

dbjc364 and I (yes, we're housemates and lovers, and both post here!) have done a bit more experimentation now that other brands of pellets are finally showing up in our area. We tried a few bags of Nature's Heat (Pennington) and were impressed by the lower ash content. We noticed a slight increase in heat as well.

After that straight run test of a couple of bags, we've been mixing them with good success. I've tried 1 to 1, as well as 2 parts Athens to 1 part Pennington. Both do much better than Athens alone. 

Note that these are the "new, improved" Athens pellets. They now look exactly like the Pennington's, give better heat than the old Athens blend, but still give a lot of ash. Our Napoleon NPS40 does handle ash well compared to others described here.

We've also picked up a couple of bags of Forest's Pride, and if those match well with Athens we may get a good quantity to mix for the rest of the season. Given the same price point and quality, I'd stick with USA manufactured over imports.


----------



## j00fek

i called my dealer where the athens were bought this past june, they has no idea that athens were taking back pellets and pretty much rebuffed me as to saying no one had any problems with these pellets. 

ill be calling the plant on monday for resolution.


----------



## sailordennis

j00fek said:
			
		

> i called my dealer where the athens were bought this past june, they has no idea that athens were taking back pellets and pretty much rebuffed me as to saying no one had any problems with these pellets.
> 
> ill be calling the plant on monday for resolution.



Same thing happened to me at my dealer at first, then I spoke with Dave in Athens and his admitting a problem gave me some ammo to use if I needed it. They picked up my pellets on Tuesday. I am burning green team from Lowes in Rockland. I have been bringing them home 15 bags at a time in the Volvo wagon after work.  (I drive right past it) We are up to a ton +.
Good luck


----------



## mjbrown

the simple fact is and was stated before, that the athens mill is new and they ARE trying to work the bugs out of their pellets.i spoke with dave carr  at  the athens mill on saturday when i picked up another 3 ton of the athens pellets, and he stated that due to the bad press from this forum , they are woking on the mix and the drying of the pellets. so far , the 3 bags i have burned from this load seems to be a little lighter in color and seem to burn a little hotter. i am no scientist, and dont know a thing about how these things are made, but i do believe that when a person or company starts something new, they have a learning curve to get thru. ....  dont throw in the towel on them yet, give them a chance.

myself, i have to go with availability and affordability.i dont care if i have to clean the stove a litle more often, i do it once a week regardless. it doesnt bother me to open the hopper and scoop the pellets b4 i go to bed, its not that hard a job....it bothers me to hear the furnce kick on... so far it only does it once a week( when i clean my stove).



   forgot to mention...cubex up here are going for 310 per ton and i buy my athens for 215. so in thoery, if i buy the athens for a 100 bucks less per ton , i can buy 3 ton for the price of 2 and have enuff to get me thru the rest of the winter.


mike


----------



## tumbles

The "big deal" with the Athens pellets is they labelled them as "premium" and they are not.  They are a "standard" pellet.  If they would have labelled them correctly, I don't  think people would be so upset.   People feel they were taken advantage of in a tight market.  If they were labelled "standard", people would say I got what I payed for and I learned from my mistakes.  These pellets stink.  They do burn, but do not burn hot and they produce a lot of ash (no matter how you set your stove).    I'll never buy them again and I know a lot of people won't buy them again.   A little honesty goes a long way.  They should have tested their product before they put it out.   They were able to take advantage of a tight market.  I'll make do for this year, but it won't happen again.  It' too bad because I really wanted to see a Maine company do well.  In fact, I'm a little disappointed it has gotten to this point.  If I were the owner, I would send out a letter of apology to all the 
 dealers I sold to and allow people to return them for a full refund.  This may not be the wisest business decision, but the right one.  Then, if you want to trade them for the "new and improved" Athens pellets, people might be willing to give the company a second chance.


----------



## Saltair

The word is Athens is taking the pellets back which is good. You are correct though the anger on this forum is a direct result of people feeling as if they were taken advantage of in a tight market when an inferior product was rushed to market to fill a vacuum. People find that hard to forgive. I still cant believe they have not responded to this forum


----------



## sydney1963

Ok, so with Athen's pellets you have to clean a little more often.  But from what I can see from this post the heat output is the same.  I,m not excusing that they need to look into their production process, but let's not hang a start up company.  Maine needs the business and with feedback I'm sure they will work on the complaints.  Question:  If you knew nothing about a start up company selling a new product, would you buy from them?  Answer:  Probably not!  At least until you heard how folks liked the product.  They will make it right.


----------



## sparkydog00

mjbrown65 said:
			
		

> the simple fact is and was stated before, that the athens mill is new and they ARE trying to work the bugs out of their pellets.i spoke with dave carr  at  the athens mill on saturday when i picked up another 3 ton of the athens pellets, and he stated that due to the bad press from this forum , they are woking on the mix and the drying of the pellets. so far , the 3 bags i have burned from this load seems to be a little lighter in color and seem to burn a little hotter. i am no scientist, and dont know a thing about how these things are made, but i do believe that when a person or company starts something new, they have a learning curve to get thru. ....  dont throw in the towel on them yet, give them a chance.
> 
> myself, i have to go with availability and affordability.i dont care if i have to clean the stove a litle more often, i do it once a week regardless. it doesnt bother me to open the hopper and scoop the pellets b4 i go to bed, its not that hard a job....it bothers me to hear the furnce kick on... so far it only does it once a week( when i clean my stove).
> 
> 
> 
> forgot to mention...cubex up here are going for 310 per ton and i buy my athens for 215. so in thoery, if i buy the athens for a 100 bucks less per ton , i can buy 3 ton for the price of 2 and have enuff to get me thru the rest of the winter.
> 
> 
> mike



I would buy the Cubex...the amount of ash and possible damage that is being done to the stoves by burning the Maine Woods pellets would be more important that the money. Not to mention I hate waking up in the middle of the night  cold becuase the Maine Woods pellets have once again binded up my auger. 
This company knowingly sold standard grade pellets marked as premium. I payed considerably more than 215 for a ton of these. So I paid a premium price for a standard grade pellet. Fool me once....your fault....you will never fool me again. I will never purchase another product from this company!


----------



## j00fek

i have had 2 exhaust blowers die already in 2 months burning these pellets. in the 6 years i have burnt pellets i have never had this much trouble.
but i put most of the blame on myself for not buying pfi pellets, i have always bought pfi pellets in the past. never had any problems, always got them from lowes or the stove shop on center st. 
i also spoke with mr.carr yesterday and he said he would change out the pellets, but im not going to stack a ton in my fathers truck, and drive almost 100mi to get another ton.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Sydney,

It is more than just having to clean a little more.  You need to check the burn pot every few hours especially if you have a top feeder and no ash extractor.   

My stove can handle the standard pellets provided they are not out of spec, it is much, much, happier on true premium pellets.

I am burning Maine Woods aka Athens. 

I had to have a burn pot modification done to the stove in order to keep up with the ash production and to cut the clinker formation rate.  

The pellets as I suspected and have now seen confirmed were not to moisture standards either.

My pellets at least weren't all crumbs as some of the folks here have talked about, I have yet to find any metal objects in them, and I've only had one augur jam (it occurred on bag 7 of the 79 burned so far) caused by me not noticing part of the bag coming off into the hopper.

I have now burned 4 different brands in the stove and all three of the non Maine Woods pellets I've tried have been much, much better.

I'll give these folks another chance once I see a lab report that backs up the grade label.  Until that happens these pellets will be the last I'll buy from their dealer network.

It was -4 here this morning and the house (1800+ square feet being heated by the stove) is at a nice 70F upstairs and 75F in my office.   I like the stove and the heat it can throw, now if I can get it so I don't have to change its diapers like it was a little baby.


----------



## 4124elad

I posted on this topic here.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31538/

The problem and it is not limited to Athens is the selling of standard and industrial grade pellets as
premium grade.  


This is the same as passing off Bunker C or number two fuel oil as kerosene.

WHY IS THIS PRACTICE GOING ON?

Can be only one of two reasons.

1.  Ignorance and carelessness

2.  Profitable Fraud and Deception

Either reason is unexceptable and a criminal act.

All of our stoves are required to have premium grade pellets.

By labeling and selling anything else to us at inflated prices the pellet producers are putting every stove
owner at risk.

When the insurance claims start rolling in the insurance industry is going to refuse to insure a home with
a pellet stove installed.

I would not blame them.

The bad press that will result from newspaper stories of hopper fires will halt new stove sales.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO CHECK THE QAULITY OF YOUR PELLETS YOURSELF


Sorry if your having problems with your pellets it is on you to do some investigating.  It is easy to do 
though.


Just put a handful of pellets in a glass of water.  They should dissolve within a few minutes.  If they do not dissolve completly within a few minutes and do not dissolve at all that means that they are not premium and contain some sort of additive.

Drain the water and put the residue in some paper towels.  Squeeze the water out.  Lay it out on a piece
of paper.  It should be the consistency of corn meal.  IF NOT THEN IT IS NOT A PREMIUM PELLET.

HERE ARE PICS OF THE TEST I DID ON FUTURE FUEL II I PURCHASED FROM HOME DEPOT.

Those pellet sat in water for twenty minutes and did not completly dissolve.  They have large chunks and
forieng objects within and even pieces of corn.

I returned the whole ton to Home Depot as burning even a half a bag of these would produce a clinker
the size of my fist in the burn pot of my Quadra Fire Santa Fe.  I showed the manager the results of my 
testing.  I even showed him the test on Greene Team pellets that work fine.

After explaining to him that the Future Fuel II pellets were not and could not possibly be premium pellets
he put the ton that had returned right back on the floor and is selling them for 5.98 a bag.

This is in Rockland Maine by the way.

Check out my Future Fuel II review I posted some links there that show how to test your pellet for yourself.

Do the test and post your results.

If your building clinkers it is not premium fuel.


----------



## pellet0708

sydney1963 said:
			
		

> Ok, so with Athen's pellets you have to clean a little more often.  But from what I can see from this post the heat output is the same.  I,m not excusing that they need to look into their production process, but let's not hang a start up company.  Maine needs the business and with feedback I'm sure they will work on the complaints.  Question:  If you knew nothing about a start up company selling a new product, would you buy from them?  Answer:  Probably not!  At least until you heard how folks liked the product.  They will make it right.




Heat is NOT the same.  Fact is that our other brand of pellets produce almost as much ash as the Athens but the heat from the new ones is at least doubled.  We have been able to turn our stove down 2 settings which means we go through only a bag a day instead of a 1 3/4 bags.  so it isnt just more cleaning, we are talking about real savings in amount of pellets used and that is huge.  Didn't know any better when we first burned the Athens as hadn't put anything else through our stove.  When we started burning other brands the stove got so hot we started to worry about the normal things new pellet stove owners so such as hopper fires etc..... Hearth pad never even got warm burning the Athens, now it sure does.    THAT is the difference in the heat output.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Just for your information clinkers (sintered ash) will form anytime ash is produced and not evacuated from the burn pot, no matter what grade the pellets are.


----------



## 4124elad

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> Just for your information clinkers (sintered ash) will form anytime ash is produced and not evacuated from the burn pot, no matter what grade the pellets are.



Not to attack you but that statement is not helpful and provides no information.

Do you just make things up or have you aquired some knowlegde from somewhere.

Yes ash can produce a clinker.

However, reading from my Quad manual it says "Dirty fuel will cause clinkers to form in the firepot. A clinker is formed when dirt, ash or a non burnable substance is heated to 2000 degree F (1093 C) and becomes glass-like."...  An opinion based on a reference and experience is a wonderful thing.

I have attached a picture of what I define as a clinker. Included in the picture is the results of the water test done on the future fuel.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Not made up.

Every single form of wood fuel compressed or not has in it impurities ( so called foreign matter ) it is there because in the process of growing it gets trapped by the tree.

Those impurities are what cause ash.

The burn pot provides the required temperatures.

The process of burning the pellet is what provides the charcoal (carbon) which along with moisture, the amount of trapped silicon (in the ash), and the temperature in the burn pot will determine the rate at which a clinker will grow. 

I am familiar with clinkers because I burned many tons of anthracite and other solid fuels prior to burning pellets.

A growing clinker will eventually cause burning pellets to fall out of the burn pot, smother the fire (very unlikely but possible), or cause a pellet backup in the drop chute (which may or may not lead to a hooper fire).


----------



## 4124elad

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> Not made up.
> 
> Every single form of wood fuel compressed or not has in it impurities ( so called foreign matter ) it is there because in the process of growing it gets trapped by the tree.
> 
> Those impurities are what cause ash.
> 
> The burn pot provides the required temperatures.
> 
> The process of burning the pellet is what provides the charcoal (carbon) which along with moisture, the amount of trapped silicon (in the ash), and the temperature in the burn pot will determine the rate at which a clinker will grow.
> 
> I am familiar with clinkers because I burned many tons of anthracite and other solid fuels prior to burning pellets.
> 
> A growing clinker will eventually cause burning pellets to fall out of the burn pot, smother the fire (very unlikely but possible), or cause a pellet backup in the drop chute (which may or may not lead to a hooper fire).




Well you still missed a wonderful oppurtunity by not imparting any real information or adding to the understanding of poor quality pellet fuel in your post.  

So I will.

The picture in my previous post was of poor quality fuel that created more clinkers than was mananable.  Those pellets shut the stove down overflowed the burn pot and created pellet bridges in the drop chute.

The picture in this post  shows a bag that I water tested and the pellets dissolved within two minutes.  In the other bag is the complete by product of burning an entire 40 pound bag of the pellets.

Just checked and the total ash content is exactly a quarter cup.  It did not make any clinkers.

MY COMPARISION IS DOES NOT INCLUDE ATHENS PELLET THOUGH.  It was between Future Fuel II distributed by E.P.M. or
Eureka Pellet Mills of Missoula, Montana. and Greene Team I purchased at Lowes.

The Future Fuel II was of such poor quality it endangered the safety of myself, my expensive stove, and my home.  E.P.M. even went so far as to include the line "MEETS OR EXCEEDS PREMIUM FUEL STANDARD" on the packaging.  I consider this to be a case
of outright fraud or extreme negligence.

I just skimmed five different owners manuals for various pellet stoves.  Did you know the use of poor quality fuel can void your warranty?

What should the ramifications be for someone who produces poor quality fuel then labels it as Premium Quality?

The distributor who is currently taking returns of the  Athens poor quality fuel is doing what with said fuel? Returning it?  Reselling it?

Smokey how about taking a few minutes to do a test on your pellets and give us a review.

Here is one way to do it: http://woodpelletsguide.com/home-based-checking-of-quality-pellets/

Do that and I will concede that you are a ash expert.

Actually that is a test everyone should do on every ton of pellets before you let them unload them.  Or even better go pick out your tons and test them before they even get shipped to you.

Some ziplock bags and a couple of bottles of water can save a lot of hassle.

Even better maybe large suppliers like OHARA'S can take a few minutes and test one bag from each ton.

Then staple the ziplock bag to the ton.  Could save them a lot of hassle and make the 290 a ton they want for pellets more palatable.

If the pellets look like pipe tobacco or worse after the water test then they are not premium and using them in any stove that requires premium is has many ramifications.

Best of luck and Merry Christmas


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

I don't have to provide a long detailed explanation of how to test any pellets, my point wasn't to provide a means of determining if any particular brand was or was not premium.  

Just the fact that clinkers will form no matter what the grade of pellet if the ash isn't kept out of the burn pot.  People who have a very active fire are going to have less of a clinker problem than those without an active fire, in fact they may never "see" any clinkers because they will:

1. Be too small to be noticed.  

and 

2. They will have cleaned out the mess in their burn pot long before it can build up.

Just to spell it out for everyone:

Anything (yes that means burning true premium pellets instead of also rans) that keeps down the ash level in the burn pot will reduce the clinker problem.

Oh BTW those clinkers look wimpy, I had one that weighed in at 8 oz. from my pellet stove, even then it paled in comparison to some of the coal produced ones from long ago.   10%+ ash does wondrous things.    

I do agree that mislabeling a product is fraud and that action should be taken (the only problem is that PFI standards aren't the same as the government blessing the standard).  Based upon what I've heard even PFI enforcement isn't up and operating at this time.


----------



## 4124elad

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> I don't have to provide a long detailed explanation of how to test any pellets, my point wasn't to provide a means of determining if any particular brand was or was not premium.
> 
> Just the fact that clinkers will form no matter what the grade of pellet if the ash isn't kept out of the burn pot.  People who have a very active fire are going to have less of a clinker problem than those without an active fire, in fact they may never "see" any clinkers because they will:
> 
> 1. Be too small to be noticed.
> 
> and
> 
> 2. They will have cleaned out the mess in their burn pot long before it can build up.
> 
> Just to spell it out for everyone:
> 
> Anything (yes that means burning true premium pellets instead of also rans) that keeps down the ash level in the burn pot will reduce the clinker problem.
> 
> Oh BTW those clinkers look wimpy, I had one that weighed in at 8 oz. from my pellet stove, even then it paled in comparison to some of the coal produced ones from long ago.   10%+ ash does wondrous things.
> 
> I do agree that mislabeling a product is fraud and that action should be taken (the only problem is that PFI standards aren't the same as the government blessing the standard).  Based upon what I've heard even PFI enforcement isn't up and operating at this time.



Well Smokey once again you have completely wasted a great oppurtunity to help your fellow man and say anything of any importance.

I did a search of Future Fuel II hearth.com and do you know what I came up with?

This http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?s_it=topsearchbox.search&query=future+fuel+II+hearth.com

The second link is to my post here at hearth.com this site comes up alot when people research something.


All I am asking is to drop a handfull of your pellets in water and then report back on what you find.  Who,what when, where and why. That will be usefull.

Post some pictures if your capable.


----------



## DAGME

Hello 4124elad,



			
				4124elad said:
			
		

> Well Smokey once again you have completely wasted a great oppurtunity to help your fellow man and say anything of any importance. . . .
> 
> Post some pictures if your capable.



I may be out of line here, but there is no reason to be snarky or rude, as several of your comments have been.  I've always found him/her to be cordial and informative.




			
				4124elad said:
			
		

> All I am asking is to drop a handfull of your pellets in water and then report back on what you find.  Who,what when, where and why. That will be usefull.



Maybe he can't do your test right now.  Most of us check this site only for a few minutes an hour while we're doing something else.

I'm going to return to lurking - I do not want to get into a flame war.


----------



## hossthehermit

4124elad said:
			
		

> SmokeyTheBear said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have to provide a long detailed explanation of how to test any pellets, my point wasn't to provide a means of determining if any particular brand was or was not premium.
> 
> Just the fact that clinkers will form no matter what the grade of pellet if the ash isn't kept out of the burn pot.  People who have a very active fire are going to have less of a clinker problem than those without an active fire, in fact they may never "see" any clinkers because they will:
> 
> 1. Be too small to be noticed.
> 
> and
> 
> 2. They will have cleaned out the mess in their burn pot long before it can build up.
> 
> Just to spell it out for everyone:
> 
> Anything (yes that means burning true premium pellets instead of also rans) that keeps down the ash level in the burn pot will reduce the clinker problem.
> 
> Oh BTW those clinkers look wimpy, I had one that weighed in at 8 oz. from my pellet stove, even then it paled in comparison to some of the coal produced ones from long ago.   10%+ ash does wondrous things.
> 
> I do agree that mislabeling a product is fraud and that action should be taken (the only problem is that PFI standards aren't the same as the government blessing the standard).  Based upon what I've heard even PFI enforcement isn't up and operating at this time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well Smokey once again you have completely wasted a great oppurtunity to help your fellow man and say anything of any importance.
> 
> I did a search of Future Fuel II hearth.com and do you know what I came up with?
> 
> This http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?s_it=topsearchbox.search&query=future+fuel+II+hearth.com
> 
> The second link is to my post here at hearth.com this site comes up alot when people research something.
> 
> 
> All I am asking is to drop a handfull of your pellets in water and then report back on what you find.  Who,what when, where and why. That will be usefull.
> 
> Post some pictures if your capable.
Click to expand...




Maybe we should start a poll on where we think 4124 elad is from, since he doesn't say. Based on the attitude I'd guess he ain't from around here, ain't nobody around here got anywhere nere as many intelligents as him. Prob'ly we should all be quiet and listen in awe to his superior knowledge.


----------



## gw2kpro

I was at a party once and saw a dude smoking something that looked about like the contents of that last bag pictured.

Wonder what kind of clinkers that produced.


----------



## gw2kpro

_"Actually that is a test everyone should do on every ton of pellets before you let them unload them. "_

I can see it now........ truck pulls up in the snow, driver gets out... "Sorry it took 2 months, where would you like your 3 tons of pellets?"

Customer:  "Just a minute, I need to get some water and some baggies.  Can you hop up on your truck there and tear open a bag on each pallet and get me a couple of handfuls of each?  Please don't mix them up.......I've got some tests I need to run on each ton before I want them unloaded."

Driver:  "Sure, no problem, why don't you go in the house there and get your water while I slip 'er into gear, here, no really, I'm not leaving, go on ahead and go back inside, I just forgot something back at the warehouse, be back real soon........."


----------



## novah

I bought four tons of Athens in August. I finished my stove installation on Saturday and dumped a bag in the hopper. Being my first pellet stove, I didn't think they looked too bad. They weren't real dark like others had reported but the longer pellets were maybe 3/8 inch long and there were a lot of crumbles about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. After four hours of running and watching 1 to 3 pellets drop into the burn pot with every auger revolution, I shut it down. 

The next day, I removed the pellets and could see that the auger was filled with powder and crumbles. I vacuumed the auger and dumped in a bag of Somerset that I got when I bought the stove in May. They burned very nicely and the stove seems to be running like a champ. It is a top feed or drop feed design.

Yesterday, I called the distributor and he wants me to bring a bag from each ton to his shop. If they are as bad as I said on the phone, he will replace them. He didn't say with what but I suspect they will be the new, improved Athens. At this point, I would prefer my money back but I don't expect that to be the case.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

hossthehermit,

The pellets are already known to not be premium.  

But just to be a nice bruin and humor 4124 I put a few in a small glass of water.  

They dissolved in under ten minutes and it looks like the pellets were made of ground up or shredded trees, something else we already knew.  The shreds look and smell like a mixture of several trees. 

Now so 4124 fully understands, when I say ground up or shredded trees, that means all parts of the tree.

My father told me decades ago that I'd run into folks like 4124.  I discovered over the years that indeed such folks exists (I had one for a boss once and I dealt with several others in large corporations.  Frequently they would tell me that things couldn't be done that way or work that way) , the best method of dealing with them is to spoon feed them, it frustrates the he!! out of them.


----------



## gw2kpro

Thanks Smokey!  Now I guess you have done everything required to become an "ash expert".

Also, when you say "ground up or shredded up trees", in your evaluation does that include leaves, beetles, nests and birds?

I found a bird beak in some Future Fuel III pellets I got on sale at the mall, does this disqualify them from being premium pellets?  

More importantly, is my stove warranty void?


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Oh by the way 4124 just because your post gets a decent SERP (maybe you should browse through the forums at Web Master World)  doesn't mean it is because of your knowledge of any subject matter.

You might want to try a search through Google instead of AOL and also leave out the hearth.com reference.


----------



## 4124elad

Well I read through every post here and have tried to post some solutions and direction.

If Athens pellets are so bad then do something about it.

Post some evidence that Athens pellets do not meet the specs. or stop slandering a bunch of hardworking people in the woods of our fair state of Maine.

I have seen no evidence other than a bunch of words in reading the eleven pages so far.  

Posting some drivel about ash has got this thread off track.  Maybe that was the point.

Until last week I thought my stove would burn anything and anyone who had a problem with pellets generally had a problem with every encounter in life and keeps a shotgun near the door.

Sorry maybe that was SNARKY.

Point being is some people are taking our hard earned dollars and giving us less than we paid for.

If your not willing to inconveince a truck driver for a few minutes for your safety then by all means just accept whatever crap they drop on your doorstep.  Please do not complain later that the product is not up to par and is causing you problems.  The driver will make you sign for your delivery.

You accepted it without even checking the product out.

I have rejected many truckloads of inferior products and never had a problem with the driver.  Bring me a truckload of mangled up drywall and it is going back.  No matter what I always give the driver a ten or twenty buck tip.  My Father was a truck driver and taught me to never take them for granted.

Damage my product while unloading it.  It is on the return trip.

Sell me less than I paid for then you will have me parked on my doorstep.

If your more willing to jump on me instead of the topic then please feel free to continue.

I am genuily concerned that the pellet mills in Maine will damage the brand of Maine so bad that I will not be able to purchase a product that meets certain standards.  

If you think you need to know more about myself.  I live and own several properties in Rockland Maine.  I have a camp on a lake in Rockport, Maine.  

But most importantly I proudly own several large well managed  woodlots in Stockton Spring Maine that can very soon supply the local pellet mills with raw materiel.  So I do have a dog in this fight.

If the mills cannot get their act together soon then I wll just go into firewood and christmas trees.

Once again if Athens pellets  are so bad then please put up or shut up.

I for one would like to have someone show me the evidence.

It is pretty simple put some pellets in some water.

If you cannot be bothered then stop slandering the good people of the State of Maine


----------



## gw2kpro

OK, I took a handful of athens pellets and put them in a cup of water for 10 minutes.  The resulting picture is attached.  Is this good or bad?


----------



## sydney1963

Liter of Cola said:
			
		

> OK, I took a handful of athens pellets and put them in a cup of water for 10 minutes.  The resulting picture is attached.  Is this good or bad?



You are so cute Liter, never pictured you as being green.  Happy Holidays


----------



## pellet0708

I think we are past having to prove that the original Athens were inferior.  the distributors are readily exchanging them, many dealers have stopped selling them, and the company has admitted to early problems, less than premium ingredients and problems with early processing.
We returned our bags of crumbs but next year I am willing and even eager to try a few bags of the new product because I will do anything I can to help out a Maine company. 
Like someone stated earlier, it would be nice if they responded officially to this forum like the Penninton people did.  Shows class and actually got me to purchase some Penningtons to try and they weren't too bad.


----------



## 4124elad

Well please enjoy yourselfs at the expense of others.

It does occur to me that in the many months that this thread has been hanging around no moderator has ever chimed in.

So this has been a free for all in slandering Athens Pellet mills investment.

Thanks Craig


----------



## sparkydog00

4124elad said:
			
		

> Well please enjoy yourselfs at the expense of others.
> 
> It does occur to me that in the many months that this thread has been hanging around no moderator has ever chimed in.
> 
> So this has been a free for all in slandering Athens Pellet mills investment.
> 
> Thanks Craig



The pellets speak (slander) for themselves...as soon as you  burn them.
The Athens Pellet mills invesatment should have not sold the good people of the united States an inferior product. It is only recently htey admitted that they were using scrap wood. Proabably under duress.


----------



## 4124elad

SparkyDog said:
			
		

> 4124elad said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Well please enjoy yourselfs at the expense of others.
> 
> It does occur to me that in the many months that this thread has been hanging around no moderator has ever chimed in.
> 
> So this has been a free for all in slandering Athens Pellet mills investment.
> 
> Thanks Craig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The pellets speak (slander) for themselves...as soon as you  burn them.
> The Athens Pellet mills invesatment should have not sold the good people of the united States an inferior product. It is only recently htey admitted that they were using scrap wood. Proabably under duress.
Click to expand...


Show me the proof.  Quote your sources.  The owner of this site is negligent in allowing you to post your unsubstantiated claims.

Who, what when where and why.  Basic reporting.  

Even though I have experienced and provided evidence of improper pellets no where in this thread on this site has anyone provided anything but a few slanderous words as evidence that Athens pellet mills are not selling what they proudly proclaim as Premium Pellets.

Everyone of you who have posted to this thread are completly and totally nuts.  

I will now champion the Athens Pellet Mill cause.

Without ever purchasing a single Athens Pellet Mill product I will without any information to go on say that every pellet they have ever produced was of some sort of premium product that will burn.  Oops I meant to say that the Athens Products fully meet all standards and if you disagree PLEASE TELL ME WHY.

If you cannot provide proof that Athens has, is, or will sell an inferior product.  Then please keep it to yourself.

Craig the sole reason I have not purchased any Athens products is becuase of the unsubstantiated rumors you have allowed to flood this free for all internet witch hunt of people who are not capable of  flushing a toilet by themselves.  It is apparent why they are having difficulties in running a pellet stove. I did not realize that until it was to late.

Everyone with a second grade education and a computer is free to slander ATHENS WOOD PELLETS here at hearth.com.

Athens has no legal responisbility to respond to slanderous comment supported by hearth .com .  From their point of view it would be like having a conversation with the village idiot.  Please give me that point as WalMart does sell computers.

So if you feel the need to post to this thread please show some evidence that Athens is not selling a premium product.


That is all I have to say about that.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Well Craig,

Simple solution, sell your wood to a plant that does it right, or roll your own pellets and you won't have a problem.

I'll give you one more clue what I got after dissolving the pellets didn't even come close to looking like a meal made of sawdust or heart wood.

You do understand that different pipe tobacco products have different colorings (I smoked a pipe for many years), so in the case of the late July Athens I have the dissolved pellet material looks more like several pipe tobaccos than any meal product I've ever seen.

Oh and one last bit of advice from some old timers.  Pride goeth before a fall.

Liter,

I don't have access to the equipment needed to check the DNA of the fragments in the dissolved pellets, likely there would be insect and other matter.  That in and of itself doesn't prevent the pellet from being premium.

Happy Holidays


----------



## ajwoodman

I do agree that Athens pellets are pretty bad but like it has been said before,give them a break and hope they get it together.  They are a new company and it doesn't do them any good to slander them.  I have enjoyed this forum but this has been a real slandering situation.  Come on guys, if all you want to do is bicker back and forth, go someplace else and do it.  It is really getting old and I do agree that there should be someone watching over this site and should be stopping this crap cause it isn't informative or fun to read.  I know you will say, don't read it if you don't like it but the fact is that I enjoy this forum very much. I have learned alot and hope I have contributed a little.  Come on guys, it's Christmas, CHILL!!


----------



## tumbles

People are just informing others what these pellets are really like.  Would you be telling people to stop telling people how good they are if the opposite were true.  I can assure you the majority of us would be singing the praises if this were true.  Poeple are just passing on the "truth" and their experiences.  Like it or not, its the truth.  The truth does hurt and this forum has worked because they "supposedly" changed their product.  I too am from Maine and would have loved for them to do well.  Maine needs the work and I want to employ Maine people.  However, they have to provide a good product.  So it's not a groan session but an information session.  Like you said, if you don't like, don't read it.   Don't put the blame on us, put it on the company who made the pellets (not the consumer).  They made their bed, now they have to lay in it.


----------



## gw2kpro

SmokeyTheBear said:
			
		

> Liter,
> 
> I don't have access to the equipment needed to check the DNA of the fragments in the dissolved pellets, likely there would be insect and other matter.  That in and of itself doesn't prevent the pellet from being premium.



Thanks Smokey.  Was just having a bit of fun up here trying to be a little silly.

The fact of the matter is, unlike some other poster's claims, putting the pellets in water and documenting the results proves nothing at all.  I could claim that if you toss 2 kinds of pellets up in the air, the kind that lands first is an inferior product to the kind that lands second, but that wouldn't make it true. 

Without an independent study and published conclusions, the "water test" conclusion touted up here is nothing more then an individual's opinion based on their experience.  It has no more validity than anyone else's opinion posted up here on the pellets, in fact it has less -- 

I'll take the opinion of how a pellet burns in a stove any day over an evaluation of how a pellet floats in water, what color it is, how it flies through the air, or how it sounds pouring into a hopper.


----------



## j00fek

*now that you guys have had a spitting fest in this review thread, a mod would read it and close it... loosing the time lapse review, this would have been good to see the company's progress. next time please spit at each other through private messages and not in a review thread.*


----------



## pellet0708

One of the reasons this evokes so much emotion is that most of us bought in such large quanities.  These were not sold at the  box stores where you could buy a few bags to try.  The two places I bought from would only sell by the ton and that's all that was available.  So you aren't stuck with a few boxes of cereal that you don't like.  Your garage us full of junk and you have to spend and additional day moving it out.

The second issue I have is that the early batches like I got in July were  VISABLY inferrior.  (I'm going to try to post a picture.)   The entire bag  us just crumbles of pellets with the largest being 1/4 inch long and most of those split apart.  Most brands have a 1/2 a cup or so of these in the bottom of the bag.  So everybody working on the processing line watched these go through get bagged and shipped out.   That was not OK.  Never having seen a pellet before in my life I knew they didn't look right.  The crew at the plant knew what they were bagging and should have fixed it then. 

Not just this forum but the pressure put on them by suppliers and distributors will improve the product and I hope to try them again next year.  This forum did not bring them down the product did.  For those of you who have never burned them, you have to reason to post here.  I found this thread imensly helpful.  Without it I would not have known there were better pellets out there and would have thought my stove was the issue.  Which it is not, since with different pellets it is burning beautifully.

It is time for this thread to end but we do need some feedback about the new product when people have experience with it.


----------



## DAGME

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> Not just this forum but the pressure put on them by suppliers and distributors will improve the product and I hope to try them again next year.  This forum did not bring them down the product did.  For those of you who have never burned them, you have to reason to post here.  I found this thread imensly helpful.  Without it I would not have known there were better pellets out there and would have thought my stove was the issue.  Which it is not, since with different pellets it is burning beautifully.



I second "pellet0708's" thoughts. Being new to pellets, I've learned tons from this forum (and this thread), and have learned what to look for in pellets.  I for one would like to see this thread continue in a more civil tone.

These forums are about sharing experiences with pellets - and each user's experience is a piece of data that can be used to put together the bigger picture.  It is good to know for us newbies trying Maine Woods Pellet that we were not crazy worrying about all the ash - and that we were not alone.

Oh, and as for "evidence", check out this forum thread: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31336/.  Sounds like someone heard about customer concerns and is taking steps to improve - the whole point of this thread!  I'll certainly be keeping an eye out and give a second chance in a few years.

BTW, slander is only the case when statements are patently untrue - sorry, but there is no way this thread even touches the definition of slander.


----------



## hossthehermit

"Until last week I thought my stove would burn anything and anyone who had a problem with pellets generally had a problem with every encounter in life and keeps a shotgun near the door."

Well, 4124, if your remark was directed at me. I would suggest that you hone your reading comprehension skills a bit. Shotgun is in the bedroom.


----------



## lessoil

4124elad said:
			
		

> Well I read through every post here and have tried to post some solutions and direction.
> 
> If Athens pellets are so bad then do something about it.
> 
> Post some evidence that Athens pellets do not meet the specs. or stop slandering a bunch of hardworking people in the woods of our fair state of Maine.
> 
> I have seen no evidence other than a bunch of words in reading the eleven pages so far.
> 
> Posting some drivel about ash has got this thread off track.  Maybe that was the point.
> 
> Until last week I thought my stove would burn anything and anyone who had a problem with pellets generally had a problem with every encounter in life and keeps a shotgun near the door.
> 
> Sorry maybe that was SNARKY.
> 
> Point being is some people are taking our hard earned dollars and giving us less than we paid for.
> 
> If your not willing to inconveince a truck driver for a few minutes for your safety then by all means just accept whatever crap they drop on your doorstep.  Please do not complain later that the product is not up to par and is causing you problems.  The driver will make you sign for your delivery.
> 
> You accepted it without even checking the product out.
> 
> I have rejected many truckloads of inferior products and never had a problem with the driver.  Bring me a truckload of mangled up drywall and it is going back.  No matter what I always give the driver a ten or twenty buck tip.  My Father was a truck driver and taught me to never take them for granted.
> 
> Damage my product while unloading it.  It is on the return trip.
> 
> Sell me less than I paid for then you will have me parked on my doorstep.
> 
> If your more willing to jump on me instead of the topic then please feel free to continue.
> 
> I am genuily concerned that the pellet mills in Maine will damage the brand of Maine so bad that I will not be able to purchase a product that meets certain standards.
> 
> If you think you need to know more about myself.  I live and own several properties in Rockland Maine.  I have a camp on a lake in Rockport, Maine.
> 
> But most importantly I proudly own several large well managed  woodlots in Stockton Spring Maine that can very soon supply the local pellet mills with raw materiel.  So I do have a dog in this fight.
> 
> If the mills cannot get their act together soon then I wll just go into firewood and christmas trees.
> 
> Once again if Athens pellets  are so bad then please put up or shut up.
> 
> I for one would like to have someone show me the evidence.
> 
> It is pretty simple put some pellets in some water.
> 
> If you cannot be bothered then stop slandering the good people of the State of Maine




Here is a picture I posted early on in this thread.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/24941/P132/

The Ash buildup can be seen along the front edge of the burn pot.
We can deal with this issue(most of the time) just have to clean more often.
Other designs do not like this at all.
The ash did snuff out the fire once. Have combustion fan maxed out.

I do think that Athens will modify their process to meet our needs.
I hope they do as I want to support a Maine business.

I have an email in to Bill Carden.
Have to call our distributor if we want to pursue replacement. (Which Athens has been doing)


----------



## novah

I have taken the time to become a pellet expert at  http://woodpelletsguide.com/home-based-checking-of-quality-pellets/ as
recommended by *4124elad*. I tested the pellets made by Athens Pellets and purchased in August 2008. 

Athens passed with flying colors. There, that should put a smile on our resident pellet expert and self proclaimed Athens Pellet champion (who has never had the pleasure of burning them). 

Unfortunately, there is more to a premium pellet than passing these four tests and believe it our not, our sharp tongued peer apparently is not savvy enough to know this. 

What I am experiencing with the Athens Pellets is insufficient binding of the ingredients. As you may have read, premium pellets are made of hardwood and or softwoods without any bark. Resins and binders (lignin) occurring naturally in the sawdust hold wood pellets together. Heat is used in the extruding process to cause the particles to stick together. 

After reading many posts on this forum, it is obvious that Athens is experiencing a lack of process control in their mill. I say this because a variety of symptoms have been described by forum members. Those that reported dark pellets with a lot of ash had pellets containing too much bark or dirt. Those that reported pellets that broke and were loaded with crumbles and fines had too little binders. 

Both of these conditions are easily corrected and Athens can become a viable manufacturer if they want too. They seem to be taking their bad pellets back and I hope to return mine this weekend. That indicates a desire to remain in business and I bet they do recover from this. 

Everyone that has their pellets has to make a decision. If you can adjust the stove and live with it, go that route. If you can't get them to stay together and feed through your stove then you can mix them with other pellets if you can afford to buy more. In my case, I have to return them because the stove will not transfer them to the burn pot and I can't afford to buy more pellets to mix them 50/50 or what ever it will take.

Take a look at the picture of a sample from my pellets. Note that there are a lot of small pieces. This is where I start. When I dump the pellets in, I believe I break some and then the auger continues to break them until it is clogged with powder and pieces of pellet the size of a match head.


----------



## pellet0708

This is exactly what my pellets looked like.  In fact there are some in that picture bigger and more formed than any of mine.  This was not an occasional bag, We burned through a whole ton of these bag after bag.  They burned up the pieces so fast that we went through the ton pretty fast.
That is a great picture, no further tests needed to prove anything.  
As I stated in my previous post, how could these leave the line looking like this and no one notice?


----------



## gutterboy2ca

Hey Guys, also been experimenting with different kinds here in New Brunswick.Only 2 USA brands i have been able to try are the Green Heat and Maine Woods.Both were over priced to me, but hey i think its just the shortage this yeark, hopefully cheaper next year.
 My Experiance with the Maine Woods Pellets has been quite terrible to be honest.Only purchased 2 bags just to try,as you can see in the pic, they really don,t resemble the other pic,major diff in size. Heat output in my stove was a steady 220 F at output tubes, Exactly 2.5 cups non compressed ash /Bag,window needed cleaned severly after 2 bags(all i had)Dirty,medium heat output,they need to change the recipe.
  On the other Hand,Green Heat Pellets from Ashland Maine are Decent,Very Clean,Low ash,Under 2 cups/Bag,$7.00/Bg 300 F, would def buy these again next year,nice job on these,but still not as good as EnergeX.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

gutterboy2ca,

By any chance did you weigh your non compressed ash?  

The biggest indicators of grade are: 

1. Weight per bag of ash produced, it must be less than or equal to 1% or 6.4 oz per bag for premium pellets.
2. Heat content per pound of pellets, must be 8,200 BTUs or more.
3. Moisture content less than 8%

Those home based tests for pellets do not address these at all.


----------



## gutterboy2ca

no i did not Smokey and i agree, its not really technical data here, but as i am in same boat as most of the consumers here,not really interested in doing complete Lab tests for each brand,you know after running a couple bags of a brand thru your stove within 2 days whether the pellet brand is up to your desired specs or not. In this case they were at the lowest end in performance of the 8 or so brands i have run thru the stove since purchase in Oct. So i am in no way a seasoned veteran for pellet annalisys,just posting for other consumers who may be interested.


----------



## akakii

This conversation sure has taken an odd turn in the few days since I was last here.  4124elad, I don't understand why you've got your panties in a bunch.  No one has slandered anyone here.  The Athens pellets suck, plain and simple.  The owners of the Athens pellet mill have admitted that they had some problems with their pellets and are accepting returns from any dissatisfied customers, no questions asked.  If you'd read through the various threads on this topic you'd probably see some of the stuff I posted about my communication with the Maine Pellet Fuels Association.  All of the member manufacturers, of which Athens is one, recently got together to discuss the problems with quality.  They realize that they are all in this together and that any damage one firm causes to the reputation of Maine pellets does damage to them all.  As I was told by them following their meeting, "one firm had been manufacturing pellets using "waste wood" -- branches, bark, etc.  While this is an optimum utilization of Maine's forest resources, it turns out to not produce the required product, and the firm has ceased use of such wood."  

So if the people burning them had a problem with the pellets and the producer that made them admits that they had some problems with the pellets, is there really any question remaining as to whether these pellets are bad or not?  You can dump all the pellets you want into a glass of water and report the results and it's still not going to change the fact that I was unable to heat my home with Athens pellets.  Because of that, it will take some doing for me to burn them again.  I understand that they're having some growing pains but I don't appreciate being used as their guinea pig.  I sincerely hope that they get their issues sorted out.


----------



## pduby

I have also called Athens directly, they were very professional and straight forward that their product was inferior when the plant first opened, and "want to make it right" with the consumer. Their distributors also feel this way, as I spoke to one as well. The distributors are more than willing to accept returns. I found them both to be very honest and updstanding in wanting to make sure the product they sold was satisfactory to the consumer.

Our Dealer who we purchased our 6 tons from on the other hand, is still saying that they haven't received many complaints and "are in talks" with the distributor to accept returns.  The Dealer "offered" to sell us 1 ton "at cost" of another brand to mix with the athens, but are refusing to accept any returns.  When I called the distributor where the Dealer purchased these from, they confirmed as I mentioned above that they will take these back, and were VERY concerned the dealer would not take these back - to the point they told us to bring the pellets to them direclty - that the dealer KNEW returns are authorized.


----------



## novah

Yesterday, I went to my distributor with a bag from each of my 4 pallets. They looked at them and immediately declared them bad. I asked how they determined it so quickly and they said the diameter of the pellets. They continued to say that the die that extrudes the pellets had worn out and no one at Athens noticed. 

They said Athens is willing to replace pellets with pellets that are made with the corrected process but they won't refund money. They also gave me 4 bags of the improved pellets to try. I will do that today. In the mean time, I submit the attached photo of the new pellets. Notice that they look a little better than those in the picture I submitted several posts above but not like those posted by gutterboy2ca. I still think they are not crisp and they break like a brownie rather than a toothpick. I still see the crumbles too.

I will post my results tomorrow.


----------



## novah

j00fek said:
			
		

> *now that you guys have had a spitting fest in this review thread, a mod would read it and close it... loosing the time lapse review, this would have been good to see the company's progress. next time please spit at each other through private messages and not in a review thread.*



j00fek - what do you expect to see in a review?  We have been describing our experiences with the Athens pellets. Everyone seems to be trying to give information that is helpfull to those struggling to run their stoves with Athens pellets. Isn't that what a review is, to describe your experience with a product?


----------



## j00fek

it wasnt about the pellet review, it was about people attacking each other in a review thread...


----------



## novah

I see - my mistake.  I have the new, improved Athens in the stove. Evaluation to come.


----------



## novah

As I posted on Saturday, the new improved Athens Pellets looked a little better but the end result is the same. My auger is jammed and nothing is feeding into the burn pot.


EDIT - I didn't realize the names of the pictures wouldn't be in the attachment. From left to right is the original pellets, the original jammed auger and the auger jammed with new improved pellets and the new improved pellets


----------



## Setterpete

Here is my latest experience that I posted on another thread.

I’ve been trading in bags of Athens pellets that I purchased in August for newly produced bags for the past month and a half. I noticed a good difference about a month ago and even better difference last week. I have it on good authority that Athens has worked out their problems and are actually spraying the pellets as they are produced, with steam. The steam gives the pellets better integrity and a nice shine. I noticed a huge difference in the lesser amount of “fines” and the length of the pellets are slightly longer. I’ve burned six or eight bags and love them. I, like many on these boards, told myself I’d never buy Athens pellets again because of their quality. After using the latest version from them I don’t have any reason to buy anything else. Dysart’s had 70 tons on Monday and said they were going to build inventory to around 200 tons. The price is still $249 per ton. My guess is that the price per ton will drop by February. The drop in oil cost has to have an affect.


----------



## gutterboy2ca

Still seems a bit strange to me why theres such a diff in appearance in the ones i bought a month ago, to the ones pictued above which were also prob a month old,hmm, like they came from 2 diff plants.Oh well..I still personally prefere the Green Heat Pellets from Ashland, just my own preference though so don,t anyone get Pissed off,lol.Happy New Years to All..


----------



## novah

novah said:
			
		

> As I posted on Saturday, the new improved Athens Pellets looked a little better but the end result is the same. My auger is jammed and nothing is feeding into the burn pot.
> 
> 
> EDIT - I didn't realize the names of the pictures wouldn't be in the attachment. From left to right is the original pellets, the original jammed auger and the auger jammed with new improved pellets and the new improved pellets



Yesterday, I received a return phone call from Dave Carr, Plant Manager at Athens, regarding the message I left complaining about what I have posted on this forum. We had an open and honest conversation and he concluded that my distributor did not have the latest and the greatest pellets. He is Fed-Exing (free of charge) two bags of the latest to try in my stove. 

Needless to say, Dave gets a gold star for customer service. I look forward to taking delivery and will report my results.

Also, I want to correct my description of the auger being jammed. It is not jammed. It turns when the power is applied but the dust and crumble mixture stays in place. The auger rotates without transfering anything.


----------



## pellet0708

novah said:
			
		

> novah said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As I posted on Saturday, the new improved Athens Pellets looked a little better but the end result is the same. My auger is jammed and nothing is feeding into the burn pot.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Also, I want to correct my description of the auger being jammed. It is not jammed. It turns when the power is applied but the dust and crumble mixture stays in place. The auger rotates without transfering anything.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes this is the same thing that happens to our auger after 2-3 bags of Athens.  I can scoop out handfuls of sawdust into a bag then have to vac the rest.
Click to expand...


----------



## novah

pellet0708 said:
			
		

> Yes this is the same thing that happens to our auger after 2-3 bags of Athens.  I can scoop out handfuls of sawdust into a bag then have to vac the rest.



Have you tried taking the crumbles and fines out? I have not had clinker or high ash problems with Athens - they just don't feed into the burn pot. I went to Home Depot and bought the PVC to make a Shop Vac powered pellet cleaner described elsewhere in this forum. 

That is todays project. I plan to clean them and see if they will feed properly. I suspect part of the problem with Athens pellets is the auger breaking the pellets and I don't expect this to work to my satisfaction but I want to prove or disprove this suspicion.


----------



## pellet0708

I had some of the first batches. Most pellets were 1/4 "  and they crumbled when touched. So yes, I think a lot of the problem was the auger breatking them up even more so sifting them would not have helped and there would have been nothing left to put in the stove.  
I wonder after seeing the photos of the longer new pellets if they still break apart easily.  If so then they will have the same problems.  

You are right there were no clinkers using these I suspect because they did not get hot enough to form any.   The heat output with pennington, spruce Pointe, and lignetics is amazing and we are experiencing some clinkers but well worth it for the heat output.  As I have said before, I can turn the stove down 50% with these new pellets  and we are getting roasted out of the house.

We use the athens we have left for warmer days just to keep the stove going.


----------



## sparkydog00

Just started a new ton of these pellets.
Was hoping that there would be an improvement...but after burning the Cubex marker bags...it is worse. The pellets don't seem to burn with the same intensity as before. I would call the burn more lazy...and yellow in color. they produce the same copious amounts of ash that make these pellets standard grade at best.
Am thinking about using them to keep the walkways around my house safe...as they will serve more purpose than burning them.
Another satified customer.
NOT!


----------



## hot tomato

I have bought 20 bags of this stuff and have played with the settings on my stove. I find it works good with feed rate down low to about 1.5 or so and stove temp mode med to high to burn it hot and output temp set around 70 to 75 degs. It kept our house (26x24 2 storey, stove in basement) at about 73.5 deg on main floor with an outside temp of 15 deg. F + wind chill of -13 deg F. Kept up with demand and burned for 20.5 hours with full hopper. The ash output was more than the Eastern Embers brand we usually burn which are a real premium pellet but easily pushed it's way out of the burn pot. I did watch it and did empty it a couple of times, but was only about 1.5 inches wide and same high piled straight across the burn pot, but overnight was pushed into the ash pan with no problem. 

I agree with all of you the ash content is rediculous when I kept the same settings as the premium brand we usually burn. The pic from the guy who has the P61A2 I think his nickname is Lessoil or something was exactly the same as I had only 2 hours of burning it. But with a couple adjustments, I have seen better results. Maybe some of the stoves don't have the same or additional settings that I have, but I found it worked ok. No jams, no up / down flames / no burn outs etc... not saying this is good, but get rid of the bark and could be a better product in my mind.


----------



## gbeane

gbeane said:
			
		

> I'm a bit concerned after reading this.  In June I had ordered 3 tons of Corinth pellets from Dysarts (I am in the Bangor Maine area).  I was told about 3 weeks, I called back in a month and they ysaid it would probably be another month.  I called back in another month and he said they hadn't been getting Corinth pellets anymore for some reason, he didn't know why, and that if I switched my order to Athens I would get them sooner.  I asked about the Athens pellets and he said they were premium low ash and the only major difference was that they were 80% hardwood, but that it wouldn't make that much of a difference.  3 weeks later I had my 3 tons.
> 
> One bag on the bottom of one of the pallets was damaged by the forklift and I got to see the pellets.  They were fairly dark in color and were all quite small in size.
> 
> I hope I don't have too many problems with them... although I'm still waiting for that stove I ordered in May so I don't have anything to burn them in right now....



Sorry for beating a dead horse, but I *just* started burning these Athens pellets I got in October (that is a long story, but not related to this thread).   They are all fairly small (1/4 - 1/2 inch, occasionally I see a longer one) and dark in color.  I have been burning them in my Enviro Empress stove.  According to the manual this stove can burn pellets up to 3% ash, which I assume is "standard grade".

I burned about 3.5 days non stop without cleaning out the stove.  When I did clean it the ash pan was completely full, and there was quite a bit of ash inside the stove.  No clinkers or much build up in the burn pot. I haven't had to clean the stove a couple times a day like some people with these pellets. 

The flame is quite irregular, one minute is is barely out of the burn pot and the next it is 8 inches high.

The glass also seemed to get quite dirty.

My biggest complaint is that the pellets don't slide down the side of the hopper very well and if I don't push them down the sides occasionally the stove will go out.  It can burn overnight if I fill it before going to bed, but I'm gone from the house from 5:45AM until 5PM 4 days a week and it can't run that long. Friday I got home and the stove was out but still a little warm.  There were pellets inside but they didn't slide down to the auger.


----------



## look4life

I consider myself lucky that I did not get any of the Atherns pellets.  I was told by several sources that several local distributors had to replace whole truckloads of the Atherns pellets because of problems with poor ignition, jamming and high ash.  Tech who worked on my stove had nothing good to say about them but praised the eneretex I had.  Then again, I have not been satisified with the amount of ash i have been getting from the eneretex.  Maybe I just got a few bad bags??

Ash content can be due to a couple of things.  Dirt, bark, ect.  But one thing that many people do not consider is species of wood used.  Some species have a much higher percentage of material that will not burn and is left over as ash.  For example, burn a pound of aspen and weigh the resultingash left over.  there won't be much.  Now burn a pound of Hophornbeam, (also known as ironwood),  and weigh the leftover ash.  There will be a lot because the plant cells contain a lot of minerals that do not burn and are left over.  Also the reason it will dull a knife or saw in a few cuts.  Any other thoughts on this??


----------



## dbjc364

gbeane- if there is a way to add an extension hopper on your stove I highly recommend it.


----------



## kevinwburke

I have burned a few bags of Maine's Choice...seem to be pretty good...anyone have any experience with these?


----------



## gbeane

dbjc364 said:
			
		

> gbeane- if there is a way to add an extension hopper on your stove I highly recommend it.


I no longer have any problems with the stove going out during the day - I only had that happen with the bad Athens pellets a few years ago.  I've burned many tons of Corinth pellets and one ton of Strong pellets without this problem.  I've also tried the current Athens pellets this year without this problem. I did not burn any Athens pellets last year, but they seem much improved over a couple years ago.  The pellets are longer than 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and they slide down the sides of the hopper better so the stove did not go out while I am at work. The color seems more normal too.  Based on this, I just went out and got a ton of the Athens since they were so cheap.  I've mostly been burning Corinth.


----------



## splash

kevinwburke said:
			
		

> I have burned a few bags of Maine's Choice...seem to be pretty good...anyone have any experience with these?



No I burned inferno from Big Y which were ok and American Wood Fibers (both had some ash) and AWF are darker.  I'm burning Surefire now which I like and they are light and the fire is hot.  Seems to be the same amount of ash.


----------



## canibuyavowel

tumbles said:
			
		

> Boy oh boy you guys are bumming me out.   I have one ton of the Athens pellets  and I plan on mixing them with a better brand of pellets (Energex or Hamer).   I hope this works.   I'm new to burning pellets  but I didn't realize the type of pellets varied so wildly.   I'm from Maine and wanted to support a Maine business, but they better get their sh## together or they won't be in business much longer.   I'm going to try them but I won't ruin a new stove with crappy pellets.   Maybe if enough people return them they'll get the message.  On the positive side, oil is dropping like a stone.



On the Darker side oil is rising like an Iranian made missle


----------



## summit

Setterpete said:
			
		

> Here is my latest experience that I posted on another thread.
> 
> Iï¿½ve been trading in bags of Athens pellets that I purchased in August for newly produced bags for the past month and a half. I noticed a good difference about a month ago and even better difference last week. I have it on good authority that Athens has worked out their problems and are actually spraying the pellets as they are produced, with steam. The steam gives the pellets better integrity and a nice shine. I noticed a huge difference in the lesser amount of ï¿½finesï¿½ and the length of the pellets are slightly longer. Iï¿½ve burned six or eight bags and love them. I, like many on these boards, told myself Iï¿½d never buy Athens pellets again because of their quality. After using the latest version from them I donï¿½t have any reason to buy anything else. Dysartï¿½s had 70 tons on Monday and said they were going to build inventory to around 200 tons. The price is still $249 per ton. My guess is that the price per ton will drop by February. The drop in oil cost has to have an affect.



we sell them for 215 picked up. 249 sounds high when most places are at 200 +/- 20 bucks on these.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Hey folks this is a very old thread, current Athens pellets are fine.

See: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/711761/


----------

