# WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PENNINGTON NATURES HEAT SOLD AT LOWES AND HOME DEPOT



## erhalt1

I HAVE BEEN BURNING THESE PELLETS BUT THEY ARE AROUND 5.50 A BAG, SHOULD I JUST BUY A TON OF SOMETHING ELSE?  WHAT IS RECOMMENDED?  I HAVE A ENGLANDER.  THEY LEAVE ALOT OF ASH, AND BURN QUICK.  I AM NEW TO THIS, HOW DOES GETTING A TON IF YOU DON'T HAVE A TRUCK TO GET THEM, I LIVE IN WESTERN OHIO.

SORRY FOR THE CAPS




ERHALT1


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## galen

ER, you could rent a Lowe's truck. but then that drives up your per bag cost. You could rent a trailer, same thing. If you have a friend that owns a truck, I would be nicer to him than any of my other friends. But bottom line is if you don't own a truck then your going to have to make a bunch of trips right? I just got back from Lowes and I bought a ton/50 bags. It was a load on my F250. Put her down on the overload springs. I burned several different types and only saw a very little difference in bags. One company that I tried did have low ash but was a 1.60 higher. Didn't think it was worth it. But I did like them. Lowe's still had 800 bags on hand. That's 16 pallets. I'm going to check back come spring and see if they want to unload them. I have a spot in my barn for them.


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## erhalt1

Galon thanks,

I do have a friend with a truck and i have a tilt trailer but it still sound like i am going to have to unload the skid no matter what.  How much did you pay for the skid if i may ask, I have heard that buying a skid is cheaper than buying ind..

thanks for your help you are so kind

erhalt1


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## MainePellethead

galen said:
			
		

> ER, you could rent a Lowe's truck. but then that drives up your per bag cost. You could rent a trailer, same thing. If you have a friend that owns a truck, I would be nicer to him than any of my other friends. But bottom line is if you don't own a truck then your going to have to make a bunch of trips right? I just got back from Lowes and I bought a ton/50 bags. It was a load on my F250. Put her down on the overload springs. I burned several different types and only saw a very little difference in bags. One company that I tried did have low ash but was a 1.60 higher. Didn't think it was worth it. But I did like them. Lowe's still had 800 bags on hand. That's 16 pallets. I'm going to check back come spring and see if they want to unload them. I have a spot in my barn for them.



What brand did you buy at lowes galen?


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## MainePellethead

erhalt1 said:
			
		

> Galon thanks,
> 
> I do have a friend with a truck and i have a tilt trailer but it still sound like i am going to have to unload the skid no matter what.  How much did you pay for the skid if i may ask, I have heard that buying a skid is cheaper than buying ind..
> 
> thanks for your help you are so kind
> 
> erhalt1



I am burning "Fireside Ultras" from Home Depot.  I absolutely love them....high heat...low ash....and not to bad on the fines. I bought a ton for 223....


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## erhalt1

i just went to my home depot and they have the same brand as lowes PENNINGTON NATURES HEAT.


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## galen

Wow, what an afternoon. I was sitting at my business and saw an accident.  T bone Luckily no one was hurt. I let the police watch it over my security DVR. They were real impressed to be able to watch it over and over. But back to pellets. Yes, they were Pennington's AwsumSS. ER,  I paid 171.00. That included tax. 3.42 each. But single bag price was 3.80. I think the reason we have it good here in Missouri is we have a Pennington plant a Green field MO. Which is down by Stockton Lake. North of Springfield MO. I think its on 160 Hwy. So transportation costs are going to Be reflected.


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## MainePellethead

I'm not hearing a very good review regarding the Penningtons on here. Some were saying they were  pretty dirty.   Theres no tax on pellets here in maine....


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## galen

I think its more a batch run thing. Some are better than others. My bags did have some but really, not that much or believe me I would not have bought them. Now the Lignetics were very clean with just a small am out of fines but not to justify 1.60 more per bag. No way Jose. If in your area, the Penn's are priced close to Lignetics then I would defiantly pick the Lig's


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## erhalt1

You all have been so kind an knowledable about everything.  I guess I will just go ahead and get a pallett of the penningtons or call around some of the stove places and see what they will charge for different types.  The thing i noticed about the penningtons is that one bag can be a light colored wood, and another a real dark color, and the dark color seems to burn better.  I guess i don't understand the 2 color thing.  The englander seems to be a good stove not great,  I wish it had a bigger window, and it stayed CLEAN!  but for 750.00 I can't complain it seems to be an ok stove, customer service is great but you have to wait 15-20 min to talk to someone,  I asked the rep about it and he told me they only have 10 people working there lines there, and they are getting ready to open up in canada, so they are going to have to add more soon.


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## Corie

I've burned the Pennington pellets in every one of our stoves and have found them to burn quite well.  Perhaps some light adjustments are needed on low fuel feed, low burn air or the restrictor plate?  I've found them to be more or less comparable to any other good pellet I've tested?


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## petejung

I have an Englander PDVC and really don't like the Pennington's that I bought from HD.  Really dirty, lots of fines.  Could have been a bad batch.  As we mostly burn our stove on setting 1 or 2, I adjusted the low heat fuel down to 1 (yes, 1) to keep it running correctly, rather than adjusting the restrictor plate.  The Somerset's I used require a different setup completely. I am thankful to only have 5 bags of Pennington's left, then back to the Somersets, which at least in my limited experience have proven to be superior to the Pennington's.


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## kshew97

I am using my 6th (and last) bag of Pennington pellets. I bought these at Lowes near Cincinnati. I checked Home Depot and they are now carrying the same brand as well. This is only my 2nd season using my pellet stove as my primary heat source in my 1700sf house. These pellets are the worst I have ever used ! I started buying my pellets at Lowes/Home Depot because of conveinence (4 miles from house), but a trip to Tractor Supply and/or stove specialty store (15 miles) is well worth it. LOTS and LOTS of ash, dusty, nasty, long pellets, less heat than almost every other brand I have tried. 

........Just my $0.02


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## dumbodog00

I was able to get these pellets at Lowes for my in-laws really cheap because of price matching.  However, I bought 5 tons, loaded 3 tons wrapped and sealed into a trailer.  The other 2 tons I had to open to distribute between truck and trailer.  Of the 2 tons that were opened, there were about 30 bags that had been wet and were as hard as a rock.  After getting the other three tons opened, there were another 40 bags that had been wet and were hard.  They were all replaced, but I thought it was pretty bad they were damaged from the get go.  TSC keeps them outside in the weather and never had a problem with them.  It may have been a manufacturing issue because they were wrapped well to prevent water intrusion.
  My father-in-law says they produce more clinkers and ash than other brands he has used.  I hate buying so much quantity before trying them, but the price was right and last year they were hard to find this time of year.


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## bblack

Issues have been brought up in this Blog about the quality of Pennington Wood Pellets. Concerns have ranged from how well they burn, the amount of ash and clinkers they produce, the presence of long pellets, and an excess of fines or dust in the bag.  The fact that many of you have encountered problems with our pellets is very concerning to us and we would like to work with you to resolve them.

Some background - Pennington has five wood pellet plants in the East and Midwest of the US. The pellet mills in Missouri and Virginia have been in operation for many years and make an excellent product. In the last 12 months, three new pellet mills have been built to help alleviate the pellet shortages from previous years.  We have experienced some quality problems from these plants as they were started up.  Pennington Seed has high standards for all of their products, and we regularly test our wood pellets for ash, length, fines, and BTU.  Despite these tests and our best efforts, it appears some sub-standard pellets from these new plants made it into the marketplace.

If you have recently purchased Pennington Wood Pellets and not satisfied with them, you can contact Customer Service at 1-800-658-0410 or email mauge@penningtonseed.com.  Please note the lot number on the bag (usually embossed near the top seal of the bag), where and when you bought them, and what the issues are with the product.

Below are some comments concerning other questions raised by several Bloggers:

Pellet storage - When possible, store wood pellets inside, out of the weather.  If kept dry pellets can be stored from season to season.  If this is not possible and you must store outside, keep product off the ground to prevent moisture from wicking from below, and cover with a tarp to protect from rain, snow and sun.

Small holes in bags - The small holes along the top seal are added to assist bagging and palletizing of the product during the manufacturing process.  These holes allow air to escape after sealing.  In the absence of these holes, the trapped air would blow-out the seals when product is stacked on a pallet.

Brands - Bio Plus and Nature’s Heat are both manufactured by Pennington.  Nature’s Heat is a new brand launched in 2007 and is meant to replace the older Bio-Plus brand.

Customer Service – Pennington Seed


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## slheinlein

I bought a ton of Pennington Natures Heat wood pellets from Lowes in Merrimack NH in Mid-January.  I thought I was getting another brand of pellets that I had burned before but when I got them home and unwrapped them, they were Penningtons.  I almost took them back but since I hauled one ton of pellets in my .5 ton truck, I didn't want to make the trip back so I kep them.  I noticed when I opened the first bag the difference - longer than normal pellets, lots of grain and they were very dusty.

I have had trouble burning them - a lot of ash, don't seem to put out as much heat and my stove get much dirtier than when I burn other brands.  In addition, my stove stopped feeding pellets on two separate occasions which is something I have never had happen before.  I assume the hole the pellets feed into the auger is getting clogged up maybe due to the unusually long size of the pellets.  I was out of town the first time it happened and my wife couldn't figure out what to do so she ended up unplugging the stove and turning on the propane furnace.  This is exactly what I don't want to happen when propane costs so much these days and the only reason I purchased a pellet stove in the first place.

I seriously thought about taking some of the pellets back to Lowes and trading them out  for another brand but it is just too burdensome so I am trying to get these to work.  However, they definitely produce high ash, do not burn as clean as my window gets very dirty and don't seem to produce heat.  In some case zero heat when things get clogged.

I plan to take your offer and send this Email to the address above.


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## petejung

Pennington Seed -

Thank you for your concern.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with any lot information regarding the pellets I was having trouble with, as I thankfully have, as of this past week, finished burning the ton that I had purchased and all of the emtpy bags are at the landfill.

The only information I can give you is that I purchased these in late October, early November from the Home Depot in Lebanon, Ohio (45036). I believe that the pellets I bought there were in the first batch they received to sell, as no one there at the store had a clue as to how to ring them up or where they were located physically in the store.  perhaps that will help you track down the lot#.

I am interested in hearing what the general consensus is regarding where the Cincinnati pellets were manufactured.


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## MainePellethead

Pennington Seed Customer Service said:
			
		

> Issues have been brought up in this Blog about the quality of Pennington Wood Pellets. Concerns have ranged from how well they burn, the amount of ash and clinkers they produce, the presence of long pellets, and an excess of fines or dust in the bag.  The fact that many of you have encountered problems with our pellets is very concerning to us and we would like to work with you to resolve them.
> 
> Some background - Pennington has five wood pellet plants in the East and Midwest of the US. The pellet mills in Missouri and Virginia have been in operation for many years and make an excellent product. In the last 12 months, three new pellet mills have been built to help alleviate the pellet shortages from previous years.  We have experienced some quality problems from these plants as they were started up.  Pennington Seed has high standards for all of their products, and we regularly test our wood pellets for ash, length, fines, and BTU.  Despite these tests and our best efforts, it appears some sub-standard pellets from these new plants made it into the marketplace.
> 
> If you have recently purchased Pennington Wood Pellets and not satisfied with them, you can contact Customer Service at 1-800-658-0410 or email mauge@penningtonseed.com.  Please note the lot number on the bag (usually embossed near the top seal of the bag), where and when you bought them, and what the issues are with the product.
> 
> Below are some comments concerning other questions raised by several Bloggers:
> 
> Pellet storage - When possible, store wood pellets inside, out of the weather.  If kept dry pellets can be stored from season to season.  If this is not possible and you must store outside, keep product off the ground to prevent moisture from wicking from below, and cover with a tarp to protect from rain, snow and sun.
> 
> Small holes in bags - The small holes along the top seal are added to assist bagging and palletizing of the product during the manufacturing process.  These holes allow air to escape after sealing.  In the absence of these holes, the trapped air would blow-out the seals when product is stacked on a pallet.
> 
> Brands - Bio Plus and Nature’s Heat are both manufactured by Pennington.  Nature’s Heat is a new brand launched in 2007 and is meant to replace the older Bio-Plus brand.
> 
> Customer Service – Pennington Seed



Thank you for your thoughts/words.....however...after seeing alot of negative...I will not even "try" a pennington pellet until next year maybe later....


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## stoveguy2esw

personally, i thought it was a pretty stand up thing to do submitting the post that they did. i stated before that the folks i had worked with in georgia were very attentive and quite positive in wanting to field a quality product, i believe they will if not are already fielding a good product. if you have had issues give them a call ,or drop an e mail. by posting in public here they are offering you the opportunity to contact them in an open way. that goes a long way in my book.


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## ImInTheWind

I'm going to chime in here.

I work at Lowe's.  I tried six bags of Pennington's from our stock and they were green in color, various lengths, full of dust and seemed to be on the cooler burning side.  I then tried six bags of Pennington's from another local Lowe's and they were dark brown in color, about 3/8 to 1/2 inch in length, dust free and seem to burn hotter than my trusted Lignetics.

It looks like it may be hit or miss, depending on the lot or location of manufacturer.  That seems to be a very difficult QC problem to overcome and even at the ton price, a bad batch will leave a very dissatisfied impression.

At this point, I would have to break open a bag or two of each ton, before I would purchase 3 to 5 tons.

I truly hope that Pennington can harness the QC, because the dark brown pellets really throw some quality heat.


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## drtnshtr

I just bought these pellets here in central ohio and I have noticed the same issues...now walmart is carrying them as well as lowes...they arent burning nearly as hot...


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## webbie

I hope everyone keeps in mind that every single pellet stove is varied as to what it's perfect fuel might be. So there are more variables than just the pellets - there is the stove! Ideally, this would not be as much of a problem as it is - manufacturers should ideally engineer stoves which burn most of the stuff out there with few problems. But they don't.


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## JimmyD

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> personally, i thought it was a pretty stand up thing to do submitting the post that they did. i stated before that the folks i had worked with in georgia were very attentive and quite positive in wanting to field a quality product, i believe they will if not are already fielding a good product. if you have had issues give them a call ,or drop an e mail. by posting in public here they are offering you the opportunity to contact them in an open way. that goes a long way in my book.



I wrote them a pleasant email outlining my dissatisfaction with Nature's Heat pellets on 1/20/08 and never heard back so much as a thank you for the input.  Provided purchasing information and date codes as well.  I'll try again with this new contact, but my hopes aren't all that high at the moment.  At least my local Agway has quality pellets for my use.

Thx,
Jim


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## slvrblkk

After reading this forum for quite a while, I decided to register and post on this topic. I made the mistake of buying a ton of the Nature's Heat brand of pellets from the Lowes in Whitehall, PA (because it looked like a good buy at $193.00) without trying a few bags first. I'm very disappointed in the fact that most of the pellets are between 1-1 3/4" in length and quite a few between 2-2 1/2" in length. I've had four outages so far due to the auger being bound up by the long pellets. I've burned about 16 bags so far and have had no change in the length of pellets. I have never had this problem with any other brand of pellets and I normally burn Wood Pellets Co. pellets. So far, I haven't heard anything from the company and I sent them everything they wanted (sample pellets,empty bag, receipt, etc.) last week. As far as burning the pellets they are very dark in color, burn clean, but they do not have a lot of heat output. My stove is a Englander 25_pdvc. This is the reply from the company from the email I sent them: 





Stephen

Welcome to Pennington Seed and thank you for choosing one of our many
products, our ultimate goal is customer satisfaction.

We are very sorry you have experienced a problem with our hardwood
pellets.  This is not the quality of hardwood pellets that Pennington
Seed strives to manufacture for their customers.

We regret you are finding long pellets in your bags of pellets.  We
 will
notify the mill and corrective action will be taken.

Would you tell me the number of bags that have the long pellets.
  Please
mail the original receipt (this will be returned to you) and a complete
empty bag with the top of the bag intact, several handfuls of pellets
(we will refund your postage) with your name, physical address and
 phone
number to the following address:

Customer Service
Pennington Seed, Inc.
PO Box 338
Greenfield, MO   65661

Pennington Seed will need some further information.  We will be mailing
this questionaire to you as soon as possible.  You can either wait
 until
you receive the inquiry and mail everything in together or mail them
separate.

If you have other questions, or we can be of further assistance, please
advise.

Thank you,

Peggy S. Gordon
Pennington Seed, Inc.
Customer Service
1-800-658-0410  ext 187


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## MainePellethead

I see "almost" the same thing in that response letter as to when I write my Congressman or Senator......  "blah blah blah blah blah blah.....oh....and blah ba ty blah. "


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## drtnshtr

My first bag of penningtons didnt have any of the long pellets but the last couple did have...


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## stoveguy2esw

AwsumSS said:
			
		

> I see "almost" the same thing in that response letter as to when I write my Congressman or Senator......  "blah blah blah blah blah blah.....oh....and blah ba ty blah. "



i'd say then , its time for you to get a new congressman , i usually get decent responses from mine (even though its usually a staffer who writes back). as for their request , its not that unreasonable , and who knows maybe somthing will come of it. if it was a "hope they dont do it" letter why would the rep put her name ,and phone number and extension on the letter. if it was me i would do what they ask , they said they would refund your postage so its not like you are out anything but a couple handfulls of pellets you arent happy with anyway. what do you want them to do anyway???? and ask yourself , would you do that if you owned the company?


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## webbie

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> they said they would refund your postage so its not like you are out anything but a couple handfulls of pellets you arent happy with anyway. what do you want them to do anyway???? and ask yourself , would you do that if you owned the company?



Just speculation, but we can assume Pennington already knows what is wrong and does not need samples here and there. After all, if they don't already put aside (for QC) a bag or two of pellets every day (and save them) then they certainly should. Pellet are too mundane of a thing to make your customer do QC with (IMHO). 

What would I do if I owned the company? I would figure out how to cull out those pellets and sell them for commercial and industrial use, and then I would try to make some good pellets. I would then send a $50. rebate certificate and a note of apology to any customer that had problems. I would also guarantee those customers that they can count on the future shipments and offer an even larger rebate if they have another problem.

Other than that, it would be hard to make the customer give them a 2nd chance...assuming said customer has other choices.


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## slvrblkk

I only contacted Pennington to let them know about the problem and never requested or demanded anything.  I've pulled a few bags from different places in the pallet but there doesn't seem to be any difference in my ton.  I actually don't expect anything from them but if I start to have auger motor problems because of the pellets, then I'm really going mad. I still hear the auger, every once in a while, make a sound of clipping, chopping, etc. a long pellet. I'm sure that can't be good for the motor.  Like I said before, I've sent them everything that they had requested from me including a letter they sent me to fill out. The funny thing is as I'm sitting here typing this, I heard that cutting noise again.


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## stoveguy2esw

Webmaster said:
			
		

> stoveguy2esw said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> they said they would refund your postage so its not like you are out anything but a couple handfulls of pellets you arent happy with anyway. what do you want them to do anyway???? and ask yourself , would you do that if you owned the company?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Just speculation, but we can assume Pennington already knows what is wrong and does not need samples here and there. After all, if they don't already put aside (for QC) a bag or two of pellets every day (and save them) then they certainly should. Pellet are too mundane of a thing to make your customer do QC with (IMHO).
> 
> What would I do if I owned the company? I would figure out how to cull out those pellets and sell them for commercial and industrial use, and then I would try to make some good pellets. I would then send a $50. rebate certificate and a note of apology to any customer that had problems. I would also guarantee those customers that they can count on the future shipments and offer an even larger rebate if they have another problem.
> 
> Other than that, it would be hard to make the customer give them a 2nd chance...assuming said customer has other choices.
Click to expand...


well who's to say they may just do that, as for sending back a sample , if you look at virtually any "guarantee" on food for instance you will see "please return the unused portion" along with proof of purchase. hey they didnt ask for the whole ton or even just what was left, just a few handfuls. as for keeping a bag a day or per lot , did the pellet mill you had a tour of do that? seems like it would take up a lot of space, which pellet mills generally do not have an abundance of. all im saying is this, they made a gesture. they are asking for input. they didnt have to. they may be willing to do somthing ,i dunno , i cant say as i do not speak for them. but im sure there are companies who wouldnt have even bothered to acknowlege anything , much less give contact information and what is akin to a public apology. lets let it shake out and see what happens. maybe it will be a reasonable response , maybe not , but i'd give them time to do what they will. were it me who had the issue i would have been willing to do as they asked and see what came of it. im sure our poster who has done so will post what the response is when he gets one , and will likewise post if he doesnt get one , at that point i'd say its open season.


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## drtnshtr

im not so sure I have anything against the longer pellets from pennington...it seems as if they last burn longer in the grate to me and the first beg i opened was the only bag that wasnt very good...our local Lowes store sells these pellets for $3.49 /bag and 3.14/bag if buying a ton...thats the cheapest I have seen pellets anywhere...I took a chance tonight and bought 12 more bags of them and Im not seeing any fines at all compared to the first bag I had...the longer pellets are keeping the house 5 degrees warmer as well compared to the shorter ones. maybe they have the kinks worked out


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## ahinman

Hey Pennington, the home depot store here in Juneau does not even carry pellets. I have begged them several times to no avail and i am paying through the nose at the only local supplier......

maybe you should apply some pressure on home depot... ask why they don't handle pellets in Juneau Alaska (pellet stoves are very popular here since wood stoves are very restricted because of smoke emission laws)


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## drtnshtr

ahinman said:
			
		

> Hey Pennington, the home depot store here in Juneau does not even carry pellets. I have begged them several times to no avail and i am paying through the nose at the only local supplier......
> 
> maybe you should apply some pressure on home depot... ask why they don't handle pellets in Juneau Alaska (pellet stoves are very popular here since wood stoves are very restricted because of smoke emission laws)


its funny you mention that they dont even carry pellets...I cant imagine any store in all of alaska not carrying pellets..heck I live in ohio and just about everyone carrys them...with the exception of a walmart I was at the other night close to columbus...they called all over the store trying to figure out what the heck a pellet stove was...lol


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## petejung

I saw at least one post on here that sort of gave me the impression that all this about problems with the Pennington's pellets is just BS.  My personal experience, and that of many others, is pretty solid. I started going through a ton of Somerset's at the beginning of the season.  When I realized I was not going to make it through the season on one ton, I decided to purchase another ton.  There's an HD right here by work that was $20 cheaper for Pennington's than the TSC that's 10 miles away was for Somersets.  So I bought a ton of Penningtons and started using them, as they were stacked on top of the 1/2 ton of Somersets in the basement. I finished burning the ton of Pennington's last week, and am back to the Somerets.

Here's the big difference that I can absolutely verify:

The Penningtons, after burning 28 hrs on heat setting 1 or 2 (ESW 25-PDVC), will have the area under the burnpot filled with ash 3/4 to the top of the inlet tube, and the left hand ash bin will be filled almost to the top.
By contrast, with the somersets, I still have yet to reach any significant level of ash in either ash bin, and there is generally only a "dusting" of ash under the burnpot.

To me, that is a significant difference in pellet performance.

I can agree with others that say that the Pennington's didn't burn quite as hot, as it seemed we went through a ton of them pretty quick.  However, I never wrote down any data, or took any measurements on any of that stuff. The only hard evidence I have regards the ash content.


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## slheinlein

slvrblkk said:
			
		

> After reading this forum for quite a while, I decided to register and post on this topic. I made the mistake of buying a ton of the Nature's Heat brand of pellets from the Lowes in Whitehall, PA (because it looked like a good buy at $193.00) without trying a few bags first. I'm very disappointed in the fact that most of the pellets are between 1-1 3/4" in length and quite a few between 2-2 1/2" in length. I've had four outages so far due to the auger being bound up by the long pellets. I've burned about 16 bags so far and have had no change in the length of pellets. I have never had this problem with any other brand of pellets and I normally burn Wood Pellets Co. pellets. So far, I haven't heard anything from the company and I sent them everything they wanted (sample pellets,empty bag, receipt, etc.) last week. As far as burning the pellets they are very dark in color, burn clean, but they do not have a lot of heat output. My stove is a Englander 25_pdvc. This is the reply from the company from the email I sent them:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stephen
> 
> Welcome to Pennington Seed and thank you for choosing one of our many
> products, our ultimate goal is customer satisfaction.
> 
> We are very sorry you have experienced a problem with our hardwood
> pellets.  This is not the quality of hardwood pellets that Pennington
> Seed strives to manufacture for their customers.
> 
> We regret you are finding long pellets in your bags of pellets.  We
> will
> notify the mill and corrective action will be taken.
> 
> Would you tell me the number of bags that have the long pellets.
> Please
> mail the original receipt (this will be returned to you) and a complete
> empty bag with the top of the bag intact, several handfuls of pellets
> (we will refund your postage) with your name, physical address and
> phone
> number to the following address:
> 
> Customer Service
> Pennington Seed, Inc.
> PO Box 338
> Greenfield, MO   65661
> 
> Pennington Seed will need some further information.  We will be mailing
> this questionaire to you as soon as possible.  You can either wait
> until
> you receive the inquiry and mail everything in together or mail them
> separate.
> 
> If you have other questions, or we can be of further assistance, please
> advise.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Peggy S. Gordon
> Pennington Seed, Inc.
> Customer Service
> 1-800-658-0410  ext 187



I got the same Email but replied asking what I can expect my compensation to be since this is a pain to mail all this stuff.  Let me know the resolution.  Thanks.


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## petejung

I read the emails and everything from Pennington, and what they are asking from the consumer... To me, it just wasn't worth the hassle, unless they were going to refund the entire amount of my purchase, which I doubt they would do, nor would I expect them to.  I bought their product, used their product, and determined that I wasn't happy with their product.  I don't recall seeing anything on the bag about satisfaction guarantees (not saying there isn't one, just didn't look for one).  It's not like I didn't use their pellets or get any heat from them, it just that the performance of their product was subpar compared to another brand available in my area. To me, my remedy is that I'm simply not going to purchase their pellets again, and purchase pellets that I have found work better for me.


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## webbie

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

> if you look at virtually any "guarantee" on food for instance you will see "please return the unused portion" along with proof of purchase.



Well, those food people will give you 100% of your money back! So that is not a good comparison. 
Pennington has already said what the problem is. Lapses of QC on their remote plants. I'm sure they are fixing it. As the above post says, it's not like the pellets didn't work - just not as pleasant to burn for some folks.

This is the way the marketplace works. Whether perceived or real, customers constantly make adjustments and decisions based on their experiences. A commodity like pellets are unlikely to leave any long term bad taste...that is, if their pellets are much better (and well priced) in the future, I'm certain they will sell well. The exception might be when a customer thinks a pellet actually messed up their stove...which seems a bit doubtful to me in most cases. 

Even since way back when, folks in the know have suggested that pellet stove owners try a few bags before committing to a number of tons. I think that is still good advice - whatever the brand. The differences between stoves, batches of pellets, chimneys and even the "placebo effect" are always at play.


----------



## slvrblkk

I just wanted to let everyone know when I came home from work today and checked my mail there was an envelope from Pennington. Much to my surprise there was a apology letter as well as a check refunding me my pellets purchase and the postage for sending them what they had requested. That was a completely stand up thing for the company to do as I really didn't expect anything but I really do appreciate it. I really do hope the company gets things ironed out with the pellets as they do burn clean for me.


----------



## staplebox

Well there you go.  From a business perspective I think this is the best thing they could have done.  Their pellets took a beating on this forum.  I know that I passed their pellets over at the store the other day, based on the reported poor performance here.  They would have had to significantly lowered their prices to get me to buy (really low, a ton of cheap crap is still a ton of crap).  This action makes me feel a little more positive about their product, because they stand behind it and care about how it is perceived.  I probably still won't buy this year, again unless really cheap, but I would be willing to give them a try next year.  If they hadn't resolved this problem here I would have blacklisted them in my mind.  

The same principle applied to my purchase of my pellet stove.  I read about many problems with the stoves on this forum but I also ALWAYS read about support directly from the manufacturer.  That made me comfortable with spending my hard earned $$$.


----------



## webbie

Wow, that is way over and above the call of duty......pretty amazing.


----------



## MainePellethead

Was it a check for the whole pellet purchase? 

I still will not buy their product. I'll wait and see i if comments here and others have truly resulted in a fixed product.


----------



## Czech

Just split a ton with my folks, $3.13 bag. I'll keep you posted....


----------



## hyip1206

I bought two bags yesterday because of this post, just to see for myself. They were very dark brown and long. They gave ok heat but they generate a ton of ash.


----------



## galen

I have now used a half ton of Pennington pellets through my stove. So far, the only issue I see with them is there are a little more fines (loose sawdust) in the bags than some of the other brands I have used. There is also more ash to clean up after 3 days of burning. But I don't consider this an issue because I'm cleaning the darn stove anyway so whats a little more ash. Big deal? Not in my book. Why? because I bought them for a 1.80 cents less per bag. If others pay much more then I would look at other brands but my stoves burn the fines  very well.


----------



## drtnshtr

galen said:
			
		

> I have now used a half ton of Pennington pellets through my stove. So far, the only issue I see with them is there are a little more fines (loose sawdust) in the bags than some of the other brands I have used. There is also more ash to clean up after 3 days of burning. But I don't consider this an issue because I'm cleaning the darn stove anyway so whats a little more ash. Big deal? Not in my book. Why? because I bought them for a 1.80 cents less per bag. If others pay much more then I would look at other brands but my stoves burn the fines  very well.


I have been getting the same results ...sometimes I get a bag of them that are really light brown/very short with fines and do not burn as hot but for the most part I am getting the darker brown pellets that are longer than normal and produce very little ash..One thing I dont get is why is walmart selling them for almost $5/bag and lowes has them for $3.17/bag????


----------



## galen

You should know by now drt, that just because its walmart doesn't always mean your getting the lowest price. I don't trust them anyway. 90% is china made.


----------



## drtnshtr

galen said:
			
		

> You should know by now drt, that just because its walmart doesn't always mean your getting the lowest price. I don't trust them anyway. 90% is china made.


man thats the truth...I actually buy very little from walmart because of quality issues...


----------



## stoveguy2esw

ahinman said:
			
		

> Hey Pennington, the home depot store here in Juneau does not even carry pellets. I have begged them several times to no avail and i am paying through the nose at the only local supplier......
> 
> maybe you should apply some pressure on home depot... ask why they don't handle pellets in Juneau Alaska (pellet stoves are very popular here since wood stoves are very restricted because of smoke emission laws)




hey, look up the post with the service phone number and ask if they plan to distrbute up there. worth a shot. although i'd figure retailers in alaska would work through a BC company like armstrong pellet. i know the guy that owns armstrong , i'll probably talk to him at some point in the near future , i'll inquire if he does any alaskan buisness , if so i'll let you know where he sells to


----------



## mikeauge

My name is Mike Auge and I'm the Customer Service manager that coordinates the Wood Pellet issues at Pennington Seed, located in the Missouri division. We hope everyone has read the recent post from Pennington Seed that explains what had happened at our new mills and what we are doing to correct the problems. As it said in that post, my email is mauge@central.com. We have two full time CSR's working on the Wood Pellet problems and acting as the "facilitators" with the various wood pellet mill managers and senior management. As fast as we can collect the needed information, it is being communicated to the proper division for compensation authorization. We appreciate all of you who have responded, whether to this (or other) Blogs, whether telling us about your good pellet experiences or the bad. All of this (good or bad) helps us improve. I read a quote one time that good companies will use negative reviews of its products as an opportunity to improve them. Pennington Seed promises to work hard to regain your trust and improve quality control where and when needed. We thank everyone for their patronage and the opportunity to provide a great product that we can Proudly say is made in the good old USA. Mike Auge - Pennington Seed


----------



## drtnshtr

OK this is the second post from Pennington and it seems as if they are on it. I will continue buying them on this merit alone! I can tell by looking at the bulge from the pellet in the bag bag if Im getting the quality of pellet Im looking for so if needed I will just weed the bad ones out. I say KUDOS to Pennington.


----------



## MainePellethead

Ok I did it.....I passed by a pallet of their Pellets....I didnt want to pass judgement on something I hadnt tried. So I bought a couple bags.  I know these may or may not be out of the same batches that all have been talking about regarding bad pellets. But at least I can chime in and say what my experience was/is.  Gonna burn the probably tonight and tomorrow...
Am very glad to see some of their (Penningtons)  rep's posting.....thats a very good sign.


----------



## BrotherBart

I wanted to buy my first ton of pellets last week but didn't buy the Penningtons at Lowe's based on what I was hearing. Kinda glad I didn't. I will just let the lil pellet puppy be a door stop until I see how this progresses. Have to ask'em when I am back in there tomorrow if they have heard about these issues.

Two wood stoves cranking right now with those eight pound BroBart brand wedge shaped pellets picking up the slack.


----------



## slvrblkk

AwsumSS said:
			
		

> Was it a check for the whole pellet purchase?
> 
> I still will not buy their product. I'll wait and see i if comments here and others have truly resulted in a fixed product.



It was the whole amount.


----------



## BrotherBart

slvrblkk said:
			
		

> AwsumSS said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Was it a check for the whole pellet purchase?
> 
> I still will not buy their product. I'll wait and see i if comments here and others have truly resulted in a fixed product.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It was the whole amount.
Click to expand...


Oh silly me and my bad old age memory. I remember now. I bought six tons.  :coolgrin:


----------



## MainePellethead

I just loaded the stove with a bag of Penningtons.....LOTS of sawdust/fines.....will know on the heat in theo vernight if its strong heat or not....


----------



## hyip1206

I got home yesterday and found the stove had gone out. The burnpot was full of unburned pellets. These Penningtons are extremely long and must have somehow clogged. I mixed in my Natures Own pellets with the Penningtons still in the hopper and ran them through and they burned without shutting the stove off. I will burn off the second bag mixed with my other pellets to get rid of them. I am glad Pennington is reading these threads so they can improve the product. I also noticed a lot of ash and soot when burning the Pennigtons. Igot the two bags a Wal-Mart. paid 4.00 a bag.


----------



## MainePellethead

I burned one bag almost since yesterday.  Dirty/lots of fines....but more importantly, a lower heat than the Fireside Ultras I have been burning. At least a third less heat or more.


----------



## drtnshtr

one thing I have noticed is I cant run my Whitfield on the lowest setting or it will go out with the pennington pellets. I only tried one other kind and they were given to me by the guy I bought the stove from and it was very cold so the lowest setting wasnt used.


----------



## kshew97

I don't post much, in fact only created an account to voice my concern over these pellets. I will say this, Pennington seems to be stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing. It is very easy to make excuses and rely on selling tons of this stuff just due to shear volume and blowing off the 5-10 people on here that are griping. I will give them another shot, take one for the team, call it whatever you want. I am not going to send them empty bags, copies of receipts, or anything else simply because that is not what I want ! I want to be able to stop at the closest store possible, pick up a quality product, and not have to think about it once it is in my stove. In my opinion, if Pennington does what they say they are doing, I would have no problem giving them a second chance. If it weren't for second chances (or third or fouth), I would probably be divorced....LOL

.....Just my $0.02


----------



## MainePellethead

kshew97 said:
			
		

> I don't post much, in fact only created an account to voice my concern over these pellets. I will say this, Pennington seems to be stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing. It is very easy to make excuses and rely on selling tons of this stuff just due to shear volume and blowing off the 5-10 people on here that are griping. I will give them another shot, take one for the team, call it whatever you want. I am not going to send them empty bags, copies of receipts, or anything else simply because that is not what I want ! I want to be able to stop at the closest store possible, pick up a quality product, and not have to think about it once it is in my stove. In my opinion, if Pennington does what they say they are doing, I would have no problem giving them a second chance. If it weren't for second chances (or third or fouth), I would probably be divorced....LOL
> 
> .....Just my $0.02



I agree.   Its alot of carrying etc to get the product home not to mention cost. I expect it to be somewhat on the 100% side of being a quality product for the most part.  I only burned one bag of these Pennington Pellets for the first time overnight....much lower heat than the Firesides or the Clean Energy's.....also lots of fines.  I emptied the last of the bag into my sifter....I kid you not.....I got almost 2 cups of fine sawdust......thats not included what may have got into my hooper as I dont normally sift til I get down to the bottom part of the bag.


----------



## petejung

That's pretty much exactly the amount of sawdust I was getting per bag here in Cincinnati.


----------



## Czech

I dumped 25 bags into the crib yesterday, lots of fine and crumbled pellets, I'd guess about the same amount per bag as Awsum and El stated above. Lots of dust too. I filled the stove and yes they burn a bit dirtier and seem to throw less heat compared to the Green Way I was burning prior to these. I will say that I'm very impressed with the company posting here, you don't see that too often now days. In fact I emailed a more local company in WI about some problems, the first email was returned, then I never heard from them again, even though I was talking truck loads. Not too surprising, there was no sale on that one. As far as the price of the Pennington's, I paid $3.13 a bag so I won't complain too much!


----------



## MainePellethead

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> I dumped 25 bags into the crib yesterday, lots of fine and crumbled pellets, I'd guess about the same amount per bag as Awsum and El stated above. Lots of dust too. I filled the stove and yes they burn a bit dirtier and seem to throw less heat compared to the Green Way I was burning prior to these. I will say that I'm very impressed with the company posting here, you don't see that too often now days. In fact I emailed a more local company in WI about some problems, the first email was returned, then I never heard from them again, even though I was talking truck loads. Not too surprising, there was no sale on that one. As far as the price of the Pennington's, I paid $3.13 a bag so I won't complain too much!



Gotz....u mentioned crib.....what are you using for a pellet crib?


----------



## Czech

The crib is a wooden shipping crate from where I work, basically a crate held together with clips so it can be taken apart easily for storage in the off season. It's around 4x3x4 foot, physics amazes me as it holds around 27 bshls of corn or 25 bags of pellets (5 gallon bucket from there to the stove). I like it as it doesn't take up much room, allows for mixing of corn and pellets, and doubles for camping/boating supply storage in the summer. It's nice if you have fines and such too, most of the small stuff sifts down to the bottom of the crate so that you don't have to worry about it until then, unlike dumping a 40lb bag into the stove fines and all. As mentioned in another thread, I can dump the used vege oil in and give her a stir with the canoe paddle too!


----------



## bblack

This is a reminder message that we are still actively viewing the posts here.  Some may not want to have to read all the way through all of the posts so we've decided to repeat what we have said and *PROMISE* to stand by just as a reminder.

Issues have been brought up in this Blog about the quality of Pennington Wood Pellets. Concerns have ranged from how well they burn, the amount of ash and clinkers they produce, the presence of long pellets, and an excess of fines or dust in the bag.  The fact that many of you have encountered problems with our pellets is very concerning to us and we would like to work with you to resolve them.

Some background - Pennington has five wood pellet plants in the East and Midwest of the US. The pellet mills in Missouri and Virginia have been in operation for many years and make an excellent product. In the last 12 months, three new pellet mills have been built to help alleviate the pellet shortages from previous years.  We have experienced some quality problems from these plants as they were started up.  Pennington Seed has high standards for all of their products, and we regularly test our wood pellets for ash, length, fines, and BTU.  Despite these tests and our best efforts, it appears some sub-standard pellets from these new plants made it into the marketplace.

If you have recently purchased Pennington Wood Pellets and not satisfied with them, you can contact Customer Service at 1-800-658-0410 or email mauge@penningtonseed.com or mauge@central.com.  Please note the lot number on the bag (usually embossed near the top seal of the bag), where and when you bought them, and what the issues are with the product.

Below are some comments concerning other questions raised by several Bloggers:

Pellet storage - When possible, store wood pellets inside, out of the weather.  If kept dry pellets can be stored from season to season.  If this is not possible and you must store outside, keep product off the ground to prevent moisture from wicking from below, and cover with a tarp to protect from rain, snow and sun.

Small holes in bags - The small holes along the top seal are added to assist bagging and palletizing of the product during the manufacturing process.  These holes allow air to escape after sealing.  In the absence of these holes, the trapped air would blow-out the seals when product is stacked on a pallet.

Brands - Bio Plus and Nature’s Heat are both manufactured by Pennington.  Nature’s Heat is a new brand launched in 2007 and is meant to replace the older Bio-Plus brand.


----------



## Czech

Wow. PSCS get's my vote, I'd buy again just based on the previous post, customer service is a dying art, and this company is IMHO doing a bang up job to address the issue. That said, and in every pellet company's interest, what do we as consumers expect in the pursuit of the perfect pellet? I'll start a new thread, let's keep the nuclear pellets that Hog has OT, he only sends those to a few of us (I still have one of his pellets burning from last fall, cool).


----------



## petejung

Yeah, like I said before, I'd buy Pennington pellets again, but I won't buy a ton straight away.  I'll test burn a few bags first.  But, based on Mike's comment's from Pennington, and the timeley responses I have received from Mike and his crew via email, I am confident that Pennington is going to correct whatever issues they have in these new mills. Imagine if you had the opportunity to be the pellet supplier for Lowes and HD, even if it's just a certain region... I would certainly be motivated to get things squared away! I'm not a pellet manufacturer, and don't really know what all goes into making pellets, but I would think that they'll be able to knock these issues out, as there was such a night and day difference between Pennington's and the other brand I am using.


----------



## mnoack

Pennington Seed Customer Service said:
			
		

> Issues have been brought up in this Blog about the quality of Pennington Wood Pellets. Concerns have ranged from how well they burn, the amount of ash and clinkers they produce, the presence of long pellets, and an excess of fines or dust in the bag.  The fact that many of you have encountered problems with our pellets is very concerning to us and we would like to work with you to resolve them.
> 
> Customer Service – Pennington Seed



I have had my stove, an Enviro Empress, for about 6 weeks & I have burned four brands of pellets. PA Pellet, Energex, Comfy Cozy & Pennington. Of the four, the Pennington definitely burn the cleanest & produce the least ash. The PA Pellets, which are a hardwood pellet, produce about 6 times as much ash as the penningtons. That said, both the energex & the Comfy Cozy had been stored outside on wrapped pallets, so I am not sure they are completely dry. I bought the Penningtons at BJ's in Portland Maine, but the last couple times I've been in, they haven't had them. Anyone know where I can get more (dry!) in southern maine?


----------



## galen

It's nice that a Pennington rep. did post reasons for sub-standard pellets. But I don't think it's isolated to just "NEW" plants. The plant in Missouri I would assume supplies the Lowe's here in Missouri. That is were I bought my Pennington's. 1085J6 is my lot number and these have a tremendous amount of ash. I have to clean every day now. The first part on the ton or pallet was so so. But now if I don't shut down the stove the ash restricts the burning.


----------



## cntbill

I was at one of the Lowes near by and noticed that they had these... so just out of curiosity thought I would try a couple of bags to find out if they were the dark or light ones and the price was @ $4.30 /bag, $179 /ton. Turned out they were the light ones. So figured I would just burn them up and set the stove to 9-9, but ran into a problem, the burn pot filled up and stove was running HOT. Stove is off at the moment till I get back to it and clean it out. I am going to start another post shortly with that problem. So I think it will be next season before I try these pellets again.


----------



## Ridgefire

Not to jump on the bash Pennington band wagon, but tonight when I was cleaning the burn pot out I found a piece of wire in it. I have been burning the Penningtons for a few weeks now. I havent had any complaints they seem to burn fine in my Englander 25PDVC. As soon as its cool enough to handle I will get a picture of it. It was cherry red when I was scraping the ashes to side.


----------



## Ridgefire

As promised here are a couple pics of the wire I found burned in my burn pot after using Penningtons


----------



## bblack

galen said:
			
		

> It's nice that a Pennington rep. did post reasons for sub-standard pellets. But I don't think it's isolated to just "NEW" plants. The plant in Missouri I would assume supplies the Lowe's here in Missouri. That is were I bought my Pennington's. 1085J6 is my lot number and these have a tremendous amount of ash. I have to clean every day now. The first part on the ton or pallet was so so. But now if I don't shut down the stove the ash restricts the burning.



Galen,

Please contact our Customer Service Department so we can talk to you or shoot us an e-mail.  Thank you, B. Black


----------



## cntbill

galen said:
			
		

> It's nice that a Pennington rep. did post reasons for sub-standard pellets. But I don't think it's isolated to just "NEW" plants. The plant in Missouri I would assume supplies the Lowe's here in Missouri. That is were I bought my Pennington's. 1085J6 is my lot number and these have a tremendous amount of ash. I have to clean every day now. The first part on the ton or pallet was so so. But now if I don't shut down the stove the ash restricts the burning.



Where do you find the lot number? And is there a way of knowing where they come from or when they were produced? The few bags I bought I yet to find any number on them except the bar code, and was thinking of keeping an eye open to see if the Lowes near by gets another shipment in.


----------



## bblack

Ridgefire said:
			
		

> Not to jump on the bash Pennington band wagon, but tonight when I was cleaning the burn pot out I found a piece of wire in it. I have been burning the Penningtons for a few weeks now. I havent had any complaints they seem to burn fine in my Englander 25PDVC. As soon as its cool enough to handle I will get a picture of it. It was cherry red when I was scraping the ashes to side.



Ridgefire,

Please contact the Pennington Seed Customer Service Deptartment so that we may discuss this issue further.  Thank you, B. Black


----------



## debbiels1979

I have had nothing but bad luck with pellets this year.  I had one supplier, a local farm supply. I had used for a couple years and they started getting some weird brand and they were HORRIBLE!  So then I said why not try Lowes and they sold Pennington.  Well no offense to the Pennington Company but these from Pennington have given me many headaches and many nights of waking up 3am with no heat because the pellets were too long and jammed the auger.  The first time it happened I didn't know what it was and had to pay a service man $150 to come out and fix my stove.  Well he showed me how to fix it if it happens again and I am glad he did because it has happened repeatedly.  Also, these are some of the dirtiest burning pellets I have ever burned.  The pot fills up so fast and requires a very good cleaning almost everyday.  Last week I was sick and my husband knows NOTHING about the stove, so I nursed the stove all week (I was too sick to babysit the stove and clean it out constantly) until I couldn't anymore because the pot filled up with junk and caused the flames to be too high and back the pellets up into the feed tube.  I had that happen when we tried mixing the corn with the pellets but this is a first!  I just cleaned out the stove a few minutes ago and the stuff that was in the pot was like cement.  I feel like I am stuck because I have another ton of these pellets to work through.  I just hope I make it through this winter without pulling all my hair out!


----------



## bblack

debbiels1979 said:
			
		

> I have had nothing but bad luck with pellets this year.  I had one supplier, a local farm supply. I had used for a couple years and they started getting some weird brand and they were HORRIBLE!  So then I said why not try Lowes and they sold Pennington.  Well no offense to the Pennington Company but these from Pennington have given me many headaches and many nights of waking up 3am with no heat because the pellets were too long and jammed the auger.  The first time it happened I didn't know what it was and had to pay a service man $150 to come out and fix my stove.  Well he showed me how to fix it if it happens again and I am glad he did because it has happened repeatedly.  Also, these are some of the dirtiest burning pellets I have ever burned.  The pot fills up so fast and requires a very good cleaning almost everyday.  Last week I was sick and my husband knows NOTHING about the stove, so I nursed the stove all week (I was too sick to babysit the stove and clean it out constantly) until I couldn't anymore because the pot filled up with junk and caused the flames to be too high and back the pellets up into the feed tube.  I had that happen when we tried mixing the corn with the pellets but this is a first!  I just cleaned out the stove a few minutes ago and the stuff that was in the pot was like cement.  I feel like I am stuck because I have another ton of these pellets to work through.  I just hope I make it through this winter without pulling all my hair out!



Debbie,

As with any others who have ANY trouble with our pellets, I ENCOURAGE you to contact our Customer Service Department so that we can help you get through this very unfortunate event.  If you do not contact our Customer Service Department directly, we cannot help you.  Thank you, B.black  P.S. See the 800 number with extensions listed in my signature below.


----------



## debbiels1979

Pennington Seed Customer Service said:
			
		

> debbiels1979 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have had nothing but bad luck with pellets this year.  I had one supplier, a local farm supply. I had used for a couple years and they started getting some weird brand and they were HORRIBLE!  So then I said why not try Lowes and they sold Pennington.  Well no offense to the Pennington Company but these from Pennington have given me many headaches and many nights of waking up 3am with no heat because the pellets were too long and jammed the auger.  The first time it happened I didn't know what it was and had to pay a service man $150 to come out and fix my stove.  Well he showed me how to fix it if it happens again and I am glad he did because it has happened repeatedly.  Also, these are some of the dirtiest burning pellets I have ever burned.  The pot fills up so fast and requires a very good cleaning almost everyday.  Last week I was sick and my husband knows NOTHING about the stove, so I nursed the stove all week (I was too sick to babysit the stove and clean it out constantly) until I couldn't anymore because the pot filled up with junk and caused the flames to be too high and back the pellets up into the feed tube.  I had that happen when we tried mixing the corn with the pellets but this is a first!  I just cleaned out the stove a few minutes ago and the stuff that was in the pot was like cement.  I feel like I am stuck because I have another ton of these pellets to work through.  I just hope I make it through this winter without pulling all my hair out!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Debbie,
> 
> As with any others who have ANY trouble with our pellets, I ENCOURAGE you to contact our Customer Service Department so that we can help you get through this very unfortunate event.  If you do not contact our Customer Service Department directly, we cannot help you.  Thank you, B.black  P.S. See the 800 number with extensions listed in my signature below.
Click to expand...


Hi:
Thanks for providing everyone with your customer service number.  I understand you are trying to do some damage control and maybe these problems with your pellets will work themselves out over time but for now I doubt customer service will be able to help me a whole lot.  I mean Pennington isn't going to reimburse me for the $150 service call nor will they be able to take the other ton of these pellets I have off my hands.  I am going to use them and pray that my stove and myself make it through the winter!

Again, thanks and have a good week.


----------



## mjdewalt

I've only ever used Pennington with my Englander 25-PDVC.  I've went through just over a ton since I've gotten the stove.  They seem to burn just fine.  I don't have any lot numbers on the bags, but it does say that they were made in Madison, Georgia.  Don't know if this helps or not.


----------



## exj2

Ok, I am new to posting here and don't know if posting on this "thread" is ok but I have a question that you guys may know the answer to. I just called lenox tech support and found out through the Serial number that I have a Whitfield II T. My problem is that the auger keeps sending in wayyyy tooo many pellets. It will run ok for an hour or sometimes several hours and then they just keep coming. Anyway, they said I probably need a new board at 252.00. That sound like a reasonable fix to you guys? It was my first guess because I thought the board must send the impulse to run the auger. 

Your input would be appreciated.

Ed


----------



## debbiels1979

exj2 said:
			
		

> Ok, I am new to posting here and don't know if posting on this "thread" is ok but I have a question that you guys may know the answer to. I just called lenox tech support and found out through the Serial number that I have a Whitfield II T. My problem is that the auger keeps sending in wayyyy tooo many pellets. It will run ok for an hour or sometimes several hours and then they just keep coming. Anyway, they said I probably need a new board at 252.00. That sound like a reasonable fix to you guys? It was my first guess because I thought the board must send the impulse to run the auger.
> 
> Your input would be appreciated.
> 
> Ed



Ed:
I can't help you much. I have a Quadra-Fire Mt. Vernon, but you might have more luck getting help if you started a whole new thread.  This thread here might not be read by someone who would be more apt to give you some advice.  I hope you are able to solve your problem and if you need help on how to start a new thread, let me know!

Good luck!


----------



## exj2

YUP, Ed the computer idiot here has no idea h ow to start a new thread.    HELP!!


----------



## debbiels1979

exj2 said:
			
		

> YUP, Ed the computer idiot here has no idea h ow to start a new thread.    HELP!!



When you are on the screen that shows all the different forum topics, here is the link https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/22/, near the top of the page and on the right will be a blue button that says "new topic."  Click on that button and that will take you to a page were you can post a new thread.  Be sure to put as much information as possible in the title so that you are sure to get people's attention.  There are people on here who probably can help!  Good luck...


----------



## exj2

I just burned my first week of Pennington pellets.  I was shocked at how quickly my ask drawer filled up.  This is a new stove that burned a free ton from the dealer. In one week I had as much ash and rock like residue as I had in a month from the Pennington pellets.  I have a call into them now.  Awaiting a return call.  Will let you know what they say.  

I bought mine in Fredericksburg VA.


----------



## exj2

I said that backwards.  In one week of burning Pennington pellets I got as much ash as I did in a  month with the batch I got with the stove.  

I have called Pennington and am awaiting a call now.


----------



## galen

How is it a long way stoveguy2? Its mostly lip service. I recieved an email from a rep of the company to call them. I did. We discussed the ash problem. B Black suggested the pellets were made in some other state. But called me back and told me they were made in 06. So they were a bad batch? So these pellets today, all over the country are also bad. That tells me they have a bad product and are still puting out a bad product. From old mills and new mills (That argument didn't hold water). I've burned  most of a ton of the Pennington pellets. I have no recourse but to buy more "old" pellets. I personally am tired of cleaning my stove daily. Because of heavy ash build up. I know why Lowes is selling them so cheap. No one is buying them. I was in the same store two days ago and the pallet of bags by the door were still there. And 16 ton left over from 06. My next ton is going to be OHP. They have to be better.


----------



## drtnshtr

I live in Ohio and we have penningtons at several places around central ohio...I have had very good luck with them and If I didnt think AWF were a little better I would buy more of them...AWF has a distribution plant right down the road from me so all of the local mills get them in...


----------



## rayttt

I have a harmon p38..and burned a half ton of energex pellets that came with it.
and the heat output was good and the ash content very low..2 weeks (10 bags) and just a coating of ash in the ash tray.
Im down to 7 bags so I bought 3 bags of penningtons from Wal-mart at 4.94 a bag (phew)  to try them.
The heat output was ok..maybe just a little less..but the ash content was very high..and the pellets seemed to burn faster.
the burn pot filled up with ash alot more than the energex pellets...those the ash was in the burn pot but didnt seem to fill it..with the penningtons the burn pot is very full with ash and causes the flames to point forward a ways.
I hope there are other choices available from lowes or home depot


----------



## JimmyD

I had contacted Pennington Customer Service maybe three weeks ago (more or less) and they were pleasant and courteous to deal with.  They took care of my needs and I give them props for doing so.

I noticed that that the newer pallets of Nature's Heat have lot number markings more clearly identifed on the front of the bags using a small orange sticker.  I don't know if this is a new practice as a result of comments posted on this and other message boards or just a different mill using a different procedure.  In any event, because of Pennington's prompt and helpful responses I'll try their product again next year.

Happy burning to ya,
Jim


----------



## jezbo33

AwsumSS said:
			
		

> kshew97 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't post much, in fact only created an account to voice my concern over these pellets. I will say this, Pennington seems to be stepping up to the plate and doing the right thing. It is very easy to make excuses and rely on selling tons of this stuff just due to shear volume and blowing off the 5-10 people on here that are griping. I will give them another shot, take one for the team, call it whatever you want. I am not going to send them empty bags, copies of receipts, or anything else simply because that is not what I want ! I want to be able to stop at the closest store possible, pick up a quality product, and not have to think about it once it is in my stove. In my opinion, if Pennington does what they say they are doing, I would have no problem giving them a second chance. If it weren't for second chances (or third or fouth), I would probably be divorced....LOL
> 
> .....Just my $0.02
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree.   Its alot of carrying etc to get the product home not to mention cost. I expect it to be somewhat on the 100% side of being a quality product for the most part.  I only burned one bag of these Pennington Pellets for the first time overnight....much lower heat than the Firesides or the Clean Energy's.....also lots of fines.  I emptied the last of the bag into my sifter....I kid you not.....I got almost 2 cups of fine sawdust......thats not included what may have got into my hooper as I dont normally sift til I get down to the bottom part of the bag.
Click to expand...

What do you use to sift your pellets


----------



## mullet

I saw some at walmart and thought I would try 2 bags, I got the hopper empty and put 2 bags in. The first thing I noticed was it seemed a little hotter. The ash seemed a little fluffier which accumulated higher then the Ignitecs did. I didn't see any dust in the bags nor did I see many long pellets but I did notice that they were easier to break then the Ignitecs and I didn't here popping from the auger drive. The price at walmart was $4 a bag.


----------



## exj2

They may have fixed the problem.  I bought a ton and the ash problem is very bad.  I used to empty the ash drawer about every 5-6 days and with Pennington it was every day.  to their credit!  their customer relations dept. contacted me, asked for samples and a form filled out with details of when and where purchased, then called me.  They said they were working on the problem and without me asking refunded most of my purchase price.  Every company makes mistakes.  The way the mistakes are handled tells you a lot about a company.  I will try them again in the fall.  

Ed


----------



## FrankM

I started out using a few bags of Pennington pellets and thought they burned well. I bought them at my local Lowes store. A few days later I decided to buy a ton of them and went back to the same Lowes and had them load a pallet into the back of my pick-up. To my surprise (and then later to my disappointment) I realized after cutting all of the plastic wrap off that they were not Pennington pellets but rather  Lowes Clean-Energy pellets. These pellets are horrible! I had to run the stove at higher settings just to keep it lit. I finally burned the ton and bought 15 bags of Pennington pellets and what a difference! I backed my settings back down and they seem to burn fine. I will never buy the Lowes Clean-Energy pellets again and if I am duped into buying them again I will turn right around and take them back.


----------



## mullet

I had to get a few bags to tide me over till spring and I went to Lowes to get 10 bags of PENNINGTON NATURES HEAT and these bags didn't turn out as good as the ones I got at Walmart less then a mile away from the Lowes. There was a lot of dust and the pellets were really long, I was not to happy. I took some pictures to show and there was no lot # on the bags what so ever like the ones from Walmart.


----------



## Czech

Entire refund on this end also, I would buy their product again just based on the customer service, which is SO lacking in business now-a-days. Stand up job, Pennington, I don't think many others would have did what you did, wish more companies would do the same in this day and age.


----------



## exj2

The last ton I got was from Lowes and they were of poor quality.  Had to clean the stove every day.  Have to give them credit for the way they handled it.  Any company that pays that much attention to customer service has to be taking positive action to fixing the problem.  I boutght mine about two months ago.  I would try a few more bags and see if the old batches are gone.  Next fall I will definately try more because by then I know they will have it fixed.


----------



## mullet

I did get some from walmart a while back that had a white sticker on it with the lot# and they did pretty well but the bags I got from lowes didn't and they were bad with a lot of dust in the bag. I will give it another shot if I find the bags with a lot# on them but after that im done.


----------



## schenkp

Hi Everyone,
I just purchased 5 tons of Natures Heat from Home Depot, then started reading this forum.  They are coming this Thursday; I will take pictures and post them here.

I hope I did not make a mistake as I am new to all of this.


----------



## Fire It Up

5 tons is alot. How big is your stove/house?


----------



## kilarney

Quality varies.  There is a good chance that these will be fine.  Pennington has made (IMO) some junk, but they seem to be listening to the consumers.  This year will be a real test as far as I'm concerned.  I'm cautiously optimistic - although I chose a different brand this year.


----------



## schenkp

I’m heating about 3300 square feet and did not know how much I needed to stock up on.  Since Home Depot had the best prices by far I figured I buy a lot and try it out.  As I don’t want to spend $5 plus for a gallon of oil when my contract runs out next month.  I have twin 330 gallon takes, you do the math.

I paid $3914 installed for a QuadraFire MountVernon AE free standing stove and just have it installed last Friday.  

My thinking is that the heat will blow into the foyer and rise up to the air condition returns then I can run the fan to distribute the heat through the house.


----------



## schenkp

kilarney said:
			
		

> Quality varies.  There is a good chance that these will be fine.  Pennington has made (IMO) some junk, but they seem to be listening to the consumers.  This year will be a real test as far as I'm concerned.  I'm cautiously optimistic - although I chose a different brand this year.



I just called them and spoke with a lady and expressed my concern after reading all the post on this board.  She was a little apprehensive but assured me that the “issues” had been corrected. 

I hope so, the guys at home depot told me these where the best pellets they have ever had.

Will see soon enough.


----------



## Czech

I received a letter today from Pennington from a guy named Mike Auge in customer service, the letter basically said sorry for last year's problems and buy a bag on us now at no charge to try it out again. Kudos to them, I will do it. Something to think about I guess. The letter came with a feedback survey on the new bag also, again, you have to give this company some credit. In burning pellets many years, I have NEVER seen this type of customer service.


----------



## stoveguy2esw

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> I received a letter today from Pennington from a guy named Mike Auge in customer service, the letter basically said sorry for last year's problems and buy a bag on us now at no charge to try it out again. Kudos to them, I will do it. Something to think about I guess. The letter came with a feedback survey on the new bag also, again, you have to give this company some credit. In burning pellets many years, I have NEVER seen this type of customer service.



glad to hear it , and very happy you posted it , you are doing them as good a service as they have done for you. ive watched this thread unfold and i do have to say im quite impressed with the way they have handled themselves as a company through the issues they had last season. if i see any around in my area im going to buy some and see how they do myself. if they have the pellets up to the level of the service they provide they should be really top notch.

do the survey , be honest, thats the best way to let them know how they are doing.


----------



## slvrblkk

GotzTheHotz said:
			
		

> I received a letter today from Pennington from a guy named Mike Auge in customer service, the letter basically said sorry for last year's problems and buy a bag on us now at no charge to try it out again. Kudos to them, I will do it. Something to think about I guess. The letter came with a feedback survey on the new bag also, again, you have to give this company some credit. In burning pellets many years, I have NEVER seen this type of customer service.



I received the same letter. They definitely have one of the best customer service/relations departments I've ever dealt with.


----------



## schenkp

slvrblkk said:
			
		

> GotzTheHotz said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I received a letter today from Pennington from a guy named Mike Auge in customer service, the letter basically said sorry for last year's problems and buy a bag on us now at no charge to try it out again. Kudos to them, I will do it. Something to think about I guess. The letter came with a feedback survey on the new bag also, again, you have to give this company some credit. In burning pellets many years, I have NEVER seen this type of customer service.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I received the same letter. They definitely have one of the best customer service/relations departments I've ever dealt with.
Click to expand...


Ya and who would have thought from a pellet company either....

I will take pictures of this years pellets as soon as i take shippment sometime tommorow from home depot.

I have a bag of Energex that the dealer that installed my stove left me and they dont seem to burn that hot even with the house at 80'.


----------



## johnnywarm

I just got 3 tons of natures heat from Lowes today.i'll post pics later. they seem nice and dry when i re-stacked them.they are darker in color.


----------



## jackovalltrades

johnnywarm said:
			
		

> I just got 3 tons of natures heat from Lowes today.i'll post pics later. they seem nice and dry when i re-stacked them.they are darker in color.



I'm very interested to know how they burn for you.  Last year I purchased them from two different stores.  One source had very light colored pellets with a LOT of dust.  They burned ok but I spent too much time vacuuming the dust.  The other source's pellets were quite dark in color.  They didn't produce as much heat as the lighter pellets and the clinkers they created were god awful.  I found myself having to slow the burn down every couple of hours to manually remove clinkers.  I tried mixing them with other brands just to get rid of them.


----------



## johnnywarm

jackovalltrades said:
			
		

> johnnywarm said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just got 3 tons of natures heat from Lowes today.i'll post pics later. they seem nice and dry when i re-stacked them.they are darker in color.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm very interested to know how they burn for you. Last year I purchased them from two different stores. One source had very light colored pellets with a LOT of dust. They burned ok but I spent too much time vacuuming the dust. The other source's pellets were quite dark in color. They didn't produce as much heat as the lighter pellets and the clinkers they created were god awful. I found myself having to slow the burn down every couple of hours to manually remove clinkers. I tried mixing them with other brands just to get rid of them.
Click to expand...



Update I went to pickup the two last tons and they loaded me up with Pres-to-logs Pellets. they seem to be the same in color but smell stronger.i will have pics of both brands tonight.


I hope they burn better then what i'm reading here last night.

Jw


----------



## johnnywarm

i'm having a problem with posting pics? let me figure it out.


----------



## mullet

Do they have a lot # on the bag? Its a little white sticker on the bag. I got some with the lot# on them and they were great but the bags with out the lot# were horrible the ones I posted in the pictures.


----------



## schenkp

I have to check, im sure i saw a number on there somewhere.


----------



## johnnywarm

jackovalltrades said:
			
		

> johnnywarm said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just got 3 tons of natures heat from Lowes today.i'll post pics later. they seem nice and dry when i re-stacked them.they are darker in color.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm very interested to know how they burn for you.  Last year I purchased them from two different stores.  One source had very light colored pellets with a LOT of dust.  They burned ok but I spent too much time vacuuming the dust.  The other source's pellets were quite dark in color.  They didn't produce as much heat as the lighter pellets and the clinkers they created were god awful.  I found myself having to slow the burn down every couple of hours to manually remove clinkers.  I tried mixing them with other brands just to get rid of them.
Click to expand...





ill let you know how they do.


----------



## drizler

I just bought 3 tons from Sams Club so I sure hope they are decent.     The NLL pellets they had last year were fine and dandy.   These penningtons I have are date stamped 7/29 and I got them on the 1st so they must have come straight from the mill.


----------



## johnnywarm

my natures heat & pres to logs seem very fresh or very dry. they re staked great.


----------



## TboneMan

Driz said:
			
		

> I just bought 3 tons from Sams Club so I sure hope they are decent.     The NLL pellets they had last year were fine and dandy.   These penningtons I have are date stamped 7/29 and I got them on the 1st so they must have come straight from the mill.



I just saw these at my local Sam's Club this weekend.   $ 3.88/bag ($194/ton)   I was surprise, that was the price they sold for last year.


----------



## offingmoot

i was at depot and saw freedom pellets for 2.49/ 124.5/ton but the bags at the store are NOT the same as the press to logs bags pictured on their site
for that price how bad can they be??


----------



## schenkp

Funny how the prices vary, I would buy another 5 tons at that price if they offer it in CT>


----------



## offingmoot

thats what everyone is saying, one relpy was "i dont care if they are made of bran flakes i'd buy them for that price" lol
my big question is this, do i still buy the ton my dealer is offering me energex for 300/ton?
or do i just get a few tons at depot??


----------



## schenkp

Personally and although I’m not an expert my any stretch of the imagination I could make an educated guess that buying the $124 per ton is a better investment than $300 per ton. 

The other brand may not burn at “hot” as the energex, it may have more clinkers, it may have more fines…. Whatever to me it’s worth the saving.

I would go with the cheaper brand.


----------



## offingmoot

some say dont put all your eggs in one basket, for piece of mind i am considering getting a ton from each and having the option of mixing them if one is not as good as the other...


----------



## schenkp

Sure I understand do what ever works best for you.  I like to save money and any monies im not putting into big oil is money well spent.


----------



## johnnywarm

cheaply made pellets you will burn more or faster.you will not be as warm as you would with the top brands.last year was the first year i was not happy with the pellets that i got a deal on.but i guess its to each his own.


----------



## schenkp

Humm i find it difficult to understand how you can tell that some pellets burn hotter than others?


----------



## schenkp

johnnywarm said:
			
		

> cheaply made pellets you will burn more or faster.you will not be as warm as you would with the top brands.last year was the first year i was not happy with the pellets that i got a deal on.but i guess its to each his own.



Have you tested out an natures heat yet?


----------



## johnnywarm

schnkp said:
			
		

> johnnywarm said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> cheaply made pellets you will burn more or faster.you will not be as warm as you would with the top brands.last year was the first year i was not happy with the pellets that i got a deal on.but i guess its to each his own.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tested out an natures heat yet?
Click to expand...




Not today,its 90 out.


----------



## johnnywarm

schnkp said:
			
		

> Humm i find it difficult to understand how you can tell that some pellets burn hotter than others?




I put a thermometer by the stove.


----------



## cntbill

To give me a base line I used a magnetic thermometer thats used for stove pipe and I put it on the stove where I think it is about the hottest area. Then record temps at a constant setting, setting of 2 in my case. There is variables i.e. outside and inside air temps, that will change the reading, but if the variables are similar temps should be about the same. I know from one of my test last year I had a 80* or more differance between a couple of brands / bags...  

Speaking of which just came back from Lowes by me and they have the Presto brand @ 5.97 / bag  - something don't seem right there....


----------



## johnnywarm

Bill... said:
			
		

> To give me a base line I used a magnetic thermometer thats used for stove pipe and I put it on the stove where I think it is about the hottest area. Then record temps at a constant setting, setting of 2 in my case. There is variables i.e. outside and inside air temps, that will change the reading, but if the variables are similar temps should be about the same. I know from one of my test last year I had a 80* or more differance between a couple of brands / bags...
> 
> Speaking of which just came back from Lowes by me and they have the Presto brand @ 5.97 / bag  - something don't seem right there....




Bill
Is the presto brand pres to logs???theres soooooooo many out there.


----------



## cntbill

To me it appeared to be the same company that makes the presto logs, the bag looked similar to the log wrappers, same color scheme.


----------



## johnnywarm

Bill... said:
			
		

> To me it appeared to be the same company that makes the presto logs, the bag looked similar to the log wrappers, same color scheme.




Just what i thought when i seen them.i will say they feel very dry.i think thats a good thing.


----------



## dvv711

I just joined this thread - my first year using a pellet stove, Harman P38.  It's an awesome stove; unfortunately I didn't know that I needed to worry about the quality of the Pennington Premium Hardwood Pellets.  In August 2008, I purchased 2 tons of Pennington's Nature's Heat from Home Depot, besides one New England ton from my pellet stove dealer. I had used a few of the New England brand very happily, but simply because of their location in our garage, decided I should start using the Pennington up. Well!  Immediately I noticed the HUGE amount of sawdust in each bag - as well as the long pellets.  Not realizing that this could be a problem for our Harmon, I have used maybe 20 bags (or more) of the 2 tons. Sure enough, 7 days ago the fire started  going out on average 4 times a day! I have been having to sleep on the couch at night, so I can be aware that the fire is dying out. (very sleepless nights!) I began watching carefully what was going on inside the stove and saw the auger  turning, but no pellets being pushed through.  I started to figure out that the problem was the LONG pellets getting stuck - besides HUGE amounts of ash forming inside the burn pot.  Every once in awhile, I would hear a popping noise (a long pellet breaking?) and the pellets would start to flow for a short time...or I would dig around in the hopper, trying to 'shake things up' - and trying to move sawdust out of the way of the opening to the auger. 
What a nightmare! This pellet stove is my responsibility, because my husband is recuperating from kidney cancer AND open heart surgery.  I really don't want to deal with this pellet headache for the rest of the winter.
So, today I tried calling the manager at Home Depot, and he said he had never heard of this problem with Pennington before; I would have to BRING BACK the remaining bags, if I wanted an exchange! Good Lord! Me?? How??
That's when I looked online to see if anyone else had had this problem -  and that's how I came upon this thread.  I am very disheartened that now, in December 2008, I am experiencing the same issue with this brand that all of you did last year, and I'm extremely frustrated that Pennington is STILL allowing these defective pellets to be sold.  [FYI, I had to WAIT 2 weeks back in August for a NEW shipment of pellets to arrive at HD, so they were not old bags that had been sitting around there from last year (although they might have been at a HD warehouse since last season)]
Tomorrow I will try Pennington's customer number and hopefully get some help.
Just wanted to thank all of you for your input from last season -I've learned A LOT a little too late. I also wanted you all to be aware that there is still an issue with the poor quality of this brand this season.
Debra


----------



## Wet1

FWIW, I just finish using 20 bags that had been sitting in my damp basement for the last 6 or 7 years...  They burned pretty well (other than the mildew smell from the bottom bags).  Funny, I didn't see any pellets in these bags that were over an inch and less than a 1/4 cup of fines in each bag.  At least they knew how to make decent pellets at some point.


EDIT:  I just looked at the bags again last night and realized they were not the same brand.  Opps!


----------



## bblack

dvv711 said:
			
		

> I just joined this thread - my first year using a pellet stove, Harman P38.  It's an awesome stove; unfortunately I didn't know that I needed to worry about the quality of the Pennington Premium Hardwood Pellets.  In August 2008, I purchased 2 tons of Pennington's Nature's Heat from Home Depot, besides one New England ton from my pellet stove dealer. I had used a few of the New England brand very happily, but simply because of their location in our garage, decided I should start using the Pennington up. Well!  Immediately I noticed the HUGE amount of sawdust in each bag - as well as the long pellets.  Not realizing that this could be a problem for our Harmon, I have used maybe 20 bags (or more) of the 2 tons. Sure enough, 7 days ago the fire started  going out on average 4 times a day! I have been having to sleep on the couch at night, so I can be aware that the fire is dying out. (very sleepless nights!) I began watching carefully what was going on inside the stove and saw the auger  turning, but no pellets being pushed through.  I started to figure out that the problem was the LONG pellets getting stuck - besides HUGE amounts of ash forming inside the burn pot.  Every once in awhile, I would hear a popping noise (a long pellet breaking?) and the pellets would start to flow for a short time...or I would dig around in the hopper, trying to 'shake things up' - and trying to move sawdust out of the way of the opening to the auger.
> What a nightmare! This pellet stove is my responsibility, because my husband is recuperating from kidney cancer AND open heart surgery.  I really don't want to deal with this pellet headache for the rest of the winter.
> So, today I tried calling the manager at Home Depot, and he said he had never heard of this problem with Pennington before; I would have to BRING BACK the remaining bags, if I wanted an exchange! Good Lord! Me?? How??
> That's when I looked online to see if anyone else had had this problem -  and that's how I came upon this thread.  I am very disheartened that now, in December 2008, I am experiencing the same issue with this brand that all of you did last year, and I'm extremely frustrated that Pennington is STILL allowing these defective pellets to be sold.  [FYI, I had to WAIT 2 weeks back in August for a NEW shipment of pellets to arrive at HD, so they were not old bags that had been sitting around there from last year (although they might have been at a HD warehouse since last season)]
> Tomorrow I will try Pennington's customer number and hopefully get some help.
> Just wanted to thank all of you for your input from last season -I've learned A LOT a little too late. I also wanted you all to be aware that there is still an issue with the poor quality of this brand this season.
> Debra



Debra,

Please call Pennington Seed Customer Service @ 1-800-658-0410 ext. 187 as soon as possible to discuss the trouble you are encountering with these pellets.

Thank you, Bobbie


----------



## cntbill

Debra, Yes I would definitely call Pennington. 

You might want to check the date code on the top corner of the bags. This year I picked up a few bags Pennington's from WalMart since the company rep has been active here on the forum and would try out them out.  The date code on the few bags I picked up were -  "09-19-09  MT"  and a big difference from last years, more uniform pellet size and the heat output is good.

Best of luck,  sleepless nights are not good....


----------



## drizler

Back again in this never ending thread.   I have burned about 1/ ton of my 3 I got from Sams Club in August ( Pennington).     Yea they do burn with quite a bit of dust.     Enough that I went and put the grinder mechanism back in my Countryside which immediately took care of the problem.  The length of the pellets made in Aug 01/08 seem normal and not an awful lot of dust in the bottom of the bags either.    They work fine for me although at what seems a reduced heat output.    
   Bottom line:  Fine if you get them for a good price but for a premium price or a fussy stove or one without an ash drawer I would definitely look elsewhere if possible.


----------



## newguyjoe

I bought two tons of these pellets and have found.....
Loaded with fines. im well on my way to filling a large garbage pail with all of them that i have had to sift out..not even through a ton yet.
After a day of burning have to take out the burn pot and remove a good size clinker...
They dont seem to really burn very hot.
Every single bag has had pellets that were in the three inch long range.
I have had some Black pellets in a few bags.

so far am i happy with them...not really.
And there are no date codes on any of the bags either.


----------



## bblack

newguyjoe said:
			
		

> I bought two tons of these pellets and have found.....
> Loaded with fines. im well on my way to filling a large garbage pail with all of them that i have had to sift out..not even through a ton yet.
> After a day of burning have to take out the burn pot and remove a good size clinker...
> They dont seem to really burn very hot.
> Every single bag has had pellets that were in the three inch long range.
> I have had some Black pellets in a few bags.
> 
> so far am i happy with them...not really.
> And there are no date codes on any of the bags either.



newguyjoe,

Please call Pennington Customer Service at the number in my signature to discuss these pellet issues.

All:
We want to help with any issues you may have regarding our pellets.  Please contact us so we can help.

Thank you!


----------



## OSHOW

I have been burning Pennington's in my Englander all season long and have not had one problem, they are great pellets from what I have found.


----------



## sydney1963

I am very satisfied with my Penningtons.


----------



## ebengel

I have a ton of Penningtons with a date of 9/9/08 that I have been burning 
with great results. No clinkers, some fines and ash, good heat,but since I've only
 had the stove installed 1 week I can't compare to any others.


----------



## jenrn54

I bought 2 ton of pennington premium hardwood pellets, each from different location.  One ton burns great, no fines and very little ash.  The other ton is terrible---3-4 cups sawdust in each bag, (have to sift them) tons of ash and clinkers and many 2-3 inches long.  Well, I contacted pennington, sent empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them as they instructed me to do.  That was a month ago and so far no other word from them.  So, I guess, don't count on them actually doing anything about the bad pellets they are selling!  I am very disappointed in them and their product.


----------



## eric_s

jen said:
			
		

> I bought 2 ton of pennington premium hardwood pellets, each from different location.  One ton burns great, no fines and very little ash.  The other ton is terrible---3-4 cups sawdust in each bag, (have to sift them) tons of ash and clinkers and many 2-3 inches long.  Well, I contacted pennington, sent empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them as they instructed me to do.  That was a month ago and so far no other word from them.  So, I guess, don't count on them actually doing anything about the bad pellets they are selling!  I am very disappointed in them and their product.



I've had very good luck with their customer service.  I bought some of there pellets from a few different places.  Some were date stamped and other were not.  The marked bags are really nice pellets.  The unmarked bags were full of fines and had some long pellets.  Contacted them, followed their instructions and they resolved the issue.  It might have taken 3-4 weeks, but did not think that was an unreasonable duration.  Would definitely buy their pellets again, but would make sure they were date stamped bags.


----------



## stoveguy2esw

jen said:
			
		

> I bought 2 ton of pennington premium hardwood pellets, each from different location.  One ton burns great, no fines and very little ash.  The other ton is terrible---3-4 cups sawdust in each bag, (have to sift them) tons of ash and clinkers and many 2-3 inches long.  Well, I contacted pennington, sent empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them as they instructed me to do.  That was a month ago and so far no other word from them.  So, I guess, don't count on them actually doing anything about the bad pellets they are selling!  I am very disappointed in them and their product.




seeing what they have done in the past i find this suprising, i'd suggest maybe contacting them again and ensure that they recieved your corospondance, a service rep from the pennington company just a couple days ago posted in this thread asking a person who had made a post concerning their pellets  to contact them , their number is in this thread somewhere, look em up and give em a call.


----------



## pelletizer

Purchased 3 tons in June $224.00/ton and have no issues I guess I am a Pennington Pellet Head.
$6.00 a bag at Walmart is kind of high though,


----------



## pastera

Burned 1.5 ton of Pennington last year and ten or so bags this year. This year I found the ash content to be very high, so high that I had to dump the ash after every bag and clean every other bag. 

Picked up some Blazer pellets at Home Depot for $0.23 more/bag and am back to low ash and no problems.

I'm not sure if the issue is with the pellet quality or with the storage conditions but the Walmart I buy the Penningtons the pellets are stored inside but the Blazers are stored outside at HomeDepot.

Aaron


----------



## dvv711

Update on my post last night...I called Pennington today and was told to send empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them. They will reimburse for the bags USED (30 of them) - for the bags unused, I must contact Home Depot for an exchange or a refund. I'm not sure how this will work; I'm hoping they will pick up and deliver.  Will be calling Home Depot tomorrow as well.
I appreciate everyone's input - it helps to know that I'm not imagining this problem.  If I had a top feeder, it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But my Harman P38 is a bottom feeder, so it's causing REAL problems.


----------



## stoveguy2esw

dvv711 said:
			
		

> Update on my post last night...I called Pennington today and was told to send empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them. They will reimburse for the bags USED (30 of them) - for the bags unused, I must contact Home Depot for an exchange or a refund. I'm not sure how this will work; I'm hoping they will pick up and deliver.  Will be calling Home Depot tomorrow as well.
> I appreciate everyone's input - it helps to know that I'm not imagining this problem.  If I had a top feeder, it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But my Harman P38 is a bottom feeder, so it's causing REAL problems.



i'd say , follow their instructions , did you get a name at the pennington service dept? i have watched this threads develop over the last 2 seasons , this year being a good bit less active , im happy to see that pennington is still monitoring the thread. as far as i have had dealing with them , they have been a stand up company.and very nice people to work with as well. we did a video shoot with them last fall and i must say their folks were wonderful in all respects to me and my folks who came down to support their video. i would be suprised if they were any less than excellent in their handling of your case, i advised earlier to another poster to check back with them. i work for a large comapnt which does buisness similar to how pennington does, and i could see how somthing could get misplaced or whatever. hopefully they will resolve your issue as well as the other poster, i'd advise to do as they ask and you should be taken care of.

as an aside, i did burn 5 bags of their "natures own" pellets in my unit recently as there were some in our local oowes, they did just fine. i usually get the bulk of what i burn through our company but i like to pick up a few bags of whatever i see locally  just to "keep up with whats out there".


----------



## bblack

jen said:
			
		

> I bought 2 ton of pennington premium hardwood pellets, each from different location.  One ton burns great, no fines and very little ash.  The other ton is terrible---3-4 cups sawdust in each bag, (have to sift them) tons of ash and clinkers and many 2-3 inches long.  Well, I contacted pennington, sent empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them as they instructed me to do.  That was a month ago and so far no other word from them.  So, I guess, don't count on them actually doing anything about the bad pellets they are selling!  I am very disappointed in them and their product.



Call us and use ext. 187 to ask about the status of your claim.  There are many steps involved in the process and some may take longer than others.  Thank you for your patience.  You have not been ignored.


----------



## MainePellethead

I bought five bags last week to try out to see if things had changed from last year. I was impressed. Last year I tried a few bags and had 2 cups of fines per bag!  This year...I literally found no fines in the bags and  they burn better!   So I may buy 30 bags or so.


----------



## OSHOW

I bought another ton of Pennington’s Natures Heat pellets at Sam’s club and have burned 20 bags so far and they are doing great low ash and good heat. I emailed Randy at Pennington to let him know how good I thought their product was this year. He answered back about two days later and followed up with a call to tell me how much he appreciated the information. I thought that was pretty good service.


----------



## dvv711

Update...I spoke with PEGGY at Pennington Seed. I sent back all they asked for and should get a refund on the bags used.  It could be that the bags that I got were left over in the Home Depot warehouse from last year - especially since I got them around 8/15.  Home Depot was great about the remaining bags: they came & picked up the remaining 70 bags and then delivered 70 bags of First Fuel 2 Premium Pellets (the only brand this Home Depot carries now)  in exchange the very next day!  I don't know much about this brand, but there is no sawdust in the bags, no fines - BUT it is weird the way they burn...the ash forms in hard clumps in the burn box...sometimes blocking the flame.  I hope this brand isn't going to be problem! Anyone have any experience with FIRST FUEL 2?
Thanks!


----------



## slvrblkk

dvv711 said:
			
		

> Update...I spoke with PEGGY at Pennington Seed. I sent back all they asked for and should get a refund on the bags used.  It could be that the bags that I got were left over in the Home Depot warehouse from last year - especially since I got them around 8/15.  Home Depot was great about the remaining bags: they came & picked up the remaining 70 bags and then delivered 70 bags of First Fuel 2 Premium Pellets (the only brand this Home Depot carries now)  in exchange the very next day!  I don't know much about this brand, but there is no sawdust in the bags, no fines - BUT it is weird the way they burn...the ash forms in hard clumps in the burn box...sometimes blocking the flame.  I hope this brand isn't going to be problem! Anyone have any experience with FIRST FUEL 2?
> Thanks!



Is it *First* Fuel or *Future* Fuel II?


----------



## Fire

I wanted to give Pennington Natures Heat another chance. Last year I had a bad experience with them. They were filthy with ash. I did send the lot # along with the other info they requested. They sent the letter that they had a problem with one of their mills and were sorry, and sent a partial refund for the 2 tons I had purchased. This year I saw them again and felt I owed them a second chance because of their customer service with last years problem. I saw them in a local Walmart and asked the store employee when they were delivered. I was informed they just came in. This was the second week of Nov 2008. I purchased 15 bags and am once again disappointed. They are smaller than last year and not dark, but they are just as filthy. I do not want another "Im Sorry" letter from Pennington, nor do I want another refund. I will mix these pellets with a more superior brand for burning. I will now drive further to purchase another brand. Pennington, I'm Sorry.


----------



## concep78

I love Pennington fuel 

I live in North Pole Alaska and pennington fuel works just fine in fact i have tryed about 4 difrent kinds of pellet and non of can put the same heat out put like my pennington, yes they create a little bit more ash than the other brands, but i really don’t care, i look for that heat out put. I purchasit my pellet at the local walmart for 5.67 a bag and over here that is a great price because in all other places are $7 to $9 a bag. 

Lennox Montage 
North pole AK 
where winter is  from 0 to -55 degress.


----------



## jenrn54

Pennington Seed Customer Service said:
			
		

> jen said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I bought 2 ton of pennington premium hardwood pellets, each from different location.  One ton burns great, no fines and very little ash.  The other ton is terrible---3-4 cups sawdust in each bag, (have to sift them) tons of ash and clinkers and many 2-3 inches long.  Well, I contacted pennington, sent empty bags, handfuls of pellets and my receipt to them as they instructed me to do.  That was a month ago and so far no other word from them.  So, I guess, don't count on them actually doing anything about the bad pellets they are selling!  I am very disappointed in them and their product.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Call us and use ext. 187 to ask about the status of your claim.  There are many steps involved in the process and some may take longer than others.  Thank you for your patience.  You have not been ignored.
Click to expand...


I called, about 10 days ago, had to leave a message, and no return call from pennington as of yet.  So, I continue to sift the bags, tons of sawdust in the bags and lots of clinker formation.  Not sure I will buy these again.


----------



## sward_302

Hello I am new to this forum. I just purchased a Napoleon NPS40 stove. With the hard demand for pellets I went and bought 3 tons of natures heat pellets form my local Lowes store. It seems that these pellets do not put off much heat. I have done everything by cleaning entire stove and starting over and playing with the airflow control to get things right. It appears that the only way to get good heat output is to run stove on number 5 setting and have it dump loads of pellets intot he burn pot. Is anyone else experiencing the same thing. Right now I wish I would have waited on buying these pellets.


----------



## jonp200

While it was decent of the Pennington folks to post here, I will never again purchase these pellets.  They are the worst I have ever used causing my Saranac stove to jam because of the inconsistent pellet size (Extra long)  If that were not enough, the heat output is far inferior to other pellets I am using.  But wait - there's more!  It is not uncommon to find more than 10-15% of the bag is actually sawdust.  Really, I'm not kidding.  I sifted a bag yesterday (I have to sift any of these I use or I jam my stove) and found a good 15% of the bag was fine sawdust.

Thanks for all the posts here.  I will try and contact the firm and see if I can return them.  I have 2 tons of the blasted things...


----------



## Ductape

You'll be lucky if all you find is sawdust. Just wait till you find rocks in Pennington's pellets !!


----------



## jonp200

Heheh... Nothing would surprise at this point..


----------



## jsvo

i am having a problem with heat output and clunkers from my new nps napoleon,clunkers 2 nites in a row using energex, i just screened to bags of pennington and look very clean,where i work we have used 2 tons and no problems so far.ill let you know by tomorrow.


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## pelletizer

I was at walmart earlier in Epping NH they had pallets of Pennintons out back I scoped out a pallet allwrapped up and was surprised to see it said "Pennington/Energex" on the bar code??????


----------



## scarter2

We just had our Lopi Leyden installed a few days before Christmas, so not much experience yet...  however, I did buy 4 tons of Pennington Nature's Heat from HD back during the mad rush in June.  So far, no complaints.  Not much fines from what I've seen.  Maybe more ash than most, but I wouldn't know (I sweep the burn pot and inside the stove daily, empty the ash drawer every 3-4 days).  And, knock on wood, no clinkers yet.  Luckily, been on vacation since we've had the stove, so I've had fun tinkering with air intake, etc.  We have a large house (3,000 sqft) so have mostly been cranking the stove on high during the day and letting oil keep the house in the low 60's while we sleep.

Anyway, for what it's worth.  Hopefully my remaining 3.5 tons will perform as well!


----------



## dvv711

Right now I'm about as HOT as the pellet stove turned up to the Turbo Setting. I finally heard back from Peggy at Pennington Seed, after mailing everything requested (address cut from 1 bag, a bag with a sample of the product showing extra long pellets & sawdust, the original sales receipt for 2 tons). Now, remember I was told by her about 4 weeks ago when I mailed everything, that I would get a FULL REFUND for the 30 bags that we had burned. This is what other buyers have been getting: a full refund for a defective product.  I was to return the other 70 bags to Home Depot.  
Those 30 bags were absolutely terrible: 3-4 cups of sawdust in each one, PLUS very long pellets.  We don't know which caused our pellet stove to go out EVERY 5-6 hours EVERY DAY.  Both sawdust and long pellets can cause real problems. ... This was our first year with a pellet stove, and thought these bags were typical of all pellets, until Northeastern Fireplace Co. came to fix the problem of the fires going out - and saw the pellets we were using!
Well BACK TO MY STORY... Peggy called and said they have decided that they would only reimburse 10-15% of our purchase price for the 30 defective bags, because we were ABLE to burn them, even though they caused great inconvenience!! I was furious.  I told her that this was totally unacceptable.  She said she would have Mike, her manager, call me.  That was 3 days ago.  
Obviously, Pennington is paying out to a lot of unhappy consumers.  But that is what their liability policy is for.  Had they had better quality control, they wouldn't have encountered this problem. Sure, sawdust will burn - and long pellets will too (if they don't get jammed in the feed chute, as ours did). But the sawdust is terrible on the auger system and can permanently damage it. 
For comparison: Imagine you purchased a lawn mower, and the blades kept coming loose (posing a danger) because the mechanism was faulty.  However, it did manage to cut grass WHILE the blades stayed attached - but the blades had to be constantly refastened. So, you load it up in your truck and return it. Do you think the lawnmower company would only refund you 10-15% of your purchase price because, after all, it did cut grass?? No, they would refund your entire purchase price BECAUSE IT WAS A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.  May be not the best comparison, but you get the idea.
If you check the history of the posts here, you will see full refunds is what Pennington gave back last spring.  However, saying they will do it this fall/winter and actually doing it are two different things....at least if you are an untrustworthy company, as Pennington has proven to be. The company looks good by posting here on the forum, but does not follow through. 
The bottom line is this:  I was told on 12/12 by phone that I would be reimbursed from Pennington for the 30 faulty bags.  They have not kept their word. This is dishonest business practice.   
Let this serve as a warning: NEVER purchase any product from this company. BUYER BEWARE.  You may be lucky and get a good batch...but when you don't, plan on a big headache.


----------



## jonp200

I am in the process of working with them now and got a similar request to mail a bag, samples of the pellets...etc. etc.. They also indicated to me I should return the pellets to Home Depot..  I agree that doesn't jive with what I saw here.  The quality is just awful.  I took pictures today and sent to Pennington.. I opened a bag to find about 20% was sawdust.  In addition, I had more than 50 pellets in excess of 2 inches and a couple over 3 inches...just crazy.

..


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## dvv711

The sad thing is that, once you go all through sending them what they have requested, they will NOT honor what they said they would do: refund in full for the defective bags you have already used.  It was a pain, but I could handle returning the unused bags to Home Depot.  Actually, Home Depot was great about it - they came & picked them all up and then replaced them with a much better quality pellet. (Future Fuel II). So, I would advise giving Home Depot a call.  THEY kept their word each step of the way.  
Wish I could say the same about Pennington Seed, but I can't.  In my case, on my 30 bags, they were supposed to refund the full amount of about $165.  Instead, they have the audacity to say they will refund $16.50. It wasn't even worth mailing the box with the required stuff back to them!  I will contact the Attorney General's office to report their unfair business practice as well as defective product.  We all thought we were buying Premium Hardwood Pellets - but what we got was far from that. I wonder how much sawdust is worth...


----------



## dvv711

concep78 said:
			
		

> I love Pennington fuel
> 
> I live in North Pole Alaska and pennington fuel works just fine in fact i have tryed about 4 difrent kinds of pellet and non of can put the same heat out put like my pennington, yes they create a little bit more ash than the other brands, but i really don’t care, i look for that heat out put. I purchasit my pellet at the local walmart for 5.67 a bag and over here that is a great price because in all other places are $7 to $9 a bag.
> 
> Lennox Montage
> North pole AK
> where winter is  from 0 to -55 degress.



Hope your good fortune continues, Lennox! Just be aware that the sawdust in each bag will eventually damage your auger, if yours is a bottom feed system...AND the 2-3 inch long pellets that appear in every bag may jam up your feed chute, as it did mine over & over & over! You're paying for Premium Hardwood - and not getting it.  But, hey, if that doesn't bother you - and the stuff keeps you warm - then Great!


----------



## robbie99

I've been screening my pennington natures heat pellets, some bags have 2 quarts of fines. What should I do???  sick of screening.....


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## HD41

robbie99 said:
			
		

> I've been screening my pennington natures heat pellets, some bags have 2 quarts of fines. What should I do???  sick of screening.....


Some stoves burn fines without a problem others do not (auger plugging) depends on the the type of stove. I have never seen any buildup of fines in my Englander 25PDVC.  I have burned tons of Somerset, American Wood Fiber and Lignetics which had very few fines. I have only burned one bag of last years Natures Heat as a sample test and it was not as good as what I had been using.
That seems like sufficient fines to take this up with the dealer who sold you the pellets or Pennington. Posts here show that sellers or Pennington have responded to complaints of this nature.


----------



## novah

I believe that auger orientation is key. Stoves with augers that are angled upwards and drop the pellets (top loading burn pot) do not deal with fines and crumbles like the bottom loading burn pots with the horizontal augers. 

I recommend anyone looking to buy a stove purchase a horizontal auger so they know that they will be able to feed all brands.


----------



## Lousyweather

robbie99 said:
			
		

> I've been screening my pennington natures heat pellets, some bags have 2 quarts of fines. What should I do???  sick of screening.....



Egads, man! 2 QUARTS of fines in a bag?! Unacceptable! Ive burned my p61 for 7 years now, and havent as yet screened one bag. Id humbly suggest, that if there are THAT many fines, you get yourself a new brand of pellet. Cant imagine having to screen a bag every time I needed one.........


----------



## Panhandler

Last years batch of Pennington's that I had contained a large amount of fines in the bottom of the bag. In this years batch the fines are more dust spread thru out the bag. It's worse because a large cloud of dust blows out of the hopper as the bag is added. I've resorted to sticking the end of the shop vac hose in the hopper as I pour, what a friggin pain. I didn't have a choice as to brand upon purchase. Around here, I have to take what I can get.


----------



## jonp200

A follow up to my story - Home depot took back my last ton of Pennington pellets (Nature's Heat)  Pennington called me to follow up but I declined to deal with this further seeing it as more of a hassle than anything.  I have to give them credit for following up with me but I am not interested in continuing the nightmare.  

On a related note, it appears my Saranac Stove (Freestanding) is having terminal jamming issues.  At this point, I can't burn anything for more than 20 mins or so without a jam. I have dealt with jamming issues all year in addition to the Nature's Heat pellet issue.  The pellets jam next to the "fins" on the top of the auger shaft.  I was convinced the design is flawed.  I can not understand why you would design something that leaves space in the tube just about the width of a pellet.  I feel like they should be filed down or something. It seems to invite jamming.  Well, I'm right.  I contacted Inca Metals in Albany NY; the makes of the stove and they confirmed they have in fact re-designed the auger because of jamming issues.  The person I spoke with was very nice and although the new parts are currently being manufacturered, she assured me her guy would come up the first part of March to install and honor the warrantly (My dealer sent out of business this winter (Sunrise Home and Hearth in Bangor)

I'm looking forward to my unit working again.  When it does function, the heat output is great and the stove looks really nice.


----------



## Ductape

At times I feel like a broken record. How anyone could continue spend hard earned money with a company that clearly cheated its customers is beyond me. I have had an even worse experience than many others here who purchaesd Pennington Pellets. Not only were they LOADED with fine, but I was lucky enough to find landscape rocks in my pellets.





























I emailed a complaint to Pennington, complete with pictures of the problems. Over two weeks later I finally got a response from one of their representatives, Bobbie Black. I was asked for my mailing address so they could send me a form to fill out and return to them, along with pellet samples, empty bags, etc.Pennington suggested I return what was left of my pellets to Home Depot where I bought them, but HD would not take them back since it was beyond their 90 day return policy. I sent a response along with my mailing address.............. and that was the last I ever heard from Pennington.

I even tried to complain to the Pellet Fuels Institute, and my complaints fell on deaf ears there also.

Folks, continuing to support Pennington by buying their substandard product will only allow them to continue ripping us off. There will never be a reason for them to sell a premium pellet when they are allowed to continue selling, and mis-labeling substandard product as premium. I bought three tons of their crap and will never get back the hours of my life that I spend sifting rocks and fine out of their pellets. I'm lucky the rocks didn't damage my stove.

BUYER BEWARE !


----------



## Firenutz

I bought a half ton of the nature's heat from Sams club in Scranton PA. The bottom of the bag says Georgia but not sure if that's where they're made. Lots of dust, horribly uneven burning, they create tons more ash than previous pellets. After my experience as well as seeing pics of rocks and dust, I won't be buying these anymore. And no, I'm not hauling them back to the store  for a refund either. If I want a bag of dust I'll go out in the garage and rip some 2X4s with my circular saw.


----------



## robbie99

I've got a Englander 25 and it seems to run then fine, alot of sparks though...... I got 2 tons at wal mart and don't know if I have a receipt......   My pellets look like the one in the pictures.....   I'll e-mail penningtons and let you guys know......  will my  Englander 25 eat these without screening????  Help????


----------



## Panhandler

robbie99 said:
			
		

> I've got a Englander 25 and it seems to run then fine, alot of sparks though...... I got 2 tons at wal mart and don't know if I have a receipt......   My pellets look like the one in the pictures.....   I'll e-mail penningtons and let you guys know......  will my  Englander 25 eat these without screening????  Help????



I burn the 25PDVC and have never screened a bag. Never had a problem associated with fines. I just hate dealing with the dust. But I only have a half ton of Penningtons this year.


----------



## novah

robbie99 said:
			
		

> I've got a Englander 25 and it seems to run then fine, alot of sparks though...... I got 2 tons at wal mart and don't know if I have a receipt......   My pellets look like the one in the pictures.....   I'll e-mail penningtons and let you guys know......  will my  Englander 25 eat these without screening????  Help????



From what I have seen, bottom feeding stoves with the horizontal auger seem to be able to push the sawdust along with the pellets. Top feeding stoves with the angled auger and drop shute will have trouble as the auger gets full of the fines and just spins in the fines without transfering any material.


----------



## jonp200

Oh I had pellets in excess of 3" and more than 25% fines.  Pennington mailed me a return form and did follow up with me as I mentioned but I wasn't willing to screw around with this anymore.  I am glad Home Depot took back a ton.  I would hit Home Depot again letting them know the manufacturer has directed customers to return them to point of purchase.  Frankly, that's crap.  I used to work as a manufacturer's rep.  They can get credit and should take them back.


----------



## robbie99

Contacted Bobbie Black at pennington, she was very fair to me and gave me back about 20% of the cost of the penningtons, that's about how much of the bag I was throwing in my other wood stove.  I have bot Penningtons since and they were fine... no long ones.... Robbie99


----------



## russ79@hotmail.com

I have bought all 4 tons of pellets from home depot this year,  One ton was the pennington and three were fireside ultra.  I did not care for the penningtons much they burned fast and didn't seem to last as long.  I started that ton when it was very cold and very soo switched to the firesides.  I am starting the again today as I just used the last of the firesides today. Hopefully they work a little better when it was not so cold


----------



## ablejoy

I bought 2 tons a a month ago for next year used 5 bags and find they do not put out as much heat as other pellets. I may have to mix them with heaters next year.


----------



## earmit

Have to say, burned some Pennington last year.
Dusty and lots of longs. After burning numerous brands 
(10 or so) as a test (my first year) I have to say
Somerset and Greene Team are the best so far.
Low dust when pouring, low ash when cleaning and
decent heat. The three combos I'm lookin for.
I pour the bags into a coal hod in the house for loading
into a fireplace insert so the resultant dust cloud from pouring 
isn't acceptable. Somerset and Greene Team  are the best
match so far.


----------



## farmall

This is my third year burning pellets when I bought the stove I bought 1 ton of Pennington from Home Depot ,it burned dirty and inconsistent. I got another ton from Lowe’s they were made in Canada a little better,Lowe’s got a different supplier Green Team those burned very hot and clean.
Second year I bought 5 ton of Green Team from Lowe’s good heat clean burning and very little dust from the bag when I fill the stove.
After reading that Pennington had improved and Sam’s club had them on sale I purchased 5 ton. I started the season burning Green Team, glass stays fairly clean even after burning for 2 days I was down at Lowe’s and the had some broken bags I don’t remember the name but they were in brown bags those burned ok .
Now I’m into the Pennington 12 hrs of burning and the glass is completely black have to clean the stove every 12 hrs full of clinkers and I have to run the heat up to the next number to get the same heat out, and when I dump the bags in dust is all over the place.
Now I have 5 tons of this garbage to use!
I will never buy Pennington again.


----------



## gutterboy2ca

Burned 5 or 6 bags of penningtons, found them pretty decent for a cheap Pellet, consistant lenths, bit more ash yes, but good heat and few Fines.


----------



## jamesdjs

I just went through 8 bags bought from Walmart @ $4.78/bag.
Nice heat, low ash but I found the bag had a lot of fines in it compared to the LGs.
I'll probably get some more.


----------



## mullet

Yeah there horrible, I tried a couple of bags again this year and the same thing to many fines and ash.


----------



## Tom Pencil

I went thru 20 bags of the Penningtons.  Very few fines, ash was average, heat output was not as high as I would like it to be.  Paid only $3.84/bag.  I would use them (at least the batch that I had) on the front and end of the winter season.


----------



## earmit

I have tried a dozen bags of the Lignetics Pres-To-Logs
from Lowe's.
Its Lignetics mixture of hardwood and softwood variant
(smells more like softwood to me though).
They seemed above average to me relative to
dust, ash and heat. I'd say they are worth buying.


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## Honda

I burned a tonne of Peningtons from Wal-mart last year.  I had never burned them before, but they were the only ones I could get when the shortage was at it's peak here in atlantic Canada.  The only pellets I could find were in Maine, and Wal Mart was getting loads of them every week.  I got a tonne, they ended up costing about $8/bag by the time I got them back to Canada.  I was surprised to read negative feedback on them after the fact, because I thought they were one of the hottest and cleanest burning pellets I had seen so far.  Maybe I was lucky and got a good batch.  They burned hot and clean, the least amount of ash of any brands I have burned yet, and what little ash there was was light and a grey in color.  There were very few fines in the bag as well.

I would love to get 4 tonne of the same ones I burned last year.


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## donkarlos

I like them except I found two pieces of rubber in a bag.  I suspect there were more.  looked like small pieces of conveyer belt, 3" long at the most.


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## gpack

A few comments. Rented the Lowes truck here in Dayton for 20 bucks. (75 minute max) Plenty enough to get the pellets home and the truck back. For 40 cents per bag it was worth it. Now to the pellets. This is the second year of four that I have burned Pennington pellets. I have well over 2/3 of a ton of Natures Heat left to burn. They burn just fine for me. I did have to make some adjustments to the Glow Boy this year but these pellets seem to work just fine. Cranking some heat tonight...26 deg and dropping...


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## ablejoy

Burning Penningtons this year bought 2 tons these are good very little fines and all about 3/4" - 1" long. No clinkers!  The price was $2.00 a bag. Not as much heat as the Heater pellets which are softwood but these cost $4.00 a bag. Were in the low 20's at night and were expecting a big snow storm Monday.


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## gutterboy2ca

well at $2/Bag i'd be burnin them for sure, found them a bit dirty but good heat.


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## teetah222

$2 a bag??  I wish.  They are way too pricey for me.  Not even tempted to buy them unless the price goes down.


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## fossil

It's a *2-year old thread*.  Get a clue.  Rick


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## teetah222

BTU said:
			
		

> Haubera said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> $2 a bag??  I wish. * They are way too pricey for me*.  Not even tempted to buy them unless the price goes down.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What am I missing here..$2.00 per bag is only $100 per ton....This is expensive?... A mill can't even produce a pellet for that price...let alone sell and make a profit...thus my question, what am I missing here??????
Click to expand...

Sorry should have been clearer... no $2 a bag isn't too much, but that's not the current price.  Current price I'm seeing at Lowes is $4.99.  That's too much.  I can get pellets elsewhere for less.


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## ablejoy

I bought these in the spring at Walmart they unload at a cheap price to get them out of the store. I got the last 2 ton at 100.00 a ton. The year before I got them for $0.50 a bag and I bought 2 ton $52.00. First year I had the stove and they were really bad pellets. Walmart will sell cheap just to get more floor space any lost comes out of the stores profits.

They sell for $5.96 a bag now and if any left in April they will keep droping the price till they are gone.


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## HEATLLC

We manufacture and sell wood pellets - located in southern Missouri.  Tested pellets, 8500 BTU, less that 1/2% fines - all hardwood pellet.

Truckload pricing - $165 per ton - picked up at our manufacturing plant
Less than truckload pricing - $186 per ton - picked up at our manufacturing plant

In need of pellets - call 417-926-4328 - HEAT, LLC


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## ADVA

gutterboy2ca said:
			
		

> Burned 5 or 6 bags of penningtons, found them pretty decent for a cheap Pellet, consistant lenths, bit more ash yes, but good heat and few Fines.



Whats the date on the top corner of the bags?


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## turtle2010

I wouldn't burn a bag of Pennington's if they were given to me.  I grabbed a couple bags last year and found them to be the worst pellet that I had ever seen.  High fines, high ash, and low heat.  The pellets were over 1.5" in length and had a really low bulk density which probably led to the increased amount of fines due to low durability.


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## hot-n-bothered

Must be nice to pick and chose your pellets. I live on eastern Long Island and I take what I can get. I have had my stove for 2 years and burned 3 different brands of pellets, green team, american wood fiber and penningtons. The penningtons have the most fines by far and leave more ash but while burning them at the highest setting on my stove I get 25 degrees hotter air than green team or awf. I dont get the same results while burning the pellets at the lowest setting. The penningtons dont burn quite as hot on low as the other two for some reason.


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## Trophy_67

Just droppn a quick note.
Seems that Pennington has got there QC probs IN CHECK ..i picked up 10 bags to try after my local Lowes had ran out of the brand I have been burning (Potomac Premium yellow pine).
so far I have been through 5 bags ..here is my review.
Length seems good ..NO LONG ONES..most right at 1/2 to 3/4" give or take.
Fines ..NO worse than any other I have burned.
FEEL is good ...smooth an NO STICKIES.
Color is dark brown with a pleasant odor.
heat output seems to be in the upper range with no noticable increase in ash.
most Notable is that my Glass has stayed cleaner by 3 fold over the last few days compared to the other pellets i have burned...wonder what is up with that ?
Just noting that my Local lowes has bought 4 or 5 pallets of these left on stock ..an if they bring the price down at all I will buy a pallet.
Just tossin out a honest update.
Tim


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## ADVA

Okanagan's/Turman's/Barefoots/Green Team/Somerset/Dragon Mtn./Spruce Pts./Pure Fire:
Heading out to East PA from N NJ on Wednesday afternoon.

I never burned any of these pellets & want to give them a try.
Looking for suppliers on my way out to Nazareth PA. From North New Jersey.
You from Jersey? I'm from Jersey?!?!?!
Will be traveling 80W thru NJ & on 611/512/191 thru Bangor on into Nazareth PA.

These are hard to get in NJ.
Hoping someone could point me in the right direction :cheese:


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