PA Pellets.....looking for feedback.

[brianf1265]

I have been burned twice on PA Pellets. I will never ever buy them again. The past two years, I purchased a ton of PA Pellets in November. They were fantastic quality and left hardly any clinker. They looked great and smelled great. In January the past two years I purchased a 2nd ton, and they were completely different from the November pellets. They smelled awful and left so much clinker it took me over an hour with a gasket scraper and chisel every two days to get the clinker off of my fire pot. Last year I gave them the benefit of the doubt and just wrote it off as a bad ton. For it to happen two years in a row is unacceptable. Today I dumped 40 bags of PA pellets in my woods, as I refuse to burn them and couldn't even give them away. I wrote the PA parent company Biomaxx a letter and sent them a sample at their request, and they did nothing to make it right. My stove is a 2010 Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE. I was buying these PA at a local vendor, trying to keep local businesses going, but its not worth it. Sadly, I am now burning Stove Chow from Home depot, that is $20 less a ton, and at least has a manageable amount of clinker.

 

[chrisasst]

I have been burned twice on PA Pellets. I will never ever buy them again. The past two years, I purchased a ton of PA Pellets in November. They were fantastic quality and left hardly any clinker. They looked great and smelled great. In January the past two years I purchased a 2nd ton, and they were completely different from the November pellets. They smelled awful and left so much clinker it took me over an hour with a gasket scraper and chisel every two days to get the clinker off of my fire pot. Last year I gave them the benefit of the doubt and just wrote it off as a bad ton. For it to happen two years in a row is unacceptable. Today I dumped 40 bags of PA pellets in my woods, as I refuse to burn them and couldn't even give them away. I wrote the PA parent company Biomaxx a letter and sent them a sample at their request, and they did nothing to make it right. My stove is a 2010 Quadrafire Mt Vernon AE. I was buying these PA at a local vendor, trying to keep local businesses going, but its not worth it. Sadly, I am now burning Stove Chow from Home depot, that is $20 less a ton, and at least has a manageable amount of clinker.

What were the dates on the bags that you "dumped"?

 

[brianf1265]

I just checked the date on the several of the bags that I dumped, and much to my surprise they were 10/10.

 

[gfreek]

Ok I just got another ton of PA's. Not as dusty as previous, but seems more ash build up in pot, the ash is darker and real grainy not fine like before. Burned OK otherwise. Date on bag 4/11. Second guessing getting another ton. Might just go for Instant Heat at TSC....

 

[Fsappo]

As a specialty retailer who needs to face the music (customers) one on one when they arent happy, PA Pellets gave me great grief twice. They were always a "decent" pellet, not great. Price was right and was as local as I could buy (other closest were NE at the time) But I got two 22 ton loads that had very long pellets, some over 2" and a fair share of small rocks/pebbles in them. PA did their best to do the right thing and take the pellets back, but after you have dozens of customers with fouled up augers and killed stoves, there was nothing PA could do to keep me buying from them.

We even had the PA twist the top augers off of 2 Pinnacle units. Not an easy feat with the cutters they have in them.

So, if I was just a user and wanted to take a gamble on a few bags simply because they are cheap..I guess.

As a dealer who lives on keeping customers happy. Nuh uh.

 

[RidgeRunner56]

One of the places I get pellets dropped them after the last pallet was sold and wont be getting in any more. Their customers prefered Allegheny pellets. FWIW

 

[Lorne41]

It looks like I got lucky with my batch I have 4 bags left and just dumped some into the stove this evening and they're still burning nice and hot!
I have two friends that bought their PA's from the same local place and they both reported that they're happy with them too. So it looks like it might be a batch problem with PA or old pellets that some got stuck with. Again, like everyone here recommends, buy a couple of bags first to try them.

 

[Lorne41]

Well, I must say I picked up a couple of bags yesterday ( had the date 11/11 as well), The EF2 cranked the heat with them. I am currently firing up the Englander with them right now. See how they do in there. I also must say, they smell alot better than the North american pellets.

How did they burn in your PDVC ?