Pennington Natures Heat Trying to Sabotage My Pellet Stove ???

[pelletizer]

No Rocks here but I did find a pc of extruded plastic, Wonder if Pennington could find out were the rocks are coming from by the bar code?

 

[roger7272]

I'm aware of other complaints about the quality of Pennington pellets, but this is so outragious, I felt it needed its own thread.


Back in July, i started buying my pellets for the 08-09 heating season. As everyone knows, pellets weren't all that easy to come by. Well........ the first three tons i was able to purchase were all Pennington, and all purchased at my local Home Depot for $249.99. I assume these were all pellets from the previous year, since there are only bar codes at the bottom of the bags........ no lot numbers or production dates or any other identifying features.

Even though there are ALOT of fine in the bags of pellets, i've never complained till now, since they are what was available when i was shopping for pellets. Here are some pictures showing how much fine is in the pennington bags. In burning approximately 2 and a half ton of Penningtons, i'd estimate i've sifted out nearly two hundred pounds of fine. My estimation is based on the fact that i put the fine back into the empty bags and i've easily filled five bags with fine. Enclosed are a few pics of how much fine is in each bag........

But now for the meat & potatos of my complaint...............

The past two bags i've i've tried to put into my stove each contained a rock ! ONE rock per bag. Thankfully i was paying attention, and was able to spot the rocks as i was pouring some pellets into the stove. Now, i am not farmiliar with pellet production, but i have to think one rock in each bag of pellets was put there intentionally by a Pennington employee. I honestly can't imagine that somehow a rock fell from the sky into the bagging process. Can you imagine what these rocks would have done to my auger?? I warn you all to beware of Pennington pellets !!

Above you will see said rocks...... with a penny added for reference. I'd estimate them to be about quarter sized. Imagine your stove trying to pass these ! >:-(

I bout two tons of pennington in june 2008 also there was way to much saw dust so i called peggy at 1-800-285-7333 And she said to send a sample with a bag so i did. About two week later she now wont me to send a full bag to them i said i sent you the sample you ask why now a full bag the plant wont it. i said no it would cost to much to send a 40LB bag. So about three week later i put a bag in the stove and in the moring the stove stop working. I took it apart and there was four rocks. So i call her back to conplain she didnt wont to hear it. Didnt really care. But i call home depot were i bout them back in june and they was nice and no proublem taking them back to exchange. They really really care did pennington get so big they now dont care about the people that buy them..... Just to bad was surprise to see some also got rocks in there bags. Look just like the rocks i got bottom line pennington pellets suck

 

[roger7272]

I have some issues with my first ton of pennington's ,lots of fines ,chunk of rubber,,,,clinkers. no lot number on that ton.
so i called customer service ,and let them hear my complaints,just to let people know i felt i got a very standard response.
1 cup to 2 cups of fines are the acceptable amount, lot numbers dont mean to much,why did i wait till a ton was burned before i called ,etc. ect.
The woman said to send in a sample of pellets [couple hand fulls], intack empty bag and my original sales reciept[i cant believe i had it] and mail it off
she said my postage would be returned.,,,,,, we'll see what happens.

It funny but a little sad but i am going though the same thing but i found rocks in mine. Just like the pic an other person put on this site she said the same thing send a sample with a bag so i did the about two weeks later she now said it out of her hand and the plant wonts a full bag....... I said no cost way to much to send a 40lb bag. I said i did what you said.... Buy sending a sample But after i call her back now to complain there rock in one bag she didnt care or did she wont to hear about it. So realy good luck. Call were you got them they mite take them back. My home depot did they care...... Not only do i have the rocks but i have a pellet that as a rock inbed in it.

 

[pakrazee]

I have burned thru a ton of Nature's heat so far bought from Walmart, date codes from 8-08, and some bags did have alot of fines. I also I had clinkers, it they threw off LOTS of heat. Maybe not my first pick for pellets, but in a pinch I got no issues burning them

 

[strangemainer]

me like penninton. no roks here. some fynes tho.
I keep my eye open!

 

[please302]

I bought 2 tons of Pennington pellets and 2 tons of tidy timbers. I began burning the Pennington’s first because of my concern with them since soo many people have had problems. Since burning the pellets there have been a lot of fines and longs. Some pellets are as long as 4”. So if you have a picky stove that needs smaller pellets I would advise against getting Pennington. Also just recently when I poured a bag of PENNINGTON’s into the hopper I noticed that there was a piece of wood inside that bag. It was not a long pellet but a 5” piece of wood. I feel that I cannot trust Pennington anymore. Their pellets are so inconsistant. I then called peggy at customer service who did nothing about the problem but advise me to call home depot where I purchased them and have them exchange them out. First thats not home depots problem its Pennington’s. I can see doing that if the bags were ripped but this is a 5” piece of WOOD inside of the bag. Secondly, home depot towmotor does not fit inside of my garage so I have to take out the ton of pellets by hand and load the exchanged pellets back into the garage by hand. Lastly I am not ven sure that they would exchange them or have any pellets left. Thats some good advice PENNINGTON Dish your responsibility to someone else to deal with including your customers. It is not worth the hassel with this company. I will NEVER buy PENNINGTON PELLETS AGAIN

 

[please302]

I agree that Pennington customer service doesnt care about their customers or their chitty products. Mybe they will start to care when no one buys their crappy pellets. I believe that they dont care this year because of the pellet crunch and the fact that there was a shortage which makes it unfortunate that people have to buy whats out there. But it shows you what type of company Pennington really is. They add insult to injury when they know that their customers have little choice to find other available pellets especially near winter. All I know is that I will never buy from pennington again, period. I wont support those who dont care about their customers and stand by their products which is the least that they can do. It is just amazing how many issues people are having with this company and it is not just isolated incidents it is wide spread and it is long term, not just this year. DONT you remember last years fiasco

 

[Pat Shuff]

I've been burning Golden Fire pellets (hot, low ash/fines) since installing an Enviro Mini in the summer
'07 (second pellet stove, the first was an early Whitfield Advantage insert...finicky, disappointing, kept
blowing pricey, unavailable circuit boards...replaced with a gas insert until delivered propane rose to
$5/gal). After finding this forum and reading that Pennington had addressed quality problems I purchased
a couple bags at the local Walmart, stored inside on several open pallets. Locally, Golden Fire pellets went
from $200 last season to $245/ton this year, so I gave Pennington a try at $4/bag. The first bag was ok,
none overlong , a little more ash and fines than Golden Fire and a little cooler burning. The bottom third of
second bag was was just sawdust and crumbled/ swollen pellets and thrown away. So no Pennington
at this household ever. Pleased with the Envirofire Mini, light years beyond the Whitfield 15 years ago.

 

[firewarrior820]

UPDATE: pennington seed called me today, and let me know about my claim, they are giving any one with a problem with there product this year 15% of their
purchase price, so for me i’ll be getting a cool $40.00 plus my cost on postage about $ 4.50 so i’m looking at$ 44.50 for the trouble of burning one ton of their product.
also if i didn’t like the other two tons i had ,i could return them to lowes for a full refund i told her it’s just not worth the hassle.

Signature
quadrafire castile,excel pipe,

 

[Sawsalesman]

How do you guys sift your pellets?

 

[roger7272]

UPDATE: pennington seed called me today, and let me know about my claim, they are giving any one with a problem with there product this year 15% of their
purchase price, so for me i’ll be getting a cool $40.00 plus my cost on postage about $ 4.50 so i’m looking at$ 44.50 for the trouble of burning one ton of their product.
also if i didn’t like the other two tons i had ,i could return them to lowes for a full refund i told her it’s just not worth the hassle.

Signature
quadrafire castile,excel pipe,

I am glad you are getting somthing back 15% make it a little better she dint even offer me that. I just e-mail them right on there home page on how does it feel to have your own site that leaving conplaint i gave then this site so that they can read the conplaint that all uf us are having. So i dont think at this time they really wont to talk to me. But any way it would be a groan to take back the other. I took back 25 bags that sucks

 

[cdodge04]

I bought 6 bags of Penningtons from Walmart and absolutely loved them! I had very little fines and the pellets put out a lot of heat, I was very very impressed. I later bought 3 more bags from Sams Club and had about the same luck as you. More fines in the bag then any other brand, they were 100% junk! I ran them through my pellet vac 2 times before finally geting all the crap out of them...I guess its all about where you get them and how bad they are treated during their life before they make it to us.

 

[please302]

with Pennington pellets its a crap shoot. I would say that you have a 20% of getting decent pellets and 80% of getting horrible pellets and dont expect pennington to back up their product. Now are we going to buy pellets for entertainment (casino) or for our livelyhood (to heat our homes and families). I dont feel like betting when I go to get my pellets and even if I did I wouldn't bet with these odds. That is just straight out unacceptable for a company trying to sell a product. Now you know why businesses go out of buisness. Kinda like the american automakers. Build a good reliable product at a decent price and people will buy it. If you try to just ripp people off with your junk you may sell it the first time but it wont sustain over the long haul.

 

[imacman]

Well, call me crazy, but after all the problems people seem to have with the Natures heat pellets, I decided to try a couple of bags myself.

Stopped in a Lowes near where I work, and they had 4 1/2 tons (the one near home had none). I grabbed 3 bags, and am now doing a test.

I let all the NEWP hardwood pellets run out, and vacuumed the hopper. Ran 2 bags of the Natures Heat through the vacuum pellet cleaner, and did not see any rocks, and the fines were almost the same as the NEWP...about 1/2 cup per bag. I DID notice a LOT more very small pellet "chips", but the vacuum took them right out.

Didn't change any settings on the stove, and loaded a bag into the hopper, and let 'er rip. So far, after an hour of burning, it looks EXACTLY the same as the NEWP.

I'll report in a new thread in a day or so about ash, etc. Got my fingers crossed.

 

[pennichuck]

first 15 bags i got from walmart were horrible...all crumbly with lots of fines...since then they are great...burn greaqt hardly any fines

 

[MassPellet]

My first year with a pellet stove (Harman XXV) and got 3 tons of Penningtons and one ton of NEWP. No comparison! 1/2 cup to no fines in the NEWP and 3 to 4 cups with the Penningtons. Also have had 8-10 bags with water damage "puffballs" inside (that will clog up your stove), and 3 bags that are unusable and hard as cement.

I've been calling my stove dealer (where I bought the pellets) and they have yet to respond. Was going to drive there and demand a refund, but am I better off contacting Pennington direct?

 

[Ductape]

Well............. just an update. I'm now up to 14 rocks of various sizes, along with a few shards of wood for good measure. I never heard a peep back from Pennington. Perhaps they feel this is just business as usual? I won't be buying Pennington products again.......... not even if they offer me a 15% off coupon. Buyer Beware !!

 

[South of Boston]

[quote author="Ductape" date="1232070472"]Well............. just an update. I'm now up to 14 rocks of various sizes, along with a few shards of wood for good measure. I never heard a peep back from Pennington. Perhaps they feel this is just business as usual? I won't be buying Pennington products again.......... not even if they offer me a 15% off coupon. Buyer Beware !!



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Thanks for your info and updates.
Was at two walmarts this week and saw the Pennington's and thought of your posts so I decided not to buy them BTW ($5.75 bag).

 

[pelletizer]

I have 3 tons of pennintons from HD and gone through 1.3 tons with no rocks, Ductape is the only person with rocks in his or her pellet bags on at that on this site?
There must be other people who bought pellets before and after you from the same store and one would think they would have a rock issue as well.
I think you said you bought these at HD in Concord have you called to see if there have been complaints? Those rocks look clean as well like they may have come from HD, I know they sell stone like that? If those rocks are getting in the bags at the penninton plant they have to be put in on purpose by a pissed off employee not Pennintons bagging process.

 

[Ductape]

If you look above you will see member roger young also found rocks in his Pennington pellets. I bought mine in HD in Tilton....... no idea where Roger bought his. At first i figured an employee intentionally put them in there, now i just think they are completely negligent and bag pellets with the same bagging equipment that they use to bag landscape rocks (without a thorough cleaning).

 

[pelletizer]

Could be Could be Duct tape, fyi even though I have good luck with my Penningtons I will not purchase 3 tons this spring.

 

[sydney1963]

Hi Pelletizer,

What do you have your stove settings at? I had to crank up a notch as stove room temp is dropping slowly, at 67* right now. Rest of house 65* 6-6-1 & 3-4 Just wondering how your doing keeping warm. Thanks for your input.

 

[pelletizer]

Hi syd, brrr huh, well at the moment the Peerless "oil" furnace is heating the house I am feet from Mrs peerless now and she is roaring! :wow: but not for long just got busy on here and around the house, so the stove clean out has been pushed back.
Daytime settings (not home) as follows 5-3-1 or 5-4-1 and 1-3 Nightyime has been 5-3-1 or 5-4-1 and 3-5 or 4-6 or 7
Syd I had to replace my Exhaust motor due to bad bearings and when I did the swap I blew out and vacuumed out the whole stove flue,
One other thing take a straw and insert it through the slots on the right of the stove and blow the dust and hair off the room blower squiril cage impellers what a difference it makes.
One bad note this morning my room blower motor which I think is the same model as the exhaust blower motor I just replaced! started whining just like the bad exhaust blower, sounds like sand grinding in the bearings, I suspect my stove was put together with a bad batch of Fasco blower motors, I am not to happy but still like my stove. -1* here now but hey it's January.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

pelletizer,

Monday I get two new blower motors, exhaust has a bearing seal that has been weeping and the convection one thermals out if the stove runs for any amount of time at 3 or higher. My dealer says the F(i)asco powered blowers have been a thorn in his side this year.

 

[sydney1963]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. No problems here yet. Hope you can get it going for the rest of the winter.