The Okie Gold's I got last spring were well wrapped so unless that is in bad shape, I don't think I would have any qualms. Are you getting them from the guy over on the coast? If so, nice guy and he will only bring you good stuff, not damaged stuff. I also believe he said it was stored indoors - but I could be misremembering on that.
Many burn and liked them, but my experience here wasn't so great - but that is as much due to the small stove setup vs. any other factor .. I would advise caution / run some test bags, like any other "new" brand of pellet for your stove, before committing to tonnage. * Ironically the NEWP burned better in the stove here vs. Okies - a bit more ash, but didn't leave smelly tar-like residue on the exchange tubes or exhaust pathways like the Okie Plats did here. Wife hated them, said they were 'smelly pellets', I ended up throwing them out in the trash (heresy, I know). She was right, they did smell bad. To be fair, the Okies ran were purchased when their main plant was down / were bagged at another plant / were bought in Dec '14 / when there was constrained supply, so our experience in Dec. '14 may not apply to current supply. -- If I had a choice, I'd rather pay an extra 25-30 / ton and get LaCretes w/ delivery, or source LG Granules (also sold as 'Satisfaction' brand) for about the same $$$, again w/ running test bags on any new pellet purchase, before committing to tonnage here.
I just started making some calls and these seem to be my best choices for the money . EasyBlaze 265 / ton , Vanderhoof's Platinum 265/ ton , Hamer's 274 / ton and 802 white pine from Vermont 305/ ton . What you think ?
Hamers for sure. The Platinums are good, but the Hamer's were much better in both my stoves. For that little of a price difference, it isn't even a contest.
Pretty sure there isn't a bag date on the Okies stuff. If there is its only the date the bags were printed.
FYI Russell links to Steve's reviews ★★★★☆ - Platinum Wood Pellet (Review) | Firewood Hoarders Club ★★★★☆ - Clean Energy Wood Pellets (Review) | Firewood Hoarders Club these are re bagged Hamer's for Lowe's ★★★★☆ - EasyBlaze Blend Pellets (Review) | Firewood Hoarders Club
I've burned Vanderhoofs and Hamers and both were good, prefer the Vanderhoofs though (love the softies). The Hamers were exceptionally hot but also produced a lot of heavy ash. I'm sure it was just a batch thing. I'm seeing the 802 Pellets starting to pop up around here too, plan to grab a few bags for testing, expect they will be very similar to Vermonts which are among the best I have burned.
I'm getting spoiled by them , weren't available down here until 2 years ago , my stash right now is 70 / 30 softies to hard wood .
From what I just heard 2 brother's that worked at Vermont's pellet plant have started up their own not to far away using the 802 branding.
I burned a number of pellet brands and I really liked the LGs...unfortunately there is only one source for me and they are $299/ton not including delivery. I've bought from this source several times and each time I had a number of bad bags...don't have this issue with current supplier, but they only sell NEWP...
I wonder what's going on with that new Pine Tree or whatever it's called plant??? Seems like it's taking way longer than expected to start producing pellets.
Oh yeah I forgot about them . I think they found out that opening a new pellet mill is harder than it seems .
I think they expected to be running at some point last season....website is still under construction too.
That's tough Maximus, I'd be going 'Gladiator' on them if I found any more than a few damaged bags throughout tonnage that was delivered.. Did they make right on it? If it's the same vendor I think it is (over Manchester way), they seemed like nice folks when I was buying bag sales from them back when we started burning, not getting any great 'deal' on product, but at least they had stock, where others didn't, will give points for that .. at that price - you would think they would make it right... If not, I wouldn't use them again, either. I would think that 10 tons product would be a nice sale for any vendor - that may have some (not much, but some) bargaining power - I'd give them a call, see what they can do for you, with someone who knows how to drive a forklift .. worse they can say is 'No' .
The (2) bags of 802 we burned here back in early '15 were nice pellets, burned on-par w/ LG Granules & CF Pacifics, about the same amount of heat & ash. But they're pricey $$$ .. It looks like that hasn't changed. I'm looking forward to testing some Vanderhoof's Platinum pellets here soon.. But not too soon, Skeeter.
Skeet needs to go visit some place really really really cold! While we enjoy whats left of summer. We'll call him back once we put the summer toys away.
Possibly the weather station Summit - Greenland ? Summit, Greenland | 19° | Cloudy It's pellet season there. Bring warm clothes, Skeeter!
