Just saw Viridis might have just bought the Heartland pellet plant? My guess is that is what's going in these okies Gold bags. If so?? They are an excellent pellet IMHO and Should sell rather well too! Maybe I can get a sample? O wait, I forgot he's too cheap to get them to the pellet tester fool. But I bet the pellet review guy gets some. Prolly has em already even! I'll buy some if CT pellet gets a load and test them along with the country Boy's and Turmans I have stashed. Need a little warm up before that will happen, The beast is working to keep our azz's warm and I can't take a chance on the boss with her skillet swingin skills! I haven't burn Heartlands since 2001 and IIRC they were a "hot" and clean pellet. Another pellet that made the ol quad hit its high limit. One of the first softies I experianced and blew the heck out of the hardwood crud we had at the time.
Don't be going and starting untrue rumors...Viridis (my parent company) is NOT buying Heartland and NO that is not what is in the new "Gold" bags. That would be Southern Yellow Pine from down south. They have been out in the market for over 3 months now under the Black Hills Heat label with a few thousand tons sold and so far the reviews have been excellent. Hot, clean and no issues I have heard of....Scott will be getting a truck load on Wednesday, but if they are like just about everywhere else in NE right now, they won't last too long.... We start bagging the Gold brand next week as we will have come to the end of our Black Hills bags and will make the change over on the bag. The product is the same, we are just changing the name and bag design to fall more in line with our current branding.
I will be more than happy to give you some to try...but let's wait for some of the craziness to die down and I will make sure on a future load I will throw some on one of Scott's loads for you. To answer your question, the pellet review guy..if it is the same one I think you think it is has not gotten any...I gave these to two dealers very close to the plant when I first got them in and they were very happy with them....but then again I had already committed for some tonnage at that point, but I knew they would be good....but I am more than happy to have you test them on my nickel if you so choose.....
Prolly best I just go buy some. Don't need the critic's saying I got special stuff. Ya know how that goes? Thanks for the offer!! Still rather busy and too dang cold these days to even think of a serious test. I haven't even compared the Country Boys to the Turmans that I wanted to do last fall. Not to mention the cold set in so quick, Stove has been working diligently since early November! Maybe we should try to get some to member @slvrblkk? He's been our real tester around here!
I'm in the same boat with you Jay....still a bit too cold to be fooling around testing......but I would GLADLY test some of those bad boys!
i'd buy a half dozen bags before you commit to tonnage if i were you you can thank me later . there's a local plumbing supply place that has been advertizing oakies for $328 and even though i coulda gotten by , i really didn't want to go into my buffer stash , so i bought 30 bags at 6.50 per . that's the price they've been adverting since sept , no gouging and same as per ton price so wth . got there and turned out they were black hills bought em anyway . cleaning my burn pot twice / day . nuf said .
Woody....sorry to hear that you weren't happy with them. But having sold thousands of tons of these all thru out NE in the last few months, if they were really as bad as you say, not only would my phone be ringing off the hook with complaints from dealers, but they certainly wouldn't be reordering at the rate...not just for right now, but all thru this summer for more of this product. Might I suggest there is another reason...maybe stove related, bad gasket possibly. I do realize that all pellets are stove selective, but if you did have to clean your stove twice a day, then that suggests to me there is something else going on...but again I'm sorry these didn't live up to your expectations.
We'll definetily try some first. even then I might have the wrong stove to do a review. My beast doen't clinker with its agitator and self cleaning burnpot. I have though about getting another stove just to test pellets. Let the beast do the heating chore, While I use the old quad or something to just idle thru some samples. Something to think about, Just don't want another hole in the side of the house. Could be in the future?
Mid May and I can report that most (especially my larger dealers) are reporting excellent to off the charts preseason sales for the season so far. I can say we are shipping at a record pace. Have heard of some difficulties getting Truman, Cubex, and Energex by some dealers. I think all manufactures have fat order files, so any disruption at their mills and getting behind in shipments wouldn't take much. The Truman issue I think has more to do with truck availability than anything else, but I have talked to a couple of dealers that were told, they would not be getting an allocation this year because of cutbacks. One Maine manufacture is not going to be offering a softwood version of their pellet this season, which has put more pressure on us that offer one. Have had several enquires from dealers looking to add our brand because of that ( :-( ... can't help them because of increased demand from our own dealers looking to stock more this year. Heard from a very reliable source that spends big money ( no, I mean HUGE money) on weather predictions that this winter will be every bit as long and cold in NE as last season...if that is even partially true, we are in for a hellva winter again
Hi,Bob here.Burned your product this/last winter(still burning here),very happy with the results,but appears we get a different product here in montana,bags are marked from BC.Cannot find any now,dealers let supply run out until fall.For a state that is cold 9 months there is no pre buy,no pellets to be found except some really bad ones at lumberyards.Have been burning a long time,has always been this way here,suspect is because of low population/market.Contacted your company,thought friends and I would buy a truckload,but they said had to go through local dealer-ace hardware,and would have to wait untill they get some.Any chance this will change?Anyway happy with the ones I have burned.
this kinda confuses me, given that it is cold there (I usta live in Gillette and Worland, WY, did a lot of Montana Jobs, some all the way up to Kevin, when I worked the oil patch), but its weird that dealers don't stock them all year long, for the folks who plan ahead, as they should. If you end up buying thru a hardware wholesaler, youre gonna pay more. Have you tried getting ahold of a pellet guy and asking him to bring in a tractor trailer load for you and a couple buddies? We sold a couple thousand tons in April and early May alone, so, it seems there's a market for the product for some buyers even in the Spring. I hate to see folks wait, especially if there's a shortage. We had a shortage late this winter and it was awful! It would be a total catastrophe if that shortage occurs in the fall. At that point, everyone's scrambling, except for the folks who bought early (me). Now, please note I am not saying there is GOING to be one this fall at all either.......
Have had stove over 15 years,usually have pellets but money problems did not permit it.All this time can usually only get pellets this time of year at a "premier" stove shop,where they usually run $7 a bag.Ace hardware was running same price as the lumber yards/box stores this winter,said they will again next winter.Oakie said I have to go through them,Eureka said 3 truck min. order.Can get pellets in other parts of state,but not worth going 120 to 150 miles.Not enough demand I guess.Talked to owner of a local stove shop other day,he said worse year he has had for selling new stoves,3rd year in a row,and lp went over $6 this winter.Went by his shop(never been there) and all the stoves he stocks are the most expensive ones of various brands.Will have min.4 ton next fall,like previous years.
East Coast Lumber In Hampstead N.H. has pellets New England $6.00 per bag or $279.00 a ton Okanagan gold $6.25 a bag or $292.00 a ton And the grand prize Okanagan Douglas Fir $7.90 a bag or $375.00 a ton I figured that It was such a swell day (90 Deg.) and I dont want to worry about fall shortages so I got 2 ton delivered and I am set for this winter. $39.00 delivery charge. Truth In advertizing On the bag In big black letters they state LESS than 5% moisture content and then down below in the box marked Okanagan lab results they state 6%. The old bags of Black hills heat are marked 4.15 moisture and 9038 BTU The new gold bags are marked 8300 BTU So I don't think they are quite the same. Time will tell Jim
Doug, it's probably been asked and answered before, but here goes anyway. What's the logic behind the varying BTU and ash reports for a given pellet? I have seen the Golds listed as 8590 / .24 on one site, 8371 / .29 on another, and 8600+ / .21 in yet a third place. From what Jim said above, the bags themselves indicate 8300 BTU. I realize that manufacturers will have samples tested over time, perhaps annually, and each test will yield slightly different results. Just curious is there a rule or guideline that stipulates you print the lowest test result on the bag? If you have outstanding test results one year, do you work with your resellers to update their websites with that information? Hope I'm not too far off base here.
