Presto Logs

I haven't heard much about these recently and I've never burned them. Does anyone have any recent experience with these? The local Sam's Club is selling them for $4.98/bag, which is cheaper than the per bag price that HD is selling FSU's for. This is the hardwood version. I was in a hurry this morning and didn't grab any but I plan to go back Friday and get 5 bags to try. I know I'm going to need more pellets and these would be a good fit if my stove likes them.

 

At the risk of sounding cliche, try a couple bags before you commit to buying in quantity. The last two batches I burned were the worst batches of any pellet I've ever burned. One was Ligs in TSC bags, and the other was PTL hardwoods. They were both 2014-2015 vintage, so they came from the Virginia mill. From clean stove startup, within 6 hours the entire burnpot surface area would be covered with an inch of heavy black ash, it was just awful. Similar to the experience you had with a batch of Timber Heats a couple seasons ago. I should add that I had burned Ligs previously (years ago) and not had issues like this, so we're really talking about major batch variance problems. In your neck of the woods, nowadays it's quite possible what's in those bags could be from the former Geneva / Maine's Choice mill. If so, we are talking about a completely different product, so curious to hear how you make out.

 

I would go with the FSUs .

 

I would pass on the PTL and FSU and go with MWP (if available).

 

I picked up a few bags last season at Lowes in Southern VA and I liked them a lot. Unfortunately, I was just passing through and don't live in that area or I would have gone back for more.

YMMV and different batches could certainly burn different, but here's what I bought:

 

So just for calcification MWP = Carrage House pellets that the HDs down this way carry ?

 

I can pretty much always buy the MWP but not at the bag price the PTL's are selling for. If I could I wouldn't even be looking at these, but right now my back can't handle hauling a ton of MWP's down to the basement. Thus the interest in the PTL's.

 

I picked up 5 bangs today to try. Put my thumb through the first 2 bags I picked up. I did talk to one guy who was buying them who says he's burned some and they are similar to Cubex, his normal pellet that he can't find anymore. He heard they had a fire at the mill. Anyone here hear that?

Anyway, with the warm temps today my stove has been pretty much idling so I won't get to try these until tomorrow. I will post my thoughts after that.

 

Probably talking about the Corinth fire on Sept 20, 2018 in Maine. I thought Lauzon makes Cubex?

 

They do. I asked the guy if he tried the stove shop I deal with. They have been selling Cubex for years and they didn't have any. So something is up with them.

 

Bag 1 is almost through the hopper. I had 15 or so pounds of MWP in the hopper when I dumped it in, so I'm emptying the hopper before I put bag 2 in. So far though I'm happy with them. Ash levels are respectable. The heat level is a little tougher because it was so warm the last 2 days. The pellets are a consistent 1" +/- in length. Most impressive was the fines and dust. There wasn't any. Zero. So unless I see anything different, I plan on buying 10 bags a week as long as they have them.

 

Bag 2 through the stove, bag 3 in the hopper. Nice pellets. Very happy with them.

 

Cool. Sounds about the same as my experience. I was very happy as well.

And on a related note, I took a look on Sam's Club website to see if maybe my local store had any, and I can't find any mention of wood pellets (for heating) on their website at all. None. Nada.

So they may be sitting on the floor at the warehouse near me, but I have no idea unless I go there and look.

 

The Sams Club up here has always sold pellets in the winter but they have always been Penningtons, so I rarely pay attention to them. This year the bags caught my eye, they looked different. Sure enough, they were PTL's. The price sign still said Penningtons though. I made sure the PTLs were the same price before I bought any.

 

After burning 15 bags of these, my initial impression was a little off. They're OK, but the ash was a little high in comparison to MWP. Plus I think the MWP might be a little hotter. I can buy the MWP for $.20/bag more locally. Cheaper in the long run as Sams Club is a 24 mile round trip.