Fireside Pellets
Fireside Pellets are sometimes sold at Home Depot. I have burned 3 tons of these pellets and found then to be very good. I believe they are from Canada.
If you have any comments regarding Fireside pellets please leave it below.
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I just bought 3 tons of fireside pellets from Home Depot for next season. $209 a ton. I bought 2 tons of the crap pennington pellets and the amount of dust in each bag and the klinkers was unreal. I will never buy them again.
We’ve been burning pellets for 3 years and have tried many brands. We have a Harman Advance stove. Usually we buy our pellets from the stove retailer but have been frustrated buy their inability to supply us with the exact brands we order. The best pellet for the dead of winter in Wisconsin has been Bear Mountain, however, we are limited to one ton which equates the about one month of heat for us. Last year we bought some Fireside from Fleet Farm and they performed quite well and plan to purchase at least a ton for next year. Buy early, they’re sold out long before the heating season is over. This year we bought a ton of Pennington’s Natures Heat. They performed well but we did have to clean the stove more often. The klinkers were more then average and the ash that pushed forward from the burn pot clumped and was crusty. The ash was more than average. The bag stated “low ash”. The particle dust in the bottom of the bag was more than average and jammed the slide plate a few times, causing the stove to shut down. I took to sifting the bottom third of the bag to reduce the saw dust from being dumped into the hopper. The heat was very good for an inexpensive pellet. Lowe’s sells them for about $3.50 a bag. If you don’t mind the extra work for a reasonably priced pellet, Natures Heat was O.K. I just purchased some Bio-Plus made by Pennington and they seem to produce less ash and the heat is perhaps slightly less than the Natures Heat. The ash pushed forward in the burn pot is lighter and not clumpy. It’s too soon to report on the clinkers since I have only used a few bags so far. The saw dust in the bottom of the bag is about the same so I still plan to sift out as much as possible. I bought these from Lowe’s and they have a lot on hand. They have told me they plan to stock Pennington pellets year round. I assume this will be Bio-Plus. I paid the same price for Bio-Plus so I would be interested to know if these are lesser grade than Nature’s Heat. Incidentally, the bag did not say “low ash” but it does seem to be less than Nature’s Heat.
go to pelletsrheat for very nice pellets for your stove.
I Just purchased an Avalon pellet insert for my masonary fireplace this year and will burn pellets for the first time. I purchased 2-tons of Fireside brand pellets and 1 ton of Freedom fuel brand from the local Home Depot here in eastern Mass. It sounds as though the Fireside pellets are not too bad, but has anyone had any experience with the Freedom Fuel brand? The freedom fuel pellets I bought are supposedly a premium pine low ash pellet (about .4% ash content). Also, I would like some idea (if anyone can help) as to how many tons I can expect to use to heat a small two story home (1700 sq./ft.) based on a moderately cold New England winter with the stove ruuning most of the day. I am new to this and would appreciate any feedback.
Keith, I leave in eastern mass also, I have had my stove for 6 years harmen fireplace insert . 1700 sq cape i burn 2.5 to 3 a year. and i used fireside last year and bought 3 tons for this year from homedepot. they work well
not sure when you posted but if possible return freedom fuel pellets.i burned 3 tons and they literally turned everything in the house black.hope didn’t get to you to late also fireside are good never had a problem with them.
I also bought Freedom Fuel pellets from Home Dept and they were the absolute worst pellets. I had my stove on setting 4 for about and hour and there was so much ash build up that it blew through the stove where my heat comes out and filled my kitchen and living room. Had to have the fan going and the windows open to get the ash out. What a mess. Please don’t buy these pellets.
Keith we live in western ma. I have a 1600 sq. ft ranch. we have had our stove about 5 years. The best I can quess from what ive used your probably going to need about 3.5 to 4tons.
I live in Rochester, NY and for the past three years have been buying from my pellets from Higbie Farms in Chili, NY. Initially, we were very satisfied with the service and brands available at a reasonable price. But last spring (April ‘08) they were offering Dry Creek at $280/ton and Allegany & American Wood Fiber at $250/ton. I went with Allegany but they delivered AWF and they sucked (a lot of unrefined wood, candy wrappers, nuts, bolts and more junk ~ 5 lbs worth after burning 3.5 tons) and they were very dusty and didn’t burn very hot. NEVER USE AMERICA WOOD FIBER!
this spring, Higbie wa selling Dry Creek at $300/ton cash and $310/ton with credit card purchases. Needless to say I didn’t buy early from Higbie this year.
On September 28, 2009 the Home Depot in Victor, NY was selling Fireside Ultra pellets at $230/ton and $50 off each additional ton purchased after that. It was such a great deal that I bought 4 tons without even batting an eye. I only hope that it burns better than AWF.
How do you feel about Fireside? Let me know!
Thanks,
SLG
I agree about AWF; DON”T BUY IT!
I bought two ton of American Wood Fiber premium (AWF) pellets this fall from Tractor Supply; what a big mistake I made for buying this brand. I’ve been using a Harmon Accenture for the past five years with great success and have the unit serviced every year for cleaning.
This season I had about five bags of Lignetics pellets to use before using the AWF brand. The AWF pellets look the same as Lignetics. Once the AWF pellets were used I noticed that more floating embers and slight ash buildup inside the burn chamber. After three bags had been used the inside burn chamber was covered with nasty ash dust, the burn pot had excessive carbon build up and the whole stove needed a thorough cleaning. With Lignetics and other brands used, the most I would have to clean the unit was possibly once a week.
I’m writing AWF and Tractor supply of my extreme displeasure. Needless to say I’ll never use AWF anymore.
I agree, AWF is the worst pellet I’ve used yet. I bought 4 tons and I’m struggling with these pellets. It’s making for alot of cleaning and I’m also worried I may ruin my stove.
It’s funny I just bought 10 bags of the pellets and they were one of the best pellets I have used so far. I have a Breckwell Stove and I guess it on depends on what type of stove you have. Too bad it takes a lot of testing before you find what is best for your stove. What is good for one apparently is not good for someone else.
I HAVE A OLD HARMEN STOVE THAT WAS LEFT WHEN I BOUGHT THIS HOUSE, I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT PELLITS OR THE STOVE, BUT 2 YRS AGO I READ THE BOOK AND FIGURED I’D TRY IT OUT, WE HAD TO GET A FEW NEW PARTS & LOVE IT.. EXCEPT FOR GETTING 6 TONS OF PELLITS FROM OUTSIDE TO DOWNSTAIRS TO THE BASEMENT. I HAVE USED A DOZEN DIFFERENT BRANDS AND THEY ALL SEEM TO WORK THE SAME IN MY STOVE. I GOT A GREAT DEAL ON MY 6 TONS THIS YR. AT A 49 DOLLAR DELIVERY COST, EVEN IF I ORDERED 100 TONS SAME 49 DOLLAR COST TO DELIVER. GO TO PELLIT WoodPellets.com THEY GAVE ME 2 PRICES AND IT’S A SALE RUNNING UNTIL MAY 14. I WILL BE ORDERING THEM, AND I WILL BE READY FOR WINTER 2011-2012.
we purchased 3 tons of awf from our tractor supply store for this years winter have had nothing but problems with this brand. 1st the feeder jammed only to find that some of the pellets had grown in diameter and some are clumped together. all told in the 1st ton have found a half dozen bags like this. not very happy if this continues will have to exchange this braand all out for brand that we used last year wich i have to look up will let know what it was.
I have been burning wood for three yrs. I wasn’t able to get delivery from my normal company and used fireside from home depot. I am using a Harmon Advance stove and have never had a problem with any pellet except fireside. I am left with many partially burned pellets and many unburned pellets in the ash pan. I had to turn back the feede rate from 4 to 3 . Needless to say I will not be using these pellets again.
Regarding American Wood Fiber (AWF) pellets, and, pardon the pun, the “roasting” they’re getting in some of these comments, I’d have to say “that was then, this is now.”
My local supplier here in the Baltimore/DC area was out of what we had been using, the great “Country Boy” 100% Oak pellets, and had to substitute some AWF “Premium” hardwood pellets while waiting for the snow to clear enough for the truck coming up the coast with more Country Boy.
We used about 2 bags per 24 hours, for about 2 weeks, and I’d say they compare very well with Country Boy these days (Winter of 2011)….actually lighting noticibly easier than Country Boy, and leaving about the same amount of ash (1%). I think it’s logical that they light easier since these are slightly softer, not 100% oak, but a mix of other hardwoods. Being slightly softer, they seem to put out slightly less heat too, but they’re close enough that I’d use them any time. When you need heat, and you’re insisting on just one brand of “best” pellets, like Country Boy, that’s what they call a “single point of failure” when your supply lines fail.
We’re using an original Whitfield Prodigy II that’s about 15 years old….still going strong. I think the stove being used is critical information for anyone leaving comments/reviews of pellet brands, and unfortunately many people seem to omit that pertinent info.
So, again, I swear by my 100% oak Country Boy pellets (though they leave plenty of ash)…but I wouldn’t hesitate to use American Wood Fiber (AWF) “Premium” pellets again too. AWF is a member of the wood pellets industry association now, so they have to adhere to the same standards of the organization that everybody else does….
after burning 20 or so bags this season I think the ash output is high with Fireside pellets. I need to empty my bin after a few bags.
Purchased 2-tons of Fireside Ultra from local Home Depot
and these pellets burn a lot of Ash after three bags. I also
have more smoke then other brands. I burned them in
my Harman stove. Have been using wood pellets since
1988 and these pellets produce the most ASH….
i purchased fireside pellets from home depot. last year and thought they were god. but this year they seems to be alot of ash. im not happy about that. pennington are no better .they create alot of ash too. i found energex to be good this year.
I sell both pellets and stoves…..there is a world of difference in pellets…..you just get what you pay for…..if you shop for price alone expect to get poor quality…..and will wish you had shopped quality instead…….i sell Lignetics (1% ash) and Hamer super premium (1/2% ash). Both are good quality products…….
In 2008-2009 there was a shortage of pellets on the east coast…….we had pellets shipped in from other manufactures out of state and they were poor and lots of headaches, ash, and clinkers!!….both manufactures claimed they were hard wood, low ash, and burned hot, but they did not deliver!!……but our clients were happy to have heat as many rely 100% on pellets for heat…….but disappointed with their performance……some drove over 1 1/2 hours to get pellets for heat….
This season (2009-2010) they all are glad we can once again obtain our usual premium brands……….NOTE…if there is no PELLET INSTITUTE membership, seal and information box on the bag, you are buying a pig-in-a-poke…….you have no idea what is in the bag!!……..
Once the euphoria of the low price fades, the depression of poor quality sets in……..
Dutch Country ACE Hardware
711 E. Lincoln Ave.
Myerstown, PA 17067
717-866-8882
PS……i burn pellets too..
Home Depot has the Fireside pellets on sale this week. Has anyone used this brand ? If so, how have they burned – any problems.
Fireside is not so bad I would rate them 70 out of 100. What was the price?
Plaistow NH Home Depot has them at $219 per ton whether you buy one pallet or ten pallets.
any one used green team pellets from lowes? or inferno?
I bought 4 ton of fireside ultra wood pellets from Home Depot this year because the price was right. I have burned about 7 bags and have no regrets. I burned maine wood pellets last year and by far these are far superior. They lighte easily they dont have as much fly ash, they burn very clean and dont soot up the door glass like the Maine wood pellets did. I can burn my stove over 12 hours before I have to clean out the burn pot (I own an englander pellet stove). These pellets are very good. I hope Home Depot keeps these in supply.
I purchased 1 ton of the AWF. I am extremely dissapointed in how they burn. This stove i use to heat my whole house. I check the stove every couple of hours and because after burning them for a while my fire pot is full of clinkers and isnt burning correctly. The fire pot is full of pellets and they keep backing up. Im affraid that it will catch the rest of my house on fire. If anyone has any ideas please let me know… Thanks
Eric…..your complaint is with your stove, not the pellets. Sometimes, usually soon after filling my Whitfield, I’ll get back-ups that bury my firepot and smother the fire….requiring shutting it down, cleaning it out, and going through my relight process all over again. That has happened once in a while using a brand many think is one of the best on the market, Country Boy 100% oak, and happens using AWF Premium’s too….that’s just the quirkiness of my stove….not the pellet’s fault. A stove is a machine, a mechanical device that must be mastered, especially it’s quirks…and they all have them.
The fireside pellets I have had very good luck with, the freedom fuel pellets
plug up my burning pots in both stoves and burn like crap…the best pellets that I have burned are new egland hardwood..freedom fuel pellets for the most part suck
I always try yo Fireside whenever possible. I find they throw the most heat in my Breckwell stove. I have a large house and the stove heats the whole thing and while all the pellet vendors have high ash output, the Firesid epellets seem to provide the best heat.
I’ve been burning Corinth (Maine) pellets in my St Croix York model stove and find there is a lot of ash build up. The ash is like a pete moss type consistency, not like a baby powder, like other pellets I’ve burning. This means a lot more ash build up with the Corinth pellets. Not many clinkers though. The glass seems to get dirty quickly. After cleaning the glass in the morning, by eve it will be almost all ghostly white and sometimes have brown shades mixed it. The dealer I bought the stove from said it has an “air wash” system which keeps the glass cleaner. Definitely not believable. Been using the stove for 3 years now and the glass was never clean after 2 days of usage.
I’ve burned Fireside pellets and they seem to be average. I need to buy two tons now and almost went for the AWF brand since woodpellets.com has them for a low price of $458/2 tons delivered. Though, I’m glad I read all these blogs about AWF and will not buy them. My time is valuable and I don’t want to spend way more time cleaning the stove to save $20 or so on a ton. I went to the AWF web site and they say they use wood and other natural sources, including waste paper and who knows what else! It seems they are converting some public ‘waste streams’ to pellets instead of what I originally believed which was wood saw dust from lumber production.
I just called our Home Depot in Riverdale NJ and they have a ton of Stove Chow brand pellets for $187 not delivered. The is the cheapest price I ever heard on pellets. If you spend $100 or more on the you Home Depot card, they will let you rent their flat bed truck for free, 75 minutes. I am leaning toward that option unless anyone else have info to persuade me differently.
I purchased 2 tons of American Wood Fiber pellets this year and have had nothing but problems as well. My firepot is also steadily overflowing and I cannot keep the glass clean at all which kills the aesthetic value of sitting by the fire. Now we’re just looking at black glass. I actually had some repairs done on my stove, thinking it couldn’t be the mountain of pellets in my garage that were at fault. If you’re like me and stuck with 4k lbs. add about 30% corn to the mix. It will fix the problem more than likely. It did for my Magnum Countryside. But, corn is high right now!
I have burned Somerset in the past and loved them! I’ll be working to secure a couple tons of those for next year. Anybody else live in Ohio that would want to get a group together to purchase a semi load. You save big money that way. With all the AWF complaints I’m seeing down this list I would take that as a sign to not buy their stuff.
I have burned several brands of premium pellets in my stove and recently bought several bags of AWF ( American Wood Fiber) pellets at the recommendation of a friend. I was initially very disappointed with the burn quality (overflowing, clogs being the more frequent symptoms) Turns out that after some playing with my feed rate settings i became very happy with these pellets. They burn slower and cleaner then my normal premium brand pellets and were much cheaper. After finding the desired setting i was very pleased with the burn rate of these pellets and the ash. Slower burn=more hours per bag. Now that Lowes in Maryland has no more i cant seem to find these pellets.
This year we have tried one ton of Turman pellets (not too bad) Lignetics (good heat, but a ton of klinkers and ash) Hamer (didn’t like them at all) and now we are trying AWF that we purchased from Lowes in Culpeper VA…so far we LOVE them, heat is great, ash is low, no klinkers. Plus the price is good at $3.74 a bag or $187 a ton. Our house is around 2400sq. ft. and we use our pellet stove as our main heat source since propane is so expensive; since we started using AWF pellets last week we have noticed the house staying warmer (got up for work at 4am the other day and it was 77 degrees in the house) and we are not using near the amount of pellets as we did with other brands. Sunday I am going to purchase 2 tons so we should have more than enough to last us the rest of the winter.
i think most pellets are fine, i’v burned about 6 different brands in my avalon astoria bay, i would put tidy timbers from lowes at the top, but all others: pennington, pro pellet, american wood fibers, potomoc, mauder brothers all burn fair, you just have to adjust air flow accordingly so you get a clean hot burn.
I bought a ton of Fireside ultras when Lowes marked them down to 199 a ton…They suck! Granted I have only burned 4 brands of pellet, but this is the second worst in front of Freedom Fuels. They give off good heat, but the ash is extremely dense and the unburned pellets entering the burn pot cannot push the ash out which in 2 instances actually caused the cast iron flame deflector in my Harman to be pushed up off the burn pot walls and flames to begin billowing from all around the pot. The burn pot needs maintenance every 6 to 8 hours with these unless you want a sooty lazy flame with smoke pouring out the pipe constantly.
However, they certainly are affordable.
We had been buying pellets at the Harman Dealer where we bought our stove 4 years ago until we saw the prices at Home Depot on Frieside Ultra Pellets and decided to give them a try. At $90 savings per ton (and we burn at least a ton a month) they are denitely as good or better than the ones we were buying at the dealer. I have found they leave no more ash build up in the burn pot or pan than four other brands we have used in last years and only scrape the pot as recommended by dealer once a day. We burn at full heat 24/7 most months to keep gas bill on our 4,500 sf house at minimum and really appreciate the savings we have enjoyed this year. Flame is bright and heat is intense. We have not had one problem and I was skeptical when I first saw the too good to be true price. We plan to stock up for next year at this price.
I have tried all sorts of pellets and the worst are INFERNO. Inferno’s burn dirty, burn at low BTU’s, and worst of all they leave large clunkers. I had to replace an auger because of the clunkers and sap binding up my auger. Alot of ash…. they are just horrible. Please, please avoid INFERNO Wood Pellets. I have tried 20+ kinds of wood pellets and the best this year ae: Green Team, Maine’s Choice, and most of all Stove Chow.
SIH ARE AWESOME ALSO.
Last year burned 4 tons of Fireside I bought at Home Depot. Also tried a few bags of several other brands to compare. The Fireside have been the best by far. This year I bought my pellets from Home Depot early. They did not have the Fireside so I reluctantly bought 4 tons of Freedom Fuel. OMG what a huge mistake ! These Freedom pellets are absolute garbage ! The pellets are larger and they just do not burn completely. After only a few hours you have a clogged burn pot with a mass of glowing unburned pellets clogging the pot. Cannot get any heat out of my stove because I cannot burn on any level but low, as pot clogging increases with feed rate. I contacted Freedom. Got the standard line about how their pellets are the best by independent testing. Blamed it on my stove. I picked up a few bags of Fireside as Home Depot received this brand later in the season. Sorry I didn’t wait. They burn great. Anyone else have the same problem with Freedom Pellets? IMHO they are truly crap !!!
I bought two tons of Freedom Fuel and they were awful. The ash build up in my stove was horrible. I will never buy them again. They were by far the worst pellets I have ever bought. I did buy the other day American Wood Fiber and was quite impressed. The heat output was amazing (I had to put my stove on level 2 which I usually had on 3) and the ash ouput was minimal. So I am using less pellets and getting better heat output. So far so good.
I’m in Northern NH and this is my first year on a pellet stove. I purchsed a demo Napoleon from a local stove shop and I have to say I am impressed. I wanted a workhorse not something fancy with lots of gadgets to break. I also purchsed 3 tons of pellets from Home Depot for $209 a ton to start out. They were called Winter Heat and they are made in Georgia. They burned nice and consistent with a fine powdery white ash and a white ash left on the glass after two days or so. I clean my stove every two to three days depending on how hard I am running it. I then purchsed 4 tons of Fireside Ultra pellets from Home Depot to finish out the season. I have noticed these have a dark corse ash and it builds up in the bottom of the pot not at the top edge like the Winter Warmth brand did. They dont heat as consistent from bag to bag. I notice on my air temp gauge that I installed that I can have a 75 degree variation from bag to bag onthe same feed setting. The Winter Warmth brand never did this. They do however still heat very well. I am heating my 1500 square foot basement to 84 degrees and this keeps the 1st floor wood floor nice and warm and the upstairs stays at 70 to 71. To do this my stove runs at 4.5 to 5.5 on the feed knob and pretty much at 4.5 on the air damper. I would purchase either brand of pellets again. I purchased the Fireside Ultras in December for $187 a ton. Most local pellet vendors have been stuck at $249. While the Depot and Tractor Supply have been dueling it out at or below about $200 per ton. Price per ton is important to me as I go through 7/8 per year by the looks. Who knows, maybe next year two or three of us will go together and purchase a truck load. I have used ZERO oil this year which was my goal. Last year my oil bill was about 2900 bucks. This year my house was warmer and more comfortable on pellets then it was last year on oil and my heating bill was 1400. There is some maintenance involved but if I can save 1500 in heating costs I’m good with a 10 minute cleaning every two to three days. Both the Winter Heat from Georgia, and the Fireside Ultras from Canada went through my stove with no feed problems and I never had a clinker on either of them………. I’m very happy with both the stove and the pellets. Next year I am adding a pellet insert to my fireplace and then I can run the stove in the basement at a lower rate and enjoy the fires glow from the fireplace pellet insert. No more oil for me……………
I have had a pellet stove for over 14 years, and I would say that American Wood Fiber Pellets are the worst pellets I have ever burnt. The ash content is nearly double of any “premium” pellet I have bought. Additionally, I have to scrape out the fire pot nearly every day. i will never buy them again.
I saw Fireside pellets for $209 at Home Depot. I bought a couple bags and was expecting poor performance, but they burned great in my Harman Advance. So, I bought a couple tons and haven’t had any issues, except maybe a bit more smoke on the glass vs the Lauzon Cubex pellets I used last year. I am not complaining at $209 a ton and oil now near $4 a gallon.
I burned three tons of Fireside this year with no issues. No klinkers and I didn’t notice much more ash switching from Lignetics to them. At $219 per ton vs $299 per ton for Lignetics, I certainly didn’t mind having to empty my ash-vac an extra time ot two. I will look for them again next year.
Purchased 4 tons of Fireside Ultra through Home Depot in September of 2010.
Lost of ash… black soot build up…. Had to snake the chimney in the middle of winter!
Will never purchase Fireside Ultra again for my magnum t40.
Best burning pellets for my magnum t40 stove was fly creek.
To anybody else who posts opinions, it would be helpful to also post the brand of stove you have. That makes a difference on how these pellets burn…