5 Comments

1. Lisa McManus says:

   March 24, 2014 at 9:05 pm

   These “premium” pellets are awful!!
   I bought 2 ton at Costco. I also let them know they were very poor quality. I asked about returning what I haven’t used yet and they haven’t responded. They are supposed to be premium. I have never had a premium pellet perform so poorly or make such a mess of my stove.
   Since I have had this stove I have used Bear Mountain, Eureka and American Eagle(several years in a row) with no problems.
   The Arbor pellets take a higher combustion setting and it has to be adjusted regularly. They leave a coating / residue everywhere in the stove that is difficult to clean, I have had to use a scraper when normal the shop vac with a brush attachment does the job, sometimes they have a funny odor, I can sometimes smell when I am outside near the chimney.
   Thankfully, it was a mild winter and I only used a little more than 1 ton. If Costco won’t take them back. I will try mixing them 1/4 bag to each bag for next season with American Eagle pellets.
   I have a mid 1990’s Whitfield Advantage, I bought it used and this is my 7th winter with it.
   It is installed as an insert in the basement fireplace with the exhaust pipe feeding up into the chimney.
   I normally only need to do a complete tear down cleaning (remove firebrick panels, take off the sides etc) before each burning season with regular cleanings every 3rd week during the season where I run it at it’s highest settings for 30 minutes then turn it off to cool, vacuum, clean the glass etc.
   While burning these pellets I have had to do 2 additional full tear downs and have had to do the regular cleanings once a week.
   I will need to give the exhaust pipe and chimney a more thorough cleaning this year too.
   What a pain! Lisa Mc – Idaho

2. Richard says:

   December 3, 2013 at 1:45 am

   This is the third year we are using pellets as a supplemental heat source. Frankly, I’ve used better pellets.

   These leave a thick, crusty residue in the bottom of the burn pot, this starts almost immediately when lighting the stove off, and really restricts the burn air coming in at the bottom of the pot. There is an odor of chemical if I start the stove with a propane torch.

   I think the pellets are of too high a content of soft wood and too much binder.

   I maintain my Breckwell P24 on a regular basis, it has new stove pipe and an unobstructed air source.

   The stove has not had any problems feeding the pellets. There’s minimal amount of sawdust and bits of pellet in the bag. The heat content seem to be about the same although I think just a bit less than what I’m used to.

   All in all, I think I will look back to my previous brand when these are gone. I do regret buying a ton of these without running a few 40 lb bags through the stove first.

3. Roger M. says:

   February 25, 2013 at 4:08 pm

   The Arbor Pellets burned good and put out good heat so I bought another ton and now I am having trouble getting them to burn. I’m sure it is not my stove as I maintain it very well. Maybe I got a bad batch. Otherwise they are a good quailty pellet for the price.

4. Dani says:

   December 19, 2012 at 5:05 pm

   Awful, just awful.
   First of all I inherited a pellet stove when I bought my condo, and for the most part it’s been great.
   I’ve only used 1 other brand of pellets, I believe it was the Eureka ones, and I never had a problem. The store I was buying from stopped carrying Eureka and switched to Arbor. I can’t wait to get rid of these pellets.
   It has a strange smell to it, one that I can’t put my finger on, smells almost like gas but different. They leave so much ash I couldn’t make it through a bag of these without it clogging up my stove! And I keep my stove very very clean! It’s usually vacuumed out between every bag, and the pipes are very well maintained, so it’s not due to a dirty stove. I’m not sure what happened but in front of my stove is now jet black, almost like the fire got out (I woke up to this). Never again will I buy these pellets!

5. Robert says:

   January 4, 2011 at 7:32 pm

   I’ve used several brands of pellets and I find the Arbor pellets burn the best and with less ash than any other brand I’ve tried.
   These are an excellent pellet.