Vermont Wood Pellet make super premium softwood pellets to users throughout New England.
Summary
2018–So what is up with the confetti I see in the bag this year? There is a distinct 2 tone color going on here but that is not an issue. The pellets burned awesome and super low ash as usual!
2017–Consistency is key when in today’s market dropping $1000 to heat your house is not unheard of. I’m not sure how they do it but year after year these pellets burn super hot and low ash. We are talking West Coast Doug Fir quality milled right here on the East Coast in beautiful VT. In Fact, they are right down the road form the summer camp I grew up at called Camp Sangamon where we would go to swim in the gorge around the corner from their mill.
Pros
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44 Comments
I have had a Harman stove since 2007. Frustratingly went through a lot of different pellet brands until I found Vermont Wood Pellets. I’ve been burning them for five years. Great heat, and amazing low ash. I burn 5 tons a year and only clean my stove twice during the heating season, plus end of year cleaning. That’s a huge difference from the other ones I’ve tried.
It’s hard to get these pellets. Order early, they seem to sell out every year. Which tells me a lot of people swear by these, not just me.
By the way, I read someone’s post that some of the pellets don’t slide down the side of the hopper. That happens to me too. My understanding is that since they don’t use fillers (which are usually petroleum-based), they don’t slide. That’s also probably why they are such good pellets. Not a big deal.
I’ve had my pellet stove for four yrs.I’ve burned Inferno’s, Tractor Supply ,and green team.Every yr. They change.and not for the good how can I find a pellet that is the same every year
I HAVE USED VERMONT PELLITS FOR TWO YEARS, AND BY FAR THEY ARE THE BEST BURNING PELLITS ON THE MARKET. I TRIED A DOZEN OR MORE OTHER PELLITS, ONLY TO HAVE CLINKERS OR EXTREME AMOUNTS OF DUST WITH BLACK GLASS RESIDUE. WITH VERMONT PELLITS YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH GLASS RESIDUE , ANND VERY LOW ASH CONTANT WITH VERY HIGH BTU PUT OUT. THIS SOFTWOOD PELLIT IS FAR THE SUPERIOR PELLITT
This is one of the best pellets out there…..problem is where do I find it on the
south shore 02343 area
I have been burning Vermont Pellets for three years. Like Dawna I also bought my Harmon XXV from Fallon’s Home & Hearth. The soot on the window is not as much of a problem. I wait until the stove is either off or I will turn it to very low and take an old sock and clean the soot every day. It takes less then a minute. I usually use 3 tons of pellets a season but last year I bought 4. I was very lucky that I did. The stove ran 24/7 for weeks on end this past winter. I had 7 bags left at the end of the season. I tried to order Vermont pellets in August. I thought I was calling early this year for pellets. I got a big surprise. I ended up buying 4 tons of LeCrete pellets. I burned two bags this past week. They burn clean and almost as hot as the Vermont brand. There is much less wood dust in the bags too.
Dawna, I think you will find as you get use to your stove you will be glad you bought it. I had wood stoves for over 20 years and haven’t missed them for a second. I have a large closed in back porch and I have all my pellets out there. No more dragging wet, heavy and snow covered wood in the house. Plus we use the bags that the pellets are packed in all year for trash.
First off I’ll start by saying that we are new to pellet stoves so take this information with that in mind. We built a new home and installed a Harmon XXV in our basement to supplement our propane heat. We bought the stove from Fallons Home and Hearth and took their advise and went for the super premium Vermont Wood Pellets that we purchased at $279/tn. This was on November 30, 2013, we only purchased one ton as we had no idea how much we would go through (mistake #1) We were immediately impressed with the amount of heat that came through the stove, but were also immediately unimpressed with the horrible odor that was emitted through the exterior vent pipe. We expected a wood burning smell not a noxious chemical odor. Within two days the glass door was completely covered in soot and we couldn’t see the beautiful flame that we expected to see and we did have way more ash than we were lead to believe with the glass jar demonstration at the dealership. We ran the stove on medium at approx 68 degrees and burned a bag every 20 – 22 hours. We were ready for our second ton of pellets on Jan 20th. As the policy at the dealership is a first come first serve, (bad business policy for customers that live an hour away but we wont get into that here) there were no VWP available to purchase so we bought a ton of La Crete Pellet at $289/tn. These pellets smelled way better when burned and produced less soot on the door but there was more ash in the burn pot and less heat being produced. The ash from the La Crete was lighter and fluffy compared to the ash for VWP. Not sure what we’re buying this season as the reviews for all the pellets stink! Today’s prices for VWP was $295/tn and La Crete was $289/tn. We were considering New England Wood Pellets but after reading those review I don’t think we’ll go that route. IMHO, we should have installed a wood stove.
Ok….final follow up on my 3 tons of Vermont wood pellets…. I liked the heat most of the time….seemed that every now and then a couple bags did not burn hot…..when they did, they were hot!
These pellets clogged my auger at least once a week! It did not matter whether the bags were sifted or not. In fact, when I sifted them, they were better. Now with that being said, when you pay almost $300/ton, you should not have to sift each bag. After sifting the 3 tons of pellets, I filled a 5 gallon bucket with sawdust! I can’t imagine that there should be this much sawdust and fines, nor can that be good for the stove. Like I said, even sifting did not help! I had to remove pellets from the hopper every week and vacuum it out just to keep the auger from jamming!
I noticed that these pellets were a lot darker in color than when I had seen them at a friends house last year. He was the one who recommended them to me. The color may be the clue that something was different with this years pellets.
Also found during sifting, a lot of pellets that appeared to be water damaged? They were a white color that looked like freezer burn. The pellets were stored in my garage and were kept dry! I found pellets that looked like this in every bag.
I don’t think that I will be spending premium money for these pellets anymore… It’s not worth the extra work. The price of these pellets just went up $10 at Fallon’s Home and Hearth. That makes them $289/ton.
When I contacted Fallon’s, they said that they would refund my money or replace the pellets if I continued to have a problem….they never returned my last two calls.
Very disappointed. Will not use them again. We live in Massachusetts, I have been burning Vermont wood pellets for the past 4 years in my Harmon Accentra insert. The first 2 years they were by far the best pellets I have ever purchased, hands down. I paid the premium money for the “premium” pellet for the simple fact that I did not have to empty the tray or clean the stove as often.
Last year I was using them and noticed tons more ash, I had to clean the entire stove every week or there would be so much ash it would not run properly. The glass door would get black with soot and I was chipping away carbon build-up with a screwdriver every few days. I thought there was something wrong with my insert. I even had someone come out and service it and there was nothing wrong. I religiously keep my insert very clean as I hate to have too much build-up and I noticed I just could not keep up with it. I thought I was crazy until I had about ½ ton of vermont wood left over from 2011 and sure enough when I got down the previous year’s pellets….it was like night and day. The stove was right back where it was, no ash, burning great, hardly had to clean it.
I called the local distributor and told them what happened and they said they had not heard of any complaints (what else are they going to say) and I figured I received a bad batch, but I told them it better not happen next year as I would be willing to give it one more try.
Well, I bought 6 more tons of Vermont wood this year and I am thoroughly disappointed. Same issues as last year. I am convinced they have done something with the formula for these pellets and they are not what they were 2 years ago. I spent the extra money because I wanted the premium pellets so that I am not stuck cleaning my stove every 4-5 days and chipping away at the burn pot nearly every day (which is exactly what I am doing) and most importantly not getting very good heat output as a result.
I would love to have these pellets tested to see if they are in fact as advertised. I do not know what they did with their pellets, but they changed some formula or the way they process them or in the wood or something as they are definitely not as advertised and I will not be using them again.
I called the distributor and they assured me that they were not exposed to moisture or contaminated in any way. Also, I tend to believe them as none of the bags were wet and the pellets are all dry, sealed and shrink wrapped when they arrived, nothing that would lead me to believe something was done outside of the manufacturing process. Too bad, I thought I had a nice brand that I would use for years, but I just can’t recommend these to anyone unless you feel like cleaning your entire stove every few days. Too bad, we usually get about 20-30 tons as my neighbors and I order at the same time to save on delivery charges and they are not happy with them anymore either.
This years batch doesn’t seem to burn as well as last years batch. Low ash, yes.. but the material in the burn chamber is not the fluffy ash I saw last year. This year is seems to cluster and stick to itself as it exits the burn pot on my Harman P38+. This type of ash is matching lower quality pellet ash. Does not seem to produce any more heat than my Spruce Pointe or Easy Blaze pellets.. with same amount of clinkers too.
Sante Fe Quadra Fire Insert
By far the best pellet I have tried. I have tried 3 other brands. These burn hot and have very low ash. This is my third season and these are my preferred brand. I bought 6 tons last year and 5 ton this year.
Cleaning a pellet stove regularly is the key to great operation ! I clean mine every 48 hours. Also found running it on Medium or High gives excellent results. On Low I get sticky residue from lower combustion temperatures.