Pellets Broken Pellets

Pellet.Rookie

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Does pellets size affect the cook? Not necessarily the diameter. I opened a new bag of Knotty Wood pellets and found the bag must have been through it because a majority were broken down to about 1/4 inch or smaller. A previous bag of the same type of pellets were probably a 3/4 to 1 inch length on average. There was also more pellet dust than normal. I started my first 12 plus hour cook and was wondering if the smaller pellets would cause issues compared to normal size pellets.
 
I don’t expect smaller pellets would hurt much, but that’s just an assumption. I’m thinking you may want to sift that bag good though if they were broken in transit and not just dump from bag straight to hopper
 
Yeah pellets and charcoal both are subject to abuse in transit as mentioned above. I would have very little concern. Try to keep the dust out as much as possible. A little dust won't kill you, but a large amount could possibly cause issues with the auger and or the fire burn.
 
If you are concerned about the small size of the pellets, you might want to purchase another bag of pellets, but not from the same batch, and mix the two together so you have a variety of sizes. The controller should adjust the feed rate to hold temperature independent of the pellet size, but if it makes you feel better, blend them.

If you purchase the pellets from a big box store, I would suspect they purchase an entire pallet at a time and move a few bags from the warehouse to the shelves as needed. A smaller store might order less than a pallet. That is one reason I do not want to order a bag online for delivery; the bags would likely be tossed around many times in route..
 
Mixing a couple bags would have been a good option. I rolled with it and the cook went fine. I feel like it burned through more pellets but can’t say for sure.

They were mishandled in transit, the shipping boxes were pretty beat up. I’ve ordered Knotty Wood from both Lowes & HD, both times they have been shipped from the mfg. Hopefully, it just affected a couple of the bags.
 
Mixing a couple bags would have been a good option. I rolled with it and the cook went fine. I feel like it burned through more pellets but can’t say for sure.

They were mishandled in transit, the shipping boxes were pretty beat up. I’ve ordered Knotty Wood from both Lowes & HD, both times they have been shipped from the mfg. Hopefully, it just affected a couple of the bags.
You may want to try and reach out to the manufacturer directly. Maybe via social media or direct contact via their websites. A picture of the condition of the product you received as well. Although they aren't liable for freight damages, they may opt to provide you with some product in good faith. At least knowing how the product arrives to their customer may help in changing how they ship/package in the future.
Ultimately it is how you receive the product and how it works that forms an opinion as to whether you will buy from them again.
I have been very fortunate with my online pellet orders. None have shown any signs of being mishandled. I probably order 90% of my pellets online
In the end, a happy customer is more than likely a repeat customer
 
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