All done with pellets moving to wood stove or boiler!

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Are you all done with pellet stoves due to price and supply?


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NoMoreOPEC

Member
Jun 29, 2008
45
North Central Ma
Pellet supplies and prices in the Northeast are inconstant and unreliable the pellet industry has not matured in the last few years I am moving back to the basics. This is my second shortage I have experienced with pellets and I am all done.

Thoughts? Sorry about the rant.

-G
 
To me pellets are easer than wood and I can store pellets in the basement without ants and bugs. I don't have enough land to cut to heat with wood and would have to still rely on that business to supply me and a lot others. I am sticking with pellets for now
 
Wise choice. I never understood the whole pellet thing. Pricing seems to be based on demand. Here in CT I have found there is endless free wood if you know where to look.
 
The trick is to plan ahead, buy early in the year before winter hits, and if you have to store them outside (like most do) so be it, just make sure they stay dry.
 
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Wise choice. I never understood the whole pellet thing. Pricing seems to be based on demand. Here in CT I have found there is endless free wood if you know where to look.

This depends on where you go, and also depends on whether you have the time to go and find the wood.

Plan ahead, never leave it to the last minute and never underestimate the weather like most seem to have done this season.
 
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Supply issues? Minnesota had both a NG supply issue when supply line ruptured in Canada and a propain issue when the pipeline that normally carries the gas north was repurposed to pump crude south and the trains are carrying more Bakken crude further disrupting everything including pellet transport to the east to oats from Canada for Cheerios.
 
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I voted
No, I like driving around looking for pellets all day.


The trick is to plan ahead, buy early in the year before winter hits
Prepaid 10 ton for next year already. I will pick them up through out the spring and summer as time allows.

 
I'm gonna stay with pellets. My brother-in-law heats his house with wood. Had a little over 10 cord to start and he's all out. He didn't plan ahead like a lot of pellet burners and they have been on oil the last month. I have enough wood on my lot, but it's not easy to get to, so I'd eventually have to buy wood. Probably 10 cord for a season, and another 10 cord for the next to make sure it's ready to burn.

I'm around $1400 in pellets right now. My brother-in-law just bought a truckload of tree length, about 12 cord for a $100 per cord. Now he's gotta process it.
 
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I'm gonna stay with pellets. My brother-in-law heats his house with wood. Had a little over 10 cord to start and he's all out. He didn't plan ahead like a lot of pellet burners and they have been on oil the last month. I have enough wood on my lot, but it's not easy to get to, so I'd eventually have to buy wood. Probably 10 cord for a season, and another 10 cord for the next to make sure it's ready to burn.

I'm around $1400 in pellets right now. My brother-in-law just bought a truckload of tree length, about 12 cord for a $100 per cord. Now he's gotta process it.
I would rather carry 250 bags into the basement for about the same price
 
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Just the opposite out here,colder winter,more places than ever have pellets now.I can go either way(20 miles) and find at least 8 places that still have stock,prices have dropped the last 2 years,propane went way up,ng going up again,oil heat not around here,electricity through the roof,as surplus is sold to calif. so we pay market prices.Will be burning next year.(but I will be burning into june up here)
 
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I did not answer the poll Because I plan ahead and buy way more pellets than I need
also there is no shortage around here everyone that had pellets in the fall has them now
The pellet stove is only used to heat my summer kitchen ,office and sewing room
it will also heat the house in the fall and spring . The main house is heated with a wood
fired furnace burning 5 full cord a year which I cut and process off my own property
 
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Well I vote sticking with pellets, but I don't drive all over looking for them. I did have to make a few phone calls

We were unprepared for the shortage this year and will be again next winter. $$ is always an issue here. I had hoped to buy a few tons ahead, but then my truck decided it needed $1245 in repairs instead
 
Well I vote sticking with pellets, but I don't drive all over looking for them. I did have to make a few phone calls

We were unprepared for the shortage this year and will be again next winter. $$ is always an issue here. I had hoped to buy a few tons ahead, but then my truck decided it needed $1245 in repairs instead

Something always comes up where you need money for other things. I gonna do a ton a month from July to December unless I can find a good deal like I did last April.
 
This year some places were doing home delivery by the ton out here,was not that way before.Might have to buy a set of forks for backhoe to put them away,much easier.
 
If handling wood is your thing nothing wrong with that, spend time outside, doing excersice, fresh air. But myself with a bad back cant see myself doing well with that, the only way I would have gone to wood is with an outdoor boiler and hydronics, but by-laws here prohibit an outdoor furnace if you neighbours are less than 300 feet away.
 
Out here some parts get inversions in winter,and they shut down wood burning,but not pellet burning.They said would not happen if everyone used pellets.Interesting about outside boilers,more and more local regs are outlawing them(out here) because they are so nasty.
 
Out here some parts get inversions in winter,and they shut down wood burning,but not pellet burning.They said would not happen if everyone used pellets.Interesting about outside boilers,more and more local regs are outlawing them(out here) because they are so nasty.
Chimneys are not high enough, end up smoking your neighbour, comes in the HRV/ERV intake.
 
Didn't vote, My answer wasn't given = Play the game smart and there are no worries.

Pellets are my main heat source so, I prep early, Buy early and keep more than enough to avoid the last season pellet blues. Not the first time I seen a pellet shortage, I suppose we will see numerous stove for sale come summer.
 
I don't see a difference in needing to have a years supply ahead with pellets just like with wood. I haven't noticed any shortages of pellets during the Spring and Summer any year.
 
I only see your problems as the sellers getting caught pants down for stocking so to speak, by the same token winters in the US are a bit all over the map, where here in Canada it's a guaranteed thing. No shortages at all, my selling dealer jokingly said, "how many 18 wheelers loads would you like?"
 
I only see your problems as the sellers getting caught pants down for stocking so to speak, by the same token winters in the US are a bit all over the map, where here in Canada it's a guaranteed thing. No shortages at all, my selling dealer jokingly said, "how many 18 wheelers loads would you like?"

Good point is this a distribution problem or supply issue?

BTW I have plenty of CA pellets here but have been giving them away to families in need who can not afford to buy six tons who are on fixed incomes.

-G
 
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What happened this year is no reason to stop with pellets. In my 18 years of burning, this has only happened twice. As JTakeman says, proper planning in the off season will serve most of us well. This past winter notwithstanding, pellets are more readily available than they ever use to be here in New England. Coldest winter is some people's lifetime. The same situation happened with road salt up and down the east coast. There was a period of time when it just wasn't available and many cities and towns were in a tough spot. I'm well into my backup stash...but I'm gonna make it
 
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