Prices up for early buy!

TimfromMA said:

I am just as comfortable now as I was with oil for about $1000 less per season. Rationalize it anyway you like.

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See, you point out facts and people get so defensive. Sometimes I wonder why bother. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Efficiency of each unit is different. You are talking about input BTU IHATE The pellet stove could be 80% efficient 63M * .8 = 50.4 M BTU output vs. Oil Burner maybe 60% efficient 84M * .6 = 50.4 BTUS output BTUs (could be 85% and 65% or 90% and 70% whatever looks the same to me)

IHATEPROPANE said:

Same here. But parts of the house are cooler. The fact is you used about 84 mil btus with oil and only 63 mil with pellets. So that is 20 mil btus less. So you either insulated or your house is cooler. Doesn't really matter except it makes a more accurate depiction of what you are saving and why.

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or the pellet stove is more efficient

A central heating system will use more fuel then a space heater. Your heating your entire house with a central heating system not just the corner you live in. Just look at the folks with pellet boilers they burn a lot more.

Owen1508 said:

Efficiency of each unit is different. You are talking about input BTU IHATE The pellet stove could be 80% efficient 63M * .8 = 50.4 M BTU output vs. Oil Burner maybe 60% efficient 84M * .6 = 50.4 BTUS output BTUs (could be 85% and 65% or 90% and 70% whatever looks the same to me)



or the pellet stove is more efficient

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Agreed this could be the case. But most likely the efficiencies would be close.

moey said:

A central heating system will use more fuel then a space heater. Your heating your entire house with a central heating system not just the corner you live in. Just look at the folks with pellet boilers they burn a lot more.

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Exactly!!

moey said:

A central heating system will use more fuel then a space heater. Your heating your entire house with a central heating system not just the corner you live in. Just look at the folks with pellet boilers they burn a lot more.

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So, the pellet stove would seem to be more efficient. I can heat exactly what I need without wasting energy heating places I dont care about.

Pellets don't magically allow you to heat the same space to the same temp with less btus.

I save a considerable amount of money over propane. However, the far corners of my house are colder, my basement is colder, the rooms vary in temp one end from the other.

A good portion of savings is lack of even heat.

I ended up burning 4 ton between my two stoves this past winter (still burning today too). Price from my local shop for Ambiance was $259/ton if you order before June 1. I tried these for about a week this past winter and liked them. Put out more heat and less ash than anything else I've tried so far, so going with those for next winter.

When they delivered them last week, I asked if a lot of people were taking advantage of the spring buy this year. Figured that they would be, but he said no - been quieter than last Spring.

TimfromMA said:

So, the pellet stove would seem to be more efficient. I can heat exactly what I need without wasting energy heating places I dont care about.

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You could do the same by closing vents or turning off your radiator in places you dont want to heat with oil. This would bring your oil consumption down to about 450 gallons per year based on your pellet consumption.

MikeNH said:

I ended up burning 4 ton between my two stoves this past winter (still burning today too). Price from my local shop for Ambiance was $259/ton if you order before June 1. I tried these for about a week this past winter and liked them. Put out more heat and less ash than anything else I've tried so far, so going with those for next winter.

When they delivered them last week, I asked if a lot of people were taking advantage of the spring buy this year. Figured that they would be, but he said no - been quieter than last Spring.

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I have always bought during the spring special. This will be the first year I have not because the prices seem to be a lot higher. So I am gambling a bit hat the box stores will be a better option this fall. I have a ton and a half left over so I am not panicking....yet

We're going in circles. Suffice to say:
Pellets Good
Oil Bad

IHATEPROPANE said:

I have always bought during the spring special. This will be the first year I have not because the prices seem to be a lot higher. So I am gambling a bit hat the box stores will be a better option this fall. I have a ton and a half left over so I am not panicking....yet

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Yeah - these were up around $10-12/ton more than last year I think, but I bit anyway. I always feel better when I look at next winter's heat all stored on my property....something in my mind leftover from my wood burning days.

moey said:

A central heating system will use more fuel then a space heater. Your heating your entire house with a central heating system not just the corner you live in. Just look at the folks with pellet boilers they burn a lot more.

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We burn just enough

I use to use about 800 gals of dino juice/year ~ now I use about 6 tons of pellets (except this winter about 7).

canuck_22 said:

Pellets may go up, or have gone up for some, but one thing is for sure electricity is going way up and so is oil and gas. The difference is all relative at the end of the day.

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It's relative as long as wages and/or disposable income are increasing proportionally. Otherwise, the buyer loses and that sucks.

TimfromMA said:

So, the pellet stove would seem to be more efficient. I can heat exactly what I need without wasting energy heating places I dont care about.

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At the end of the day as long as your saving money and warm is all that really matters.

moey said:

At the end of the day as long as your saving money and warm is all that really matters.

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Yeah that amount saved might not be 100% accurate but it's still a good amount (close to it). efficiency and lower cost per BTU together make it worth it for me.

MCPO said:

I just today ordered 4.5 tons (?) of Granule LG from Pellets.com at $269 per ton. I`m not sure why they offered the 4.5 ton amount . Maybe 55 bags on a skid?

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Some of the Canadian pellets come on 1.5 ton skids.

MCPO said:

I just today ordered 4.5 tons (?) of Granule LG from Pellets.com at $269 per ton. I`m not sure why they offered the 4.5 ton amount . Maybe 55 bags on a skid?
Regardless, their early spring buy ends in 2 days . No bargain I know but I needed to get it done and over with.
I initially liked the Logik-E pellets but after burning 4 ton I concluded they were just too dusty .
I also wanted to give the softwood pellets a try.

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1.5 tons would be 75 bags.

Dougsey said:

Some of the Canadian pellets come on 1.5 ton skids.

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metric ton or Tonne.. 2204lbs useless fact of the day

IHATEPROPANE said:

See, you point out facts and people get so defensive. Sometimes I wonder why bother. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

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See, it didn't take but a month or two for people to accept $7 a bag pellets as the norm! No wonder we pay $4 for a gallon of gas that cost $1.76 5 short years ago and say nothing!
Pellet producers aren't stupid. They see this as a sign that their prices were too low. Never again.

moey said:

At the end of the day as long as your saving money and warm is all that really matters.

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That's actually the selling point of the growing popularity of mini-split heat pump systems. You can set each unit individually to whatever temp you want.

ttdberg said:

Just curious, how did you arrive at that figure? Understanding there are lots of factors to consider, I've always though the rule of thumb is 1 bag of pellets produces roughly the same heat as 2.5 gallons of heating oil. With that calculation, at $2/gallon for oil, you'd have to pay $5/bag for pellets just to break even.

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I thought the rule of thumb was 1 bag pellets = 2.33 gallons of oil.
So $7 pellets = $3 per gallon of oil.
$4.50 pellets = $1.92 per gallon of oil.
$6 pellets = $2.57 per gallon.
Lastly $3.36 oil = $7.83 per bag of pellets or $392 (if free delivery ).

If you paid $345 per ton of Okanagan you would break even at $2.96 /gal., which is hardly worth all the effort pellet burning requires, a whopping savings of $1 per bag for all the storage, handling, stacking, daily and weekly cleanings, plus cost of stove maintenance items. 6 tons of Okies (@ $345 ) would save you $300 ( @$3.36/gal ) per heating season if you got free delivery and had zero maintenance cost.

If you pay $220 per ton at BBS and use 6 tons you save $1,036, again if you had free delivery and zero maintenance costs.

The other consideration is that a pellet stove presumably will keep you warm 68+ degrees... I never did that with oil. Certainly, labor added to either a pellet or wood pile is worth something.