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Cheeks

Cheeks

Member
Nov 18, 2012
79
MA
EDIT: some of the SSWP prices are lower since I missed their "early buy" website page. If anyone is interested in the update let me know and i'll post it.Biggest change is LogikE's are 309 per 1.1 instead of 349.

This is my personal analysis for local pellet distributors and delivery (see caveats below). The left rankings do not take into account price, but rather BTU and ash content. The right hand column takes into account price, but this is anything but scientific.

Caveats:
* Does not take into account soft/hardwood preference.
* Assumes you live near me -south shore of boston. These are the closest places and delivery prices to put 4 tons in my garage.
* Prices are based on a 4 ton purchase today - meaning if you buy less or later they may be more. Some of the sale prices expire this weekend.
* The whole BTU/$ and ASH/$ is completely arbitrary and does not take into account how you prioritize pellet attributes: BTU, ASH content, or price. Another way to understand the rightmost column is to go down the btu and ash rankings and then look at price for a rough estimate.
* I have not verified that all of these are currently in stock but assume so if it's on their website.
* Some pellets come in 1.1 or 1.2 ton pallets so I've adjusted for 1 ton. Price is assuming 4 tons but total purchase price would be higher for 4 pallets (since it would be 4.4 or 4.8 tons).
* Most importantly: btu and ash reports are not scientific, or may be old. So I completely understand that rankings and analysis may be useless, but I enjoy the challenge of the analysis!

Based on this I am considering EasyBlaze from SSP.




upload_2015-5-19_9-25-34.png
 
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I'm considering not doing the early buy this year and waiting out till the fall and hunting down decent box store pellets- theyre are some out there! alot cheaper
 
That chart is a flag not to pre-buy. If they don't go lower than that, oil will keep me warm this winter.
 
I noticed that prices are higher this year. A rough estimate is 20-30/ton.
 
I feel bad for pellet stove folks. You get a good thing going at a fair price until greed screws it up. I get low on wood, I cut another tree but they know you can't go out and cut another bag of pellets.
 
Your last caveat is a big one and is correct. The BTU and ash content values are quite a bit off, which throws off the final results since they are weighted based on those incorrect numbers.
Even so, a commendable effort and a lot more than many are willing to do.
 
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Yup. But when you say they are "off", are you aware of inaccurate numbers in there?

Part of that caveat is moisture % too. Most of these BTU are dry, so two different sets of pellets at 8800 btu dry with different moisture could have final btu more than 200 apart.

Ideally, i'd love to have a lab buy a bag of every pellet out there every year and do the tests and issue a report with the results. Maybe if I win powerball tonight i'll get that going. haha
 
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That's the biggest difference in the list. Some of those are "moisture and ash free" BTU numbers which are only used to mislead and are much different than "as received" BTU values. For example, the last test I received on May 20th had a result of 8417.34 BTU/lb "As Received" but the same test is
8905.58 BTU/lb "Moisture and Ash Free". The last number isn't attainable anywhere except for a lab. But, some pellets try to claim the moisture and ash free result as their BTU content.
 
Cheeks said:
Ideally, i'd love to have a lab buy a bag of every pellet out there every year and do the tests and issue a report with the results.
Click to expand...
There does seem to be a problem with testing. Most manufacturers send pellets for testing. But the way that test is reported isn't always consistent. I've always thought that the useless values in the reports like "Moisture Free", "Moisture and Ash Free", "Dry Basis" should not even be calculated and reported because all they do is provide an opportunity to disseminate misinformation.
 
Agree. I don't see the point in providing moisture free btu unless i'm going to be burning them that way. I want to know what i'll get when i burn them. Giving or advertising moisture free is like a car manufacturer saying their car goes 0 to 60 in 3 seconds going downhill with the wind.
 
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They are already in my garage...
 
south shore wood pellet, 289/ton, plus delivery. are you in MA?
 
Cheeks said:
EDIT: some of the SSWP prices are lower since I missed their "early buy" website page. If anyone is interested in the update let me know and i'll post it.Biggest change is LogikE's are 309 per 1.1 instead of 349.

This is my personal analysis for local pellet distributors and delivery (see caveats below). The left rankings do not take into account price, but rather BTU and ash content. The right hand column takes into account price, but this is anything but scientific.

Caveats:
* Does not take into account soft/hardwood preference.
* Assumes you live near me -south shore of boston. These are the closest places and delivery prices to put 4 tons in my garage.
* Prices are based on a 4 ton purchase today - meaning if you buy less or later they may be more. Some of the sale prices expire this weekend.
* The whole BTU/$ and ASH/$ is completely arbitrary and does not take into account how you prioritize pellet attributes: BTU, ASH content, or price. Another way to understand the rightmost column is to go down the btu and ash rankings and then look at price for a rough estimate.
* I have not verified that all of these are currently in stock but assume so if it's on their website.
* Some pellets come in 1.1 or 1.2 ton pallets so I've adjusted for 1 ton. Price is assuming 4 tons but total purchase price would be higher for 4 pallets (since it would be 4.4 or 4.8 tons).
* Most importantly: btu and ash reports are not scientific, or may be old. So I completely understand that rankings and analysis may be useless, but I enjoy the challenge of the analysis!

Based on this I am considering EasyBlaze from SSP.




View attachment 158106
Click to expand...
 
Peterfield said:
Yep, testing the waters. Now, if no one jumps, wonder if they'll get real.
Click to expand...

Get real??? Supply and demand market forces. Less available, better price. Go right ahead and wait for the broken bags at Lowes and HD.... those prices this year begin at $269/ton. The 15 cent hamburger and $229/ton for pellets are history. You have every right to buy or not to buy. I got mine and won't be doing the "5 bag shuffle" in December.
 
zig said:
I feel bad for pellet stove folks. You get a good thing going at a fair price until greed screws it up. I get low on wood, I cut another tree but they know you can't go out and cut another bag of pellets.
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad for us. What does all the labor and equipment cost, for cutting down that tree and having it age for a year? Free? Hardly. I am paying for all that labor to bring the pellet bag to my door. I-N-F-L-A-T-I-O-N . Everyone talks about gouging, greed, etc. You don't really believe those gubbermint numbers they spew out every month do you? Do you grocery shop? 1/3 of the country is NOT working. You think YOU are not paying for that? They are building wind turbines off the coast of RI for "clean energy". How much cleaner is the RI pocket going to be when the cost of electricity jumps 40%, when the project is up and running? LOLOLOLOLOL
 
We have an opportunity to right the ship in 2016 and get out of the chaos we've been in. In the interim, buy Easy Blaze, high quality, consistent quality, available all year at a fair price. What else can you ask for??
 
Augmister said:
Get real??? Supply and demand market forces. Less available, better price. Go right ahead and wait for the broken bags at Lowes and HD.... those prices this year begin at $269/ton. The 15 cent hamburger and $229/ton for pellets are history. You have every right to buy or not to buy. I got mine and won't be doing the "5 bag shuffle" in December.
Click to expand...

If folks held off, prices would drop, just like any other commodity. These aren't magic pellets, just compressed wood. If inflation were the only reason, why have gas oil propane and natural gas taken a dive in most parts of the country. Don't get me wrong, I like heating with pellets but I was doing it primarily because oil was pricey. Not anymore. I'll still burn some but there is virtually no incentive to pre-buy as any meaningful deals are few and far between.
 
Peterfield said:
If folks held off, prices would drop...
If inflation were the only reason, why have gas oil propane and natural
gas taken a dive in most parts of the country.
Click to expand...

Really apples and oranges...
Two completely different forms of energy.

Reader's Digest version...
A year ago, crude was near $100. Today, it's around $45.
NG, because now we are extracting more than ever...

Raw materials for pellets has not dropped at all.
Trees still cost the same, if not more.
It will never cost less to harvest wood, as it does now.
 
There is a big reason why gas and oil has been booming. The cost to get it out of the ground has been ~$40 barrel yet it was selling over $100. Now its $45 and HHO is selling less than $2 gallon. If pellets had the same margin you wouldn't find any under $425 ton at the big box stores. I cant speak for anyone else but Easy Blaze pellets at $300 in the NE after trucking are marginal at best.

Welcome gas and oil to the margins of the wood pellet world....
 
Pete Zahria said:
Really apples and oranges...
Two completely different forms of energy.

Reader's Digest version...
A year ago, crude was near $100. Today, it's around $45.
NG, because now we are extracting more than ever...

Raw materials for pellets has not dropped at all.
Trees still cost the same, if not more.
It will never cost less to harvest wood, as it does now.
Click to expand...

I agree with the wood cost part of it but if there is any appreciable move back to oil and propane, what difference does the cost mean if no one is buying. I know that's not going to happen but I would bet if pellets fell out of favor for a while, the prices would be going down, not up.
 
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