I have not purchased my pellets yet

#2 oil here in NY is 1.79 a gallon. I to have not purchased pellets this year. Oki Platinum's go for 7.50per bag as of today.

greg13 said:

The thing I like about Pellets is the heat is bought & paid for, No surprise in the mail after the tank was filled or the gas bill. I have just under 2 tons on hand and will need another to get through the year. I'll have to grab one before the cold really sets in and the "shortage" occurs.

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I would say that a "shortage" of pellets this season is VERY unlikely. I've talked to a lot of people at the big box stores, and they're simply not selling many of them. Their supply has FAR outstripped their demand. I guess that it could change, but by this time last season, pellets were already tough to find. I also know a whole lot of people (myself included), who will not be buying pellets this season, given that we can heat our houses for less money, using other sources of heating fuel!

Cheapest oil in my area that I know of is $1.60

$1.89

c.n.brown over here 1.67

MuchoBueno said:

Where in NY are you? I thought oil was just above $2 still. I'm in the lower Hudson valley

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2.18 here outside Troy.

bob

English BoB said:

2.18 here outside Troy.

bob

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Latest and greatest on oil prices: Stocks sank Wednesday as a sharp drop in the price of oil dragged down energy companies. U.S. crude closed below $40 a barrel for the first time since August after the government reported a surprise jump in inventories, suggesting slack demand.

Two major investment houses who track this commodity are expecting oil to drop to $20 a barrel by Spring. We can guess all we want but those folks play with real money on this stuff. So far, my brother-in-law's information on this is dead on in terms of how oil behaving and he does oil speculation for a living whereas sometime, I change my own oil in my lawn mower.

My original plan for this year was to run my stove on low and use the oil as a supplement when needed, but after speaking to my oil supplier and hearing that oil is $1.89 I may have to change my plans and use more oil and less pellets, I'll just save more pellets for when oil goes back up!

We have electric heat so it's pellets for us for sure

They Call Me Pete said:

We have electric heat so it's pellets for us for sure

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Same here in CT. Electric heat. First year burning pellets after 28 years of heat with a woodstove. I bought my pellet stove in May and had 5 to of Okanagan Platinum and Doug Fir delivered in June.

CarbRage said:

#2 oil here in NY is 1.79 a gallon. I to have not purchased pellets this year. Oki Platinum's go for 7.50per bag as of today.

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Comparing Oil price to Okie firs?
geez... most people couldn't afford those Exspensive pellets when oil was 3.00 gal..
well over 400.00 ton in some areas.. just sayin..

Tonyray said:

Comparing Oil price to Okie firs?
geez... most people couldn't afford those Exspensive pellets when oil was 3.00 gal..
well over 400.00 ton in some areas.. just sayin..

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Unfortunately, I don't have the choice of oil. As I mentioned, I have electric heat in a home that is about 175 years old.

I went a different route than most in the purchase of my pellet stove. I never could wrap my head around the notion of needing electricity to burn wood so when I finally decided on a pellet stove I went with a gravity feed Wiseway pellet stove. I did the research and decided, especially because wood is the only heat source for me, that I would use the same pellets that were used in the design of the stove. In the Pacific Northwest, where the stove was designed and built (until Wiseway was bought by US Stoves last month) softwood pellets are the norm. So, with all I had read and heard about the stove and pellets, I bought three ton of Okanagan Doug Fir for the dead of winter with two ton of the Platinum (spruce) for the shoulder months.

I've tried a variety of hardwood pellets over the last two months and found the best results with Barefoot pellets. Even with the Barefoot pellets I had to tend to the stove a bit more than with the softwood pellets. Cleanup was also a bit more entailed with the hardwood pellets.

Now, keep in mind, I am a new pellet stove user coming from 28 years of woodstoves. Without a doubt, I have to tend to the Wiseway more than someone with a Harman BUT compared to what I would be dealing with burning cord wood, the Wiseway is a dream! I can understand why a stove like this is not for everyone but I have read more than a couple of really negative threads about the stove and in each, mistakes were being made by the user ranging from using the wrong fuel, to failing to ensure proper draft (again, think woodstove NOT pellet stove), to thinking the Wiseway (more of a woodstove that burns pellets than a conventional pellet stove) is a set and forget type of stove.

Getting back to the absurd costs of the Okanagan's, yes, I paid almost $400 a ton for the DF's and well over $300 a ton for the Platinums but I would normally burn between 4.5-6 cord of wood a year. Wood was going for $200 last winter (I haven't even bothered to check this year's prices) but you're always at the mercy of your supplier. Are you going to get a full cord, will it be seasoned well and will it all be ash trees that have fallen to the Emerald Borer? At least when I buy a ton of Okanagan DF I know exactly what I'll be getting, a ton of some of the best pellets available, a ton of pellets that will help my quirky stove burn at peak performance.

Now, factor in splitting (there are always a preponderance logs that are simply too large to burn in a woodstove), stacking, carrying into the house, tending the stove, cleaning out the ash that remains, ect,, ect., ect. I'll gladly pay a premium to be free of the work that comes with a woodstove. I had the pellets delivered to my house and stored in a shed in under 30 minutes. Now, all I do is walk to the shed, grab a bag of pellets, drop them in the hopper and fire the Wiseway up. Every couple of days I use my small shop vac (a 5 minute task) to clean out the stove and I'm back in business. The cost of the premium pellets are well worth the time they save me over burning cordwood and on top of that, with the Wiseway I never have to worry about losing heat when I lose my power (twice for over a week in the last five years).

$1.82 a gal here. Was just at HD, $5.18 a bag for Themaglo and they said they have been moving them steady. They have sold 140 ton at $259 per. A guy from the island ( around here that means Martha's Vinyard) comes and buys 10 tons at a time. A lot of people buying single tons or two and a lot of loose bag sales.

Contrarily, was at TSC and TSC branded pellets from Maine Wood are just sitting at recently lowered price to $5.39 but the same ton price of $259 as HD. The girl was hoping they wouldn't ship more, saying they just show up.

Funny market. My wife was in another HD and they too said pellets were moving well, in fact at the time they were low on them. I looked online and they have since been restocked. FWIW.

alternativeheat said:

My wife was in another HD and they too said pellets were moving well

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Here, at least, I think maybe the reason HD is beating up the other two chain BBS,
is that they are the best deal of the three.
Last I looked, Lowes was around $299 for their low end.
That's 40 bucks more than HD..
And $20 more than LG Granules, and $14 more than La Cretes up the street....

Dan

Pete Zahria said:

Here, at least, I think maybe the reason HD is beating up the other two chain BBS,
is that they are the best deal of the three.
Last I looked, Lowes was around $299 for their low end.
That's 40 bucks more than HD..
And $20 more than LG Granules, and $14 more than La Cretes up the street....

Dan

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Same here as far as between Lowes and HD. But the ton price between TSC and HD is the same and pellet grade about equal. It must be the difference in bag price I guess. But I know TSC had rows of pellets outdoors since Aug ! They should price them at $4.89 a bag and they would probably unload the lot of them. Be the first ones around here to break into the $4 range, I dare you, come on TSC !!

The guy at HD said they had a pallet outdoors at half price, damaged ripped bags, some with water damage etc. No thanks.

alternativeheat said:

damaged ripped bags, some with water damage etc. No thanks.

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Stay away....

Dan

Pete Zahria said:

Stay away....

Dan

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Yeah, meanwhile drove my grand daughter to work again and went by the oil company we get our oil from, $1.79 gal. Not to revisit that mantra from another thread but reality is reality !

MuchoBueno said:

We are still at about $2.20.

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You're right on the tipping point there. Oil, pellets, oil, pellets, what to do.

Oil is cheaper here but I still burn some pellets, wife likes the fire in the living room, I like the heat. Pellets are just not the "main heat" it was last year.

alternativeheat said:

I still burn some pellets, wife likes the fire in the living room, I like the heat

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There ya go.
Mystery solved!

Dan

Pete Zahria said:

There ya go.
Mystery solved!

Dan

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true but actually there is more to the mystery, the downstairs of the house on pellets I tend to keep well over 70 deg. Running oil tends to reverse the situation, I run oil at 68 deg more or less but that brings the upstairs bedrooms up in temp and it gets a bit too warm sleeping. So now we are into that turn the heat down a bit at night thing, then the downstairs is cool in the morning. The stove evens this all up at least until the real cold weather comes along when the reverse is true.. It sounds like over thinking but it's easier to do than explain lol

alternativeheat said:

It sounds like over thinking but it's easier to do than explain lol

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Make life easy on yourself...
Do what makes the wife happy....

Living in south western Rhode Island, burning pellets in the evening to take the chill off. Oil prices as of yesterday are $1.58 YUP!