HOW HIGH ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR A TON?

Oil for me is at $2.04/gal atm, but I would be willing to take a hit and pay $250/ton to stay 'greener'. Any more then that and I would certainly have to re-evaluate things, i.e. the $$$$ I spent on a pellet boiler I would not be using.

$ 200.00 a ton for me or $ 800.00 a year , any more then that and I'm going to gas , soooooo keep the prices high pellet manufactures , you'll just lose me as a customer . On the plus side I have enough pellets to last me probably the rest of this year and most of next year, will only have to buy 1 ton for next year .

Ill pay 120% per ton vs per ton price of corn -- until the cost of BTU's produced reaches 90% of the cost to produce a btu with NG energy -- with considerations to appliance efficiency thrown in for good measure ;>)

250 is about my limit. I consider anything much about that as profiteering.

That is picked up. So $5 a bag.

11 years ago I think we were paying about 139.00 ton for Lignetics and about 179 for another "better" brand. This year we paid 250 for 1 ton. I hope to purchase another ton to get us through winter for the same price.

$300 ton max. I will go 3/4 the cost of oil

My problem is my Oil contract locked in with maintenance and tank insurance is $3.59 a gal. If I buy elsewhere, I walk away from both contracts. Next year we will go without lockin, since the pellet stove becomes a price safety switch, Also the pellet stove is in my Great room which with cathedral ceiling the Oil had trouble heating properly, the pellet stove heats Great -it's 74-75 in there, with oil I was lucky to get 70 and pay thru the nose. Keeping that room warm, keeps the rest of the house comfortable. its -2 here and 74 in the Great Room, 71 in the MBR. I'm lovin it.

I'm stuck with propane at $3.00/gallon..... My break even cost for pellets is $475/ton. I'm burning pellets that I paid less than $250 for last year. I'll have to buy another ton at $300, but it is still a bargain for me. However, the NG lines are on their way, the next town over is done, and we should be hooked up in 3-5 years.

I have me set a personal limit at $260 a ton. I bought my first ton in October for that price. A Month later the pric e had gone up to $300 a ton at my local feed mill which seems to be the only regujlar supplier.

Earlier this week they got a load of pellets in and sold the whole thing in a day at $340 a ton ($270USD).

So I have started burning corn which I can aget by the 88lb bag at $238 a ton.

Seems to have solved my problem for now. I won't be paying $300 plus for wood pellets.

I have me set a personal limit at $260 a ton. I bought my first ton in October for that price. A Month later the pric e had gone up to $300 a ton at my local feed mill which seems to be the only regujlar supplier.

Earlier this week they got a load of pellets in and sold the whole thing in a day at $340 a ton ($270USD).

So I have started burning corn which I can aget by the 88lb bag at $238 a ton.

Seems to have solved my problem for now. I won't be paying $300 plus for wood pellets.

Good question! My limit is a bit higher than others for pellets, for a number of reasons:

- I'm new to pellets, and I've never paid less than $299 a ton ;-)
- I've got a large new investment in the equipment, so I'm not going to shut it down easily
- I'm in it for the environment and my anti-oil bent as well as the cost, so I'm willing to spend a little more for pellets than for oil
- I'm convinced oil prices will go up substantially again, so I'd spend a little more for pellets in my basement rather than assume I'll be able to get cheap oil in a few months

So with oil prices where they are, and now that I've got my stove (just like I've already bought my furnace), I'd probably still be buying pellets at $500 a ton. I think it would still be cheaper or comparable to heat with pellets at that price. I wouldn't like it, but I'd do it. :sick: If oil prices went up, I'd spend more on pellets.

This year, because of the delay and uncertainty involved in getting my stove, I've bought two tons of pellets in the crunch at $300 a ton. But I'm hoping to stock up in the spring/summer next year cheaper than that!

I can almost hear the screaming... :bug:

I am done buying pellets unless I can get them for $200 to $225 and $250 max if I get really desperate because I love the heat my stove puts out. When I find a good deal on a really nice wood stove, I will be getting one for the semi finished basement. I still have a little over two tons of pellets of the four I originally purchased.

$220 - $230/ton plus electricity. Any more than that and I'm wasting money compared to oil at current prices.
Mike -

Take a look at this PDF (LINK BELOW) that The Massachusetts Government published. Page seven has a break down of cost; I was just interested in what some of the professionals on this site thought about the costs. I find my self in a situation as a first year stove owner and I need to purchase an additional ton of pellets for the year.
I can buy oil today for 2.19 a gal. Ohh……what to do. Pellets are running 300.00 for a ton.




http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/doer/pub_info/doer_pellet_guidebook.pdf

I paid $197 a ton for premium pellets. I would have a hard time justifying paying any more than 225 or 250 for what the price of NG is here in WI. So far this winter it has been cheaper to burn pellets then run my furnace. But if it becomes cheaper to run my furnace i will shut down my stove.

stevep said:

Take a look at this PDF (LINK BELOW) that The Massachusetts Government published. Page seven has a break down of cost; I was just interested in what some of the professionals on this site thought about the costs. I find my self in a situation as a first year stove owner and I need to purchase an additional ton of pellets for the year.
I can buy oil today for 2.19 a gal. Ohh……what to do. Pellets are running 300.00 for a ton.
http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/doer/pub_info/doer_pellet_guidebook.pdf

Click to expand...

My opinion, buy oil. If you also consider your time as value, oil wins at $2.19/gal vs. 300/ton.
Mike -

Ask me at the end of the heating season, when I find out exactly how many tons of pellets I need to replace the 600 gallons of oil that I've historically burned.

If you go by a pure btu to btu comparison, which is what it seems that most people are doing, that should be 4.5 tons. But after 2 months of burning, I can tell you, its not going to be anywhere near that many pellets. Much closer to 3 tons. These pellets are MAGIC, I tell ya

Seriously, the "magic" is that my fha system wastes a lot of heat into the basement. WAY more than I realized. While burning pellets, in a stove, in my living space, I'm not wasting any heat into the basement. I'd probably realize the same effect if I moved my furnace up to the first floor; I'd burn less than 600 gallons...but it would be loud and ugly.

Most of the fuel comparison calculators out there only account for the heating appliance's burner efficiency. They don't factor in the delivery loss...(of which, there is none, with a stove.). I did see one calculator that factored in the loss, but I can't remember where it was. Anyway, it had a field for "burner efficiency", but then also had fields to fill in for the delivery (water or air), and then sub-descriptions beyond that. For "FHA", the choices were for how much insulation was on the ducts. ("no insulation", then a couple of choices for a couple of types of insulation). I don't know how to grade what I see in my house; there is a main "bus" type duct that runs the length of the basement, which is wrapped with some type of insulation...attached to it, are the round ducts that lead to the room registers...what I see on these ducts is no insulation; but I seem to remember, when they were building the house, that the pipe sections inside the walls were wrapped with something. no way to check that, now. anyway...
If you choose "no insulation" on the ducts, the efficiency drops to 50%. With better insulation, the rate goes up...so my "real" efficiency, based on BTU's of heat actually delivered to the living space, is somewhere between 50 and 80%, and thats on the day that I get my burner tuned up, so that its actually getting 80%.
Factor THAT into your calculations, and $300 pellets still aren't a bad deal, even with today's low oil prices. Not a huge "boon", but way better than what the straight btu calc shows. and way, WAY better than simply moving the decimal point over.

The problem with this is, my house isn't like your house. My stove isn't like your stove, and my pipes aren't like your pipes. Well...maybe they are. The point is, its not an easy comparison, and its not accurate for anyone to make absolute statments like "x pellets = y oil". There are just too many variables to consider.

Couldn't agree more. Way to many variables. I'm in an old drafty circa 1825 home and we don't have thermostatically controlled heat in all the rooms.

For me, with my stove in the part of the house we spend most of our day in, makes the breaking point higher for the cost of pellets, than perhaps someone in a less drafty house, with better heating zones

Chuck, good post.

As for me, oil furnace or pellet furnace; which ever fuel is cheapest to purchase thats the one I'll purchase and use.
(might need to change my user name :red: )

I will burn pellets regardless of price. Nothing I hate anymore than paying for a product, and then the suppliers of that product using the profits to kill Americans. I hope someday OPEC is drowning in the stuff because they can't give it away. I hope everyone has noticed the drop in strikes against americans since the price has gone down. If the Feds are so hell bent on giving money away to companies that shot themselves in the foot, they should give the bailout money to the small oil producers in this country so we can wean ourselves from foreign oil. BUY AMERICAN!!

Chuck,
I think I'm seeing the same thing. Maybe even worse for me since I have radiant heating for my first floor. And even though the floor is insulated (ceiling of the basement), the basement still gets quite toasty I've noticed.

Pellets are good for comfort, and even if BTU compare isn't precise, behavioral changes also generate additional savings (always hanging in the warm room, letting others cool).

I keep records for oil use, etc, so maybe next year I'll have some figures!

Personally, I'm hoping to not pay anymore than $250/ton this year. I DO want to buy just certain pellet brands, so I might have to pay a little more (or spend a little more to transport them if their not real close to home).

I think my "ceiling" w/ transport $ is going to be $275.

Have my fingers crossed, and will be searching and keeping eyes open starting about the end of March.

stevep said:

Take a look at this PDF (LINK BELOW) that The Massachusetts Government published. Page seven has a break down of cost; I was just interested in what some of the professionals on this site thought about the costs. I find my self in a situation as a first year stove owner and I need to purchase an additional ton of pellets for the year.
I can buy oil today for 2.19 a gal. Ohh……what to do. Pellets are running 300.00 for a ton.




http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/doer/pub_info/doer_pellet_guidebook.pdf

Click to expand...

The report was prepared by the Biomass Energy Resource Center, thus not unbiased.

What am "I" willing to pay for pellets?

That will depend on the price of other fuels. In the current market with oil at $2.19 a gallon I can't see paying more than about $275 a ton for pellets. If oil were to shoot back up to the price per gallon when I purchased my pellet stove ($4.69 a gallon) then I would consider going to the $350+ range per ton.

My crystal ball is currently in the shop being tuned up so I can't see what the future has in store for pellet and oil prices.