Poll question- The truth, how much will you honestly pay for next seasons pellets?

here in the midwest we don't have the problems like you do in the northeast
that said 200-225 for 60 bag pallets

Have ordered from pelletsales.com for $260.00 per ton including delivery, did an early buy in January for April delivery.

Worth it to me for reducing dependence on oil, helping the environment, and the enjoyment of the pellet fire.

Since I only use it mainly to heat the basement level and to have a backup heat source available , I`ll pay up to $325 a ton . I only use a couple tons a year so it`s worth it not to have to burn cordwood and all it`s drawbacks.
At $2 and less for a gal of oil those pellets aren`t the bargain some folk tend to believe.

Willing to bet HHO will be more next year, though. I need one ton to make it through next year, I'll go as high as $250. If I find a bargain I'll get 3.

Personally I'm not going any higher than $240.00. I can get corn for around $200.00 a ton so that's my cap/limit.

I think I'd rather give the business to my local farmer anyway. He's just trying to earn a living too! The only draw back is I need to clean the corn myself.

jay

bungalobob said:

We are all discouraged at the high prices of wood pellets, the possible lack of early buying programs this year, and the general lack of quality assurance from some manufacturers. Here is a question for the novice and the well seasoned wood pellet burner alike; now that this heating season is winding down, and with all that you have learned and experienced with your stoves, from the purchase, to its reliability, maintenance time, and cost to operate, etc… what will you honestly pay per ton for next season’s good quality wood pellets? What is your breaking point?

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I agree. I thought by now the prices would start plummeting. The work involved with stacking, feeding, cleaning, back to stacking, feeding, cleaning - its an endless cycle that I thought would have discouraged many new owners. The convenience of simply turning the thermostat on a furnace with the current lower fuel costs I thought would also drive away new owners of pellet technologies. I guess at this point either that I was wrong, and the majority of people enjoy this ritual, or they overbought pellets early on, and we're not going to see this effect until late this season, early summer.

Where I live, I am hoping to be able to purchase pellets for less than $200 per ton. If it is more, so be it, I only use about 65 bags per year.

I think a good many pellet users like myself will probably pay a premium price for pellets just to be able to have some measure of security for the heating season ahead of us. What happened last year with the high cost of fuel oil might very well happen again and having paid the extra money for a stash of pellets could prove to be a good insurance plan.

Depends totally on the cost of furnace oil. Just economics for me.

If furnace oil is 2.00/gal I'll pay $235 max for pellets
If furnace oil is 3.85/gal I'll pay $325 max for pellets

exoilburner said:

Depends totally on the cost of furnace oil. Just economics for me.

If furnace oil is 2.00/gal I'll pay $235 max for pellets
If furnace oil is 3.85/gal I'll pay $325 max for pellets

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One glitch that many found was that pellets were difficult to find and rather costly when oil prices shot up last year.
That`s why it might make sense to some folks not to wait too long for the best price on pellets.

the lowest price i can find

Gio said:

One glitch that many found was that pellets were difficult to find and rather costly when oil prices shot up last year.
That`s why it might make sense to some folks not to wait too long for the best price on pellets.

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Good point. Although in my neck of the woods pellet prices were not near as volitile as other fuels. In Jan 08 pellets were $221 ton. In Jan 09 pellets were 245 ton.

You also have to wonder what price the pellet dealer paid for all those pellets sitting on their lots. If they still have a lot of pellets that they bought at the high end, then that could explain the lack of early buy programs. They don't want to sell them at the price they paid for them. Which, IMO, could put them out of business.

I can't vote due to no price under 200 is available to be checked. If prices in the midwest go too high, I'm selling my stove.

The convenience of simply turning the thermostat on a furnace with the current lower fuel costs I thought would also drive away new owners of pellet technologies. I guess at this point either that I was wrong, and the majority of people enjoy this ritual, or they overbought pellets early on, and we’re not going to see this effect until late this season, early summer

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I think its people looking towards the future, sure oil's $2 or so now but Im pretty sure we'll get back over $4 someday and people are preparing for that day.
If I can find pellets for $250, Ill probably buy 4-5 tons.

If price being the primary incentive to having gone to burning pellets, then the only way I can assure having reasonably priced pellets is to turn the pellet stove down now and burn more oil which is under $2 per gallon. I have two and a half tons of pellets on hand now, but the heating season is still with us for at least another 60 days. Low oil is almost a sure thing for the next few months, esp is your tank in full of the cheaper oil. Having a back up of pellets to start up with is further insurance against being backed into a hard place. I would say it is best to have on hand a supply of both if you are able to buy them at what you consider to be a good price. That being said, your best dollar value for any heating device will be realized when you have done all that is resonably possible to insulate and guard against heat loss.

$225 is the absolute max I would pay for pellets in New England. With that said, if i can't buy at, or below, $205 this season, I probably wont buy any.

bungalobob said:

We are all discouraged at the high prices of wood pellets, the possible lack of early buying programs this year, and the general lack of quality assurance from some manufacturers. Here is a question for the novice and the well seasoned wood pellet burner alike; now that this heating season is winding down, and with all that you have learned and experienced with your stoves, from the purchase, to its reliability, maintenance time, and cost to operate, etc… what will you honestly pay per ton for next season’s good quality wood pellets? What is your breaking point?

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Obviously with the cost of oil at a low right now the breaking point is low for some of those replying but ask this same question when the price of oil climbs back up there. I think you will see a different tune played at that time.

Gio said:

bungalobob said:

We are all discouraged at the high prices of wood pellets, the possible lack of early buying programs this year, and the general lack of quality assurance from some manufacturers. Here is a question for the novice and the well seasoned wood pellet burner alike; now that this heating season is winding down, and with all that you have learned and experienced with your stoves, from the purchase, to its reliability, maintenance time, and cost to operate, etc… what will you honestly pay per ton for next season’s good quality wood pellets? What is your breaking point?

Click to expand...

Obviously with the cost of oil at a low right now the breaking point is low for some of those replying but ask this same question when the price of oil climbs back up there. I think you will see a different tune played at that time.

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Not from this camper! :coolsmile:

Speaking for myself , last April I paid $3.91a gal for oil and it was still climbing. Pellets at that time were $269 a ton for one brand that remained in stock and $290 for the newly arrived ones. I bought 2 tons of each. Meanwhile oil was climbing to over $4 a gal so $300 a ton didn`t look all that bad.
If I had NG like Wet1 has I`d probably have a low price ceiling myself.
And lets consider those folks who claim they heat their 2000+sq ft on 2-3 tons a year compared to the $3500 they spent for oil. At $300-$400 a ton it will still be a hell of a bargain for them.

It is sad that some of you would stop using your pellet stoves when the price of pellets rises too high. Here in the Northwest, we have stronger environmental concerns than the rest of the country, often being called wierd. Just like when Oregon was the first to instigate bottle deposit and when anything environmental occurs, Oregon or Washington is the first to do it.

There is a small amount of oil product used in manufacturing and shipping pellets. It saves a lot of non-renewable resources to burn something that is renewable, just for nothing else to be concerned about our future. I will do about anything to take money out of the mouths of power companies. Just like I am working on HHO gas for reducing gasoline consumption in my car that already gets 43mpg.

QuadraFire CB1200

Bad:
SBC Firemaster, Langley, BC
- makes house smell like dirty socks, SBC won't comment.
Good:
Hot Shots, Columbia City, OR
Pres-to-Logs, Sandpoint, ID/Glenville, WV
Eureka Premium, Missoula, MT

Gio said:

And lets consider those folks who claim they heat their 2000+sq ft on 2-3 tons a year compared to the $3500 they spent for oil. At $300-$400 a ton it will still be a hell of a bargain for them.

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LOL


BTW, I only use fossil fuel for backup heating. I'm basically only heating with pellets, wood, and coal. Regardless, my gas rates are higher than oil right now.

You might want to be careful about reducing dependence on power companies or gas usage. When you do that, the mighty government sees a reduction in it's collection of taxes, and user fees. For them, decreased use does not translate into a decrease in need for public employment or equipment. Here in Maine, toll collections went down when the cost of gas went so very high. When the cost of gas went down, driving habits didn't return the lost tolls. One of our "rewards" for forced conservation was a quicker implementation of toll rate increases.
The only real stimulus the average person is realizing at this time is the reduction in the cost of some forms of energy. But fear not. There is a powerful surf rising among our elected representatives at the national and state level to put us back in our place with adjusted increases in taxes, or user fees. Can't hardly just wait to ride that new train form Disneyland to Lost Wages.

packerfan said:

I can't vote due to no price under 200 is available to be checked. If prices in the midwest go too high, I'm selling my stove.

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same here in the northeast
...looking at alternatives like wood...1 green cord delivered $180 of mixed hardwoods plus 1 green cord for free if I split the logs of oak and locust myself.....the stove and chimney kit is whats is gonna cost me but I'm gonna look at trading in my P68 and see what they will give me..hopefully it will be enough for both..not looking at anything fancy smancy to burn wood..just efficient would be fine