Douglas fir pellets

[WOODNUT358]

Does anyone think $309.00 a ton for Douglas fir pellets is high? Not knowing what oil will be here in the northeast is it worth the gamble ? Thanks

 

[jackman]

We pay $199/ton here in Oregon but this is where all the doug fir grows.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Does anyone think $309.00 a ton for Douglas fir pellets is high? Not knowing what oil will be here in the northeast is it worth the gamble ? Thanks

No.
That is a very good price..... For DF's.....

Dan

 

[Snowy Rivers]

What Jackman said

If Dougies get over $200 we start screaming.

Butttttt, that said, when you add transportation charges to get the stuff across the country it does add up.

 

[Tonyray]

Great price for those Okie firs.....[.At least here which is 3,000 miles from birthplace]
my only problem with them is I would get these hard clinkers in the burnpot when burning in Auto mode with a Harman.
the ramping up/down/off wasn't condusive to using such a dense pellet...
I found that the firs [blazers also] needed to be in a constant flame environment like during the cold weather.
So I learned that for me anyways shoulder season wasn't the best time to burn firs...
[ running in room/manual or stove mode there we're never any clinkers in the burnpot.].

 

[Pete Zahria]

If Dougies get over $200 we start screaming.
Butttttt, that said, when you add transportation charges to get the stuff across the country it does add up.

That's why it's silly to compare prices ~3000 miles apart.......

 

[Peterfield]

Never understood why in the northwest, they pay $200 or less for a ton of DF pellets, yet in the northeast we pay more for our local timber that generally produces more ash and less BTU's.

 

[womaus]

Jackman, Pete,

I'll send you $1000 and a case of local beer. Please send me 5 tons of Doug Fir pellets.

Thanks,

Your friend for life,

Jeffrey

 

[alternativeheat]

If you burn DF's you will look long and hard for something that burns similarly but costs less out here in the east. Some of the pure white pines get pretty close and they don't have the low burn issues that Tony mentioned, in fact they leave just about 0 on the pot to scrape. But they are hard to find too ! Suffice it to say that we mostly have messy pellets out here. And I'm with Peterfield , we pay through the nose for them for some reason . Well, we pay through the nose for about everything out here !

 

[rich2500]

I guess they are worth what your willing to pay for them,Have heated my place just fine for 12 yrs.and never payed more than 240 a ton for any Pellet so no I wouldn't pay 309 for them when I can buy many other brands for 199 a ton and be warm.

 

[Pete Zahria]

Jackman, Pete,
I'll send you $1000 and a case of local beer. Please send me 5 tons of Doug Fir pellets.
Thanks,
Your friend for life,
Jeffrey

Jackman might be able to, but we sure can't......
We couldn't send you 5 tons of Green Supremes for that.

Dan

 

[Peterfield]

If you burn DF's you will look long and hard for something that burns similarly but costs less out here in the east. Some of the pure white pines get pretty close and they don't have the low burn issues that Tony mentioned, in fact they leave just about 0 on the pot to scrape. But they are hard to find too ! Suffice it to say that we mostly have messy pellets out here. And I'm with Peterfield , we pay through the nose for them for some reason . Well, we pay through the nose for about everything out here !

My suspicion is that the raw material providers know what oil, NG and propane cost here versus the Midwest and Northwest and know they can charge higher prices. Much like we figure out when it's more cost effective to turn off the pellet stove and turn on the oil burner, they calculate how high they can charge before we reach that tipping point.

 

[alternativeheat]

My suspicion is that the raw material providers know what oil, NG and propane cost here versus the Midwest and Northwest and know they can charge higher prices. Much like we figure out when it's more cost effective to turn off the pellet stove and turn on the oil burner, they calculate how high they can charge before we reach that tipping point.

That's all well and good but there comes a point where the savings isn't worth while. And anyway, this winter they missed the mark as far as I'm concerned, at least down around the Cape here. Those who did lower prices did it late around here and out of need to clear their yards of over stock, not out of satisfying the customers needs or even to be competitive with other fuels. I'm not here to whine about it, just to state my observation. FSU from HD were the best bang for the buck here. When they finally dropped prices to $3.99 a bag it was all the crap pellets with low heat and high ash they were trying to unload.. And Lowes considered Stove Chow as a premium pellet so worth $6 a bag sitting on a pallet right next to the $3.99 stuff. FSU at HD as I recall were $5.49 a bag for most of the winter. LG are still $6.49 right now and last I knew Spruce Pointe were $7.49, that price didn't waver a penny all winter. Oil is $1.73 here now and it's been as high as $1.77. Our low was $1.49 and that lasted about a week back around the 1st of Feb or late Jan. Mostly it's been a few pennies up or down from $1.60.

 

[NYBurner]

I wish our heating oil had dropped that....we were getting 2.57/gallon this past winter. I've actually been popping in gallons of diesel from the pump here and there as it is cheaper.

 

[DrewBoogie]

They probably won't deliver, not sure if you can pick em up, but a one way Uhaul shouldn't be too much money. They're in Rocky Hill CT, not sure if the cost to get them to you will outweight the deal, but $260/ton for Blazers is worth looking into. They'll deliver to me in SE CT, not sure how far into RI you are, maybe they could make one trip out and deliver to us both.

http://www.a1pellet.com/resources/Promo-Flyer/2016-Spring-Reserve-Notice.pdf

 

[Tonyray]

And Lowes considered Stove Chow as a premium pellet so worth $6 a bag sitting on a pallet right next to the $3.99 stuff.
Wow..... people really paid 6 bucks for Chows?? That is criminal.....But,..can't blame Lowes if people are willing to pay that much for Big Ash makers..

 

[alternativeheat]

And Lowes considered Stove Chow as a premium pellet so worth $6 a bag sitting on a pallet right next to the $3.99 stuff.
Wow..... people really paid 6 bucks for Chows?? That is criminal.....But,..can't blame Lowes if people are willing to pay that much for Big Ash makers..

Tony, I think it was a marketing ploy to unload the crap pellets. Put them side by side with a big difference in price, people snag up the less expensive stuff. I say that because I've seen them all priced the same in the same store before. At one point it was GS with SC side by side, I bought the GS and they heated my house at $3.99 a bag.

I don't believe my heat ran at all last night and this morning it's 52 outside. The afternoon sun yesterday heated the house up to 71 deg and I have the temp set at 67.. Oops and it just started raining.

 

[bogieb]

Both stoves were going when I got home last night (9:30) and when I got up this morning (3:30). The basement stove definitely ran more than it has as there was plenty of ash to sweep out of the pot last night from the cr*p pellets I'm running in it. Actually the warmest morning for several days. Started raining at 4am and hoping it doesn't turn to ice (I leave for work before the local news comes on so I'm unsure if the cold front has already come thru).

 

[alternativeheat]

Well the temp dropped 8 deg in the last hour since that little rain shower. The wind is NE at 14 and the temp down to 44. We have had some sort of north wind almost exclusively all through April it seems. We got a day here and there with a south wind and it warmed right up. Been a chilly April but it still beat Feb..

Those Harbor freight 10x17 garage/tarp/tents are $199. I just used my 20% coupon on a tool but they run those pretty regularly.

 

[Tonyray]

Tony, I think it was a marketing ploy to unload the crap pellets. Put them side by side with a big hdifference in price, people snag up the less expensive stuff. I say that because I've seen them all priced the same in the same store before. At one point it was GS with SC side by side, I bought the GS and they heated my house at $3.99 a bag.

I don't believe my heat ran at all last night and this morning it's 52 outside. The afternoon sun yesterday heated the house up to 71 deg and I have the temp set at 67.. Oops and it just started raining.

Actually, the 1st year I had a stove I burned 2 tons of Chows from HD.
They gave good heat and what did I know from lots of Ash... I Assumed all pellets made a mountain of ash..
now going into 4th winter this year I have completly turned into a Softwoods snob....
took a few winters expirimenting with different brands but I got there.

 

[alternativeheat]

I'm not a soft wood snob really but I know if I want no ash or low ash it will probably come from softwood or at most a blend. We conversed about this a couple of years ago now Tony in PM, in fact. I was burning DF at that time. Generally I like a little less ash but this winter was pretty mild, didn't need exceptional heat and I'm home retired to give an extra scrape here and there so I didn't really care.

I've never burned so much as one bag of Stove Chow though, so I'll take your word on the ash.

 

[Tonyray]

I'm not a soft wood snob really but I know if I want no ash or low ash it will probably come from softwood or at most a blend. We conversed about this a couple of years ago now Tony in PM, in fact. I was burning DF at that time. Generally I like a little less ash but this winter was pretty mild, didn't need exceptional heat and I'm home retired to give an extra scrape here and there so I didn't really care.

I've never burned so much as one bag of Stove Chow though, so I'll take your word on the ash.

My Reasoning is Now that I am out on the road delivering Auto parts most of the week I don't have the opportunity to scrape, pull down ash and generally play and interact with my stove
like i used to....coming home to mounds of ash in my burnpot with a lot weaker flame than when I left[ although I don't think the Harmans will let the ash smother the flames] , The Big Ash pellets are a no no for me now. I feel better burning low ash pellets while I am gone and if my Stove could talk it might agree..
ok... I did cheat abit because along with ordering couple tons of Okie platinums at spring buy I did opt for a ton of Hamer Hots. price was too good for a Major hardwood PLAYA...........