Just to stir the pot. A pellet question to everyone.

[Vinelife]

Try to stock up during summer ..

 

[Bridgeman]

I show up sometime in September to the local Home Depot and tell when and where I want them. It was a few extra weeks this year because of the panic buying. I anticipate no issues this fall.

 

[muss]

I'm lucky, every year I wait till mid-October & have them delivered & placed where I want them in my garage. I have 2 pellet plants equal distance from the house but only 1 delivers & that's where I get 'em. Easy Peasy !

 

[batchman]

I store my pellets outdoors. They said they were grown outdoors and that's where they felt most comfortable. I only store the next 6-10 bags inside. Right now I'm burning a ton left over from last year - stored outside 15 months at my site, no issues. I do get just a little condensation freezing under the covers (appears like a little snow) but it does not appear to be enough to cause a problem.

I try to buy in the late summer with delivery delayed, because I'd really rather the ground be frozen to get them in place. This year the store knocked me down and made me take them early because they were out and everyone was eying them...

I also use giant pellets along with cordwood in my insert but they only come in boxes, which won't do well outside , I store 1 ton of those inside.

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I plan to buy only pleasant smelling pellets too.

I ain't buying any of those either.

 

[BrotherBart]

I only burn pellets that were made inside stored inside and delivered by plane to my house. That way I know they were never in a hostile environment.

Me too. The trees had to be grown inside too.

 

[rich2500]

I will buy in early Oct.as I have the past 11 yrs. But this year I'm going try getting my pellets from a local landscape supplier instead of the box stores.

 

[Pete Zahria]

We need more dealers like you in our area. ..

Seriously?

 

[Dr.Faustus]

i'll wait till about august, and then purchase an insane amount of POS box store pellets, which luckily my stove eats just fine. kept the house at 72 when it was -25f with those pos pellets!

 

[Old Spartan]

5 Ton late spring and the 3 - 4 more in the early fall.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Well. in as much as my local TSC has so many out back (has to be about 40-50 ton stacked up, I'm gonna try to wheedle them out of 4-6 ton at a good price because they are getting old sitting there..............

 

[HP52NOVA]

Seriously?

Maybe you should come for a visit, so I can shock you with the steller service here in NOVA... Last time I called for a service on my Harman they sent me a guy who never worked on one! And that was going thru Harman HQ. I will take anyone who can find the ESP and is honest.

 

[bbfarm]

Last year we bought a ton every month or so until we got up to 5 tons, then money ran out. We store them in the workshop barn then bring up 15 bags and store them on the porch with a tarp over them to carry in daily

 

[UpStateNY]

I plan to buy only pleasant smelling pellets too.

Let me guess, before burning you first use your wood pellets as kitty litter.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Let me guess, before burning you first use your wood pellets as kitty litter.

Thats funny.....

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't try it with Stove Chow. The cat won't have anything to do with'em. Weird since she prefers to crap in the woods.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Last year we bought a ton every month or so until we got up to 5 tons, then money ran out. We store them in the workshop barn then bring up 15 bags and store them on the porch with a tarp over them to carry in daily

I can improve on your methodology a bit....

What we do is bring up 16 bags at a time. 16 bags neatly fills 4 Rubbamaid 30 gallon trash cans with snap lids. They sit on the potch and get broght in in plastic 5 gallon pails and dumnped in the stove. Whata I differ is I have 4 additional cans (total 8) on the potch, the 4 additional cans are full of shelled corn. I use aempty plastic coffee can and pul a scoop of pellets, dump into a pail, then a scoop of corn and repeat until full and that goes in the stove for a 50-50 corn pellet mix, but you can do straight pellets just as easy.

We've found that by doing it in cans on the deck it's easier than lugging bags in and in out case it makes mixing in the corn easier.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Don't try it with Stove Chow. The cat won't have anything to do with'em. Weird since she prefers to crap in the woods.

I have my own opinion of cats. Problem is, it's not shared by my wife.

 

[BrotherBart]

I hear ya. Lifelong cat hater. Including the 18.5 year old one of the wife's that died two years ago. This little girl was in trouble when I was walking in the woods one day. The trouble got shot and she has been a ball and chain for me for six years now. Maybe a year old, already spayed. Somebody mistreated her, probably kids, and she left to go it alone in the woods. Kinda admire that.

Anytime she hears kids laughing she hauls ass.

 

[mithesaint]

How many will I buy? Probably none, depending on the price of corn.

I'm sitting on about 3 tons of Somersets left over from last spring. If I burn straight pellets I'll burn between 4-5 tons depending on the weather. With corn under $4.00/bushel, I will be burning as much corn as I can. Pellet prices skyrocketed here due to the perceived "shortage" and haven't come back down. It may have been a shortage in other areas, but it wasn't here. All four places that sell pellets locally had plenty all season long, but they didn't hesitate to jack the price up. I used to be able to buy pellets for $4/ bag. Lowes has a $5.58 price tag on them now. Thanks, but no.

No pellet dealers in the area either. Big boxes or nothing.

 

[devilsbullet]

I'm waiting to see what prices look like in spring/summer. It'll be my first year burning, will be installing the stove over the summer. Been keeping my eye on prices all winter, have had no shortage at all here, and can get a ton for 199-230 all winter, so if I don't see a price drop I'll just buy at random when I have extra cash

 

[Bioburner]

I'm waiting to see what prices look like in spring/summer. It'll be my first year burning, will be installing the stove over the summer. Been keeping my eye on prices all winter, have had no shortage at all here, and can get a ton for 199-230 all winter, so if I don't see a price drop I'll just buy at random when I have extra cash

Supply issues seem to be more of a problem in the east. Knowing a couple of truckers that haul out east, they say that they hate going east with all the tolls, prohibition of idling, limited hours of delivery etc.,etc. The old saying west is best, east is least, holds true yet.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I have to ask what is your reasoning on that?

I've been buying Sets from TSC in Dundee on prebuy for at least 6 seasons now with no issues and they are stored outside. Sets are shrink wrapped with clear stretch film, then shrouded with a plastic bag, stretch filmed again, a plastic overcover and then another plastic shroud and stretch filmed again.

Nothing gets under that. I've had full skids sit outside, next to the barn, most of the winter with no issues whatsoever, though I usually store most in the barn.

I do, ocassionally, get a ripped bag from overzealous hi-lo drivers at the store chafing lower bags on skids, but TSC always replaces those when I get down to them.

I don't see where outside stored pallets of pellets are a big deal.

When pellets are outside the sun will heat them. When the temps drop at night the pellets will condensate inside the bags. Where does that moisture go? INTO THE PELLETS. As little at 1% or 2% moisture can damage the density of pellets causing incomplete combustion and a bad burn. There is a huge difference in the burn of a pellet that has been stored inside against a pellet that was stored outside. You can have the best pellet ever made but bad storage will kill the results of the burn. This is a problem stove manufactures have to deal with. The only way to change how a pellet is stored is the consumer speaking up. People it is your money, demand the best in what you buy.

Eric

 

[moey]

When pellets are outside the sun will heat them. When the temps drop at night the pellets will condensate inside the bags. Where does that moisture go? INTO THE PELLETS. As little at 1% or 2% moisture can damage the density of pellets causing incomplete combustion and a bad burn. There is a huge difference in the burn of a pellet that has been stored inside against a pellet that was stored outside. You can have the best pellet ever made but bad storage will kill the results of the burn. This is a problem stove manufactures have to deal with. The only way to change how a pellet is stored is the consumer speaking up. People it is your money, demand the best in what you buy.

Eric

Going with this analogy some more I assume your storage location is conditioned otherwise the same thing can happen. Most consumers are not willing to spend more if it burns ok its good enough.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Going with this analogy some more I assume your storage location is conditioned otherwise the same thing can happen. Most consumers are not willing to spend more if it burns ok its good enough.

Some people will drive across town to save $.05 on a gallon of gas.

Eric