Pellet durability

[m159267]

I use my basement Harmon P38 to supplement my geothermal heating during cold snaps (low teens and below). It's a great combination. My question is if I were to buy a ton of pellets would I have an issue using 2-year old pellets? I would probably use a half-ton during a heating season and the rest the following heating season (maybe some in a 3rd year - depending on how bad the winter is). They would be stored in my basement with humidity maxing at 55% in the summer. Thx...

 

[Pellet-King]

Moisture is a pellets worst enemy, to me as long as there a reasonably kept dry, i do not see any problems keeping them for many years.

 

[defield]

I am burning some Lignetics hardwood pellets now that have been in my unfinished poured concrete basement since August of 2008, a little more than 1 1/2 years.

Stored on a pallet.

They look like they did when new and burn great. I may have a few bags left for next fall.

The basement is dry ( with the exception of a little water seeping in from the bulkhead when it rains hard) and I do not have a clue what the humidity is down there, but my tools do not rust even though the clothes dryer has been vented into the basement for the last 39 years. ( No, one clothes dryer did not last that long, but the vent hose has . . . . )

Ranger

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The soft pine pellets seem to break up easier than the harder wood pellets.

I had some pine pellets called Heartland.
They burned great but they would crumble easily and there was a fair amount of crumbs in the bag too.

Loved those Pine pellets. The house always smelled soooooooooooooo good.

The nutshells I burn have no smell to speak of and when burning the exhaust smells like a NUT Roaster. Sweet carmel smell "sort of"

Snowy

 

[SidecarFlip]

I might add that besides keeping them in relatively low humidity, not handling them promotes life as well. Moving the bags around causes the extruded pellets to crumble.

I've had them on OEM shrink wrapped pallets with the plastic bag over top in my hay barn for over 2 years with no problems.

 

[tinkabranc]

Keep em dry and off the concrete floor and I would think they would last quite a while.
I keep mine in my basement too and am just finishing up some I have with a date stamp
of 2007 on them. No complaints.

 

[Bkins]

I use my basement Harmon P38 to supplement my geothermal heating during cold snaps (low teens and below). It's a great combination. My question is if I were to buy a ton of pellets would I have an issue using 2-year old pellets? I would probably use a half-ton during a heating season and the rest the following heating season (maybe some in a 3rd year - depending on how bad the winter is). They would be stored in my basement with humidity maxing at 55% in the summer. Thx...

I am going to hijack this thread for just a moment.

How dow you like you Geo sytem? What brand do you have and has it proven to save you money?

Bkins

 

[imacman]

I am burning some Lignetics hardwood pellets now that have been in my unfinished poured concrete basement since August of 2008, a little more than 1 1/2 years.

Stored on a pallet.

They look like they did when new and burn great. I may have a few bags left for next fall.

The basement is dry ( with the exception of a little water seeping in from the bulkhead when it rains hard) and I do not have a clue what the humidity is down there, but my tools do not rust even though the clothes dryer has been vented into the basement for the last 39 years. ( No, one clothes dryer did not last that long, but the vent hose has . . . . )

Ranger

Wow.....Ranger & I must have had ESP back in Aug of '08....I bought a ton of Ligs Hardwood at the same time, and stored them in my basement since then too.......they are burning GREAT!

 

[m159267]

Thanks for the replies. I will be looking to buy a ton sometime this spring. Anyone know if Okanagan's can be found anywhere in the Mid-West? To Bkins -- I have a 5-ton Water Furnance, closed horizontal loop conditioning 3800 square feet. House is all electric. My averaged monthly bill is $79.00. Highest bill I ever paid in 5+ years is $110.00. Electric rates here are reasonable. Most critical part of geo is to get a manual-J and have good experienced installers. Excellent forum - http://forum.geoexchange.org/index.php -- visit 'General Discussions'.

 

[drizler]

The NLL pellets I have in my basement were bought in 8/08 and they are just as good today as then. I just keep them sitting on their pallet and it's dry down there. No problem.

 

[Bkins]

Thanks for the replies. I will be looking to buy a ton sometime this spring. Anyone know if Okanagan's can be found anywhere in the Mid-West? To Bkins -- I have a 5-ton Water Furnance, closed horizontal loop conditioning 3800 square feet. House is all electric. My averaged monthly bill is $79.00. Highest bill I ever paid in 5+ years is $110.00. Electric rates here are reasonable. Most critical part of geo is to get a manual-J and have good experienced installers. Excellent forum - http://forum.geoexchange.org/index.php -- visit 'General Discussions'.

Thanks for the link. I am very interested in Geo-thermal. It just makes sense. What was the cost penalty to install it verses a regular system? Would you install one again knowing what you know now? I will spend some time looking for info on the link you proivided.

Bkins