Pellet Storage

[Bigjim13]

So I bought my pellets for next seaon over the weekend. I bought 4 tons and unloaded them into my garage-I wanted to get them ASAP as the dealer basically stated that they were "alotted" so many tons and when those are sold they will not be getting anymore.

I possibly chose a bad weekend to unload but I was paranoid about not being able to get them at an affordable price later in the year. I unloaded the pellets by hand in a light rain. My question is this, if I stack the pellets into my garage and the bags got a little rain on them, could this potentially cause a problem with damp pellets and ruined pellets? I could just be paranoid but I'd rather know now when I can unstack them, rather than wait until winter only to find a bunch of ruined pellets. I am a bit of a novice at this, so sorry if it seems like a sill question. I take that back, I am not a BIT of a novice-I am a novice. Thanks for any comments!

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I used to store my pellets in my screened in porch for several years. One year the bags got slighly wet from blowing snow in the winter.

Several bags were ruined as the pellets absorb some moisture. After this, I have always stored the pellets in the basement.

 

[Bigjim13]

I guess my concern is that having a little rain on them from moving the 10 ft from truck to garage. Is this going to be a problem not that I have them stacked and stored-the rain that hit the bags?

 

[Xena]

Picked up and stacked some in the light rain over the weekend as well.
I dried each bag with a towel before stacking it. Worst thing you can do is to stack
them wet even if it's just light rain the moisture will get trapped between the layers.

 

[Bigjim13]

Picked up and stacked some in the light rain over the weekend as well.
I dried each bag with a towel before stacking it. Worst thing you can do is to stack
them wet even if it's just light rain the moisture will get trapped between the layers.

I was afraid of that and should have known better. Looks like I will be unstacking them and letting them air out/dry over the upcoming weekend.

 

[Xena]

Bigjim the moisture may have dissipated by the time the weekend
rolls around especially if the temps rise. You can check by removing
the first couple of layers to see if there is moisture between them.
I have had condensation build up on them when the weather went
from very cold to warm from one day to the next, and that moisture
did not make it's way into the pellets and at that time the bags were wetter than
on saturday with the light rain - so what I'm saying is you may be ok
but I'd check the first few layers out. Good luck!

 

[Bigjim13]

Bigjim the moisture may have dissipated by the time the weekend
rolls around especially if the temps rise. You can check by removing
the first couple of layers to see if there is moisture between them.
I have had condensation build up on them when the weather went
from very cold to warm from one day to the next, and that moisture
did not make it's way into the pellets and at that time the bags were wetter than
on saturday with the light rain - so what I'm saying is you may be ok
but I'd check the first few layers out. Good luck!

Good to know, thanks for the info. The only reason I gave it a thought is I grabbed a bag and there was some moisture on the top of it. Now here in Southern VT its been pretty rainy and wet since Saturday when I unloaded. You may be right, I will check the first few layers this weekend, maybe I got lucky. I may end up restacking anyway as I am not please with how my stacking job came out, I don't think that stacking on Pallets in my garage was the best way to go. I may just lay down a sheet of plywood and some plastic to stack them. Thanks again though!

 

[Xena]

You're welcome. Going into my fifth season this Fall with pellets
and stacking them in the garage, I can tell you that the best way
to fit them in the smallest amount of space is on the pallets and
stacked the same way they come shipped - five bags to a layer.

Here's a picture of two pallets in my garage last summer. My brother
and I didn't stack them as perfectly as the mfg does, but they never
budged which was all that I was concerned with.

You're far better off having them up off the floor on a pallet to avoid
moisture seeping up from underneath. Better to cover all the bases
to ensure you have good pellets come September.

 

[Bigjim13]

Last season I stacked 3 tons into a corner of my garage about 8x8. My friend and I went right to town, we couldn't quite get all 3 tons into the one section but it was pretty close. This year I have 4 tons that I need to store and that takes up more space than I was planning on, basically one side of our garage is just storage at this point. Last season I didn't use the pallets, I layed some plywood down and stacked them on those and didn't seem to have any issues. This season I laid down the plywood and then covered the area with sheets of plastic, then put down the pallets- I'll be damned if I am going to lose pellets to moisture. That's part of the reason I am so paranoid about the moisture now. I was just out in my garage and inspeced about 40 bags of pellets that were easiest to get to and sadly there ranged from a little moisture to more than I am comfortable with. I may just end up pulling down all the bags and wiping them down just to be safe.

Will it be fun? Heck NO!! Did I learn a lesson? Heck Yes!! LOL

 

[www_godzilla]

I bought 1 ton of Lignetics from a guy this past weekend. I paid $200 for them,yet he wanted them out immediately. Unfortunately it was raing out. I put them all in the back of a Toyota Tacoma truck,hauled them to my house(20 minutes away). Got them to my house and unloaded in the rain. While I was unloading and stacking them into my basement. I was wiping each one of them very carefully. There are tiny holes in each bag of pellets. So you have to be careful about moisture..Im sure if you took the the top 3 rows out,you would find water in them. There's no way the moisture will evaporate over time,in those middle rows.

 

[Bigjim13]

I bought 1 ton of Lignetics from a guy this past weekend. I paid $200 for them,yet he wanted them out immediately. Unfortunately it was raing out. I put them all in the back of a Toyota Tacoma truck,hauled them to my house(20 minutes away). Got them to my house and unloaded in the rain. While I was unloading and stacking them into my basement. I was wiping each one of them very carefully. There are tiny holes in each bag of pellets. So you have to be careful about moisture..Im sure if you took the the top 3 rows out,you would find water in them. There's no way the moisture will evaporate over time,in those middle rows.

Yeah, kinda what I was thinking. The more I thought about it this afternoon the more I cam to the conclusion that I need to pull the stack down and check out the bags. I guess it could be a long weekend, but again-a good lesson learned!

 

[Burn1]

I bought 1 ton of Lignetics from a guy this past weekend. I put them all in the back of a Toyota Tacoma truck.

How'd the Tacoma do with a whole ton? ?

 

[imacman]

I bought 1 ton of Lignetics from a guy this past weekend. I paid $200 for them........

Well, Godzilla, I hope for your sake that the pellets are OK (did you get a chance to try burning a few bags first?). Hate for you to find out that they've been sitting outdoors in the rain & snow, and burn like crap. If they burn good, then you really made out well....Lignetics at $200/ton is a GREAT deal!! Wish I could find them here for that price...I'd grab as many as I could afford.

 

[www_godzilla]

They burn awesome.I am burning them as I type right now. I found them on Craigslist. The guy was having rotator cuff surgery this week. He needed to clear out his garage for his boat. He had 3 tons available. I only had room for 1 ton in my basement. I guess I could have put more in there,but didn't want to do it. I already have 3 tons in there now. The Tacoma handled it fine. Had to take it easy on the hard bumps. I am very pleased with this purchase. I have been patient this spring. I've been looking in Craigslist and calling around quite often,looking for deals. I even used a $10 off coupon at Lowes for a ton of Green Team. I think a lot of people on here could learn from this method of spring buying. There are deals out there. I bought 3 tons of pellets,that I like,not junk. I was patient and I am better off because of it.

 

[imacman]

They burn awesome.I am burning them as I type right now. .......

Good for you...... great find, great pellets!

I also watch CL for deals, and make occasional calls to TSC, and local hardware stores that sell pellets.

I have an order into PelletSales for 4 tons of CleanFire (NEWP) at their lowest pre-buy price, but will be keeping my eyes open for another ton, or 2 if a great deal like yours appears over the spring/summer.