Where can I get good pellets now ?

[Defiant]

Located in Old Lyme CT, need 3 tons for myself and have friends that would need about another 15 tons. Any advice appreciated.

 

[imacman]

Located in Old Lyme CT, need 3 tons for myself and have friends that would need about another 15 tons. Any advice appreciated.

Well, don't know what price range your looking to spend, but the easiest thing would be to buy from PelletSales.com. They have LG granules and Westwood (Okanagan) for delivery to your area for $275/ton, and if you and your friends put in 2 orders for 9 tons each (or 3 orders of 6 tons each), you get free shipping.

Around my area now, the dealers are all asking $290/ton, and charge a minimum of $30/ton for delivery on top of that.

From what I've read on this forum, both brands (softwood pellets) are good, and I can attest to pelletsales.com being a good company to deal with. Bought my pellets from them for the first time this spring, and everything went great.

 

[Wet1]

BTU,

I thought you were going to become a sponsor here... what happened?

 

[richkorn]

Located in Old Lyme CT, need 3 tons for myself and have friends that would need about another 15 tons. Any advice appreciated.

I get mine from Jeff at Eastern CT Pellets - http://pelletsdelivered.com/

He's out on Route 32 in N. Franklin. He has a good selection and stands behind his products. I had 3 tons of the bad Maine Woods last Fall and he took them all back and got me Lignetics. I highly recommend him.

 

[imacman]

......... We are going into our 4th year supplying OK pellets to the market and this year our company will be distributing an extremely large percentage of Westwood pellets which will be the Okanagan brand only. ......

I stand corrected. I was under the impression that the Westwood brand was the same pellet as the Okanagan brand (like CleanFire is really re-bagged NEWP, or so I was told).

Sorry

 

[Stentor]

......... We are going into our 4th year supplying OK pellets to the market and this year our company will be distributing an extremely large percentage of Westwood pellets which will be the Okanagan brand only. ......

I stand corrected. I was under the impression that the Westwood brand was the same pellet as the Okanagan brand (like CleanFire is really re-bagged NEWP, or so I was told).

Sorry

I know it's not your fault but I hope you guys know how annoying this stuff can be to normal people.

Pellet information should be standardized like the Nutrition Facts box on food. Then the manufacturers can add all the fancy packaging and great pricing claims and convincing advertising they want. Right now this web site is fun and I'm learning a lot useful stuff but eventually I want my burning pellets to be as routine as driving my car. My goal is to have a regular dealer for repairs and cleaning, a couple of pellet suppliers and some pellet brand choices. Then kick back and enjoy the stove in the winter.

 

[Stentor]

I want to add that I am not in any way knocking the people who post here or anyone else. They seem all friendly and capable. However, the pellet industry has been around for a while but seems immature and not ready for prime time or, in this case, not yet ready to support a mass market.

It reminds me of the early days of the PC. Engineers and technicians were soldering boards, there were a couple of things called DR-DOS and MS-DOS, you had to know BASIC to do anything, and the only applications were word processing and an early spreadsheet called Visicalc. Now people just walk into a store or go online and buy what they want and there are hundreds of apps.

Sorry if my comments come across as a rant, but I think this business needs a very heavy dose of product development to succeed. ;-)

 

[woodsman23]

http://buffalo.craigslist.org/for/1237347189.html

 

[Stentor]

Stentor...I couldn't agree with you more. .........The PFI has come up with a grading scale for wood pellets but the basis for their grades are rather large.......The big issue with people is ash content. The PFI wants to see a premium grade pellet have no more that 1% ash content...but a product that produces .4% vers one that produces .8% falls under the same grade. That is 100% more ash content from one to the other. Again, for some of you that is no big deal, but for the vast majority of people, ash content from their pellet is usually a major concern. ...yet they currently both carry the same grade rating.

One of the problems the industry faces, is that supply of raw fibre is not a constant. ...... One of the biggest problems you read about on this forum is that you can get great product from one source one season and the next it is a totally different product .........

.......this industry doesn't operate at anywhere near the margins that those industries do and don't really have the excess funds for the R&D;it would take to up the ante so to speak. Most mills only ship within 200 miles of their plants and have no need or desire to go national or global for that matter. This is why this industry is so regional in nature. .........That in my opinion is the biggest stumbling block to our industry than anything. Show me how to reduce my transportation costs so it doesn't cost 30-50% of the selling price just to get it to market and that in itself would help lower costs, leaving more money for product improvement or better margins for everyone involved. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.

........ I think the PFI has made a great start with getting grades established for the industry, but I would like to see them "tighten up" the requirements so it would be easier for the consumer to make an informed decision just based on bag information, but I think that might be a few years down the road from happening...I could be wrong, but that is MHO..

BTU,


Thanks for taking the time to reply. I recognize some of the difficulties in the pellet business that you have pointed out, like low margins, region-sized markets, poor economy of scale, uneven consistency of raw materials, weak self-regulation and so forth. I bet that real growth is going to be blocked until some of those barriers are cracked. You probably agree with me on that.

I'm glad that some standards are emerging from the Pellet Fuels Institute trade association, but as you imply, the standards are broad. I took a quick look at the PFI web site. I didn't go through in detail but I don't see where pellet providers have much incentive to meet PFI standards. The testing program looks like smoke and mirrors. So, it's not just a matter of loose standards but whether the standards are verifiably followed.

Three questions:

1. Is there any incentive like better sales to even bother with the PFI logo on a bag of pellets?
2. Is there an easy way for a consumer to check or verify that a product has been tested at a certified lab?
3. Is there a sanction for wrongly claiming to meet a PFI standard?

Here's a point in their web site:

http://www.pelletheat.org/2/quality.html

I'm just thinking aloud here with these questions, so no need to reply. But I think some people on this board find your comments about the industry informative.

 

[richkorn]

Defiant:

Did you check out Eastern CT Pellet? This thread seems to have gone astray...

 

[newf lover]

I heard good things about Eastern CT Pellets as well. I only need another ton, so it's not worth the delivery charge for just the 1 ton. I thought for my first full year I'd get pellets from my dealer, since if there's any problem, I don't want to hear it's the crappy pellets I'm using! I do plan on using Eastern CT Pellets next year. I like the idea of getting a couple different kinds of pellets, just in case it's a bad batch year and I find myself sitting on 4 tons of subpar pellets.

 

[Stentor]

Defiant:

Did you check out Eastern CT Pellet? This thread seems to have gone astray...

Yes, sorry. I dragged the thread in another direction. :red:

But I found BTU's comments very informative. He seems to really know his business and is open about it. I've learned a lot from his posts but I should have put my questions into another thread.

And now to bend the rules with an unsolicited commercial plug. - - he sells a good pellet called Okanagan. Tough to spell but I burned a few bags and bought two tons for next winter.

 

[Defiant]

Thanks guys, lot's of interesting stuff, I did buy pellets from Eastern last year, he does :coolsmile: a great job and his facility is extremely clean. Just checking the forum before purchasing and I really do appreciate everyones input.