How many are buying from HD this year or,

My HD only has Stove Chow which was 269.00 a ton last week, stopped today for deck stain and they are now 259.00 a ton. Still more then I'm willing to pay for Chow.

Giving serious consideration to buying a ton or two and doing oil this year.

Sick of the chase with pellets. Not even so much with pricing as availability. Say what you will about oil, I've never been in a situation where spring was 6 weeks away and I couldn't get oil.

I have been in situations where I couldn't buy even one bag of pellets regardless of price.

Tonyray said:

not to rub it into you but many of us started end of winter[March/April...had all my '5 ton' stash in the basement by then thru early buys.

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Yeah, I wasn't ready to think about the next winter in April.

I can get them at HD, was trying to support local though.

Tonyray said:

not to rub it into you but many of us started end of winter[March/April...had all my '5 ton' stash in the basement by then thru early buys.

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We were still selling for last season, and telling everyone then... buy early.
Fortunately, MANY people did just that... Two reasons.
Plenty of stock on hand (here)
Quicker deliveries. (from us)

I already noticed one local big shop, in his ad,
stating deliveries 1-4 weeks out on certain brands...
So people that did not see that, that usually trade with them, if they wait much longer,
they are going to be slightly PO'd, I'd bet..

Dan

I guess the point I was making is that Pellet MFG's arent doing themselves any favors by pricing pellets high and making it hard to find them. I know everybody on this site said "buy early" but this is a site of die hards. I seriously doubt it represents the majority of the pellet burning population. And if its pricier, harder to get and just plain a hassle to deal with....people will move to something else.

I for one am sick of chasing around trying to line up the best pellet price wise, then get it delivered, then stack them.

Bigjim13 said:

I guess the point I was making is that Pellet MFG's arent doing themselves any favors by pricing pellets high and making it hard to find them. I know everybody on this site said "buy early" but this is a site of die hards. I seriously doubt it represents the majority of the pellet burning population. And if its pricier, harder to get and just plain a hassle to deal with....people will move to something else.

I for one am sick of chasing around trying to line up the best pellet price wise, then get it delivered, then stack them.

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Oh you are so right. People will ditch pellets and not think twice about it. There is a guy here at work who talked about pellets a while ago as though prices will never rise. I laughed at him, telling him that they are a commodity, and subject to the same commodity pressures. Now, yes, I have a stove. But I still have my oil boiler.

johnnh said:

Oh you are so right. People will ditch pellets and not think twice about it. There is a guy here at work who talked about pellets a while ago as though prices will never rise. I laughed at him, telling him that they are a commodity, and subject to the same commodity pressures. Now, yes, I have a stove. But I still have my oil boiler.

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Same here. It's paid for itself and saved me some money, but I am glad I still have my furnace.

6.10 a bag up here right now, up from 5.38 2 years ago. -_-

Hey Guys!
First post of the new stove season for me...
Yes I'm like others on this board.. .I don't own a truck that can haul my own pellets or I would gladly do my own delivery and purchase locally.

I ordered Stove Chow (Which I had great results last year..) - 3 Tons - from Home Depot. Paid the nominal $265/ton w/ $65 delivery. Ended up about $800.. with 12 Months Interest Free coupon. We end up paying about $50 per month.. and usually pay a bigger chunk at the end of the year to avoid interest.

I pre-pay oil at an excellent fixed priced for the entire year so in the end my calculations are that I'm currently paying the same for Oil and Pellets per BTU. Oil is selling cheaper now - but that was a gamble 6 mos. ago in my opinion.. could have gone exactly the other directly just as easily.

Bottom line, in my case, we already purchased the oil so the pellets are for change of pace and for heating a semi-used space (Basement laundry and play area for the kids). If we end up using more oil than pellets and have leftovers.. then I'll borrow some shipping wrap from work and save them for next year~!

Glad to be back on the board!
- Jay

Was just at Runnings.
$249.00 for Instantheat
$269.00 for AWP
Had a bunch of them.

BrotherBart said:

Pellet producers are soon gonna face the same quandary that small oil drillers are facing right now. Do you sell cheaper to pay your debt or go belly up. Around $150 a ton at the plant gate they are done for. Just like the oil drillers that are still pumping at $40 barrel just to make payroll and pay the bank.

A lot of them will be gone by the e5nd of winter. Which won't bode well for prices later on.

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Well said. Will be interesting to see what happens this fall/winter. I don't burn pellets but when I see Home Depot and Lowes asking $269 a ton for pellets or almost $6 bag with heating oil prices around here near $1.60 a gallon it just doesn't make sense.

I am a wood burner and am going to cut back tremendously on the burning.

I had a Carrier Infinity heat pump/AC installed a few months ago with a Beckett oil burner as backup.

I think this winter I may just turn up the tstat and relax...

Local home depot is $269 + tax for stove chow. I got barefoot for $285 x4 tons, it was an easy decision for me.

okay guys let me put this out there. other than HD i have no idea where to get pellets. ive called randomly and every other supplier i found was 100-120 more a ton and would not deliver. why do the stove chow get such a bad rap? granted all ive ever burned were last years SC and some american freedom pellet. Yes i could see the difference between them as the SC's were much much better at producing heat. I guess my questions are the following:

1- are the pellets that are 100+ more a ton that much better than the sc's?
2 - what's the best way to find a local dealer with a good price?

From the feedback from the pellet burners at my place of employment (650 people, and probably an honest 150-170 pellet stove users, 8/10 say stay away from Lowes/HD pellets and spend the extra $20-30.00/ton on truly higher end premium pellets. The darker pellets you get at HD/Lowes usually are filled with glues/fillers animal bones (LOL) and who what else.

The temperature output, moisture content, and ash are usually horrible compared to a truly premium higher end pellet. This is what the majority claim.

I spent $309/ton for Canadian Granule LG's delivered to my door. They are exactly what pressed fresh cut wood should look and smell like.

A friend handed me a fistfull of left over Stove Chow and Green Supremes he had left over that he refuses to ever burn again. I had to ask them if they were actually a "wood" product .. Smelled odd, and looked far different from my Granules!! He said paying an extra $120.00 a season was so much more worth it. Half the ash, and hotter output temperatures.

I'd be okay with an extra 100-120 per season, but the pricing difference is an extra 100-120 per ton, so id be more in the extra 300-360 range which for that price i could get a ton and a half from HD/Lowes. I dont know if im missing something or just the pricing out in my area is crazy across the board.

skel said:

I'd be okay with an extra 100-120 per season, but the pricing difference is an extra 100-120 per ton, so id be more in the extra 300-360 range which for that price i could get a ton and a half from HD/Lowes. I dont know if im missing something or just the pricing out in my area is crazy across the board.

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100-120.00 per ton more???

yep. HD i think i paid 270 call it for a ton of therma glo. the other local places had "higher" end pellets..think one said they had infernos(?) and he wanted 380 a ton which i had to pick up myself. I'm all for paying more for a better product (10-20 a ton) but once you add on an extra 0 it really isnt much of a conversation.

EDIT: added current pricing

okanagan gold - 360
okanagan platinum - 365
okanagan douglas fir - 432
LaCrete - 360
american wood fibers 332
blazer doug fir - 415
energex - 331

again for reference HD therma glo 270

are any of these actually worth those prices?

Those prices are about 20% higher than what they should be. Wow...

well, good to know im not crazy. and now you see why i have no choice but to stick to the HD pellets.