Any advice for storing 5 tons outside?

[dabbaah]

I am little hesitant to store this much outside but after dealing with the shortage last season, we are leaning towards stocking up! We burned a little over 6 tons last season! We are going to get 5 tons NEWP delivered and then pickup 1 ton of a cheaper brand at HD or Walmart for the shoulder months. We will stack 2 tons inside the house/garage and leave 5 tons outside.

Do you have any advice for storing tons outside? From what I remember, NEWP tons are tightly shrink wrapped. And I think the store we get them from leaves them outside all season too. I know not everyone agrees with leaving them outside and I would rather not either but unfortunately there is not enough room inside to store them.

For those who have stored them outside all season...How well do I need to protect them? Do you leave the pallets outside unopened and uncovered? Ours will be placed on the grass next to our driveway and close to our house. Should we cover them with a tarp? Place a tarp on the ground so there is no grass growth underneath the pallets to cause moisture?

In all honesty, I think I'm more worried about theft (which I doubt would actually happen) and rodents getting to them than the weather ruining the pellets. But I want to make sure that we do what's best to protect them from the elements. And you guys on this forum have great advice!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Deb

 

[yrock87]

I am little hesitant to store this much outside but after dealing with the shortage last season, we are leaning towards stocking up! We burned a little over 6 tons last season! We are going to get 5 tons NEWP delivered and then pickup 1 ton of a cheaper brand at HD or Walmart for the shoulder months. We will stack 2 tons inside the house/garage and leave 5 tons outside.

Do you have any advice for storing tons outside? From what I remember, NEWP tons are tightly shrink wrapped. And I think the store we get them from leaves them outside all season too. I know not everyone agrees with leaving them outside and I would rather not either but unfortunately there is not enough room inside to store them.

For those who have stored them outside all season...How well do I need to protect them? Do you leave the pallets outside unopened and uncovered? Ours will be placed on the grass next to our driveway and close to our house. Should we cover them with a tarp? Place a tarp on the ground so there is no grass growth underneath the pallets to cause moisture?

In all honesty, I think I'm more worried about theft (which I doubt would actually happen) and rodents getting to them than the weather ruining the pellets. But I want to make sure that we do what's best to protect them from the elements. And you guys on this forum have great advice!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Deb

I am in the same boat. I have 3 stacked inside and another 5 out on the gravel next to my driveway. This is my by first year, but general consensus on the forum seems to be that if you leave them shrink wrapped, you will be fine. Just make sure you bring the whole ton onside once you break that seal. That's my plan anyways.

 

[TimfromMA]

I am in the same boat. I have 3 stacked inside and another 5 out on the gravel next to my driveway. This is my by first year, but general consensus on the forum seems to be that if you leave them shrink wrapped, you will be fine. Just make sure you bring the whole ton onside once you break that seal. That's my plan anyways.

Yes, bring the entire ton inside once you open the pallet.

Throwing a tarp over the unopened pallets won't hurt either.

 

[alternativeheat]

Actually last year I tarped over the open stack in the spring in our rainy season here on Cape Cod without incident. In fact during the shortage we were buying 15 bags at a time and just tarping those over, also no incident. Put them on a pallet to get off the ground, use a good heavy duty tarp. We never brought in a whole ton, just a few bags at a time. But yes, leave the bulk of them wrapped. I have 15 bags outside right now under a tarp, been there all summer. I will look at those soon, might have a big surprise but I don't think so, the bags are not blown up. When pellets get wet they expand like crazy and swell the bag all up. We got two bags like that last year in a pallet right from the dealer !

Edit: I just looked they are fine.

 

[Bridgeman]

I highly recommend that you check the shrink wrap and most importantly the water proof bag for any holes or wear perforations at delivery. This often happens in loading and transport operations. Even a small hole could cause the loss of several bags when stored outside. Duct tape and plastic can help if the defect is new. If the pallets was outside for months at the retailer plan on several bad bags. Last year HD replaced 5 bags after got down to the juicy ones. You definitely should tarp or double tarp any pallets stored outside and secure with bungy cords to resist wind flapping the tarp. This keeps branches, snowblower discharge or any other flying objects from cutting the wrap and bag. Even then you should check. I had a roofing contractor drag galvinized drip edge across the top of top of a pallet and cut trough two tarps and into the bags. I caught it before any damage but I could have lost the whole pallet.

 

[dabbaah]

...This keeps branches, snowblower discharge or any other flying objects from cutting the wrap and bag.

Snowblower discharge...hadn't thought of that. Might be rethinking the location next to the driveway.

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

 

[fmsm]

I am little hesitant to store this much outside but after dealing with the shortage last season, we are leaning towards stocking up! We burned a little over 6 tons last season! We are going to get 5 tons NEWP delivered and then pickup 1 ton of a cheaper brand at HD or Walmart for the shoulder months. We will stack 2 tons inside the house/garage and leave 5 tons outside.

Do you have any advice for storing tons outside? From what I remember, NEWP tons are tightly shrink wrapped. And I think the store we get them from leaves them outside all season too. I know not everyone agrees with leaving them outside and I would rather not either but unfortunately there is not enough room inside to store them.

For those who have stored them outside all season...How well do I need to protect them? Do you leave the pallets outside unopened and uncovered? Ours will be placed on the grass next to our driveway and close to our house. Should we cover them with a tarp? Place a tarp on the ground so there is no grass growth underneath the pallets to cause moisture?

In all honesty, I think I'm more worried about theft (which I doubt would actually happen) and rodents getting to them than the weather ruining the pellets. But I want to make sure that we do what's best to protect them from the elements. And you guys on this forum have great advice!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Deb

If you are burning NEWP and want to buy a cheaper brand at the box stores why not buy all of your pellets from the box store? Green Supremes ARE NEWP! That being said I would hate to see you spend more on NEWP when you can get the same for less. Even worse, you might buy a ton of Fireside Ultra's and realize that while cheaper they are a better pellet.

My buddy stores his UNOPENED tons outside and takes the extra measure of a sheet of plywood over the top under a tarp. He's been doing it like this for years.

 

[MikeNH]

If you are burning NEWP and want to buy a cheaper brand at the box stores why not buy all of your pellets from the box store? Green Supremes ARE NEWP! That being said I would hate to see you spend more on NEWP when you can get the same for less. Even worse, you might buy a ton of Fireside Ultra's and realize that while cheaper they are a better pellet.

My buddy stores his UNOPENED tons outside and takes the extra measure of a sheet of plywood over the top under a tarp. He's been doing it like this for years.

fmsm has a good point with the plywood. This would offer some pretty good protection from evil tree branches from above, which are probably going to be your biggest adversary.

 

[dabbaah]

If you are burning NEWP and want to buy a cheaper brand at the box stores why not buy all of your pellets from the box store? Green Supremes ARE NEWP! That being said I would hate to see you spend more on NEWP when you can get the same for less. Even worse, you might buy a ton of Fireside Ultra's and realize that while cheaper they are a better pellet.

My buddy stores his UNOPENED tons outside and takes the extra measure of a sheet of plywood over the top under a tarp. He's been doing it like this for years.

I agree on going with Green Supreme but so far they are not available at my local box stores. By chance we burned 5 bags of them at the end of last season. I noticed they were manufactured by NEWP and they burned great. If I can find them, I will definately go with Green Supreme. I've burned Fireside Ultra's also and they were good but left alot more ash. I am planning on getting a ton of those too for the beginning and end of the season.

 

[MikeNH]

I agree on going with Green Supreme but so far they are not available at my local box stores. By chance we burned 5 bags of them at the end of last season. I noticed they were manufactured by NEWP and they burned great. If I can find them, I will definately go with Green Supreme. I've burned Fireside Ultra's also and they were good but left alot more ash. I am planning on getting a ton of those too for the beginning and end of the season.

Sometimes you can find GS at Lowes in our area (S. NH). The one thing I'm not clear on is if those GS are from the Jaffrey NEWP plant or one of the NY plants. Some folks have said there's a quality difference, with the Jaffrey ones being better. I burned NEWP for 2 seasons and they were fine in my stove. They were from the Jaffrey plant, which is right down the street from my dealer. If the GS around here are rebagged NEWP from Jaffrey, now you're talking apples to apples and the price difference right now I think is $269 for NEWP in a NEWP bag and $239 for NEWP in a GS bag. So $30/ton for the same thing, which is what fmsm was getting at, but now I've gone off topic.