Boycott Wood Pellets this Year

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UpStateNY

Feeling the Heat
May 4, 2008
435
Catskill Mountains
With the price of wood pellets up from $200 to over $280 a ton and the price of fuel oil down to $2.39 a gallon, I am thinking of boycotting buying Wood Pellets this year.

The price for wood pellets in Germany is $290/ton for American made wood pellets. Something is not right. Its not right to sell America's wood pellets to Europe at some ridiculous low price before shipment and then turn around and charge Americans high prices. This is not right.

Time for me to rethink wood pellets as a heat source.
 
Too late for me. I just stacked my pellets for next season @ $199/ton.
 
And the first frost price bump has not happened yet ether. I love New York!
 
For us, pellets are still a bit less expensive than oil. The price difference would not justify buying a pellet stove right now but since I have one already, we'll keep on burning. I was going to buy a second stove for the lower level but I've put those plans on hold for now.
 
With the price of wood pellets up from $200 to over $280 a ton and the price of fuel oil down to $2.39 a gallon, I am thinking of boycotting buying Wood Pellets this year.

The price for wood pellets in Germany is $290/ton for American made wood pellets. Something is not right. Its not right to sell America's wood pellets to Europe at some ridiculous low price before shipment and then turn around and charge Americans high prices. This is not right.

Time for me to rethink wood pellets as a heat source.


So purchase foreign oil and fill the pockets of some foreign oil company, sounds like a perfect way to stick it to pellet producers. If you no longer want your pellet stove i'd be happy to take it off your hands and donate to a family in my area.
 
Most of the oil comes from the U.S now.

Welcome to the energy market David.
 
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Why do so many people justify everything they do against how they spend. seems like a miserable way to live. So it's going to cost $160 more a year to buy heat a year. And the guy that buys and sells pellets can't make a living either! Everyone wants to have it cheap and have it local until it costs a little more.
 
Uh, well, I seem to remember people burning pellets because it was cheaper than oil...

People got choices. People make choices. Won't make a difference in the 68% of the country that doesn't heat with oil anyway.
 
This conversation is headed to PMs pretty fast, but somebody posting their alternatives here isn't gonna buy them a guilt trip. Period.
 
Private Messages. AKA "conversations".
 
Probably the good Doug fir too?
Yep, and very local too. The pellet mill is 40 miles up the road. It's been the same price for 4 years.
 
Do whatever makes you happy. As a recent pellet stove convert (Jan 2013) I've never known cheaper pellets, so it makes no never-mind to me. Plus, I don't have an oil burner, so oil prices aren't a consideration.

I have done the math and pellets could go up to about $525/ton before I start paying more for pellets than for propane (using the lock-in price I was just offered last week). And at that, the basement wouldn't be heated so I would have electric heaters set up to keep pipes next to the garage from freezing.
 
Despite any possible price increase I will be burning pellets next season. My only other option is to turn on the electric baseboards. With electric rates around $0.19/kWh I shudder to think of what my heating cost would be.
 
Despite any possible price increase I will be burning pellets next season. My only other option is to turn on the electric baseboards. With electric rates around $0.19/kWh I shudder to think of what my heating cost would be.

Same thing here. Baseboard electric heating is not very good in the dead of winter and very expensive.

Pellet stove heat is a nice warm air that you feel immediately. And the flame is great to look at and enjoy. I would consider natural gas if it was available in my area, but it is not. And I don't trust oil to stay low for too long.
 
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Reactions: pelletdude
To the OP: Any thought of switching to a woodstove? No more augers, pellet demand or quality issues, or running firmware updates on your stove!
 
Wow, very interesting reactions!! I tend to agree with the op, however, i'm not boycotting pellets, just waiting for a good deal to come along, hopefully and if not- oil. Myself I get real tired of price increases blamed on the high cost of diesel and when that goes way down nothing else follows, just like electricity!!!
 
I still get douglas fir pellets for $198/ton, the mill is about 35 miles away, they say it is the oldest pellet mill in the US. A local lumberyard stocks their pellets year round.

I also just split and stacked two cords of wood for the wood stove, but that didn't cost me anything but my labor.
 
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Reactions: jackman
To the OP: Any thought of switching to a woodstove? No more augers, pellet demand or quality issues, or running firmware updates on your stove!

No more auto ignition, thermostat control, 20+ hours of even heat before needing to reload, ease of storage....
 
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