Was sitting around thinking about bulk pellets and how to store them. What about old oil tanks that stored oil for your furnace. How many pellets do you think would fit in an oil tank? or even those plastic tanks with the steel gage around them?
Bulk pellets
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Bioburner
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When I calculated price differences it was not worth the $10 ton to have to take from gravity box in the shed, put into buckets and haul into house etc.. Being able to get the pellet supply into the home before winter beats the savings of 10-20 bucks per ton. I am using some corn but savings is $60 or so, but still have a healthy supply of pellets inside. Now if I were to stick it out here in MN I would be looking at bulk feed hoppers with flex flight augers from a hog or poultry operations.
Jaymaine34
Burning Hunk
- Jan 5, 2013
- 247
I did a little looking into both of those options ( not detailed just Q and A) either one would hold less than a ton so on the delivery side I would have need to take 10 tons to be cost affective ( so I would need at least a dozen storage units )
The oil tanks would need to be cleaned ( not easy or cheap ) the plastic containers would promote dampness in the summer .
Cost wise it would be about 1200 for the containers ( never priced out oil drums ) then there would be the storage of the containers and how you get the pellets out ?
In some places they use a hanging bag ( 5 Tons I believe ) cost of the bag was between 600-1000 ( some places leased them but you needed to buy only their product ) the bag was hung in the basement so the space thing again .
Didn't care for that option of the lease like to shop around ( kinda felt like big oil to me )
When I sat down and looked at the numbers for the upfront cost alone I could heat my house for 2 or 3 years .
Again guys these are just rough numbers with only a little research . In the end 10 tons delivered from HD for 65.00 made a heck of a lot more sense . I think as time goes on this maybe more of a viable option . Space will always be an issue !
The oil tanks would need to be cleaned ( not easy or cheap ) the plastic containers would promote dampness in the summer .
Cost wise it would be about 1200 for the containers ( never priced out oil drums ) then there would be the storage of the containers and how you get the pellets out ?
In some places they use a hanging bag ( 5 Tons I believe ) cost of the bag was between 600-1000 ( some places leased them but you needed to buy only their product ) the bag was hung in the basement so the space thing again .
Didn't care for that option of the lease like to shop around ( kinda felt like big oil to me )
When I sat down and looked at the numbers for the upfront cost alone I could heat my house for 2 or 3 years .
Again guys these are just rough numbers with only a little research . In the end 10 tons delivered from HD for 65.00 made a heck of a lot more sense . I think as time goes on this maybe more of a viable option . Space will always be an issue !
iceguy4
Minister of Fire
I too have been looking into bulk...mostly for ease in handling Now I live in a heavily saturated area of natural gas availability...so bulk delivery is awkward....= $$$ I'm being quoted $280/tn for 10 tons of a (box store pellet quality) I'm under $200/tn this year. For me HD delivery for $65/load is looking like a "no brainer" (besides I'll bet I can talk the mgr into free delivery) My job will then be to pick them up to roof level (B hoe W/forks ) and break open bags into storage building (to be built).... 4" X12' corn auger.. https://app-hayspear-com.app-hosted.com/product/LU_UTILITY_4_12/ wired to a manual switch to feed 1500+- lbs pellets to my bulk hopper... carrying 11 tons into basement is getting old..
Bioburner
Moderator
Why not use an auger to feed up to the top of bulk tank too. Used ones are cheap. Or air vac system and suck out of the bags into top of the bulk tank. Easy to do and not to expensive to make.
wsar10
Burning Hunk
I have been looking into this aswell, we have dual oil tanks in our basement, they sit inside what was originally a coal bin years ago. My thought was remove one tank lay down skids than sheet them and build a wall to separate the pellet bin from the other oil tank. To get them upstairs I was thinking a vacuum system with 1/12 PVC (maybe a modified large shop vac) my concern is turning 1/4 of the pellets into powder by the time they get upstairs.
I guess I'm fortunate in the sense that we have a pellet mill "Energex" roughly 15min from my home. I personally would not use an "old" oil tank, you will NEVER get rid of the oil smell and your pellets will naturally absorb any smell . best bet may be rough cut lumber built storage bin, built a few inches of of the ground.
and FWIW there prices are as follows;
$180 a ton with $75 delivery charge.
2-5 ton increments and they will blow them wherever you need them with there "pellet truck".
For me I would save $25 per ton (5 tons), than I would also take into consideration (the first year) the cost of building the storage and handling infrastructure.
http://www.energex.com/BulkFuel.php
I guess I'm fortunate in the sense that we have a pellet mill "Energex" roughly 15min from my home. I personally would not use an "old" oil tank, you will NEVER get rid of the oil smell and your pellets will naturally absorb any smell . best bet may be rough cut lumber built storage bin, built a few inches of of the ground.
and FWIW there prices are as follows;
$180 a ton with $75 delivery charge.
2-5 ton increments and they will blow them wherever you need them with there "pellet truck".
For me I would save $25 per ton (5 tons), than I would also take into consideration (the first year) the cost of building the storage and handling infrastructure.
http://www.energex.com/BulkFuel.php
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