Getting pellet stove next week... questions about pellets

[PelletGirl]

Our Quad Mt. Vernon AE is supposed to be installed next week so I did some research and some shopping for pellets.

I placed an order for Greenway @ $5.75/bag and Lignetics @ $5.99/bag. Got a ton of each and an extra 20 bags of Greenway (I bought out the last of the Greenway until the next delivery). Delivery is a flat $30 no matter how much you order. Did I do okay pricewise?

Also bought a few bags of LaCrete (pricey) and Stove Chow (the bags had broken open but were almost full and were $3 each) to try as well. Anyone with a Mt. Vernon have experience with any of these brands? Which worked the best?

Looking forward to being toasty warm with my Quad and everything I will learn here!

 

[jdinny]

I bought a ton of Greenway's from my local hardware store for $270.00.
tried a bag and they burn great.
Red Oak I believe

 

[bags]

Welcome!
I can not comment on pellet price in you area but from what I have seen you are in the ball park. Also you will like the pellet stove's warmth. My wife loves it! She despises the cold! Have you owned one previously? You have found your most valuable resource right here (Hearth.com pellet forum) Plenty of Quad owners that like to heckle the Harman crew and so forth. It's fun too.

Get your pellets sooner than later. Also ask around the other folks in your general vicinity about how many tons you will need where to buy etc; They are much more in tune. I have see others here that are LI, NY also so you will have a very local source of info. Good Luck and Enjoy!

 

[PelletGirl]

Thank you both! I checked HD and Lowe's and they both wanted $249/ton plus $85 delivery so I figured I could get a better pellet for a cheaper price with the Greenway and Lignetics. They are holding them until I am ready for delivery so as soon as I have an install date, they will be delivered.

This is my first pellet stove. We have oil heat and got killed last year so even if this is a warm winter, I know the stove will pay for itself in a few years. And I like the toasty warmth of a stove.

 

[glacierman]

Installation is actually quite simple on pellet stoves and you will be surprised at how efficient and cool to the touch the stove is (except the glass door if equipped with one of course). The thing you want to be diligent about is the weekly cleaning. I don't think it matters what brand of stove you buy (I have 2 Kozi's) you need to take the time to clean them each week if you are running them 24/7. It takes about five minutes to clean a pellet stove and then follow the stove mfg recommended maintenance schedule for the periodic maintenance. Pellet stoves are a simple design and easy to work on. If you have a stove that holds 40-50 #s of pellets and you are using this stove all day every day, invest in a hopper extension in case you are gone for more than the day. Also, don't worry about putting it on a thermostat if you are running the stove all day just put it on manual and the setting that keeps the house the temp you want it. A thermostat will cycle the stove and you will end up replacing ignitors more often. As far as pellet types I can't help there. I am in Alaska and we have two choices. Home Depot on the west coast supplies Blazer Pellets and I love them. I just switched to Superior Pellets from Lowes because Superior Pellets are made right here in Alaska from birch and spruce that was charred in the summer wildfires of our state. I am excited to see how those pellets burn. I go through roughly 4 tons a season but I am located in the tropics of Alaska and not the interior arctic. And suprisingly I apy $270 a ton up here when I buy all 4 tons at once and that is picked up at the store not delivered. Of course they can't deliver them because I live remote and I have to create my own delivery but it is worth it. Enjoy your first winter of cheap heat.

 

[hossthehermit]

We have oil heat and got killed last year so even if this is a warm winter, I know the stove will pay for itself in a few years. And I like the toasty warmth of a stove.

Not to be a discouraging word, but, have you checked oil price trends and pellet availability lately ?????????????

 

[PelletGirl]

Not to be a discouraging word, but, have you checked oil price trends and pellet availability lately ?????????????

Yes, I know oil is going down this year but inevitably it will go back up. And we have oil hot water heat - baseboards - does not give me the toasty feeling I like. Some areas of the house are chilly and I'm hoping the stove will help those areas. And I like the ambiance of the flame and stove. This year will not be a huge savings financially but I'm fairly certain it will be in the future.

Edited: And I haven't had a problem locating pellets - they are ordered and ready for delivery when I am. Next season I will be more prepared and order in the spring/summer.

 

[glacierman]

I am with you Pellet Girl, Hossthehermit might want to stay with Conoco, BP, Exxon, and all the other fossil fuel producers and they might lower the price for a month or so but they will raise the price of oil in the winter. I would be paying $5.80 a gallon for fuel oil if I still had my boiler system on line. As it is, I pay just under $300 a ton by the time I get it to my house and the pellet manufacturer up here has 300 tons available any day of the week I need it. Now of course the best of both worlds is to buy a pellet boiler system so you can use your existing boiler baseboard heating system and still burn pellets but they are as expensive as a fuel oil boiler and burn more pellets because of the hydronics invovled. You made the right choice to go with a pellet stove.I am finishing the basement in our home this winter and when it is completed I am going to buy a third pellet stove so I have one on each level. I rarely have to use the two stoves I have now unless the temps drop to sub zero and then I put it on to even out the heat in the house. When the basement is done this winter the house will be 4200 sq. ft and I will still be heating it for less than $2000 a year. Long live Pellets!

 

[hossthehermit]

, Hossthehermit might want to stay with Conoco, BP, Exxon, and all the other fossil fuel producers !

Strange, I don't recall saying that .......................

 

[glacierman]

My bad hossthehermit. I apologize for that rude comment. I get a little defensive any time someone even hints at supporting oil. The oil giants are all about money and there isn't anything wrong with that as long as we know that is what it is all about. There are plenty of hard working men and women working at refineries who are like us, getting by, while their employer is making 3 billion a quarter in profits and any time they aren't making as much as they would like they hit the price bump button and the price goes up. I swear if I could find a way to convert my car back to steam and use pellets to fuel the boiler system on it I would. Pellet Girl is new to our world of bio-mass and I just want to encourage her and any others out there that wood pellets are the way to go until we get those Tesla fusion generators working. As far as pellet availability, how can the richest natural resource nation run short on pellets? Never mind, another dumb comment by me. I forget we send all of our trees overseas to be milled and they keep the by-products for themselves. Of course there are those true pelleteers that have a pellet generator to generate their own electricity which in turn runs their pellet mill which makes their own pellets thus making them Pellet Masters!

 

[Mealie38]

I ordered 3 tons of Oganagan Douglas Firs the first week of August at 417.00 a ton plus 45 dollars delivery.
Near the end of September I ordered one more ton for 427.00 plus 45.00 delivery. They are expensive but I can run
my stove for over 3 weeks without having to clean and could probably go longer.I almost died after running the stove so long
and there was just a fine layer of ash.I got way more ash from just one bag of Stove Chow.To me the Okies are worth the price since I`m the one who cleans the stove all winter.

 

[glacierman]

Oh My Word! $400 a ton for pellets! I was struggling with paying $300 a ton here in Alaska. I had better go take some coffee and donuts to my supplier and apologize. I know what you are saying about the ash build up and the cleaning. I can go two weeks on mine before I "have" to clean it but then again I have two of those KOZI stoves from our neighbors to the north. You know the place, where hockey was invented or should I say perfected! What can I say, I am closer to Canadians than I am my own fellow Americans, but that is because I have to go through their country to get to ours so "Go Flames" this is our year, and Edmonton I will never forgive you for letting the Great One go to a place that can't even make outdoor ice let own have it naturally! Mealie38, what part of our great antion are you in just so I have an idea where not to retire and buy pellets, lol!

 

[PelletGirl]

I ordered 3 tons of Oganagan Douglas Firs the first week of August at 417.00 a ton plus 45 dollars delivery.
Near the end of September I ordered one more ton for 427.00 plus 45.00 delivery. They are expensive but I can run
my stove for over 3 weeks without having to clean and could probably go longer.I almost died after running the stove so long
and there was just a fine layer of ash.I got way more ash from just one bag of Stove Chow.To me the Okies are worth the price since I`m the one who cleans the stove all winter.

Did you get them from Bravo? They are sold out of them now but supposed to get more in.

 

[Mealie38]

Im from Long Island ,New York on the South Shore near Moriches.It`s wise to not retire to this area!

 

[Mealie38]

Yes, I got them from Bravo ,They take care of their customers.I would rather pay more for quality then search the Island for pellets,any pellets.

 

[Lake Girl]

Welcome to the pellet forum ... You might want to start a new thread with your installs. The rule here is pics or it didn't happen

Glacierman, curious to see how those birch/spruce pellets work for you ... keep us posted. Most of the softwoods are a combination of spruce, pine, fir so birch/spruce combination may be a very different beast. BC and Colorado were using a lot of their beetle kill for pellet production.

Your prices reflect a lower transportation cost because you are nearer the source of production... Eastern seaboard pricing is very different.

 

[yrock87]

Welcome to the pellet forum ... You might want to start a new thread with your installs. The rule here is pics or it didn't happen

Glacierman, curious to see how those birch/spruce pellets work for you ... keep us posted. Most of the softwoods are a combination of spruce, pine, fir so birch/spruce combination may be a very different beast. BC and Colorado were using a lot of their beetle kill for pellet production.

Your prices reflect a lower transportation cost because you are nearer the source of production... Eastern seaboard pricing is very different.

I have the aforementioned spruce Pellets burning 10 feet from me right now. They are my first pellet but they are ASHY! 3 weeks and 500 lbs of Pellets and the ash pan on my p43 was totally full.

 

[bags]

Yes, I know oil is going down this year but inevitably it will go back up. And we have oil hot water heat - baseboards - does not give me the toasty feeling I like. Some areas of the house are chilly and I'm hoping the stove will help those areas. And I like the ambiance of the flame and stove. This year will not be a huge savings financially but I'm fairly certain it will be in the future.

Edited: And I haven't had a problem locating pellets - they are ordered and ready for delivery when I am. Next season I will be more prepared and order in the spring/summer.

You GO GIRL! Get -R- Done! You will love the pellet set up. It is my wife's kind of heat and I must say I like it too. I am new to this gig and already dig it. Forecasting what the powers to be about what's cheap and the channel changing prices of this or that is futile. That is why I have several options to heat. I wish I would have bought a pellet stove decades ago. Enjoy!

 

[bags]

I have the aforementioned spruce Pellets burning 10 feet from me right now. They are my first pellet but they are ASHY! 3 weeks and 500 lbs of Pellets and the ash pan on my p43 was totally full.

Pine, spruce, and evergreens in general are poor burning smoke producing woods. Same would be true in pellet form, I assume. However, they do burn and produce heat. SAP! When a hardwood tree loses a branch have you ever noticed a big mess of GOO hanging out? I haven't, but the evergreens especially pine, have some huge crusty orange looking puss infection thing going on (sap). I have burnt pine and spruce in my OWB after it is overly seasoned. It burns because it is wood but not a good burning wood in my opinion. People can not give it away around here.

Typical Craigslist add: FREE It's pine (or other species of evergreen) wood for a bon fire! Come and get it as I have no use.

Not sure but pellet form I imagine would have much less sap and moisture but being a characteristic of said woods it is inevitable there are traces. Pine similar to spruce produces a bunch of creosote and ash. I avoid it but when the Outdoor Wood Boiler 5500 Woodmaster PIG was hungry I would slop the pig with it mixed with good woods if I had some on hand. So yes, I have burned it, but no, I would not use it if I had other choices. Smoke and ash beats the hell out of being cold. Does it not?

 

[Pellet-King]

Dont want to get your hopes up there Pelletgirl, but a pellet stove is a space heater, so one room can be 70's where the stove is and the room 10 feet away around a wall can be 60's, dont understand why with baseboard hot water you had cold rooms...you'll soon find out

 

[Pete Zahria]

Im from Long Island ,New York.....

Say no more...

 

[hossthehermit]

Pine, spruce, and evergreens in general are poor burning smoke producing woods. Same would be true in pellet form, I assume.

Well, ya know what they say about "assume" ..........

 

[Lake Girl]

Same would be true in pellet form, I assume.

hoss referred to it - hate to burst your bubble but... pine, spruce, fir are better in your pellet beast. The very sap that creates creosote in standard wood burners ensures a better, more complete burn in pellet form. There is less carbon build-up on the burn pot, window stays cleaner and the ash is lighter so does not clog up the inner smoke chambers as quickly. Oh - they generally produce more heat too. Your igniter doesn't have to work as hard to get them burning... But, it's like everything else - some brands are better than others.

 

[Lake Girl]

I have the aforementioned spruce Pellets burning 10 feet from me right now. They are my first pellet but they are ASHY! 3 weeks and 500 lbs of Pellets and the ash pan on my p43 was totally full.

I wondered how the birch would change the soft wood pellet characteristics ...

 

[PelletGirl]

Dont want to get your hopes up there Pelletgirl, but a pellet stove is a space heater, so one room can be 70's where the stove is and the room 10 feet away around a wall can be 60's, dont understand why with baseboard hot water you had cold rooms...you'll soon find out

I'm thinking I had incompetent plumbers and that's why my baseboard doesn't work as it should. I realize pellet stoves are basically space heaters but also some of the heat will move throughout the house. I know it will not be our sole source of heat but I am hoping it makes my home more comfortable.