I wonder...

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

SidecarFlip

Minister of Fire
Feb 7, 2010
5,273
S.E. Michigan
How the increase in steel prices (up about 250 percent from a year ago, mill price) will impact new stove sales this fall. That and the apparent shortage of IC chips. remember, all these units rely in IC's to function.

Milled lumber is positively over the top now. I needed a couple 2x4's for a project and a visit to the local lumber yard was a real eye opener. a stick 8 foot long of lumber (2x4, was 10 bucks) and it resembled an airplane propellor. I left without any wood.

Auto builders are still building vehicles but most aren't complete, they are parked in long rows in various lots, waiting for the electronics that aren't available.

Heavy trucks (the ones that deliver fuel to your local gas station and groceries to your supermarket are dropping by the wayside because repair parts availability is getting tough.

The truck dealership I retired from cannot get repair parts to fix broken trucks, let alone get new ones. The lead time for a new heavy truck is around a year right now.

Inflation is starting to rear it's ugly head and you, as the end user, being at the rock bottom of the food chain are about to feel the pinch in a thousand ways.

Even Menards who usually has a lumber section in their weekly flyer, it's not there anymore.

Shaping up to be a very bad year for consumers.
 
I have several projects that need to be done around the property but after visiting Menards and seeing the prices...........not going to happen this year. There is a lot of money floating around right now and that is going to cause some serious inflation.

They just went and raised property valuations, a 200k house 3 years ago is now a 275k valuation. Once it is raised it never goes back down, they laugh at you down at the courthouse if you protest it.
 
My Taxes went up $800 this year. I now live in 7-8 Hundred K house Realtor Said. She was on Drugs. Pretty sure of it. I think it's only 600k. Paid 220k just 10 years ago. Prices are Crazy for Buying and Renting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FirepotPete
Fuel prices are next on the agenda. Oil is flirting with $65/barrel and the only way it's going to go is up. Wait until the world returns to normal and the economy goes into overdrive to make up for a year of lost production, then combine that with the deliberate efforts of western governments to stifle new oil development. I've been betting on seeing $80-$100/barrel oil by the end of the year, I'm now contemplating if that's low, thinking that $100-$120/barrel oil might be more likely.
 
The interesting thing about owning your house is, if you don't pay the taxes on it you get foreclosed on for delinquent taxes so you don't ever own it anyway. You are just 'renting it'...

Speaking of renting, my renters have actually paid the rent unlike a lot of renters because the 'President' put a moratorium on rent where renters didn't have to pay rent even though the landlords were still on the hook for the mortgage payments and taxes. That was a 100% crock and I see it's been declared illegal.,

I feel for landlords that had to pay the freight with their renters skating along.

I'm afraid we are in a world of hurt...

Just curious as to how it will relate to stoves and pellets. I bet pellets go way up as well. Glad I have a couple years worth in the barn right now.
 
At least my corn isn't (I hope)....lol
 
I think corn will go up because my birdie seed that has corn in it is really up at least at my store...Tell me about how you heat with corn old flip--lol--my humor no negative here...clancey
 
We don't feed the birds (and squirrels) except in the winter anyway and out local feed supply store (Tractor Supply) ran out of birdseed in the early spring anyway.

I'm pretty much cost free on corn other than driving one of the farm tractors with a loader down the road to pick it up, it don't cost me anything except diesel and storage at my end, it's off grade non coated seed corn (corn that was supposed to be coated but didn't make the 95% germination threshold so it's not commercially marketable but it's certainly burnable for heat.

I get it on supersacks (2300 pounds each) or in Tyvek sacks, usually in supersacks on skids, which I return to the seed house when empty.

There must be a passel of money to be made in seed corn but I never ask, don't care. I do know that non GMO seed corn last season was right around 300 bucks per 53 pounds which makes my corn burner the most expensive corn appliance around these parts.

Convenient to have a major producer of seed corn within a mile of me.

Keep in mind that not just any biomass appliance is corn capable. They must have the correct burn pot as well as a spacious ash drawer because corn produces 10 times the ash of pellets and there must be a convenient way to get the ash from the burn pot to the ash drawer and the stove and vent pipe cleaning is much more frequent than with pellets. Consequently, there are only a select few stoves that are corn capable plus, the controls have to be corn friendly, because the burn rate on corn is different than on wood pellets.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seasoned Oak
I know very little about the forestry business but, if the cost of lumber is any indication of what the cost of wood pellets will be in the fall, we all better be hanging on to our shorts...lol :eek:
 
Thanks and you have a PHD in Corn...and that was interesting--thanks--I am going to do some reading on that--thanks...clancey
 
So all of this badness being predicted but really, what are you going to do about it? Postpone lumber projects, yes. Stock up on pellets while you can, sure. Anything else actionable besides bellyaching?

Generators need electronics, are critical infrastructure, and could be short in supply so perhaps have a backup?
 
All this talk about shortage put action in my gut to where I got a wood stove for a emergency just in case thing go not so good. Now they have a chip shortage and cannot build new cars I read.. But the media is crazy as well and one cannot trust even that no more..Have a nice say everyone and just enjoy this beautiful Sat...rest especially those wood choppers--rest...clancey
 
It is what it is. As Americans we will all survive as it's just a 'bump on the road of life'.

I'm sure none of us will freeze to death next winter (at least if we can help it).
 
Just heard on the radio in the shop that the pipeline shutdown won't impact fuel deliveries in the NE (so long as it don't continue too long (whatever that means). Also heard that Lumberg stated that the average price of gasoline is now at $3.05 a gallon.
 
The news is terrible and I just feel "something"is coming in my gut and that might not mean anything because there have been false alarms before. Those gas prices are really moving up and that affects a whole bunch of things especially trucking items around the nation. I spent a h--- of a lot of money just having this feeling and now since I have that extra something to keep warm in the winter I just feel better having now a piece of mind. So we will just adjust our lives and if we feel we must get ready for something do it and even if we did not have to do it that extra sense of security is well worth it especially if you have families. That's how I look at all of this anyway...clancey
 
And $3.05 is far cheaper than most of the rest of the world.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EbS-P
And $3.05 is far cheaper than most of the rest of the world.

The actual price means nearly nothing. It’s the percent increase and how that effects the prices of everything else that I think matters more.

I track expenses and actual fuel cost for my “fleet” is a drop in the bucket.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bholler
And $3.05 is far cheaper than most of the rest of the world.

No kidding. I'm in Fort Nelson BC right now, gasoline is $4.24 US/gallon here. I'm heading to Whitehorse Yukon tomorrow, I'll see what it is up there, I wouldn't be surprised if it's over $5.

This is just the beginning, the green revolution is afoot. Western governments aren't going to come to the rescue when oil prices spike, because high fossil fuel prices will hasten the transition to renewables.

I hope everyone took note of Covid pricing on gasoline, propane, diesel, and natural gas. We will never experience such cheap energy prices again.
 
Ya we pay $ 5/US GAL here in Onterrible, lumber is insane, timber is still low so pellet prices should be stable although consumers pay a direct carbon tax on pellets to heat our homes so we hit $8/40Lb bag, aswell as Carbon tax on any other fuel of any kind to heat our houses 7 months a year. The Carbon tax on all the big businesses got added to everything we buy as consumers, so basically designed inflation, great for big businesses as there revenue and investors value just went up and they didn't have to lift a finger. All so Canada can fight 0.041% C02 of the worlds total Carbon in the atmosphere which we contribute about 2% of by sin-taxing the citizens in the name of carbon. Ya I'd say we're in trouble to put it nicely, and throw in rolling lockdowns, many are going to go without. Our Countries Leader is insane.
 
Last edited:
  • Sad
Reactions: FirepotPete
Just heard on the radio in the shop that the pipeline shutdown won't impact fuel deliveries in the NE (so long as it don't continue too long (whatever that means). Also heard that Lumberg stated that the average price of gasoline is now at $3.05 a gallon.

Local news said 3 days of shutdown before impact is felt. Boy am I glad I am no longer driving to work (100 mile round trip)!
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Pete Zahria
Being retired, I don't drive much anyway but I do 'drive' my tractors a lot and they consume many, many gallons of diesel. least it's no road tax (offroad red dyed diesel) but the price is heading north (like everything else is. Pre bought 500 gallons late last winter at $1.95 a gallon. I see it's at $2.90 a gallon and climbing. I agree, fuel prices are lower here that elsewhere in the world but considering what reserves we have, they should be. Problem is, this current administration wants us to be paying what they do in Europe and that will have a detrimental ripple effect on you going to the market as everything will cost more, way more. Of course the government is good with that because as the cost of living increases, so do the taxes on those products and those taxes support the central government.