Just Got My Pellets for the winter for "Free"

[katwillny]

Hey all,

I just got my Pellets delivered from the Home Depot for free. I got 2 Tons which should last me for the season. Best part, I accumulated enough points on my Visa card that i was able to get 5 $100 dollar cards from the HD. Im a happy man. !!

 

[yknotcarpentry]

Gotta love that, Last year I used my points to buy a 5500 watt generator to run my pellet stove during power outages (after the 4 days we were without it last year).
But hey savings are savings, I just learned that a friend has a friend that bought 5 tons last year and a stove, never installed it so hes unloading the pellets for $150/ton, I got the last 2 reserved, I hope they are good pellets lol

 

[jtakeman]

Never though of saving points for pellets. I always spend them on toys and gadget's

But free heat would be nice too!

 

[katwillny]

Sounds great Yknotcarpenter. I am looking to get a generator but lately the wife is talking about getting a small Solar system to run the essentials i.e. few lightbulbs, pellet stove, tv.
Hey I see you are from Maine, we were just up there in august. beautiful country up there. water was cold as ice though. Kids dont mind the cold water. Happy Burning.

 

[katwillny]

jtakeman we used to use our points for flights to go on vacation but this year we are putting it to better use. Pellets and yard equipment.

 

[yknotcarpentry]

Katwill,

yeah I had a small 2500 watt generator at the time of the power outage as I always needed one to run my sump pumps when it rains. I was very sad that I couldn't get the stove going at the same time on it. It tried and tried but just couldn't get enough juice witht he pumps running. resorted to a K1 heater for those days, MY 2 year old was happy to watch tv and the fridge was cold! We lose power often up here so I wanted (needed) a bigger generator. I thought about solar but we on avg had 2-3 feet of snow on our roof all winter... figured it wouldn't work well.

BTW I went to school at the CIA in Hyde park to to far from where you are I'm guessing and I thought that area was quite beautiful as well!

 

[katwillny]

Oh wow small world. I was just in Hyde Park over the weekend looking at a coal stove. Didn't like coal technology. That stuff isn't very safe if breathed in from what I'm hearing.
Yea we were in Ogonquit, the land of 58degree water temperature in mid august and very fresh lobsTa. Lol.

 

[imacman]

.....but lately the wife is talking about getting a small Solar system to run the essentials i.e. few lightbulbs, pellet stove, tv......

Hate to burst the wife's bubble, but IMO, when you add all the power needs of the things you mentioned, see what it costs to put a decent solar system up to power it all with a little extra "wiggle room", the batteries for night time use, and calculate the break-even point, you might re-consider that. Solar is still too $$.

 

[yknotcarpentry]

loL can't beat the lobster thats for sure, I'm about 20 min south of there so the world get smaller...and yes I don't swim in the ocean to much but we have a "small" lake near us that was perfect for swimming and canoeing all summer long! Plus it is so removed and down a bumpy dirt road in the woods every time you go there is only a hand full of ppl.

What brand of pellets did you get btw?

 

[katwillny]

I hear you man. The syatem that we were looking into was close to 20k and that would compensate for about 25% of our household appliance. So we are torn between that and a system called GeneRAC.

 

[yknotcarpentry]

I'm starting to break ground on a house where we will be installing a generac system. I don't really know to much about it myself yet, but I know the homeowner personnally and they always seem to do a ton of research before they jump into to things..... sometimes to much.....

 

[katwillny]

Sounds great we are for sure going back to maine next summer. Even maybe in the winter to take kids skiing. We are sort of looking for a log cabin.
I got one of a half tons of Freedom Fuel and the last half ton is Stove Chow. I'm not too crazy about stove chow. I remember the moisture leve being high and it was ashy.

 

[katwillny]

Yea they get great reviews. Home Depot sells them down here. Well they sell you the package, install and unit. My boss has one installed in his house in CT and raves about how great it is. I should be getting a quote from a local vendor for one. We need something here we get power loss
power oua

 

[imacman]

I hear you man. The syatem that we were looking into was close to 20k and that would compensate for about 25% of our household appliance. So we are torn between that and a system called GeneRAC.

I have a 12kw Generac air-cooled unit for my home I installed about 5 years ago...works great, powers almost everything in a 2700 sq. ft log home, including the 25kbtu A/C unit in the summer. Only thing I don't have hooked-up is the electric stove....if power is out, we just use the microwave, toaster, or George Foreman grill.

Any of you Hearth.com people that might be looking for info, here's the forum i belong to for Generac generators:

http://zillerelectric.com/forums/index.php

 

[Tony K]

I saw where my local Home Depot had pellets, every ton you bought save 50.00, you buy 6 tons save 300.00, they had 3 or 4 different brands, one being Blazer. Also hearing Tractor supply has them for 245.00 a ton going to check it out today. Seems everyone has pellets and no shortage this year, hoping this drops the price!

 

[mark d fellows]

.....but lately the wife is talking about getting a small Solar system to run the essentials i.e. few lightbulbs, pellet stove, tv......

Hate to burst the wife's bubble, but IMO, when you add all the power needs of the things you mentioned, see what it costs to put a decent solar system up to power it all with a little extra "wiggle room", the batteries for night time use, and calculate the break-even point, you might re-consider that. Solar is still too $$.

Just let the man go. You CAN run essentials fairly easily with solar. How do I know this, I do this. I have four 15 watt panels in parallel. I get about 3 amps out of the array. I use that to charge a Black and Decker Electromte 400 in parallel with an old Portable Jump Start pack I got as an anniversary gift at an old job. The BD has an inverter built in so I just plug a Torche lamp directly into it with a 23 watt CFL installed. The jumper pack gets a 75 watt inverter plugged into the cigarete lighter port running another lamp with a 20 watt CFL. I get about 5 hours of light out of each.

Not to be a jerk, but yes, if you think about solar in terms of saving money it is a no go. If you think of solar in terms of security in an outage( like the original poster seems to) it makes plenty of sense.

Yes, I also have a Champion 3500 watt gas powered portable for real power backup, but it is possible to get into a situation that is hard to get gasoline in a crisis.

It is also possible to get usable power from solar but yes, it is quite expensive right now. The prices are really starting to come down to a level where one can experiment with a setup.

you can get a 60 watt kit with everything you need except a battery for 285. Add the Electromate 400 sold at Walmart for 98.00 and you have a useable system that can do useful things.

Mark