Pellet brands sold in (western) New York / Pennslvania Area

[Val]

Around here I can get Michagan pellets (with some trouble)

But the ones locally are DryCreek and Instant Heat.

Not sure what brands are at Home Depot/ Lowes and if they started getting good pellets- never bought their stuff.

Anyhow, Tractor supply sells the Instant Heat and some feed stores sell the DryCreek.

Any signifigance between the "new" DryCreek companys product or Instant Heat? Are they both reasonably OK?

I do like the Michagan pellets but they are not easily obtainable, as a contractor delivers them and I typically would order more than 1 ton if I had him deliver.

Sooooooo... If I go and pick up a ton by myself- because I need to stay local, what brands might be good?

It seems that the good brands are getting less common in my area, unless I go through a greater hassle to get them.

Im not that fussy about the pellets either....but when you see a lot of really bad reviews on the Home depot/ Lowes brands...I've so far avoided them

Thank you.

 

[Rob Kav]

Hi there I am from Western NY and the Lowes in Amherst NY had Somersets for most of the winter and after hearing a lot of good stuff about them here I bought a few bags and was very happy with the heat and low ash.I burned thru over 3 ton and will buy 4 tons for next winter if they restock them.They were flat out of pellets as of a few weeks ago.I believe I paid 209 a ton early in the season and about 219 a ton later.If you get a Lowes credit card they knock off 5% and some savvy guys were getting an additioal 10 % off coupon.Great price for a very high Quality pellet IMHO.I hope this helps.Rob

 

[Lake Girl]

Sounds like you are closer to Letchworth park - choices may be more limited so you may want to check Lowes/Home Depot locally. Wal-Mart carries pellets but they are not reliable on availability but they can add to the stash Hearth stores and other hardware stores in your area?

 

[Val]

Sounds like you are closer to Letchworth park - choices may be more limited so you may want to check Lowes/Home Depot locally. Wal-Mart carries pellets but they are not reliable on availability but they can add to the stash Hearth stores and other hardware stores in your area?

I live closer to the great lakes. Pellet stoves are popular here...but not as popular as in rural areas. I can get pellets from quite a few places but it comes down to paying for pellets at a small business, which I prefer, as long as it is a decent quality pellet and a reasonable price. Or, I can go to the big chain stores, which may offer a cheaper price, but I used to wonder if the pellets were decent. Lately, the situation boils down to supply problems. I hate to say it, but the little feed stores (or small businesses) are really getting pushed out by the corporate giants. So bad, in fact, that although I like to buy pellets from them in the past, they can become a hassle to deal with. Examples include running out of stock, no yard help, over-priced product...etc. Most keep going if they are linked to a major supplier like Ace/ Do-it best/ countrymax...etc and can keep their prices consistent and enough supply on hand to meet demand.

 

[Lake Girl]

Do you buy by the ton or tons? Have storage to do so? May be a better way to go if you can find pellets you like at a price you can afford - tough part is knowing which ones to buy if you don't get to try them in your stove. Talk to the store owners to see what they can do for you - it may open their eyes to see a market niche they may be missing. Mention the soft woods with higher BTUs per lb - manufacturers may have them listed on their packaging or on their website.

I went to the woodpellets.com mentioned in the other thread you have going - not much in the Western NY area East Otto and Leroy look to be the closet dealers affiliated with them (but I put in the zip from Grand Island where I used to live 25 years ago). Not much for pellet choices there either...

 

[Lowarea]

Not knowing which lake you're near I'll throw out the list of pellets mfg in my neck of the woods (southern tier NY/northern tier PA). All less than 4 hrs from you.

The best by far are Barefoot pellets made in Troy Pa. Encourage the independent dealers you're buying from to consider carrying them.

The ok mentions (both closer to you) go to PA Pellets (Wellsville NY) and a brand new to me PureFire pellets (Pittsfield,NY).

The PA pellets: they weren't quite as hot or quite as clean, but I wouldn't hesitate to pick them up if I ran low on Barefoots.

The PureFire pellets were pretty good. However, I only burned 2 bags and I've found that I need to burn 10+ bags to really get a feel for their quality.

That leaves Instant Heats - If I learned anything this heating season was that Instant Heat pellets are dirty! They are mfg. close by (Addison NY) and from what I've been told, they don't have a consistent supply of wood byproduct. I burned 25+ bags this season because my stove dealer was convinced they had improved in the past couple years. The bottom line was they had ok heat but they were the dirtiest of all the pellets I burned. The glass would turn black with what must have been creosote that is impossible to clean off. After hours of scrubbing, the best way to clean the glass was to burn Barefoots for a few days. Problem solved.

I burned a few other brands carried by either TSC or Lowes, in smaller quantities, just to try as many brands as I could.

 

[The Other One]

I ran instant heats from the Tractor Supply in Brockport (I bet I'm pretty close to the area you are describing from the stores you are talking about). They did the job. Whenever it wasn't really cold out (like now), the glass got dirty quickly, but not when it was cold. My stove (St. Croix Hastings), seems to burn anything with proper damper adjustment.