Hi. I'd like to get a pellet stove at some point. I am looking at the prices of pellets now and they are starting at $309/ton BEFORE taxes and delivery. What is going on with the prices? I bought oil in July at $3.20 /gal, thinking it'd go up in Sept. So I would not be saving any $$ if I bought pellets at this price now. Oil here is $2.85 +/- a gal. What was the price of pellets in NE in the spring/summer this year (2014)?
Pellet Prices in New England?
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TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
DrewBoogie
Burning Hunk
I've seen $330-400 at one dealer in SE CT. Most big box stores are out around here and all are waiting since October for their deliveries. I hear HD in Westerly has some Heat'rs left, but i can't comment on price, I'd assume $250-275 a ton picked up.
Jp16
Member
It said a ton of pellets is equal to about 120 gallons of oil. So if you get a ton of pellets for $309 then the equivalent oil per gallon would be about $2.57. You would be ahead in fuel costs but also add in the pay back time of the appliance. The way I have figured it, I cut my oil use by 400 gallons. So I am using about 200 gallons of oil and 3 tons of pellets a year. I got my last 2 tons of pellets for $255/ton. I am saving about $800 a year on fuel. My pellet stove will be paid off and in about 3 years as long as oil stays at the same price. Sooner if it goes up.....
movemaine
Minister of Fire
I don't think that's necessarily true when you factor in all of the variables. On oil, I kept the house at 68 degrees. With pellets, my house is much warmer 71-74 throughout different parts of the house.
I think I would need to compare a month with oil set at the same temp, and then I bet the pellet to oil comparison would be much higher.
You can still get pellets $239 -$269 around here. No reason to be paying in the $300 range unless you have a lousy stove that requires designer pellets. I am getting great heat this year from Pres-to-logs that can be had at home depot for $239 a ton.
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
Where are pellets taxed? I live in Taxachusetts and they aren't taxed here either...................yet.
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
At least around me with some shopping this summer you could have bought decent pellets around $200ish.
TimfromMA
Minister of Fire
bogieb
Minister of Fire
Saome states tax just about anything that is sold. OOP is from CT - I am unsure what all they tas. No taxes here in NH, unless you use fossil fuels, then it is part of the price because they are taxed before sales.
Pellet prices are high right now, due to high demand. If you buy your pellets in the spring like many of us do, the prices are much lower.
Jp16
Member
If you keep the house at the same temp then it is. A BTU is a BTU. Oil or gas or pellets. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit)
#2 oil has about 140,000 BTU/Gal. (some say 138,000 BTUs) (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuel-oil-combustion-values-d_509.html)
A pound of wood has about 8600 BTU. (http://www.mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/docs/WDBASICS.pdf) this varies on moisture content. I have even seen some claim as much as 9000 BTUs/lb. The referenced document has a theoretical BTU of a little over 10,000 but they explain why it is not.
Therefore: 120 Gallons of oil has ~ 16,800,000 BTUs. 2000 pounds of wood has ~ 17,200,000 BTUs. If you kept the same temp in the house by heating with oil or pellets then yes it is true. You are heating the same space. Now your oil burner may be more or less efficient that the pellet burner. But, sitting on the basement floor, there is the available BTUs.
In my house we use ~ 400 gallons LESS oil a year since we installed the pellet stove. My oil supplier's rate right now is (WOW it came down...) $2.999/gal. This is $1200 in oil savings. I paid 255 a ton for my pellets and will use about 3 ton. $765. With the my revised oil rate I will save ~ $435 this year. Last year was more as oil was more expensive.
I don't know what to say. I have almost always (except for one year) burned Energex from Dysarts. They have always been $280/ton. Not cheap but not horrible either. I even stopped picking them up myself with my truck. I just pay the $60 to have them deliver me 4 tons at the end of my driveway. Considering I don't have a trailer that saves me 4 trips.... all I have to worry about is bringing them into the basement! Total pellet cost for 4 tons of Energex this fall was $1056 and I procrastinated. I ordered them on 9/26
Figure in the cost of the stove, your time to maintain, clean , buy and stack pellet's, stick with oil, enjoy your evenly heated home, pellet stoves are space heater it can be 10 degree's colder in my small cape from 1 room to the next, whoever says there house is 74 degee's thruout there whole house is full of chit on a below 20 degree night.
Here's a list of oil prices in RI....cheaper than Ct!
http://www.newenglandoil.com/ri.htm
Here's a list of oil prices in RI....cheaper than Ct!
http://www.newenglandoil.com/ri.htm
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