Pellet Storage Advice (4 tons at a time?)

[lightyear]

We have a 2 car garage-single door. I have the perimeter of the garage stacked with pellets, on pallets to keep them off the floor. I was thinking about getting a shed or building a shed to help store them. Is this wise or foolish? I burned about 3 tons last year-maybe a bit less). I live in southern maryland and my wife likes it warm, I like it cool). I have a crawl space so can't story anything there.

I don't want my garage to be completely filled with pellets, I love the fact I can park my car indoors and never scrape it off (came from an outdoor parking spot my whole life!).
-Would you buy pellets in 2 ton rounds, and pay for delivery every time,
-stack your garage to the brim
-park your car outside
-or build/buy a shed?

 

[Steveo]

I have always stored my pellets in my daylight walkout basement. We have to go downstairs and bring up a bag a day to put in the stove. I have 4 tons coming tomorrow and I am going to leave them outside and cover with tarps so that I can just walk out my door instead of going up and down all the stairs.

 

[DexterDay]

i To have a basement that I store in. But I have stored in my 3 car garage up until this season. 3 car garage and would pack one Bay Full...

I still keep about a ton in our utility closet near the kitchen. Small closet, but it holds almost a ton when stacked to the ceiling..

If I had no basement. I would still stack my garage... I never used my garage then. Me and the Wife just started to use it last yr (Garage door opener/Wow, love it). So if its important to have the garage, then a shed would be my next option. For about $1,000 you can have a shed that fits 4-8 ton (Depending on size). Dont judje it on footprint size and stacking your tons the way you get them.. Stack 2 ton high. Saves a lot of space. IMHO So an 8 ft wide by 10 ft deep shed should hold at least 6-8 ton, and can be had for pretty cheap.

Do you have a budget for this project? I would perfer an enclosed space, rather than say a Car-Port thats open. Keeping them free of moisture will insure you get the most BTU's out of your pellets.

 

[GrahamInVa]

How high do you have them stacked in the garage? Maybe build some shelves to get them even higher. 3 tons shouldn't really take up too much space if done right.

 

[DexterDay]

How high do you have them stacked in the garage? Maybe build some shelves to get them even higher. 3 tons shouldn't really take up too much space if done right.

Yep... an 8x8 area with 8 ft ceilings can hold 8 ton. Thats stacked 2 ton high.

 

[ehkewley]

I considered a shed for my pellets this year, but was concerned about the weight load for floor joists. I read online that about 40 pounds per square foot were recommended. I opted for storing them in the basement since I had the room. Does anyone have experience with storing pellets in a shed with a wooden floor?

 

[ohbix]

I have an 8 x 12 Amish built shed for pellet storage. It is framed in 2x4s and has a 3/4" plywood floor on 4 x 6 skids. I checked w/ a builder re: weight, and added two 4x6s under the floor (shed is on a level gravel pad). It holds 6 tons, plus the leaf blower and other misc. stuff.

 

[joe_pinehill]

[quote author="ohbix" date="1318143995"]I have an 8 x 12 Amish built shed for pellet storage. It is framed in 2x4s and has a 3/4" plywood floor on 4 x 6 skids. I checked w/ a builder re: weight, and added two 4x6s under the floor (shed is on a level gravel pad). It holds 6 tons, plus the leaf blower and other misc. stuff.[/quot

I use the garage, but have been thinking of a shed, the fire hazard of 3 tons of pellets always bothers me, nothing is going to stop them in the event they start.

 

[jtakeman]

I have room in the basement for my seasons supply. But wouldn't mind having a little extra space for a buffer(buy when prices are low too ride out the waves we get). I also wouldn't mind not having to defrost and swipe snow off the vehicles! So I see why you like the garage space.

Sounds like a no brainer to me if you have room for a storage shed/building. But I would go slightly bigger than needed for some buffer room. One draw back is you will be hauling them farther than you are now. Another is delivery if the entry has a step up. You might end up hand loading them in if the forklift/pallet jack can't.

There has been some good threads on inside vs outside storage. Some members are reporting no issues when stored outside, kept wrapped and add an extra tarp for cover. There reporting all is well as long as they are left unwrapped. Once bundle is opened bring whats on the pallet indoors. Could be an option???? Of coarse there are other members saying best to keep them indoors for best performance. Any increase in moisture content "may" degrade the pellet.

 

[slls]

A garage should be at least 32 ft long, like mine, plenty of room for pellets and junk.

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

I bought a 7x7 rubbermaid shed. For the foundation I used 1x1 concrete tiles. It has 4 ton in it now with room to spare. I have had no water issues but have the pellets on pallets in case water were to some how come up through the bottom. It was $600 and easy to assemble, took about 3 hours. Made the wife happy because they were no longer taking up space in the back room.......priceless

 

[Keys]

Until this year I have stored 4 tons per year in our unfinished basement. Now that I'm retiring, my wife tells me I need to find a place to go. So I have to finish the basement. With that being the case, I added on to my Amish built shed just to store my pellets. I built it on 4x4 skids with 2x6 joist and 3/4 ply floor. It is currently holding 4.5 ton. When we start burning I will bring about 10 bags at once into the garage.
As I have read, it is ok to store pellets outdoors but protected with plastic AND a tarp, but I'm just not comfortable with that.

 

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

We have a basement which we could use, but garage on the same level is just more convenient to carry 40 lbs bags around. If you re-stack them from the palette, make your own mini palette (or buy the small ones for fire wood) you can stack pellets all around your garage walls - that should hold much more than the 2 tons you have right now ? I guess you leave them on the original palettes and/or the delivery is just a drop off - but using them as extra wall insulation works well for me and our deliverey includes re stacking to whatever location we want (for a very reasonable 50 USD flat).

I would not mind storing outdoors under tarp, but its an eye sore and really cold when you need a bag...

Building an extra shed seems over the top to me and you still have to go through the snow to get there.

Besides, you dont have real snow in MD do you ?

 

[save$]

Dry and easy access are key.
Anywhere you can put them high and dry and don't have to move more snow and ice to get them. I have a 2 and one half bay garage with a full upstairs. Somehow each summer the junk breeds to over flowing and I end up taking several runs with the truck getting rid of the "stuff". Mine are kept in the garage on pallets. Some pellets over two years with no loss in quality that I can detect.