The easiest way to carry a bag of pellets........

[MCPO]

...........there`s got to be a better way than just grabbing both ends and holding it against your belly to carry it down the stairs into the finished basement. I`m 66 , retired , have arthritis , and had 2 back operations and both knees replaced but I`m, no sissy. Yesterday I hauled 2 tons of pellets from the front of the house to the garage behind the house myself just for the excercise. (well , it really had to be done) I put 7 bags at a time on a little red wagon and pulled it along the paved driveway and stacked it in the rear garage. I also carried another 3/4 ton into the basement last week.
Tips from anyone with a better method to handle and carry them would be appreciated?
John

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Pay a teenager to do it.

Matt

 

[mlwschultz]

What about trying a canvas tote bag or one of those slings they carry firewood in?

 

[MainePellethead]

In your case....it might be wise to buy one of those 20-40 dollar 2 wheel dollies....maybe even modify it a little so the bottom goes out further to accomodate bags....and bingo....you have a dolly that will carry as many bags as your body is able to wheel

 

[MCPO]

Thanks for the tips guys. They confirm my previous ideas. Creative minds think alike.
I had already ordered a canvas carrier and I had also made a 2 piece slider board for the stairs out of an old sheet of smooth wood paneling. One at about 5' long X 2' wide at the bottom of the stairs and one at about 6' long overlapping it from the top and secured in place. I plan to have my son / grandkids slide the next ton into the basement .
40 lb bags aren`t very heavy but moving a ton or two gets a bit harder with age and finding the easiest way becomes more important.
Thank for the comments.
John

 

[fletchtb]

I built a similar ramp for my basement stairs to slide bags of pellets down for storage. My ramp was not too wide and the first bag ripped (exploded really) from the friction. My plan be was to use a sled and a rope. We lowered bags down the stairs on a sled. That worked pretty well.

 

[ducker]

man.. the whole reason I wanna go with pellets is the pain that comes with stacking over 3 coords of wood... no thanks. That took over 16 aggressive man hours. (2 of us working hard for 8 hours straight)

Perhaps it's just as annoying to move from one local to another, but you don't run the risk of splinters.. no is it annoying come the winter and you have to get another bag... vs what I used to do.. bring in 3 loads of wood.. ugh

 

[mralias]

I'm building a 9' slde from two 23" wide 9' long 1/2 plywood and coating the plywood with 21" wide x 10' long flashing to make it slide nice and easy. I will put two 8' 2"x3" 's on either side to keep the bags from going off to either side. It only cost me $10 for the flashing as I had some scrape wood. This will allow me to move 2 tons of pellets into the basement down the bulkhead without going up and down the steps. The bottom 2 feet of the slde is open to allow a few bags to fall off to the side when they reach the bottom. I will strategically place my 11 year old son at the bottom of the slide to stack the bags on a pallet as they come down. Take me 20 mins tops....even with a small break.

 

[FredJ]

I dont use any special plywood slides, just lay 3 10' 2x4's on the stairs so that the outer 2 are apx 6-7" narrower than each end of the bags and 1 in the middle. just make sure the 1st bag down stays with the ends over the edges and it holds the 2x4's in place for the rest. I usually slide about 20 down then go and restack those leaving the 1 or 2 bags to hold the boards. If you slide a lot at a time VS having some one restacking at the bottom as you slide, they build up to a height where you dont have do bend over to pick them up (well I suppose that depends on the stairs configuaration, I have a wall about 3' from the bottom of the stairs.

 

[buildingmaint]

This my cause some angry replies , pellets stoves are hard work. You have to have tons of pellets to make them work. Moving 2000 LBS is not easy work . Turning up the stat on a forced air furness is easy. Some people want to burn pellets because it is a cheaper way to heat their homes . But if you have a hard time doing the work or can't do the work , you should not have a stove . Pellets stoves are a lot of work , feeding them , cleaning them , getting the fuel for them. I f you are not willing or able to do a lot of work , any kind of stove weather it be wood or pellets it is probably not right for you. Thats why forced air furnaces with stats are so popular , if your cold just go turn up the stat, and go back to what ever you were doing it only takes a couple of seconds. Any wood burning heating device will take longer.

 

[MCPO]

This my cause some angry replies , pellets stoves are hard work. You have to have tons of pellets to make them work. Moving 2000 LBS is not easy work . Turning up the stat on a forced air furness is easy. Some people want to burn pellets because it is a cheaper way to heat their homes . But if you have a hard time doing the work or can't do the work , you should not have a stove . Pellets stoves are a lot of work , feeding them , cleaning them , getting the fuel for them. I f you are not willing or able to do a lot of work , any kind of stove weather it be wood or pellets it is probably not right for you. Thats why forced air furnaces with stats are so popular , if your cold just go turn up the stat, and go back to what ever you were doing it only takes a couple of seconds. Any wood burning heating device will take longer.

Good point . Anything but a gas , electric , or oil furnace involves some amount of work and at 66 I can still make plenty of dough to pay for the oil by doing service (repair) calls but I like a stove . I have burned wood for 12 years and well know the extra hard work involved.
Pellets are far easier but still not work free but the simpler we make that work the better it is for everyone and suggestions from this forum membership helps simplify things.
John

 

[drizler]

I just slide mine down a ramp made of 2 by 6's . I pile em up until no more can slide down and the ramp is full then go down and start unloading the other end. You can get a cheap hand truck at Home Depot or wherever for 30 bucks and they make the job so much easier. I usually wheel around 4 or 5 bags at a time. If you load it too high they want to spill over and its not worth the headache of watching it constantly. Once you have one of those dollies you will wonder how you lived without one. Work like an ant, just keep plugging at it..............................

 

[Souzafone]

I use the ramp method also, but I have it end on a small table instead of the floor. 6 or 7 bags at a time, and no bending down. I put a cinder block behind the table so it doesn't move when the bags hit it.