What NOT to do with Pellets!!!

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

Storing outside is perfectly fine as long as they are packaged correct. My Barefoots came on brandnew wood crates, the bottom had extra paper, each bag has plastic and around all bags was a super heavy duty plastic wrap as well. I have zero concern they would be effected even in the recent hurricane.

As for humidity of the pellet and the pellet being wood shredded in small and accessible pieces - would one not expect that their humidity equals air humidity pretty much ? Maybe the humidity/temperature of your air supply has more impact on the burn than the humidity of the pellet ? The few that are actually falling into the fire at each time ?

Pellets are no fire wood, old rules dont apply...

 

[DexterDay]

Storing outside is perfectly fine as long as they are packaged correct. My Barefoots came on brandnew wood crates, the bottom had extra paper, each bag has plastic and around all bags was a super heavy duty plastic wrap as well. I have zero concern they would be effected even in the recent hurricane.

As for humidity of the pellet and the pellet being wood shredded in small and accessible pieces - would one not expect that their humidity equals air humidity pretty much ? Maybe the humidity/temperature of your air supply has more impact on the burn than the humidity of the pellet ? The few that are actually falling into the fire at each time ?

Pellets are no fire wood, old rules dont apply...

Why take a risk??? Thats not worth taking... Pellets take up a floor space area of less than 16 sq ft, for 1 ton... Takes up less room than an average closet.

This "Fiber" is dried to a much lower level of Moisture, than whats in the air..... The relative Humidity is much higher than the moisture content of the pellet. They dont just take saw dust and jam it together really tight and call it a pellet. The entire process is a science. Must have a good fiber, thats dried to X moisture content (Depends on a Standard, Premium, or Super Premium Pellet), then its ran through the mill and thats where more heat is generated that produces a Lignin coating, to semi-protect the pellet from moisture. Then there air dried/air cooled on racks. Cant bag a hot pellet. Then there bagged in bags that have holes....

I dont know about the actual moisture difference in the air affecting the pellet... But water/rain on a pellet bag is still not good... Storing pellets outside "MIGHT" be o.k... Until you break the seal... Even then, the wood pallet and paper on the bottom can absorb moisture and then the bottom row of pellets gets wet. Once there wet, it leads to the 2nd row... And so on....

The bags of Hamer's you just bought are not as protected as you think... Pellet bags have holes throughout them... Some more than others. But they all are perforated in some way, to let the bags/pellets breathe. Little bit of water water goes a long way in a bag of pellets.. Better to be safe than sorry.., Thats taking a gamble... A losing gamble.

 

[save$]

Storing outside is perfectly fine as long as they are packaged correct. My Barefoots came on brandnew wood crates, the bottom had extra paper, each bag has plastic and around all bags was a super heavy duty plastic wrap as well. I have zero concern they would be effected even in the recent hurricane.

As for humidity of the pellet and the pellet being wood shredded in small and accessible pieces - would one not expect that their humidity equals air humidity pretty much ? Maybe the humidity/temperature of your air supply has more impact on the burn than the humidity of the pellet ? The few that are actually falling into the fire at each time ?

Pellets are no fire wood, old rules dont apply...

Why take a risk??? Thats not worth taking... Pellets take up a floor space area of less than 16 sq ft, for 1 ton... Takes up less room than an average closet.

This "Fiber" is dried to a much lower level of Moisture, than whats in the air..... The relative Humidity is much higher than the moisture content of the pellet. They dont just take saw dust and jam it together really tight and call it a pellet. The entire process is a science. Must have a good fiber, thats dried to X moisture content (Depends on a Standard, Premium, or Super Premium Pellet), then its ran through the mill and thats where more heat is generated that produces a Lignin coating, to semi-protect the pellet from moisture. Then there air dried/air cooled on racks. Cant bag a hot pellet. Then there bagged in bags that have holes....

I dont know about the actual moisture difference in the air affecting the pellet... But water/rain on a pellet bag is still not good... Storing pellets outside "MIGHT" be o.k... Until you break the seal... Even then, the wood pallet and paper on the bottom can absorb moisture and then the bottom row of pellets gets wet. Once there wet, it leads to the 2nd row... And so on....

The bags of Hamer's you just bought are not as protected as you think... Pellet bags have holes throughout them... Some more than others. But they all are perforated in some way, to let the bags/pellets breathe. Little bit of water water goes a long way in a bag of pellets.. Better to be safe than sorry.., Thats taking a gamble... A losing gamble.

totally agree X2 very much a loosing gamble

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

WHAT????

Are you guys saying that I should stop attaching a rope to my bags of pellets and dunking them in my coffee?

Seriously, just like gunpowder they work a lot better dry.

Storing outside is perfectly fine as long as they are packaged correct. My Barefoots came on brandnew wood crates, the bottom had extra paper, each bag has plastic and around all bags was a super heavy duty plastic wrap as well. I have zero concern they would be effected even in the recent hurricane.

As for humidity of the pellet and the pellet being wood shredded in small and accessible pieces - would one not expect that their humidity equals air humidity pretty much ? Maybe the humidity/temperature of your air supply has more impact on the burn than the humidity of the pellet ? The few that are actually falling into the fire at each time ?

Pellets are no fire wood, old rules dont apply...

Why take a risk??? Thats not worth taking... Pellets take up a floor space area of less than 16 sq ft, for 1 ton... Takes up less room than an average closet.

This "Fiber" is dried to a much lower level of Moisture, than whats in the air..... The relative Humidity is much higher than the moisture content of the pellet. They dont just take saw dust and jam it together really tight and call it a pellet. The entire process is a science. Must have a good fiber, thats dried to X moisture content (Depends on a Standard, Premium, or Super Premium Pellet), then its ran through the mill and thats where more heat is generated that produces a Lignin coating, to semi-protect the pellet from moisture. Then there air dried/air cooled on racks. Cant bag a hot pellet. Then there bagged in bags that have holes....

I dont know about the actual moisture difference in the air affecting the pellet... But water/rain on a pellet bag is still not good... Storing pellets outside "MIGHT" be o.k... Until you break the seal... Even then, the wood pallet and paper on the bottom can absorb moisture and then the bottom row of pellets gets wet. Once there wet, it leads to the 2nd row... And so on....

The bags of Hamer's you just bought are not as protected as you think... Pellet bags have holes throughout them... Some more than others. But they all are perforated in some way, to let the bags/pellets breathe. Little bit of water water goes a long way in a bag of pellets.. Better to be safe than sorry.., Thats taking a gamble... A losing gamble.

totally agree X2 very much a loosing gamble

 

[Duane S.]

I've NEVER seen a store that stores their pellets inside. They take up to much space. Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them. Home Depot, Lowes, etc, it doesn't matter, they ALL store their pellets outside. Yes, I do keep mine in the garage once I get them, because in winter it is much easier going to the garage and getting them, instead of digging them out from underneath a foot or 2 of snow.

 

[DMZX]

I've NEVER seen a store that stores their pellets inside. They take up to much space. Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them. Home Depot, Lowes, etc, it doesn't matter, they ALL store their pellets outside. Yes, I do keep mine in the garage once I get them, because in winter it is much easier going to the garage and getting them, instead of digging them out from underneath a foot or 2 of snow.

I only buy pellet that are stored under cover. Home Depot stores them in there yard and garden section, which is not heated but has a roof overhead. The Co-op I buy them from keeps them stored in the feed warehouse.

 

[BrotherBart]

Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them.

I am older than rocks so I remember back in the fifties and early sixties when we would never buy a new car that had been stored outside. It had to come off of the showroom floor. Dealerships all had huge warehouses, even in the little town I lived in, to store them. And as a side note, the new model years all were shipped into town in a covered truck and kept locked in the storage until the release date in October.

Oh how times have changed.

 

[jtakeman]

Pellets are no fire wood, old rules dont apply...

Well, one rule does apply. Moisture in firewood kills its BTU output and that also applies to wood pellets. The higher the moisture content the lower its BTU's will be. If you look at some of the TwinPorts test sheets you will notice they usually provide the BTU content at its recieved moisture(red hilight) and also corrected value(green hilight) at 0% moisture. 0% moisture is much higher.

We all do what we need to do to get by. If your storing them outside try to keep them as dry as possible by keeping them up off the ground and wrapped tight. I'd also add some extra cover over them.

On humidity, The effect I see is pellets could absorb more moisture than if kept in a dry location.

 

[ducker]

I bought 4tons from Lowes... I know the big box stores turn their product fairly fast, that being said, they do store them outside, and you can see some damage to some of the bags from poor lift handling. My first question to them was -- if I have broken/damaged bags - what is the policy of the store?

They said I could take them back and exchange them. This was the same policy of another pellet distributor that I've used a couple seasons in a row. A great policy. I don't think I would bother with any other pellet reseller if they won't stand behind how they handle their product.

That being said, out of 200 bags, if I had one or two that were slightly bad I might just ignore it.

 

[MCPO]

I burned 36 bags of Dry Creek pellets that were 2 yrs sitting outside (opened pallet , but covered and dry) and so far they were the best ones I`ve ever burned.
So I say RUBBISH to those who would write off pellets stored outside.
That said , I`d much prefer those that have been always stored inside but I`m not gonna knock myself out tracking the history , transportation of , or the care of the pellets I buy from the factory to my garage . I`d not hesitate for a moment to keep em outside if I didn`t have room in the rear garage.
All I want is the opportunity to replace them if they arrive wet or in broken bags, or some other legitimate reason for return.
So far my stoves have burned any and all pellets I`ve fed them. Some better than others but all burned reasonably well. I have little control over how much moisture they absorb , other than to keep them dry.

 

[DexterDay]

I've NEVER seen a store that stores their pellets inside. They take up to much space. Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them. Home Depot, Lowes, etc, it doesn't matter, they ALL store their pellets outside. Yes, I do keep mine in the garage once I get them, because in winter it is much easier going to the garage and getting them, instead of digging them out from underneath a foot or 2 of snow.

Out of the 8 places I have bought pellets. Only 1 stores them outside ( Thats the place that started this thread) The other 7 are 4 Hearth/Stove shops and Menards, HD, and Lowes. They all store indoors. Or at least under cover in the outside Garden area. Which are far enough back that they will never see rain or snow.

Also Fiber by Products (makers of Pro Pellets) store there pellets indoors at the mill and even go as far as shipping them in an enclosed trailer, to keep them dry.

Seeing that pellets are a product that absorb moisture. I cant see why the risk would be taken. Everyone has there own way of doing things. You can do it your way and I will do it my way. Befofe building my Pellet Crib, I stored a ton in a utility closet in my "Mud Room" . You woukd be surprised how little area it takes to store a ton in. Especially when go stack them right and go from floor to ceiling.

Dont butter your bread before you toast it.......

 

[kilbury]

I've NEVER seen a store that stores their pellets inside. They take up to much space. Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them. Home Depot, , etc, it doesn't matter, they ALL store their pellets outside. Yes, I do keep mine in the garage once I get them, because in winter it is much easier going to the garage and getting them, instead of digging them out from underneath a foot or 2 of snow.

I only buy pellet that are stored under cover. Home Depot stores them in there yard and garden section, which is not heated but has a roof overhead. The Co-op I buy them from keeps them stored in the feed warehouse.

I guess our place is the exception then, we've been storing them inside for 17 years. We have 2 buildings capable of holding nearly 2500 ton if we had to. The pic is from the beginning of this year when we started stocking in, in March.

 

[Fish On]

(broken link removed to http://www.lauzonpellets.com/cms/images/stories/lauzon/gallery/papaerials_0006.jpg)

cubex pellets one of the best pellets. there stored outdoors

 

[MCPO]

I've NEVER seen a store that stores their pellets inside. They take up to much space. Cars are parked outside at the car dealerships, and we all buy them. Home Depot, Lowes, etc, it doesn't matter, they ALL store their pellets outside. Yes, I do keep mine in the garage once I get them, because in winter it is much easier going to the garage and getting them, instead of digging them out from underneath a foot or 2 of snow.

Out of the 8 places I have bought pellets. Only 1 stores them outside ( Thats the place that started this thread) The other 7 are 4 Hearth/Stove shops and Menards, HD, and Lowes. They all store indoors. Or at least under cover in the outside Garden area. Which are far enough back that they will never see rain or snow.

Also Fiber by Products (makers of Pro Pellets) store there pellets indoors at the mill and even go as far as shipping them in an enclosed trailer, to keep them dry.

Seeing that pellets are a product that absorb moisture. I cant see why the risk would be taken. Everyone has there own way of doing things. You can do it your way and I will do it my way. Befofe building my Pellet Crib, I stored a ton in a utility closet in my "Mud Room" . You woukd be surprised how little area it takes to store a ton in. Especially when go stack them right and go from floor to ceiling.

Dont butter your bread before you toast it.......

Yep, given the choice inside is obviously best , but what do you expect folks to do if they don`t have inside storage? They all can`t always do it "YOUR WAY".
And in my area it might not be rare to see pellets stored inside a warehouse but it`s more common to see them outside.
Only here on the forum does anyone make a such a big fuss about it.

 

[smoke show]

Only here on the forum does anyone make a such a big fuss about it.

AMEN.

 

[jtakeman]

Only here on the forum does anyone make a such a big fuss about it.

AMEN.

Well, Maybe we are making a big deal of this??? All I can say is the mills watch what we chat about. I got a PM from scotL and here is what he said! I am pretty sure he is Scot Linkletter- Plant Manager -MaineWoods Pellet Co. I asked him to post this but he felt he would be advertising his goods. So I am posting it here!

I saw the “What NOT to do with Pellets†thread. I noticed someone mentioned the microperfs in the bags. Those aren’t so the pellets can “breatheâ€. They are so the air can be removed from the bag so it can be stacked. Otherwise it would be a balloon. The pallet cover does not have holes.

There are 2 things we’ve done to keep moisture out of the pellets:
1. We use a special pallet cover that has no seam on the top of the bag. Most pallet covers are gusseted with a welded plastic seam on the top. Sometimes these leak.
2. We use a recycled plastic pallet liner on the bottom of the pallet to keep any water from getting in. We recently have been testing a chipboard liner with a moisture barrier (looks like a cardboard sheet) that we may replace the plastic with.

But, no matter what we do, the largest cause of moisture seems to be from the way the stores or the trucking company handles the pellets after they leave here. Stores will sometimes rip the pallet cover and leave them outside or double stack them with no plywood in between to protect the bottom bag. Truck drivers with flatbeds will sometimes use straps that are too narrow or just plain tighten them down WAY too tight and rip the bags.

When we load them on the trucks, they are packaged well enough to remain dry even if left outside in the rain. We also have UVI protection added to our bags and covers so the sun will not deteriorate them and make them brittle.

Thanks for sharing scotL and I am glad your watching and also glad your willing to share the why's and where's with us(well me anyway!).

I have an idea on the microperfs(little air holes)! How about a one way valve to let the air out, But keep air from getting in until we open the bag? Just an Idea! But probably overkill. If I see a one way valve on pellet bags in the future maybe I'll point to this and ask for commission?? hehe

 

[IHATEPROPANE]

I had mwp in my yard all summer. Pallet was well wrapped and pellets look good

 

[MCPO]

If I had a pellet mill or was a distributor who had the luxury of inside storage you bet your boots I`d make a big deal over it too but the reality is it`s just not a deal breaker .

 

[nhdblfan]

This is crazy,they are stored outside at the mill,trucked out side (ever seen a covered delivery truck for the mill or think they don't deliver in the rain ?) and many stores have them outside with no effects. I have stored them outside all "winta" under a tarp with no issues at all.I do now store them inside a lower garage as I have access to a pallet jack-less room.

We all look at cost and pay back,whats inside storage and delivery going to add to the price ???

 

[RiddleMasterMorgon]

Sorry guys I was out of town for a while and could not respond right away - I am missing a show here...

a) humidity - think this over again people, your garage is not an insulated area and the humidity will be by and large what you have outside, so no much difference in storage right there. Basement might be constantly wetter than a garage place - I know my was until the de-humidifier took over that problem for me - now its dryer than the house. So your pellets will be whatever the humdity was...say 10 h ago - not sure how long they need to equilibrate...

b) My point actually was that some vendors have better packaging of their pellets (on a crate) than others - hughe difference and if you consider outside storage (was that not the original question, cant remember any more) its worthwhile checking that aspect as well - which otherwise gets rather irrelevant. I was pleasantly surprised about the package quality I got for my Barefoots compared to last years InstantHeat. An aspect of 'higher quality pellets' most probably dont think about or care about either.

c) just for fun, did anyone ever open a bag and filled it with water to see if the bags have holes where the liquid poures out ? Just asking, I would like to try and make a picture, just did not had the time jet, but will do...

d) now the real issue, rain: Of course thats bad in any case (although I have to say that pellets make a great salt replacement for de icing in WInter - come spring they just 'dissapear' when the snow melts they do too...Its expensive, but as an emergency measure I like to use my pellets that way (also great as extra weight in my truck in WInter - totally practical) - well the Instant Heat anyway...not good for much else.

And of course we are making a big deal out of it...what else, I guess we are through with the 'whats the best pellet out there'...

Keep it coming...Cheers

 

[jtakeman]

No need to fill a bag with water. Just stop down to a boxstore and see what happens to a bag left out in the rain! :cheese:

 

[silvy03]

Thats how they travel on flatbed trucks . Thats how there stored .lost a few bags myself.

 

[teetah222]

I buy pellets that are stored outside. My local shop stores them all outside. They have two layers of plastic and a cover on the pallet. I have not noticed any problems.

Ditto that. Two years of buying pallets stored outside, and that's the only place I have room for them once I get home, so it would be a bit hypocritical to insist the store keeps them inside when I'm going to leave them out. Keep them under a tarp at all times and it's not an issue.

 

[BrotherBart]

Think the horse is beaten enough.

Yeah, I am back in the pellet room.