All done with pellets moving to wood stove or boiler!

[TimfromMA]

Its alot easier to transport and store a ton of pellets vs a cord of wood. Pellet stoves are alot easier to regulate temperature wise. I can light my stove with the push of a button. My stove will turn itself up, down on and off automatically as needed. The stoves built in blower helps distribute heat more evenly.

 

[Lake Girl]

Several factors have come in to play with the shortage ... going by projections of weather, heating requirements were underestimated. Due to this, there have been shortages/price jumps on propane, NG, pellets. Some of the pellet companies are selling pellets to oilfields as adsorb. Pellets are being used for electric generation. Because of the ease of use compared to wood heat, more people are switching to pellets for residential heating. Competition is up for transportation as Bioburner referenced. Seems like a perfect storm...

Pellets for me but I don't drive around all day...

 

[moey]

I have never seen a shortage in Sept/Oct/Nov even Dec for that matter. Buy early if your worried.

If your on a fixed income and can not find $600-$800 by fall for the coming winter you probably should sell your house and move somewhere cheaper.

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

Wise choice. I never understood the whole pellet thing. Pricing seems to be based on demand. Here in CT I have found there is endless free wood if you know where to look.

During the 70s oil crisis everyone was scrounging for free wood. Eventually there was no more. Supply vs. Demand. It's always lurking. Buy early, if you run out let your fingers do the walking.

 

[fmsm]

I bought an extra 3 tons when I found some Somersets. Still have plenty left. Never had a problem in over 15 years of burning pellets

 

[Bioburner]

I have never seen a shortage in Sept/Oct/Nov even Dec for that matter. Buy early if your worried.

If your on a fixed income and can not find $600-$800 by fall for the coming winter you probably should sell your house and move somewhere cheaper.

Doubling the cost of heating is moving people south. Now where is McDonalds going to get its workers

 

[WiscWoody]

To me pellets are easer than wood and I can store pellets in the basement without ants and bugs. I don't have enough land to cut to heat with wood and would have to still rely on that business to supply me and a lot others. I am sticking with pellets for now

I keep a good amount of wood in the house. Only once have I seen ants or any other bug from my wood I've brought in and it was just a few that woke up from the warmth and I chucked the split into the stove. They were never seen again! Lol

 

[newf lover]

Also didn't vote. As BrotherBart said, no pellet shortage in the summer. I've been buying 4 tons a year, and only using 3. Only bought 3 this year for a total of 5, but will still have enough. I am fortunate to have a large basement to store them. It's a pain to unload and cart to the basement, but good to know I will always have enough for nasty winters like this. I do realize there are some who do not have the $$$ to buy that much in the summer or the place to store them.

 

[Tonyray]

Also didn't vote. As BrotherBart said, no pellet shortage in the summer. I've been buying 4 tons a year, and only using 3. Only bought 3 this year for a total of 5, but will still have enough. I am fortunate to have a large basement to store them. It's a pain to unload and cart to the basement, but good to know I will always have enough for nasty winters like this. I do realize there are some who do not have the $$$ to buy that much in the summer or the place to store them.

same here...
have room for 6 tons....from driveway thru basement windows, onto waiting pallets.
all ready pre-ordered 4 tons of Energex preminum hardwoods for April...
leave me space for 2 more tons [of something different to try] I can shop around for this summer..
either way, will be all set for winter 2014/15

 

[jdinny]

I suppose we will see numerous stove for sale come summer.

I hope so.
I want to buy another P43 for our basement

 

[DOLLARBILL]

Before you switch split a cord or two, have your wife clean the house again with a wood stove Split, stack haul deal with bugs ect then make a choice ! Preplanning will save you much hassel then again one doesnt get the same workout with wood !

 

[slls]

Pellets are good when it's not cold, too much lugging.

 

[mik_kane]

I have never seen a shortage in Sept/Oct/Nov even Dec for that matter. Buy early if your worried.

If you are so worried about shortages all you have to do is replace what you used up until January. I was lucky this year I bought 4 ton of Hamers from Lowes for $197 a ton using price match a 10% coupon from Ebay in January. I have a wood stove insert as a backup and have to buy wood for it. Good luck storing wood and getting so called cords of wood that never measure out to what a cord is supposed to be. I did not vote in your slanted survey, if you are not happy with your stove than change. I actually hope there are more people like you, I want to get a used pellet insert for a good price.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

sticking with pellets. I started off with a massive amount and never had to worry about no pellets. should have leftovers too after the burning season.
I also have an endless supply of free wood as my best friend owns a tree company, always looking for a place to dump it. if i had to i would go to wood heat but - its messy, labor intensive, attracts insects and i would have a hard time keeping the thing running overnight, not to mention throughout my work day.

 

[Dr.Faustus]

I have never seen a shortage in Sept/Oct/Nov even Dec for that matter. Buy early if your worried.

If your on a fixed income and can not find $600-$800 by fall for the coming winter you probably should sell your house and move somewhere cheaper.

If you can get the home depot card, you can stock up on a whole lot of pellets so they are tucked away on your property and they let you pay them off interest free for 3,6,8 or 12 months depending on how much you spent. That's how i maintained stock during tough times which are thankfully long long gone.

 

[Xena]

Much luck to you. Neither one of your poll choices work for me because
I'm not giving up burning pellets and I never drive around looking for them.
I mostly stock up starting in Spring and throughout the summer. Whether
wood or pellets you have to plan ahead if you want to have heat when
the heating season rolls around.
Next year will be my tenth year happily burning pellets as my main source
of heat and I've got no complaints.

 

[SmokeEater]

This was an unusual and far from average winter nationwide. Just using statistics, it is unlikely that we will have another winter like this one demanding heat starting early and lasting late for a good long time. The manufacturers of pellets did not anticipate this either and I expect that they will use those statistics to plan for next heating season. They too would be overwhelmed if they over produced and had to stockpile for a year because sales and demand were normal!! Then we might think of the layoffs at those plants and the unhealth atmosphere that would create among the employees. At about half the cost of fossil for me, I'll gamble and stick with the pellets. a ton of pellets will last me as long a two cords of wood and the cost is about the same. I don't have to spit and pile those two cords of wood though.

 

[Arti]

Been there done that with the Wood Pile.
Enjoying the pellet stoves now that middle age is here for me (60+). Certainly more affordable than the Propane stove that sits idle in my basement.

 

[sinnian]

Didn't vote, My answer wasn't given = Play the game smart and there are no worries.

Pellets are my main heat source so, I prep early, Buy early and keep more than enough to avoid the last season pellet blues. Not the first time I seen a pellet shortage, I suppose we will see numerous stove for sale come summer.

X2

I wouldn't buy oil weekly, why would I buy pellets weekly??? Start off with a season's plus worth and you're all set. It wasn't a production issue, most mills operate under 70% capacity. It was a pre-buying and distribution issue. As well as, those who plan ahead and get a season's worth also ran out due to the extreme winter, and were competing with the week-to-weekers. Most pellet sellers are used to supplying the week-to-weekers, but then there was an increased demand due to the plan-aheaders running low or out.

 

[TimfromMA]

There are those who simply don't have the space to store an entire season's worth of pellets. It's one of the few drawbacks to heating with pellets.

 

[jlupi]

I needed some extra. monitored lowes site and grabbed some cheapies when they came in. I really dont think there was much of a shorage per-se pellets seem to usually be in short supply come spring. We just had a bad and longer cold season this year. Even if I had to switch to oil, I didnt need it for the majority of the season.

 

[chken]

A tank of heating oil is 275gals or 330gals. That's 2 to 3 tons worth in pellets. If you used to start the heating season with a full tank of oil, why wouldn't you do the same with pellets? I understand if people can't keep 6 tons of pellets in the house or property, but I find it hard to believe that they can't find room for a ton, somewhere. Take out the old oil tank, and there's room to store a ton right there. If the old oil tank sat outside, then a pallet of pellets can sit there too, covered.

 

[TimfromMA]

A tank of heating oil is 275gals or 330gals. That's 2 to 3 tons worth in pellets. If you used to start the heating season with a full tank of oil, why wouldn't you do the same with pellets? I understand if people can't keep 6 tons of pellets in the house or property, but I find it hard to believe that they can't find room for a ton, somewhere. Take out the old oil tank, and there's room to store a ton right there. If the old oil tank sat outside, then a pallet of pellets can sit there too, covered.

Im fairly confident in saying that a large portion of pellet users don't use a pellet boiler. We free standers still require fossil fuels to heat our water and possibly supplement our heat, so removal of the oil tank just isn't possible.

 

[chken]

Haha, what was I thinking. Having said that, if anyone is using oil or LP to heat HW, they should think about switching to a heat pump water heater.

 

[iceguy4]

Pellet supplies and prices in the Northeast are inconstant and unreliable the pellet industry has not matured in the last few years I am moving back to the basics. This is my second shortage I have experienced with pellets and I am all done.

Thoughts? Sorry about the rant.

-G

This is my second year buying pellets...tried to get pellets late last season only to find them hard to come by...so this year I made sure I was set by the end of January...this year....no problems....only because I don't keep making the same mistakes. Anyway, glad to see you go....more pellets for the rest of us!! enjoy getting up and stoking your new "Smokey dragon" when IT tells you to.