The "Great Pellet Stove Rush of 2008"

[slangtruth]

I bought my pellet boiler in '08 when oil was approaching $5 / gal. I remember saying, "Watch oil go down to $2 / gal", and sure enough it did. I have no regrets on my decision ~ though I wish I had the choices one has today for pellet boilers. Back then the only boiler with a track record was my Pinnacle PB150. Harman had a year under their belt with the 105, TARM just started theirs, and MESys had just started their business. I look now and there are at least a dozen choices.

We're in a similar situation with a pellet furnace. We wanted a furnace but choices in late 2008 were few and far between. No dealer anywhere near us for Fahrenheit or Magnum. The Harman PF-100 was a possibility, but they were backordered for months and the unfriendly local Harman dealer didn't even want to talk to us, since even through we had money in our pocket he couldn't take it that day. We ended up with the St. Croix Revolution, with a botched installation by an incompetent dealer which cost me an extra $500 to have fixed by someone with a clue. It was one of the first off the line, and had terrible teething problems - they were manufacturing this thing for a good six months before they worked the bugs out of it. Works OK now (although it's underpowered for the space), but in retrospect I might have been better off to buy a new natural gas forced air furnace and pay to have the line brought in from the street.

 

[Salty]

I bought in April/May 2008. I'd never go back to not having it. Love the heat. Screw the oil man. I detest paying these people.

 

[hoverfly]

I bought mine at the very end of winter of 2008. It was a move in anticipation of prices going up. I was right about prices going up, $100 more on my Mini, but I for saw the price of oil going down in the short term two months later. So I did not bother to install my stove until the middle of the winter of 2009. I burned maby a half a ton for fun and just burned the cheaper oil. Now for the last two, three years pellets have been the cheapest for heat. Do I have any regrets? One, if I knew if the next gen modal was coming out I would halved waited. That cost me an extra $600.00 to upgrade my current one. However if I could see the future I would be playing the stock market. So really, I have no regrets.

 

[jtakeman]

I have owned a stove since 1999, But a few of my freinds got them in 2007 or 2008. Everyone still is burning pellets. A couple of the stoves went on CL, But only because they were upgrading from their starter stoves.

 

[slls]

I still like oil, noozle and oil filter and clean heat exchanger once a year, so easy.
NG will be in the future.

 

[jtakeman]

NG will be in the future.

Actually, NG is still a fossil fuel and doomed to run out sooner or later. What the future holds is them pockets of ice gases on the sea floor. I believe its methane and its contained in ice. But it still has a limit. Biomass has a far longer span as it isn't just wood fiber. Probably the reason why Europe has invested heavily in biomass. As long as we can grow stuff on earth, Biomass can be produced. Just saying.

 

[slls]

NG is methane, old vegetation, land fill gas is methane, swamp gas methane.
Sea floor ice is frozen methane. When it runs out I won't be here, probably you won't be either.

 

[Salty]

I got all the methane you need right here. Big pot of chili on the stove. Figure out how to store it and your a millionaire

 

[jtakeman]

NG is methane, old vegetation, land fill gas is methane, swamp gas methane.
Sea floor ice is frozen methane. When it runs out I won't be here, probably you won't be either.

I just stepped into my 3rd quarter, Doubt I'll be here either. Doubt I will see the end of oil for that matter. I didn't think NG was methane. I thought it was the gas found with the oil deposits. Learn something new everyday!

We have a local farmer that has been saving his cow poop and extracting the methane to heat his barn and house with. He even made it to the telly on dirty jobs.

I got loads of swam gas. But I wouldn't burn it. Probably evaquate the whole neighborhood and DEP/EPA would have a field day! ;-)

Boy did we side track this thread! Sorry OP!

 

[Utilitrack]

NG is methane, old vegetation, land fill gas is methane, swamp gas methane.
Sea floor ice is frozen methane. When it runs out I won't be here, probably you won't be either.

I just stepped into my 3rd quarter, Doubt I'll be here either. Doubt I will see the end of oil for that matter. I didn't think NG was methane. I thought it was the gas found with the oil deposits. Learn something new everyday!

We have a local farmer that has been saving his cow poop and extracting the methane to heat his barn and house with. He even made it to the telly on dirty jobs.

I got loads of swam gas. But I wouldn't burn it. Probably evaquate the whole neighborhood and DEP/EPA would have a field day! ;-)

Boy did we side track this thread! Sorry OP!

No worries J-T, it wasn't an issue related question anyways. I just wanted to know if the 2008 pellet stove peeps were happy with their choices or if they would have went in a different direction for stoves or heating alternatives.

 

[richg]

I referred to it as the Great Pellet Panic of 2008. I heated with pellets starting in 2001, and would usually buy pellets in April-June to avoid the fall and winter crunch. That year was different, but I still had no trouble getting them because I stocked up in March of 2008 before the fit hit the shan.

 

[JIBLANE]

So how much $$$ were the Pellet Stoves going for in 2008????

 

[Utilitrack]

So how much $$$ were the Pellet Stoves going for in 2008????

I don't think that there was a ton of gouging going on, you just couldn't get a stove as they were all back ordered for months.

 

[joe_pinehill]

Hi-

I bought a stove during what is referred to on this forum as the "Great Pellet Stove Rush of 2008." I am wondering if anybody that did so and still burns pellets has any regrets about their decision? Whether it is to buy a pellet stove at all or a specific pellet stove?

The stove has more than paid for itself, and then some and I expect it to provide me with heat for my house for the cost of 3-4 tons of pellets for many years to come. I have not had one mechanical issue with it, knock on wood... My only regret is that I did not do a little more research and perhaps a little more driving to check out a few more stove brands and models. I looked at the Lopi Leyden, the Harman XXV and a Kozi. The choice came down to the Leyden and the XXV, Leyden won out because my wife liked the looks better..so I guess I have one more regret, I should have left her at home... Knowing then what I know now I probably would have gone with the XXV even though slightly more expensive than the Leyden. The determining factors for me would have been that the XXV is much quieter than the Leyden as well as easier to maintain/clean.

The Leyden has been a great stove for us however and I hope for many more years of trouble free service.

We bought our's Nov'08. It was Propane was skyrocketing, and we were scared. We use about 800 gallons less propane a year, but spend about $1200 on 6 tons of pellets a year. So, again in round numbers we save about 1000 to 1500 a year. After this season I think we will break even on the stove investment. My only regret is not buying it earlier.

 

[thesyguy]

I also bought in the 2008 rush. I bought an Accentra Insert and regret nothing. I love my stove and it has saved me plenty of cash and most importantly I am warm in my own home without being poor! I try to push others to join us stove owners and stop funding the OPEC nations as much as possible. Next purchase on the dump OPEC front is a Chevy Volt!

 

[Xena]

Apparently there was more than one "great pellet stove rush".
The one I'm aware of was in 2005 when I bought mine.
No stove shops within miles of me had any Harman Stoves in stock in the Fall of 05.
You could order one but they weren't going to be shipping
until Feb. or Mar. of 06. I didn't care because I wanted the
St Croix. A friend got a floor model Harman P 38 or something like that.
The shop called them a couple months and offered to buy it
back for more than they paid. They didn't take the bait since
they needed the stove but yeah, 2005 was also a bangin year for
pellet stove and pellet sales. I recall some pellets going up
to the $375 a ton mark.

 

[briansol]

i'm one of 'em.

My biggest regret is getting an insert. I wish i got a free-standing model so i could still use my fireplace for wood in a power outage. I probably would have bought a different model too, but it was really all they had left in stock.
No regrets with going pellet though. It's saved me a ton of money over burning oil alone.

I'm looking to add a wood stove to my lower-level now instead. Maybe next year. The exhaust piping for the run i need to make is ridiculously expensive.

 

[richg]

Apparently there was more than one "great pellet stove rush".
The one I'm aware of was in 2005 when I bought mine.
No stove shops within miles of me had any Harman Stoves in stock in the Fall of 05.
You could order one but they weren't going to be shipping
until Feb. or Mar. of 06. I didn't care because I wanted the
St Croix. A friend got a floor model Harman P 38 or something like that.
The shop called them a couple months and offered to buy it
back for more than they paid. They didn't take the bait since
they needed the stove but yeah, 2005 was also a bangin year for
pellet stove and pellet sales. I recall some pellets going up
to the $375 a ton mark.

that was the post-Katrina pellet panic. I remember refusing to pay $215 per ton for pellets.

 

[JIBLANE]

Yes but what were the prices back in 2008 on the Stoves??

 

[jmcp]

I bought my mt vernon for $2100 and $500 for install in 2008 now its about double that.

 

[briansol]

my stove was like 3800 installed, which includes the exhaust pipe run and tax,