Wood Pellet Stoves Are Hot

So what do you do with these stoves when there is a sudden "pellet shortage" and the pellet manufacturers start their price gouging?

I know that burning wood is considerable less expensive than using oil heat, but it also pollutes WAY more. Is the situation with wood pellets the same?

Wood pellet Shortage

Time and fuel are running out on those who want to save money on home heating costs this winter.

Fireplace shops are backlogged up to 10 weeks to deliver wood and pellet stoves, and finding affordable firewood may soon be a matter of scrounging around the countryside for landscapers and farmers with stacks in their back yards.

Finding wood pellets -- a compressed sawdust fuel used for pellet stoves -- may be a matter of timing deliveries to local home improvement stores or hoarding whatever stocks are left. Already, the largest manufacturer of wood pellets in North America and also the supplier to Home Depot stores warns that premium grade pellets will be in short supply and at higher prices.

"There's a lot of panic buying. Many consumers are buying a winter's worth of fuel, and that is helping to cause the (pellet) fuel shortage," said Darryl Rose, vice president of marketing for Energex Pellet Fuel Inc. "Whether we'll have enough is hard to say. We are taking steps by putting a high ash pellet (which is cheaper and can be made from junk wood and paper waste materials) on the market as well as bringing in fuel from the West Coast."


Rose, whose company has plants in Pennsylvania and Quebec, and others said the panic buying is being pushed by anticipated high heating costs this winter as well as a spike in heating cost projections because of damage from Hurricane Katrina.

Home Depot officials confirmed they are seeing some stores already sold out of pellets.


"We are seeing very strong early season sales and are seeing some short-term shortages," said Home Depot spokesman Yancie Casey from the company's Atlanta headquarters. "For the long-term forecasts, we look to be OK. We don't expect it to continue to sell at the rate it is."

For example, the Bellingham Home Depot never received a Sept. 19 shipment of wood pellets and does not anticipate a shipment until Oct. 11, according to store employees.

It's no different at Lowe's in Worcester, where whatever pellets they had sold out quickly, and the next shipment of trucks might arrive sometime next week, an employee said.

I have two friends that have pellet stoves, and appreciate them in every way, except the noise they make--a constant, dull, mechanical rumble.
Are there any models that are as quiet as wood-burning stoves?

hey-- hot tip (pun intended)
if you are lookinmg for a pellet stove-- check out these ones from Delpoint technologies, not only do they totally fit in the pricerange you mention ($2000 CAD) but these ones in particular are 98% efficient! seriously, top that. you don't even need to install a chimney, with 2% waste heat, a dryer outlet will do... oh and added TH points-- he has an emergency backup that gets its trickle charge from a solar panel

Ben,

From what I have seen wood pellets produce much less pollution than traditional wood stoves but still more than natural gas.

Of course, wood pellets are CO2 neutral compared to natural gas which is not.

You could always buy a stove that burn corn.
http://www.goldengrainstove.com/

I installed a pellet stove several years ago and heated my old farmhouse with it for three years. Some of the drawbacks are: You can only fill the hopper with about 8 to 12 hours burning time worth of pellets. This means that you can't leave for the weekend in cold weather without having another source of heat. You also need a dry place to store the bags of pellets. Hauling the pellets around is kind of a pain but far better than dealing with wood for a stove. The noise from the fan was never a problem for me. The stoves are quite efficient and produce very little emissions. Obtaining a reliable source of pellets will become a problem as more people install the stoves.

Pollution caused by burning wood greatly depends on the type of wood burner being used. For instance, properly designed and constructed masonry stoves produce negligible levels of pollutants. Tulikivi stoves (one brand of masonry stoves) for example are one of the very few types of wood burning stoves allowed to operate within German city centers, which happen to have amongst the world's most demanding air quality regulations. I have serious doubts that masonry stoves pollute more than fossil fuels. Not to mention what one reader commented already - proper wood burning is CO2 neutral.

Modern wood stoves with catalytic converters (CC) will give you about 75% efficiency - about the same as low-end pellet stoves. The CC reduces particulate emissions to almost zero since most of the smoke (smoke = unburned fuel) gets burned up in the CC before it leaves the stove, unlike a non-CC stove or fireplace. Often I can't tell my stove is lit by looking at the top of the chimney. The output is that clear. From a carbon standpoint it is environmentally sound. You get the same amount of carbon whether you burn the wood or let it rot on the ground, and you aren't releasing carbon that has been stored in the ground for a million years like with oil or gas. The bonus to your wallet is you can often get sectioned wood from the dump-lot at your local tree trimmer, cheaply or sometimes free. I get mine for $25 a cord, but they often tell me to take as much as I want. I must move it and split it, but that's good exercise.

hello??
there are many people growing Switchgrass now to make into pellets. that is happening in the USA and Canada A local economic boon to farmers who can grow it as a secondary crop... sorta like people growing biodiesel.... oh and in europe there are many people making help pellets oh and you can also get pellet making machinery to turn your farm-waste into pellets... it doesn't have to be sawdust!

oh and many of them (like the one i mentioned up there) turns the pelets into gas and then burns that at 2000 degrees... makes some noise, so does a fireplace, forced air heater....

oh and D, to teh quatiosn of what one does when teh pellet manufacturers start their price gouging-- well, you have 2 options 1) reality. as it can be locally produced and there is no cartel it would be very hard for any one agent to start the gouging... or 2) you can just take another cynic/pessimist pill to refill up on snootyness, and then just go aroudn telling everybody that you told em so

Just out of curiosity, while I understand that in their combustion capacity, these are more efficient than traditional wood, and less expensive than oil, does that take into consideration the energy required to produce, package, and transport the pellet fuel? Do the efficiency stats also consider that these use both pellets and electricity?

to burn wood pellets is unquestionable better than burning oil or gas. but keep in mind..: they haul the wood wood/chips/dust to the factory - press them together - fill them in (mostly platic) bags - haul them back to the store. i rather burn my wood.

hey i have those exact same pellets for kitty litter!! so... recycle used kitty litter as winter fire fuel?? Space saver: put kitty litter tray inside stove?

"A homeowner can expect to go through up to three tons of pellets a season, or $560 worth. In contrast, heating oil will likely cost owners of bigger homes in the Northeast several thousand dollars this winter."

Is this an apples to apples comparison? Why do you give the cost for a "homeowner" for the pellet stove vs a "bigger home in the NE" for an oil stove? I hate when environmentalists hurt their credibility with fuzzy math.

Ok, My wifes Aunt & Uncle bought a pellet stove two years ago from a local dealer. They have a Ranch house that is approximately 1800 SqFt. The stove is in the finished basement and heats the entire house. I was told by them that they go through about 1 40lb bag every two days here in Wisconsin. So, after pay severl $300 natural gas bills last winter I bought a pellet stove myself this year at a local retailer. I have had it installed since the 2nd week of september and just started running it a little over a week ago at the very lowest setting. I have been running it the entire day at this setting and only turning it off long enough to vaccuum out the ash from the fire box which is about every two days or so. I could probably do it less frequently but it seems to perform better when I clean it more often. So far it has been using just a little over a half a bag daily running non stop. I have a 100+ year old house and the average daily temperatur has been between 78-80 degrees F. I figure the temperature will drop a little as it gets colder outside. We have only seen low 40's so far. I bought a 60 bag pallet worth of pellets at another local retailer for $180. So, in my opinion it has so far been a Very worthwhile investment. Incidentally I bought the model 5500 made by US Stove (www.usstove.com) for $950 locally. It has been very queit and produced a tremendous amount of heat thus far.

Does anyone know if wood pellets can be used in tandem with some sort of apparatus in a traditional fireplace?

I have an unfinished basement (cement floors, fieldstone and brick foundation) with a ceiling height of appx. 5'10". My current source of heat is nat. gas/forced hot air.

Are there kits for pellet stoves which you can vent into the existing duct work of a home so the house can be heated via the existing forced hot air duct work? In other words, take advantage of the fact that I have ducts throughout my 2100' sq foot home that can distribute the pellet stove generated heat more efficiently? Thank you

My two bits on the price of pellet fuel and advantages from all those nay sayers is this.
I have been heating my home for the last 7 years with pellets .I also started to sell pellets 5 years ago to offset my cost .on average i burn the norm of 3 ton per year my costs have gone up a total of $15 dollers per ton cdn. in 7 years .here in B.C there is a lot of competition from Pellet fuel makers . so shopping around pays off and i am able to keep my costs down to the user.the main cause for price increases is bags are made from oil and pallets are getting costly.Plus it take electricity to power the plants .but as long as lumber is being produced the pellets are a waste product .shop around and check the quality of your pellets you will save mony.

for LT ,there are in fact forced air pellet powered furnaces, on the market that are very efficeint .

i have a pellet stove (that i can mix 50/50 with waste corn) & i live in philadelphia and have been told lancaster county is a good place to go get pellets. is anyone on this board from around here? if so can you email me with any info? thanks!

For fireplaces you can get a pellet stove insert that goes in the normal wood burning space & vents through the existing chimney. Here is the link to a dealer inmy local area, I am pasting them on here because they carry a good variety of the major brands both the forced air furnace type & fireplace inserts. It will make it easy for you to search the manufacturers. http://www.pellethead.com/product_line.htm

I live in the foothills outside Sacramento Ca. I have heated my 2100 sf home with the same pellet stove for the last 10 years. Can't afford to run the heat pump. I burn about 1 40 lb bag every 28 hrs, keep it on the low setting 99% of the time. The stove is either on the lowest setting or just turned off. I considered going to propane, but no room for a tank on my tiny lot. Now with the prices for propane going up, I am glad I stuck with it. Pellets are the way to go!

Okay--yes I want to buy a pellet stove for my Virginia home. I had one in Oklahoma and loved it. I also never had any problems finding pellets there.
BUT I cannot find any pellet fuel suppliers in the Tidewater or Richmond, Virginia area. Lowes and Home Depot act as if they never heard of them. So does anyone know of any sources of pellets in Virginia?
Thanks!

Hi--I'm considering buying a pellet stove. Is there any way to make your own pellets?

Well I am from Northern part of India were we have been installing central heating boilers(Oil & LPG). Now as fuel cost have increased we are staring a Biomass briquetting factory so that our Max. future systems runs on it. I would like to have more informayion about manufacturing of Pellets as well as the stove manufacturers.
Thanks

My name is Rick Hippe and I own and operate Eagle Enterprises in Wausau, Wi 54403 I am interested in becoming a dealer for woodstoves and for woodpellets. Any information that you could send me would be greatly appreciated. Rick Hippe 1-715-845-8168 fax 1-715-848-0834

Factor in the electrical cost of running your stove. Some use 350 watts, the brand i own uses 27 watts. what i used to pay in one month for electricity now pays for the entire heating season

Ok, here is the list of major wood pellet producers by region: http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/fuelAvailability.cfm
I would think tha teven if you had to pay a little for shippig or delivery from one closest to you; you'll still end up paying less than natural gas or straight electric heat.

I want to buy two tons of pellets; I live in Aurora Colorado. Finding quality pellets is the catch most are made of pine, which is not my firs choice.

My stove will be installed in roughly 4 weeks. I need to get pellets and I was thinking of buying two pallets. Where, if at all are the price breaks and wher can I can them? I'm in the Philadelphia,Pa area and would consider splitting an order with a few people to save a few $. I have a forklift and can accept tractor trailer loads. I've been heating with wood for years and love it, but I recently moved and won't have time this year to get my wood stove installed. Drop me a note if interested @ k.pagurek@cenovainc.com

I bought pellet stove (older style, but basically new). It has been sitting unused and uninstalled in my friends garage. I can not find any manuals for it.
My question is: Can I burn corn? or Can I burn a mix of corn and pellets? Any ideas about finding out.
I live in the center of Iowa where corn is very available and wood pellets are hard to get.
Thank you very much!
Henry

If you are looking for pellets, check out this site. Lists 4 pages of pellet makers.

http://www.aer-online.com/aer/ar-pellet2005.pdf

hey where can i buy wood pellets in bulk in michigan the lower part

Hi,
I have 6 Whitfield pellet stoves new in the box and would like to sell them to someone who is in the southern states, due to freight chargesgoing through the roof. Like I said, they are new in the box, and from what I have found on Whitfield they are very good heaters. I will take 1500.00 for each and that can be with or without the pedistal stand. I also have many pipe components for pellet stoves. If anyone is interested Please E-mail me at RJones6865@aol.com

Thanks

I own a brick building in western New England built in 1844 that I use as a law office and a rental apartment. It has 2900 sq. ft. of floor space. Even with replacement vinyl windows the oil/Steam boiler was averaging 2000 gallons of oil per year.

Last winter in January I purchased a cast iron Harman Accentra for my waiting room. The clients love watching the fire. I have an antique ceiling register to help heat the upstairs apt. I used 3 tons of pellets at $175/ton and only had to empty the ash pan twice. It is very efficient. I used less than 1000 gallons last winter and expect more savings this year.

The only complaint is that Harman does not have a pellet hopper extension for their the cast iron Accentra like they do for the steel models so if I don't stop at th eoffice on weekends to load it will go out.

In Europe most governments give tax incentives to purchase the stoves and pellet hot water boilers to reduce their dependence on foreign oil. There are over 30 manufacturers in Europe producing pellet boilers but none in the United States. Perhaps if we did the same we could save $200 billion dollars averting the next war over oil.

we have a 2 story expanded cape cod and just had a quadra-fire (mount vernon model) installed over the weekend. Its burned more pellets then I initally thought, I'm going through about 3/4 of a bag a day but I might have to do some tweaking. It heats the first floor VERY nicely, I'm thinking of installing an antique style heat exchange in the ceiling to get some more heat upstairs.

I bought 3 tons of pellets at 170 dollars per ton grand total of 510 dollars.

Mounting the thermostat or rather finding the right location is a little tricky, right now I think its a little to far way from the stove and around a corner - I might have to remount it in a spot closer to the stove.

The stove does make mechanical hum at all blower settings, but I find that the noise has become "white noise" rahter then an annoyance.

How is it that, at least in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, there isn't a pellet to be found? From Home depot, Lowes, True Value, Sams, Costco, etc. no one has pellets and no one seems to know when any pellets will arrive? I know that pellets aren't anything new, so how could corporations not ordered them? I've called manufacturers in the south and NW and they say they are pumping them out and shipping them out and their factorys are open 24/7. Is there a lock out for Massachusetts?

We've had a pellet stove for two years now - an Enviro-fire. Although in Canada, the best pellets are the American "Dry Creek" brand at $275 per ton.

We've been told there might be a shortage of pellets this winter too but are trying to avoid panic buying our second ton.

For the guy who bought an old one I suggest that you get a professional installer to do it - your house insurance may be voided otherwise. The companies that do your annual chimney sweeping are usually also qualified to install the pellet stoves for insurance purposes.

We love our stove - doesn't save as much money over electic baseboard as I hoped though. Payback likely ten years instead of the five originally thought.

I'm glad I bought my winter's supply of pellets in May for $175/ton when there was little demand. I think the pellet shortage is do to the manufacturers not anticipating the spike in oil prices this year and the unusually large demand for pellets. Most producers are working round the clock trying to satisfy a 35% increase in demand this winter. My local retailer in Western MA ran out yesterday and has been unable to get producers to answer the telephone they are so busy. Some manufacturers are promising expanded capacity for next year. I wish I owned a pellet mill this year.

Craig Robinson

I've used a woodstove for 19 years to supplement our electric heating. Last year, a pellet company called Energex started selling a steel basket which allowed me to burn pellets in our woodstove. It doesn't have the automatic auger to feed the pellets into the chamber, but now we can burn pellets or wood in our woodstove. This sure helps right now when pellet supplies are tight. I just remove the pellet basket and burn logs.

I'm kindof concerned as to whether chemicals are used in the production of the pellets. I'm considering getting a pellet stove but don't want to be burning something in my home which could be harmful for us to breathe.

To Mike who has his pellet stove in the basement and heats his whole house. We have a ranch and we are contemplating exactly how to heat the upstairs. How did you set yours up?
persia777@yahoo.com

Scott, the pine pellets could actually be better quality than pellets that are made from hardwoods, because the softer woods can be compressed more densely and supposedly produce less ash.

We just installed a pellet stove a week ago here in Northern Wisconsin. At the low setting we're burning MORE than a bag per 24 hrs. This is a shop heater with a 300 lb. hopper so one filling will last 5-6 days - I'm hoping. The dealer was vague on electrical usage but when it needs to be replaced the blower motor is an off-the-shelf unit from Grainger. Our fan motor motor will run constantly at low speed but according to the dealer a typical furnace uses an equal amount of electricity cycling on and off. Local pellets are produced in Marathon WI from hardwoods that our dealer claims cause more problems with the auger because they fall apart. There is relatively more wood dust at the bottom of a 40 lb bag of "Marthwood" (I've seen them sold as oak pellets at Home Depot) than the softwood pellets our dealer gets from Canada. No one is willing to get into bulk supply and delivery of pellets in this area due to the lack of profit compared to 40 lb bags. Maybe someday we'll see pellet delivery trucks as often as LP gas or oil trucks.

Sure "wood" like to make my own pellets-there is a lot of wood in this area. I see there is a big efficient dryer/processor from Sweden. Any investors out there? Heather, if you google you'll find a home-made set-up and info on the die s required. Looks like a lot of monkeying around and you'll need a lot of electricity. That's the problem, it takes a lot of electricity and gas to make and transport pellets. Getting our oil from around the world, natural gas from Canada, our electricity from the big new dam projects in Canada - it's all no better. It's all insane. When you look across the city in the evening and see all the unnecessary lighting, when you walk into a big home improvement shop and see every friggin display light turned ON in the middle of July, while there are news stories about keeping electrical demand down to prevent brownouts, while the air conditioning is working hard to cancel out the heat from all those lighting displays, when your fellow worker in shorts and t-shirt in January says turn up the heat, you just gotta lift up your head and say ain't I grand to be a part of all this? We're sitting on top of the world! God Bless America!

We installed our Whitfield Advantage 2T pellet insert about a month ago. Couldn't be happier. We have a large house and spent over $3K in oil last winter (in New England) so this is going to pay for itself in one year. We've tried several brands of pellets (Energex, New England Wood Pellet, the ones from Home Depot and the ones from Walmart). So far, the Walmart ones are the lowest ash and seem to be the cheapest ($3.77 per bag or $188 per ton). Many places like Lowes and Home Depot are out of pellets - but the Walmart near me had over 10 tons in back.