Since my home depot finally dropped the price of pellets to 199, i thought i'd pick up some to try before I commit to buying a whole lot of them. I've be running them for 4 hours now and luckily dont really see any difference as compared to my stove chows which I like way better over the green supreme i was burning for a while. im not accurately measuring temps out of the stove, but for the same setting (4) its keeping the house just as warm as the chows. For 199 a ton i do think I can live with these. tomorrow i'll go place a big hoarder order. hopefully i'll have pellets then for the next 2 years not including this one.
Blinky, Blinky at Aubuchon's in NH. Got an email this morning that Aubuchon's has an "ample supply of wood pellets, ready for the February and March weather". AND, they just dropped their prices. $229.99/to plus a $30 rewards for future purchase for Curran, Easy Heat, Maine's Choice, Green Supreme and Still River. $249.99/to plus a $50 rewards for future purchase for Inferno Gold. Not every store has every brand (I've only seen Still River and Green Supreme at my local Aubuchon's). I haven't tried any of those but the Curran's. I wasn't impressed with them, but then again they are no worse that the ThermaGlo's I got from HD (and maybe even a little better). Just went to their website and put in my zip code for availability. Looks like Easy Heat ($229), Inferno Gold ($249), and Still River ($229) are what is available. Any comments on any of those? I'll probably wait to see if HD follows suite, but Aubuchon's is about 2 miles from my house, so very convenient for hauling 2 trips of 25 bags. Don't think I would get more than a ton though, if any.
I would definitely stay away from the Easy Heats (I tested those a couple years ago). Their sister company is a pallet manufacturer and I think they use ground pallets for a least part of their raw fiber. I never burned the rest of those brands but based on past post I would stay away from the Curran's, MC's and GS's.
Actually I burned (won) a ton of NEWP (GS), they were not great at all. I personally would never purchase any.
That leaves Still River, and I've only seen one review which wasn't very positive. I still have a good 3 tons, so can wait to see what else shakes out. Just not likely to see anything else at $200/ton - but then again, I still have plenty of cr*ppy pellets to so-so pellets, so if some of the good chit gets down to $240-250/ton, I would rather spring for that.
Looking at what you burn - I can see why. I started with NEWPs when I got the P61 (that is what the dealer sold), and they were okay, just not at the price they usually want for them. Same with Currans.
Yes, we are very fortunate to typically have pretty decent pellets available here. Sometimes you have to hunt a bit but they are usually available.
B, on second thought TBH I think your best bet is to make another McManus run. Those platinum pellets at 248/ton are a great deal and you will likely have a much better burning experience with those then the offerings at Aubuchon's.
If I could bring back a whole ton at once, it would be worth it, but I would be adding $30-40 in gas and 5 hours of time to haul a ton. Would go for it if I could get some really good stuff at that price, but the Platinums, although good, are not special enough for me to work in several trips for - especially if HD finally joins the party and brings prices of FSU's down a bit.
I only burned a few bags but they seemed to be pretty descent. Not the best but they would do the job. The on my issue I recall was they were not very dense at all. So, if you are already maxed out on your stove these may not be the best idea. But if you have another setting to go then these will be just fine.
Our Lowe's is still at $5.18 a bag.. $6.98 for the TG's... Not complaining, it's good for us.... but I really don't get it, where some here are reporting price drops.. Dan
Here's a little public service announcement. If you are buying quantity during this pellet discount surge at HD, you might want to make a trip there and pick out your pallets you want shipped to you. Today I saw so many ton that had ripped outer covers and the pellet bags were all wet inside that was sad to see all the lost product.
X2! When I was at HD picking up those FSUs a couple weeks ago, I could not believe how much damaged product there was. They had over 400 tons and it would not surprise me if half of them were ripped open at the top and/or damaged in some way. Awful to see so much product go to waste. I will echo Steve's comments big time. Don't buy anything unless you see it with your own eyes and hand pick the pallets you want and see a label with your name slapped on them!
It might be that Spring comes a bit earlier down here ,I was at HD today and grabbed another 15 bags and the place is filling up with bagged mulch ,top soil .... so just a guess that the Northern HD's can hold out a little longer before price drops if any .
