Doesnt seem like the rail pellets into upton, bag them, and distribute from there is a viable method. Seems that how blazer (manufactured by them) and okie (bought from other manufacturers) seemed to get into trouble. Just two big pellet companies using upton have gone bye bye. Only other maker to use upton the i know of if cleanfire, dont see much of them around here.
It might be viable if oil is north of 50 - 55 but it appears not if south of of those numbers. Nothing competes with oil for home heating (unless subsidized) when oil is south of 45 apparently. (except wood if you have the woodlot).
I believe the folks at woodpellets.com are the primary Distributor (and label owner?) for this brand.
Pretty sure they are also bagged at the Upton plant. And they might be using the yard as a landing for the CleanFire pacific's(Eagle Valley) coming in from BC.......
That would make sense - although I didn't buy bulk CF this season, the 4 bags I picked up burned as well / as clean as last season: still a very good pellet choice for here. * Why I didn't purchase bulk of CF Pacific: Pricing, and distance to transport product, offerings from McManus fuels & local to Keene (LG, LaCrete, etc.) burn equally well here, for less $$$ to purchase & transport. Can't speak for Oakies & Blazers, but have observed the same w/ CF Pacific last season, re: "premium" on pricing, $20-$30 over what one would 'expect'. * Whether that is a factor of production costs passed along @ Upton, local transportation costs -> to dealer/distributor, etc. I dunno. FWIW, I do agree price vs. product performance, but was still sad to read about Viridis - less choices are not necessarily a good thing, competition keeps prices in-line and quality standards high.
I think you are right Dan ... The biggest problem with coal I see is that the Feds are adversarial and want drive the price upwards or limit supply.
An $8 bag of coal (in these parts anyway) must last a long time then . . . Maybe it does, don't even know anyone who has burned coal (other than friends I have never met on the interwebz), so don't have any 1st or 2nd hand experience.
Use coal in the wifes antique shop. Put that unit in same year we went to pellets at home. Pay about the same cost per ton as pellets (or did till the bottom fell out of pellets), and get about 50% more heat. Went pellets at home at the time because of chimney hassles. She had an "extra" chimney at the store that was just fine, although I did have it lined for her (us).
Coal here is ~$6.50/bag Pellets are ~$5.20 You use about 1.5 times as much in pellets as coal .. So 2 bags of coal = about 3 bags of pellets. $13.oo vs. $15.60 Or another way.. If you used 6 tons of pellets, that would be $1950 Coal would have been $1300. Cheaper even than oil at $1.69... A coal stove will blow the bejezus out of a pellet stove. BUT.. it's considerably dirtier = more work... If you don't like emptying ash pans every day, and black dust, as opposed to a little fine sawdust and once a month ash removal.. coal is not for you!! Dan
For me, in my area, the math works out to be 6 tons of pellets cost $1554 delivered ($259/ton - last fall). Four tons of coal using $8/bag ($400/ton) because that is what I would pay around here (and actually it goes for over that - without delivery) is $1600. So I would save with pellets (very little savings I agree). For those that live closer to a reasonably priced coal supply, I can see how that cost comparison would easily be turned around and be advantageous. Plus, you don't need electricity, which is always good in power outage situation!
We paid 208 per ton bulk delivery (5 ton min) plus 32 for delivery (total) last summer. Current pricing is 217 per ton (bulk 5 ton min same 32 delivery fee) or if purchased by the bag 254 per ton plus delivery. We used about 5 ton to heat the shop this year (last year it was more like 7). We do have natural gas available and it used to heat the rest of the building (7 apartments) and provide hot water. The shop is open 6 days a week so keeping the flame burning is not an issue, just had to train a couple of the dealers who rent space to fill the hopper. We have not found coal dust an issue because Linda literally washed the coal down as it was sent down the delivery tube to the storage bin. We have not found fly ash to be an issue because we are very careful when dealing with the ash bin. The stove offers an extra benefit in the antique store setting. She has surrounded it with a furniture and has a coffee service to the side. Customers enjoy the old tyme country store effect and "neighbors" are constantly stopping in to just talk and unlax. Often makes the store appear busy even when it is not which is good for show. I would recommend coal to anyone who has the proper chimney and deep enough pockets for the initial install.
You might want to check that $1950 if you are using $5.20/bag (my calculator says it comes to $260/ton x 6 = $1560). To get to $1950, I believe you would have to be paying $325/ton for pellets (and, some people do)
I don't have to... you already did it for me!! Just a calculator blunder on my part... Dan (one of the slight flaws in the forum, is not being able to delete/edit posts after a bit.. )
My downstairs stove can burn wood or coal. It burns wood hot & fast, usually a 2 or 3 hour burn. Great for a quick house warm-up. I use coal in it when it is too cold for the upstairs stove alone or we will be away for the weekend. Load it with 50 pounds of coal and set it to burn low. It will keep the house comfortable, low 60sF, for the weekend without tending. Normal coal burning I load it once a day, usually in the evening. Let it burn slow overnight. In the morning I shake it down and open the air to warm the house for the day. The stove is near a door so coal or ash do not have to travel through the house. I like both coal & wood for different reasons. Wood is cheap, coal is easy. Both are a comfortable warmth. KaptJaq
It is , but what I found is that it's $$$$$ over a $1000 / ton used in forges and black smithing Mountain Brook Forge
