Heating with Pellets

[deserteagle71]

I just bought propane on 03-02-2020, 367 gallons, and the price was $4.159 per gallon.

Yeah, chew on that for a second.

^ Same here and why I can't afford to use propane for heat. Electricity costs about the same when used for heating. We have a lot of geothermal and solar power plants in Nevada - but the power is all sold to California.

 

[BrokenTrack]

^ Same here and why I can't afford to use propane for heat. Electricity costs about the same when used for heating. We have a lot of geothermal and solar power plants in Nevada - but the power is all sold to California.

Here it goes to the lower New England states.

As far as hardgood exports go, wood products still rule, but in terms of exports from Maine by dollar value; it is electricity. Now they want to put a major transmission line from Quebec into MA. It is going to devastate us as far as biomass jobs go as those plants will be shut down like they are in NH.

 

[coobie]

Last time I checked, pellets were $220/ton here in Northern MI. Cheaper to heat with propane, and no bags to handle to ashes to dispose of.

$229 per ton last year in s.michigan I used 4-5 tons per year.No brainer for me propane was cheaper.

 

[LouNY]

Coal at $280 per ton with 75% efficiency is $1493.33 per million btu,
wood pellets at $229 per ton at the same 75% efficiency is $1850.51 per million btu,
propane at $1.25 per gallon (good luck around here with that) at 90% efficiency is $1520.69 per million btu,
propane at $2.00 per gallon and 90% efficiency is $2433.10 per million btu,
the old standby for the north east Oil at $2.80 per gallon with 80% efficiency $2523.61 per million btu.

Very nice heating cost calculator here:
Fuel Comparison Calculator for Home Heating | Coalpail.com

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I paid $1.19 for propane last summer, then $1.69 this winter...

I'm only burning wood when I feel like it, which is most evenings.

SR

 

[Oaktree]

Now they want to put a major transmission line from Quebec into MA. It is going to devastate us as far as biomass jobs go as those plants will be shut down like they are in NH.

Lucky you. :fiery:
We managed to defeat something similar here in N.H. a few years ago, but it was essentially on a technicality (the state site review committee ruled that Eversource/Hydro Quebec failed to prove that this project would benefit N.H.). Fortunately, the state supreme court supported the ruling, much to the chagrin of our governor.

Last I knew the plants in Bethlehem and Berlin were still running, though the future seems uncertain. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but from what I understand Eversource refused to pay the premium price for electricity produced by these plants, even though they are required to by law.
I have mixed feelings on them. The plants pay top dollar for wood chips, driving the cost of firewood up, and the whole tree is generally chipped, leaving no slash to help regenerate the soil.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Lucky you. :fiery:
We managed to defeat something similar here in N.H. a few years ago, but it was essentially on a technicality (the state site review committee ruled that Eversource/Hydro Quebec failed to prove that this project would benefit N.H.). Fortunately, the state supreme court supported the ruling, much to the chagrin of our governor.

Last I knew the plants in Bethlehem and Berlin were still running, though the future seems uncertain. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but from what I understand Eversource refused to pay the premium price for electricity produced by these plants, even though they are required to by law.
I have mixed feelings on them. The plants pay top dollar for wood chips, driving the cost of firewood up, and the whole tree is generally chipped, leaving no slash to help regenerate the soil.

I knew Berlin was operating, but I thought that was because of power and heat for the prison? I did not know about Bethlehem, I thought that one was shut down. I do not live there, but do have a house there, and pay my fair share in property taxes! :-(

In any case, I cannot imagine (2) mills would drive the price of firewood up that much. Here, firewood only pays $10 more per cord than pulp going to the paper mills, and biomass only pays $3 a ton.

Power is getting nasty in Maine though. Central Maine Power (which is owned by the parent company that owns 90% of the Eastern Part of the United States) has the LOWEST ranking of any power company in the USA. It is so bad that there is talk of the State of Maine talking them over because they are so shoddy in business like practices. But the new corridor itself only has a 30% approval rating. Now that it is going to referendum, it most likely will be voted down.

They told us 20 years ago to rip out the hydro dams, and now they are saying it is in our best interest to have them...and coming from a foreign country no less! :thumbdown:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Sawdust is made into pellets via high pressure machinery which squeezes out the moisture, AFAIK, it's not practical or economical to do on a small sale.

You can mix dry corn with pellets in some stoves or even burn corn alone. Back years ago, they sold corn stoves, but the ethanol boondoggle jacked he price up and made it uneconomical unless you grew and processed your own.

The sawmill down the road runs a big co-gen operation. They use high pressure steam to run turbines to power the mill and sell electricity on the grid, and low pressure steam for resin stills, pressboard, lumber kilns and fuel pellets, then use cooling ponds to dispose of the rest. I told them they should set up a greenhouse operation for the waste heat, but the mill is already a mile long from one end to the other. I guess enough is enough.