New plastic 5 gallon buckets with lids. Filled with 13 pounds of quality stove pellets. $6 each.
Is this a GOOD Deal........??? For survival wood....???
- Thread starter Sourdough
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Yes, it’s good. a bucket will cost you almost that, and a lid a couple of bucks more. Our local farm store does that with pellets from damaged bags. We use the pellets a bit at a time in the wood stove, and I’ve head that some use them for camp fires. If you planned to buy any buckets, it’s a good way to get them. Probably food grade buckets, too.
Maybe.
Stove pellets are around $5 or $6 for 40 pounds.
I can buy 5 gallon buckets with lids for $2.00.
So doing the math 2 buckets with 20 pounds of pellets would cost me $4.50 to $5.00 each.
The catch is the buckets. If you have to pay 4 or 5 dollars a bucket then it's an ok deal.
Stove pellets are around $5 or $6 for 40 pounds.
I can buy 5 gallon buckets with lids for $2.00.
So doing the math 2 buckets with 20 pounds of pellets would cost me $4.50 to $5.00 each.
The catch is the buckets. If you have to pay 4 or 5 dollars a bucket then it's an ok deal.
Buckets (5 Gal.) in Los'Anchorage, Alaska are over $10.00 just the bucket.
Do pellets burn well in a regular wood stove?
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I pay more than that for a bucket and lid. And that's if I can find them.
Buckets with lids that are food grade here in montana cost $7. I have not had too good of luck burning pellets in a regular wood stove, they do burn tho. Just not as clean and hot as in a electrically operated pellet stove.
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We usually find them at Walmart in the tool department. No one can tell us why the food grade buckets and lids are in that department or why the lids are extra
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That's where I get them. A few months ago they had a big display out in the middle aisle. I bought 5 with lids, and I kick myself for not getting more. They are usually across from the spray paint in hardware. I checked last week and there weren't any. I noticed the white ones are food grade (marked) and the colored ones aren't.
Very good deal, the buckets are 5$ themselves.
I go to a local burger place and they often have food grade buckets their pickles and condiments come in.
The square 4 gallon bucket with lids were 75 cents and the 5 gallon round are a dollar.
They raised the price to $1 and $2.
I have a bunch.
The square 4 gallon bucket with lids were 75 cents and the 5 gallon round are a dollar.
They raised the price to $1 and $2.
I have a bunch.
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@Sourdough, not sure why you use pellets instead of real wood. I understand if you have a pellet stove, you're stuck with using pellets. What is the advantage of a pellet stove? No chopping wood?
Buckets are your friend. water storage, keeping critters out of your stuff, even toilets and rat and fish trapping!
You rule bucketman!
You rule bucketman!
I have "NO" idea what stove pellets are or look like. I sent the guy a message asking what they are. I have heard of those stoves. I am interested in the buckets "ONLY".
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That sounds more like you. I do know some people have pellet stoves, but I just couldn't imagine that was you.
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Stove pellets look about the same as chicken feed pellets and horse stall pellets, but the stove pellets are basically wood sawdust bound together with some kind of salt. Different brands have different salt content and is different burning capacity. I think the higher the salt, the more difficult to burn.......but not sure about that.
I have a pellet stove. It has several advantages over wood and several disadvantages also.
It's easy to use, just push the start button and 5 minutes later you have flames.
The pellets are easy to store. You can buy them at a lot of different places so they're readily available.
Cleaning the pellet stove is easy.
I don't have to cut, split, stack, or carry wood. I don't have access to wood so I either would have to buy it or drive to the mountains and cut it. A cord of firewood is about $250 and up.
I can buy pellets for less than $250 a ton. I burn around 2 tons a year so my yearly heating costs are pretty low.
You can buy them by the 40 pound bag but by the ton is about 50 cents a bag cheaper.
The main disadvantage is a pellet stove needs electricity to operate the auger that feeds the pellets and run the fans.
You have no option other than buying pellets.
You must keep the pellets dry and it's best to store them inside.
If I had the option I would have a natural gas freestanding stove for heat. Easiest to operate and cheapest by the BTU.
I have one like this.
It's easy to use, just push the start button and 5 minutes later you have flames.
The pellets are easy to store. You can buy them at a lot of different places so they're readily available.
Cleaning the pellet stove is easy.
I don't have to cut, split, stack, or carry wood. I don't have access to wood so I either would have to buy it or drive to the mountains and cut it. A cord of firewood is about $250 and up.
I can buy pellets for less than $250 a ton. I burn around 2 tons a year so my yearly heating costs are pretty low.
You can buy them by the 40 pound bag but by the ton is about 50 cents a bag cheaper.
The main disadvantage is a pellet stove needs electricity to operate the auger that feeds the pellets and run the fans.
You have no option other than buying pellets.
You must keep the pellets dry and it's best to store them inside.
If I had the option I would have a natural gas freestanding stove for heat. Easiest to operate and cheapest by the BTU.
I have one like this.
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We second this! Although our pellets are more expensive (Cali what do we expect) and no pallet discount anymore. Still cheaper than wood.I have a pellet stove. It has several advantages over wood and several disadvantages also.
It's easy to use, just push the start button and 5 minutes later you have flames.
The pellets are easy to store. You can buy them at a lot of different places so they're readily available.
Cleaning the pellet stove is easy.
I don't have to cut, split, stack, or carry wood. I don't have access to wood so I either would have to buy it or drive to the mountains and cut it. A cord of firewood is about $250 and up.
I can buy pellets for less than $250 a ton. I burn around 2 tons a year so my yearly heating costs are pretty low.
You can buy them by the 40 pound bag but by the ton is about 50 cents a bag cheaper.
The main disadvantage is a pellet stove needs electricity to operate the auger that feeds the pellets and run the fans.
You have no option other than buying pellets.
You must keep the pellets dry and it's best to store them inside.
If I had the option I would have a natural gas freestanding stove for heat. Easiest to operate and cheapest by the BTU.
I have one like this.
It got harder and harder to get enough wood and prices for pre cut got ridiculous. It’s been a nice upgrade but wouldn’t hesitate to go back to wood when we move.
Same here, I just picked up 6 of them on Saturday, food grade too.
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I have a pellet stove. It has several advantages over wood and several disadvantages also.
It's easy to use, just push the start button and 5 minutes later you have flames.
The pellets are easy to store. You can buy them at a lot of different places so they're readily available.
Cleaning the pellet stove is easy.
I don't have to cut, split, stack, or carry wood. I don't have access to wood so I either would have to buy it or drive to the mountains and cut it. A cord of firewood is about $250 and up.
I can buy pellets for less than $250 a ton. I burn around 2 tons a year so my yearly heating costs are pretty low.
You can buy them by the 40 pound bag but by the ton is about 50 cents a bag cheaper.
The main disadvantage is a pellet stove needs electricity to operate the auger that feeds the pellets and run the fans.
You have no option other than buying pellets.
You must keep the pellets dry and it's best to store them inside.
If I had the option I would have a natural gas freestanding stove for heat. Easiest to operate and cheapest by the BTU.
I have one like this.
yes I agree about the pellet stove being much easier to deal with and other advantages are the fans to blow the heat into the room, though some woodstoves have that option as well and there is no soot or smoke into the house that sometimes happens with wood AND you can adjust the amount of heat needed.
The other disadvantage with a pellet stove is that parts wear out and have to be replaced. This is what happened with ours. We had a pellet stove as our only source of heat for about 10 years, when the auger and/or control switch gave out in a very cold December. Trying to find a repair shop at the time was near impossible (before 2010) and we had to order the needed parts from Missouri that took 3 weeks to get here. 3 weeks without heat in the middle of winter with young kids was not my ideal situation. We had to get space heaters, which kept blowing circuits and nearly started a fire.
Finally got the parts and fixed the stove and made it thru the rest of the winter.......but later that year, we bought a wood stove, that if needed we could burn the furniture if necessary. Price of wood is about the same here, though it's inching closer to $300 per cord, cut, split & delivered. Though you can buy whole logs and do the cutting yourself for much cheaper, or get a permit to clear dead wood from the forest dept. Lots more options with a wood stove. And you can cook on/in them too
Here in lies the problem, a long wood stove will burn pellets, well enough, better with a bit of help, but a pellet stove relies on some form of electricity and most are only going to burn pellets, in good times a pellet stove is probably the winner, Buckets always win and if they have pellets in them , a little experiment in how they burn in a long wood stove is worth the price, IMO
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It’s pretty clear that you would have a good deal on buckets. As far as use in a regular stove, probably not. It took us over a month to use a bucket of pellets, and I think that they only went due to, um, nagging.
When I worked at TSC, we steered people away from pellet stoves if they could handle a regular wood or coal stove because of the need for electric for the feed. Then, too, there was a couple of years where there were issues with the auger. The sales pitch for a pellet stove was that they were wonderful because they were more ‘green’, as pellets were making use of waste product.
I wouldn’t want to count on them for heat in a regular stove. Better to hire someone if need be to cut and stack what wood you may have around if you anticipate needing more than you can do.
When I worked at TSC, we steered people away from pellet stoves if they could handle a regular wood or coal stove because of the need for electric for the feed. Then, too, there was a couple of years where there were issues with the auger. The sales pitch for a pellet stove was that they were wonderful because they were more ‘green’, as pellets were making use of waste product.
I wouldn’t want to count on them for heat in a regular stove. Better to hire someone if need be to cut and stack what wood you may have around if you anticipate needing more than you can do.
Although this is a bit of a derail, a pellet stove is probably more "Green", in that it uses otherwise waste, and more so because it runs full air and adds fuel as needed, that can be done with a long wood stove also, but people will not learn about combustion. 
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