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Tuesday, 26 August 2008  Today was my day to visit the Minnesota State Fair and is usually my time to see all the new stoves. Imagine my surprise when I could only find one pelletized fuel burner at the whole fair! Where are the manufacturers? Are products sold so far in advance that major customer venues can be overlooked? Or, is there the oposite problem? Are the manufacturers in tough shape after the last two years? Even though consumers are hearing reports of high energy prices, are they so short on money they aren't spending?
I don't have the answers, but I can tell you it was a hard to find an alternate fuel heating suplier at the Minnesota State Fair today. The forecast is for a record jump in the price of conventional heating, and it was what I would call strangely quiet.
 My first stop was at Haley Comfort Systems where I talked to a fast talkin' sales guy by the name of Darrell. He packs a lot of information into a small space, and I suggest you approach him with a time limit in mind. If you don't run for the door at some point, he can keep right on talking! It was also a little hard to pin him down about, if he actually had pellet burning stoves or not. I kind of think not. I think he only had natural gas fireplace inserts in stock, and being a good salesman, natural gas was the best. But, he brought up some very valid points. Remember folks, do your research on your stoves. Just like back in the 70's, when we were shopping for muscle cars, horse power can be measured many different ways. And now, stove output can be measured differently. When a manufacturer quotes a certain BTU output and efficiency, make sure you call them to task about exactly how they arrived at their figures. And compare!
 Next was the Heatmor display where I was told they only have corn burners and with the price of corn, no one is buying them. I thought the Heatmor was pellet capable as well, but I guess not.
My third stop was at Woodmaster, where they had the only pellet burning furnace on display. It was a Multi-fuel furnace with samples of corn, pellets, cherry pits and soybeans. When I asked, Woodmaster was shipping units and dealers had them in stock. A local dealer for my section of Wisconsin, is in Mondovi, where it was highly recommended you call Chad Traun at 715 926-3931. Congratulations Chad, the home office thinks you are doin' a great job! Thank you very much, Woodmaster, for bringing a pellet burner to the fair!
The repeating message from all these sales people was the price of pellets are going up. The supply of pellets is going to be low.
 And that's really about it. I didn't do quite as good of job of scouring the fair for burners this year. I had the wrong footwear for one thing, and the wife came with me this year so she was interested in a few other things than just pellet burners. But, even if I had looked, I don't they they were there in the numbers like they were last year. What I did notice, as a sign of the times, is the size of the Renewal by Anderson windows booth. It was huge! And fancy! It looks like the money is going into replacement windows and not solid fuel heating appliances this year.
If anyone has information about more stoves at the fair, please post below.
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