Wow, Grainger really does have their business nailed! I sat down at 9pm Monday night and established an account and then ordered a blower for my pellet stove (shop is cold!). It was ready at will call the next morning at 11am. If you order by 9am and the item is in stock at the main warehouse, it will be at the local Grainger outlet by 11 am. Just astounding!
I didn’t make it over there until this morning, but the gals offered me coffee or soda, had a restaurant recommendation for me, wished me a great day. All for a $24 fan, too cool. The catalog weighs about 10# .
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Replies
They are impressive, but pricey. I still read through their catalog when a new one comes out each year just to know what is available.
John W.
It's a great company and for folks that understand the concept of a nickel holding up a dime, unbeatable.
Yep, John, they're not cheap. But when it comes to Dayton parts, which is what's in my prehistoric pellet stove, they have everything. If I buy the blower at the local electric shop, he gets it from Grainger and doubles the price to me. Ouch.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Unless they have changed recently, Graingers is business to business only. They charge full retail price. If you do enough business with them, there is a contractors discount when you pay the bill on time. The average person off the street can't do business there.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Yes, it is b-to-b. My Washington State business license lets me in the door. they are definitely not a discount place, but for getting a much needed part immediately, they are great. They have 24/7 phone availability, and will (according to their catalog) even open a store during closed hours (for a fee).forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I've been a customer for many years. My local store has a huge inventory. I've bought all kinds of products from them. They excel in HVAC supplies, pumps, controls and they carry many other products. They have always had quick service, many commercial suppliers are the same. If you place an order before 9AM you'll likely have it that afternoon.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I'm sure glad they have an outlet (they call it Grainger Express) on this side of the water. I thought I'd have to either have the fan shipped, or take an expensive and very time-consuming trip to Seattle. But they've taken care of us here on the Kitsap Penninsula by locating a smallish store in Bremerton. Looks like they get 4 deliveries each day from the Mother Store.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I looked up Kitsap Peninsula, sure looks like a beautiful place to live! I made it to Seattle a long time ago. The mountains look like they are painted on the sky.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Grainger is not a retail outfit, but the last two companies I have worked for allowed employees to "piggy-back" the corporate Grainger account to get corporate pricing for personal use.
Grainger is indeed an impressive operation. Equally impressive in my experience is McMaster Carr. http://www.mcmaster.com Here in Chicago I usually get orders from McMaster Carr delivered the next morning whereas Grainger at times takes a tad longer. If you can't find it at one of these places it probably does not exist. You do pay for the convenience though...
Chris
Yep, McMaster Carr is great. I always know, in the back of my mind, that they will have "it" when nobody else does. I haven't used them yet, but a friend who does all kinds of stuff with machines and tools has brought them to my attention.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I'll add a third company, MSC, they are on a par with Grainger and McMaster Carr. Their catalog is even larger(!) and customer service is top notch. I've ordered from them at 4:00 in the afternoon and had a package on my desk the next morning. You can find them at mscdirect.com.John White
Edited 3/28/2008 9:24 am ET by JohnWW
Looks like a great place, John. Question for you, being the resourceful person you are.....If you wanted to replace the auger on an old pellet stove, where would you look and what would you call it?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Hi FG,If you are talking about the actual spiral screw mechanism, I'll make an educated guess that it is a custom size at least for its length and the bearing and drive configurations of the shaft ends. In other words, you can probably only get it from the stove's maker, and I'll also guess that maybe they aren't in business anymore or that the part is seriously expensive. I'm sure that there are companies that specialize in making augers, but I doubt if there is anything like standard off the shelf models, they are all customized for the application. The diameters are probably standardized but little else.I'll do some searching around and let you know if I turn up anything. Can you give me a rough idea of its size and possibly a photo?John W.P.S.: I did a Google search "augers" and "material handling augers" and turned up pretty much what I expected. There are auger specialty companies, little companies in the "rust belt" mostly, that make very sophisticated augurs for manufacturing and will make anything you want, but I expect that cost for a custom made one would be more than the stove is worth. Here's a sample: http://www.augermfgspec.com/products/stock.html
Edited 3/28/2008 12:07 pm ET by JohnWW
"Can you give me a rough idea of its size and possibly a photo?" I can guesstimate the length, but a picture would be impossible without taking it out of the stove. One encouraging thing is that the little motor that turns it is a Dayton gizmo. So far, when other Dayton parts have broken, I've been able to get an exact replacement through Grainger.
What I'm noticing this season is that the motor has trouble moving the auger throughout the entire rotation -- there are spots where the motor kicks in but the auger moves just a tiny bit. Once it gets past that area, it works normally. If I end up replacing the motor, was thinking I could replace the auger too if I can find one.
Getting ready to go to a wedding, stepdaughter's gettin' hitched this afternoon. Will get some info for you this weekend. Thanks for the help!!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
It is more likely a bad bearing or worn out drive rather than the auger itself.John W.
I do plan to check Grainger for timer blocks. I'm hoping the drive is what's slowing down the feed, 'cause I think it'll be easily replaceable. I'm sure it's good for the rest of this season, though. Next year, who knows. Thanks John.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
It could be a rock or other clog in the auger. Could be a bent shaft or bad bearing. It could be broken teeth or clog objects on the feed gear. Take it apart and the answer will likely appear.
John, I just saw that the Auger Specialists will "repair and rebuild." If it goes belly-up I could always try that. This stove was a godsend until the control panel died (about 3 weeks after I bought the stove). It having been built in the 1980's and the company no longer around, there's no hope for a new control panel. So a repair guy put in a "timer block" that is adjusted manually for the right on-time and the original dial controls the number of times it goes on in a minute. It's crude but fairly effective, just that I can no longer use a thermostat to control it.
The most aggravating thing is that the timer block he installed is, IMHO, the wrong one. It's extreeeeeemly sensitive, and has too broad of a range, so the tiniest change (turning a pencil-eraser-sized knob) makes a huge difference in the length of the feed time. Someday I'll take the time to research and see if I can find a better one. He charged me $300 to purchase and install the darned thing.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Look in the Grainger catalog!
You might try e-bay to purchase a used stove. The price for an entire stove might be less than the repairs. But - I'm sure you would check the auger on any purchase. heh, heh.Frosty"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Frosty, the shipping would kill me! Seriously, though, they come up on Craig's List on a regular basis. Mine is working OK for now. What I really need to do, but have to get hubby on the bandwagon, is to clear out all the junk stored in the shop "attic," finish insulating it to the hilt, and then put in a different kind of heater.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
If you have enough headroom, I am very happy with my radiant heater from Graingers - natural gas or propane.Frosty"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
That's one of the options I dream about. One end of the garage goes all the way up to the peak. We don't have natural gas here on the island, but we could get a propane tank. I'd actually like to run our house heater on propane -- the new heater we had installed a couple of years can burn gas with a simple substitution of some nozzle or somethin' like that. Currently we burn oil.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
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