Warm winter

[pedrobedro]

And I wonder how many people realise you actually get more heat out of softwood per ton than hardwood.

Any actual evidence of this ? I burn whatever is there and the only difference I have noticed between hardwood and softwood is the softwood burns faster so hardwood gives out more heat per ton as it is burning for longer.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Any actual evidence of this ? I burn whatever is there and the only difference I have noticed between hardwood and softwood is the softwood burns faster so hardwood gives out more heat per ton as it is burning for longer.

All wood has the same calorific value. Hard wood is heavier so has less volume per tonne than softwood. Any difference in total heat output is down to the way your stove is burning it, or your perception of what's happening.

 

[reb78]

Anyone tried burning horse manure? I tried to make bricks out of it once using a paper log press but never got them to bind well and stay together. What techniques will work. When I was in Mongolia they just used dried nuggets but werent exactly short if space and a strong constant dry wind to dry them!

 

[8ob]

Some of the more resinous softwoods will give off a lot of heat very quickly,it would be fair to say if timber is burned by weight in a controlled manner the kwh across the species is probably very similar. Moisture content is also a big player in wood burning.

Bob

 

[fizzy]

Anyone tried burning horse manure? I tried to make bricks out of it once using a paper log press but never got them to bind well and stay together. What techniques will work. When I was in Mongolia they just used dried nuggets but werent exactly short if space and a strong constant dry wind to dry them!

When we were in Yemen the Arabs in the mountains used to burn camel dung. It wasn't unpleasant at all. Sun was so fierce it was totally dried out.

 

[fizzy]

Peat however gives off nasty smoke that makes me wheeze and cough.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Anyone tried burning horse manure? I tried to make bricks out of it once using a paper log press but never got them to bind well and stay together. What techniques will work. When I was in Mongolia they just used dried nuggets but werent exactly short if space and a strong constant dry wind to dry them!

There's not enough pressure in a paper log press. Sawdust briquettes are really solid and are just sawdust, forced squeezed through a tapered die.

 

[highseas]

I often joke my misses used to be a Stoke’er on a steam ship in a previous life! She can go thru a LOT of wood in a night.
We probably burn 30-50 dumpy bags of wood a year all last years wood was good mixed hardwood about 4 ish ton and a 10 ton load of soft wood, and it didn’t last the year..
This year we have probably 2-300 pallets cut up, theirs a shed 15 ft sq and 9 ft high stacked to the roof with JUST enugh space to open the door,
We rip pallets up their a old saw bench on the back of the tractor, dosent take long at all really it’s just a pain

 

[8ob]

There's not enough pressure in a paper log press. Sawdust briquettes are really solid and are just sawdust, forced squeezed through a tapered die.

Often wondered about the merits of energy forms like chip, pellets and briquettes, I would have thought all of the timber waste products including timber for biomass would be better off launched directly into an incinerator as is. Seems daft to use energy making a product into a different form instead of making a burning system that could cope with everything that’s thrown directly into it. Fair enough for pellet burners in domestic applications ,pure madness on the industrial scale.

Bob

 

[gaz1]

Often wondered about the merits of energy forms like chip, pellets and briquettes, I would have thought all of the timber waste products including timber for biomass would be better off launched directly into an incinerator as is. Seems daft to use energy making a product into a different form instead of making a burning system that could cope with everything that’s thrown directly into it. Fair enough for pellet burners in domestic applications ,pure madness on the industrial scale.

Bob

issue is its sellerble though you can burn sawdust in a stove or rocket stove rather well one full load will burn for 4 1/2hrs

pellets vs sawdust bags pellets are easier to store compared to sawdust that soon collects water from the atmosphere

 

[julianf]

Those fancy domestic pellet burners are a joy to watch. Almost like the spiralling coin charity collection things.

I assume they're all fully automated and cost a small fortune to repair.

 

[Onthespotwelding]

This poem is about the best logs to burn.

 

[julianf]

I got a load of poplar once. Thought I was winning. Didn't realise it's like that magicians paper that just disappears without any discernable flame.

 

[Climber]

She can go thru a LOT of wood in a night.

Thats quite a reputation for a woman to have.

 

[gaz1]

@fizzy

what do you use to heat with with you saying you cut the wood up

@julianf

what is your cut up situation

are you happy to cut up into long slats like youve loaded into landy

remember its better to have packed wood as it burns longer than wood if it has alot of air spaces between the wood

 

[julianthegypsy]

Often wondered about the merits of energy forms like chip, pellets and briquettes, I would have thought all of the timber waste products including timber for biomass would be better off launched directly into an incinerator as is. Seems daft to use energy making a product into a different form instead of making a burning system that could cope with everything that’s thrown directly into it. Fair enough for pellet burners in domestic applications ,pure madness on the industrial scale.

Bob

It's purely a question of space. Briquettes compress a huge pile of sawdust down to almost nothing. On an industrial scale, it also reduces the storage space used and the size of the burner etc etc. The energy used isn't that much on the scale of things. It's an eccentric ring going round inside a circular die with holes all around the edge, same kind of thing that makes cattle pellets but bigger. It's also a good investment for sawmills as they reduce the space occupied by a huge heap and get a sellable product from what is otherwise waste.

 

[addjunkie]

Often wondered about the merits of energy forms like chip, pellets and briquettes, I would have thought all of the timber waste products including timber for biomass would be better off launched directly into an incinerator as is. Seems daft to use energy making a product into a different form instead of making a burning system that could cope with everything that’s thrown directly into it. Fair enough for pellet burners in domestic applications ,pure madness on the industrial scale.

Bob

They in my opinion are only really viable till the government subsidies run out, dont forget they are getting paid, to burn wood to dry the wood for someone else to get paid to burn

 

[julianf]

@julianf

what is your cut up situation

are you happy to cut up into long slats like youve loaded into landy

remember its better to have packed wood as it burns longer than wood if it has alot of air spaces between the wood

Basically the easier it is, the more likely I'm to persevere.

It used to be that my partner drive past a builders yard every day on her way home from work. She would drop in a few times a week and just load up the back of the (then) disco with whole pallets.

When she got home I'd drag them out the back, brake them up with a bar, saw them to "Rayburn firebox length" and that would be that.


But...


She is now a mother and quit work. So it's me collecting them. Which means more work for collection. If the place at the bottom of the road is productive that will be no bother at all collecting whole units, but if I have to go to the builders, I'll be wanting to break them up on collection for transport.


So, if I build something, I'll either want to optimise it for whole pallets or the split lengths. If I'm sawing stuff up, I may as well just use the Rayburn.

My ideal would be somthing that I could just pick up pallets and slide them in whole.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Builders yard often has crate things that slate comes in, made of some sort of exotic hardwood. I dread to think what deforestation somewhere or other that is causing.

you can burn sawdust in a stove or rocket stove rather well one full load will burn for 4 1/2hrs

Or produce kippers....

 

[gaz1]

So, if I build something, I'll either want to optimise it for whole pallets or the split lengths. If I'm sawing stuff up, I may as well just use the Rayburn.

My ideal would be somthing that I could just pick up pallets and slide them in whole.

personally id have a trailer to collect the pallets break them up at home

a whole pallet burner wont be optimised unless you could fill up in between the 4x2s that takes time filling this gaps

whilst a length of pallet would be more optimized as you would stack upon other wood lengths in different thicknesses

@fizzy has the same issue

however im aware of what maybe best

now loading of the unit whilst the top maybe quicker using a digger lets say it can release alot of smoke and flames can come out of it when reloading its better with this system to be closer to coals for a reload
so a side load would be the prefered loading option