Processing firewood - Kiln and Costs

[Rough Hewn]

I'd be very cautious of an agent who said £50 a ton standing........
Sounds like he knows sweet FA.

[Rough Hewn]

Is it highly valuable black walnut...?

[openspaceman]

9 hours ago, Dieselgen17 said:

Thanks very much. I do realize it is a colossal amount of work. I didn’t realize the kiln drying issues/ costs. Just looking for a way to derive a bit more cash out of my assets. Probably the only time I will get a “crop” out of the woods in my lifetime. We are lucky enough to have the storage facilities etc so just investigating options. 

Now @Big J has set you straight on the realities perhaps you could say over which period you are harvesting 600m3, is it a one off or sustainable yearly?

 

Also you say you have storage, is it open or covered? You don't have to kiln dry if you can air dry successfully in a summer season.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Agreed, if you have the storage then air dry it.  Much more environmentally sound and clearly cheaper, if you have the space.  It can even just be stacked outside initially...

[WINTERBOURNE]

Firstly we are an advertiser on Arbtalk and have a new product we bought in early last year which is a hot air blower that does not need to be on a wet system that can be used for for kiln drying. 

I rarely put a post on but should check the forum more often!

We have 1800 log boilers installed in the UK but since the rules changed on the renewable heat incentive in that kiln drying was no longer deemed eligible in October 2017 we have worked on the hot air blower.

They used to be linked to a large thermal store that then linked to a heat exchanger in a kiln for drying. 

Please see our case study which is kiln drying logs from a hot air blower plus heating a workshop 

See http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/case_study_4.html

I have a 40Kw log boiler with a 2700l tank installed 2011 and heat a 5 bed house which uses 15 tonnes per annum and I receive the domestic renewable heat incentive we have 24 acres of mixed woodland so we are self supply.

It is a specialist product usually used by those with economic access to wood and a lifestyle where they are happy to manually load the boiler.

If interested send an email to [email protected] for more details

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by WINTERBOURNE
Typos

[Dieselgen17]

On 19/04/2020 at 07:46, otter said:

Just out of interest, how many acres gives you 600 cube?  Species, size and is clear fell?  

I'd be interested to know 

About 65 acres, mixed hardwoods varying sizes just thinning, no clear felling. That’s what the management plan is coming out at anyway. 

[Dieselgen17]

On 19/04/2020 at 10:12, openspaceman said:

Now @Big J has set you straight on the realities perhaps you could say over which period you are harvesting 600m3, is it a one off or sustainable yearly?

 

Also you say you have storage, is it open or covered? You don't have to kiln dry if you can air dry successfully in a summer season.

Can be sustainable annually or a one off, makes little odds to me. Covered storage, a big agricultural shed with Yorkshire board sides, circa 120x60x15 feet. 

[Dieselgen17]

4 hours ago, WINTERBOURNE said:

Firstly we are an advertiser on Arbtalk and have a new product we bought in early last year which is a hot air blower that does not need to be on a wet system that can be used for for kiln drying. 

I rarely put a post on but should check the forum more often!

We have 1800 log boilers installed in the UK but since the rules changed on the renewable heat incentive in that kiln drying was no longer deemed eligible in October 2017 we have worked on the hot air blower.

They used to be linked to a large thermal store that then linked to a heat exchanger in a kiln for drying. 

Please see our case study which is kiln drying logs from a hot air blower plus heating a workshop 

See http://www.ecoangus.co.uk/case_study_4.html

I have a 40Kw log boiler with a 2700l tank installed 2011 and heat a 5 bed house which uses 15 tonnes per annum and I receive the domestic renewable heat incentive we have 24 acres of mixed woodland so we are self supply.

It is a specialist product usually used by those with economic access to wood and a lifestyle where they are happy to manually load the boiler.

If interested send an email to [email protected] for more details

 

This is interesting. Any scope for integrating the case study principle into a domestic boiler? The storage building has a dwelling next to it which could be run on the boiler and have blower drying on the side as an added bonus. Maybe could use up the domestic RHI allowance by doing this too...? 

[openspaceman]

34 minutes ago, Dieselgen17 said:

Can be sustainable annually or a one off, makes little odds to me. Covered storage, a big agricultural shed with Yorkshire board sides, circa 120x60x15 feet. 

When you are considering investing in converting timber to logs you should be aiming to amortise your investment in equipment over the period you expect to operate it. As a one off there's not much chance of it being viable, as a long term diversification it may be.

 

There's easily enough space in that barn to contain logs with plenty of airspace between open sided containers.

[WINTERBOURNE]

It is not possible to have a wood gasification hot air blower that uses logs to be eligible on the renewable heat incentive as it is important that you can measure the kWh produced by the renewable energy source as there is no way as far as Ofgem are concerned to measure this on a dry system. For RHI eligibility for a log boiler it has to be on a wet system so the log boiler heats a large thermal store which then heats the appropriate heating circuit. There is a limit of 45Kw maximum for domestic installations usually heated a single rated property but above 45Kw it must be a non-domestic property or heating more than one single rated property (a house and a cottage for example or a farm and an office as an example). In a non-domestic RHI some customers have installed an extra loop off the thermal store to a separate hot air blower for drying wood but as this is part is not deemed as eligible you would need heat meters on your installation where the heat going to the house/farm was what you were paid for. It can be a little complex with the rules as they stand. We supply log boilers in 18/25/40/60/80/96/130Kw outputs so cater most scenarios.   

Edited April 30, 2020 by WINTERBOURNE