Fuel & oil consumption.

[Justme]

I have a MS250. I am currently ringing up some softwood for splitting. So far we have done 11m3 & I have worked out how much fuel & bar oil we have used & was a little shocked.

 

For each 1m3 bag of split wood the saw is using 1L of fuel & 400ml of bar oil (plus 20ml of 2 stroke). All oils are Sthil. I am tickling the chain every other fill but to be honest its cutting well & not needing that much doing (on hard woods I tend to do every fill). The chain is about 3/4 used of the usable section (so ignoring every thing after the guide line) & I have taken the rakers down as needed & I am getting good chips.

 

So is my saw using to much fuel & oil?

If so is it how I am using it or does it have a problem?

 

Its actually costing less to run the tractor to power the splitter as thats using 2.27L per 1m3.

 

 

With the cost of petrol rising so much will someone bring out a diesel one?

[Tree Man Tom]

I think if your worrying about chainsaw fuel consumption. Your not charging enough.

 

and diesel is more expensive than petrol, so what saving will a diesel saw make?

[Justme]

I think if your worrying about chainsaw fuel consumption. Your not charging enough.

 

and diesel is more expensive than petrol, so what saving will a diesel saw make?

 

Dont you use red diesel?

 

Petrol is now £111.58 (ex VAT) & red is £0.65p (ex VAT) Plus it has more energy per L so should last longer too.

 

 

Yes you are right we dont charge enough but we do charge what our local market will stand. We are matching what other local sellers are charging. We are telling all our customers that it has got to go up for next winter. Even if the others dont raise prices we are going to.

 

 

With delivery the fuel / oils are over 10% of the sales price. That seems steep to me.

 

I do understand that for those of you doing take downs that a few quid on fuel per day is peanuts compared to the daily charge you make.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I wouldnt consume these if i was you, get a big sick you will!

 

seriously though like already said, if your concerened by fuel prices you aint charging right.

[Justme]

I really dont get why the feeling is that its ok to use loads of fuel IF you charge enough to cover it.

 

Would you all put up with a car that did 2 mpg just because your rates are so high you still made a profit? Or that your house was at 30c all year round & all the TV's lights ect were on 24/7 just cos you earn lots of money?

 

Why should a small (45cc) chainsaw use more fuel (in £) than a 3L engine? Ok the fuel costs twice as much but the tractor was running for over twice as long.

[C.J]

I general get a cube a tank out of my Husky 40 which holds 0.5 litres of fuel and 0.25 litres of chain oil .So I would say that you are using about twice as much as you should be.Maybe your saw is running too rich - check the max rpm - My 40 is doing 14,200 which is a little on the lean side.

[jrose]

What size wood is it? In my opinion if you are cutting bigger stuff than 14" or so on a regular basis the 250 may be too small, and it may be more efficient to invest in a larger saw so you're not overworking it. For example, I could use 1L of fuel through both my MS170 and 365, if I was cutting bigger bits of timber I would bet on the 365 getting more cut as the engine won't be screaming for as long!

 

Kind of like driving at 90mph in a small Saxo/106 is going to use more fuel than in a bigger car, because the engine is going to have to work a lot harder.

 

I could be completley wrong though!

[Justme]

The stuff I am cutting is mainly 3" - 12" round but a few were about 14". The larger ones are done singly & the smaller ones in bundles. I tend to keep the saw cutting hard just under the point where its struggling to keep the revs up. The saw was new just over a year ago & is still set as it came from the dealer.

 

How do I test the RPM?

 

The speed & quality of the cut seems fine.

 

In the main I am cutting the logs to 7" but 20% ish have been to 15" for a few that want bigger logs.

[Big J]

This afternoon I felled, sned and ringed up (to 6-9 inches) 6 cubic metres of sycamore. Only two trees though. I used about 5 tanks of fuel and oil with an MS260. So, around 0.4 litres of fuel and 0.2 litres of chain oil a cube. And I must admit that I didn't go nuts on sharpening the chain (running a 13 inch bar, with most stuff at or below bar length, with the first 6 foot being double bar length).

 

I think you are using too much fuel for the job in hand. I would argue that it might well be the MS250 that is at fault. I had one, which I used for thinning for about two months before swapping it for the MS260. It was just very poor, with the oiler never working fully and the AV mounts falling to pieces. Pop the 250 on Ebay and get an MS261. Or, if you are going to be doing firewooding as opposed to thinning, get an MS361/MS362. Bit more grunt and not much more weight.

 

Jonathan

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

Never heard of a diesel engine chainsaw?