pellet plant for sale down under

[firewood]

see here...Complete Wood Pellet Manufacturing Factory on eBay (end time 14-Apr-11 22:49:10 BST)

 

 

seems pricey to me

[County4x4]

I dunno mate - there's a fair old bit of gear there. That V12 1000hp genny must be worth a bob or two alone!

 

Guessing the shipping would be a bit of a price as well!

 

Andy

[firewood]

If the capital required to make pellets is that high, how could you ever hope to make a profit?

 

I think pellets( and briquettes) production only makes sense if you are supplying big users like a power station or big heating scheme like a hospital or factory complex.

[County4x4]

I think you may be right as far as pellets go in the UK at the moment mate - the market is still a bit specialist and it's not gone mainstream yet - but it's still fairly new as far as domestic use goes, and I think it will probably improve over the next few years.

 

As far as briquette production goes, I think that's a different matter. There are quite a few comanies who've been in the game for a good few years now, and I know that the company whose briquettes I deal with has increased their sales year on year by over 100%. My personal view is that the smaller manufacturers who are doing briquettes as a sideline using adapted machinery will probably come and go. Although I'm all in favour of them using up their waste and doing something useful with it, in many cases their briquettes are too small and too soft - and don't last long enough in use - so customers tend to give them a go and then move on to another type. This is pretty much what I've done - tried a lot of different types and now just deal with the best ones I've found. That's not to say that all the others are rubbish - just that I get better performance from these.

 

Andy

[renewablejohn]

I expect the reason it is being sold is because it is so inefficient compared to modern pellet presses. Production is only 3-4 tonnes per hour with a single die press so all your eggs are in one basket if the machine goes wrong production zero.

[firewood]

I think you may be right as far as pellets go in the UK at the moment mate - the market is still a bit specialist and it's not gone mainstream yet - but it's still fairly new as far as domestic use goes, and I think it will probably improve over the next few years.

 

As far as briquette production goes, I think that's a different matter. There are quite a few comanies who've been in the game for a good few years now, and I know that the company whose briquettes I deal with has increased their sales year on year by over 100%. My personal view is that the smaller manufacturers who are doing briquettes as a sideline using adapted machinery will probably come and go. Although I'm all in favour of them using up their waste and doing something useful with it, in many cases their briquettes are too small and too soft - and don't last long enough in use - so customers tend to give them a go and then move on to another type. This is pretty much what I've done - tried a lot of different types and now just deal with the best ones I've found. That's not to say that all the others are rubbish - just that I get better performance from these.

 

Andy

 

My experience with briquettes.....

 

 

I recently bought a "load" to burn at home to see if they were worth the candle. There is a firm in my neck of the woods (aberdeenshire) that is currently advertising heavily to sell them. for £289 you get 576 (<2kg) briquettes all neatly stacked and wrapped on a(1 ton) pallet. they look a lot neater than a load of tipped logs but from my own unscientific trial I now know that they burn equivalent to a £200 load (5m3) of my seasoned softwood in my boiler (franco belge). Also in comparison to a ton of coal( £269 i.e. less money) you will burn them a lot lot quicker.

 

so from a commercial perspective i dont think they can compete with good quality logs or even with coal. what you are paying for is packaging and guaranteed uniformity of product i.e shape, size , MC etc)

 

i did notice that the product is made in Grangemouth some 160 miles from me so transport costs must make up a fair percentage of the overall price. if made locally they would be cheaper.

 

my 2p worth.

[scbk]

Here, there's a company near forfar that claim to make their briquettes on site, 20kg bag for £5

[County4x4]

I've said it a few times here and elsewhere, but there are briquettes and briquettes, and comparing different types can be akin to comparing ash to willow. I've trialled quite a lot of those currently on the market, and have customers who have tried other types again. Some are good, and some I wouldn't use again. The ones I sell are what I've found to be the best, and the number of repeat customers we have - many who have moved from coal, would suggest that they're pretty pleased with them too.

 

Ours aren't the cheapest - you'll always be able to find cheaper briquettes that are either imported from the far side of Europe or even further afield, or small, soft briquettes that burn way too quickly to make them viable as an alternative to logs. Ours are made in the UK from hardwood rather than softwood waste, and judging by all the tests we and the factory have done - admittedly not 100% scientifically done, they outlast and outperform just about everything else on the market.

 

Not everyone has the room to store a winters worth of logs - but most of our customers find that a single pallet will last them the whole winter. They also appreciate that they know in advance exactly what they're getting - I hear the story about "we had a couple of good loads of logs from this guy, but the last lot he bought were rubbish" so many times. The briquettes are always going to offer top performance and be exactly the same as the last load, and the next one.

 

Obviously log prices vary around the country, but here, we certainly spend less on briquettes than we would on bought in logs over the same period - and we don't burn anything else these days. So they score points over logs on just about any aspect you could mention - apart from looks of course - I'm never going to try and say they look as nice by the fire!

 

Andy