Why is wood chip not a saleable commodity?

[H-A]

I know there have been advances in residential wood chip burning boilers.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpkJmJpfC-E]Hargassner Wood Chip Boilers - YouTube[/ame]

 

If people are paying to tip chip, would it not make sense to install a wood chip boiler and offer a free tip for clean chip.

 

I stayed at Brimpts Farm on Dartmoor Group Accommodation, B&B, Event and Meeting Facilties, at Brimpts Farm Dartmoor, Devon

 

They are very proud of their bio mass boiler, I did look in the storage shed and realised how much chip a large place can get through.

 

At the moment chip is being left to rot, making mulch or compost, am I missing a problem with using general arb chip?

 

H-A

[RobRainford]

Its saleable. I sell mine £50 for tractor trailer load. As an energy source maybe not mine but it has other uses.

 

 

Sent using Arbtalk Mobile App

[TGB]

Not many properties have open access for a dumper or tractor to load chip into a hopper.

The storage space needed for a chip-boiler and the chip itself, could be the size if a med to large container. How many private residential properties have that much free space?

The chip needs to be of a fairly uniform size and must be of a given moisture content. So the chip or pellet has to pre-dried before delivery and then remain at that moisture level or below.

If you've not got room for a tractor or large dumper, chip/pellet can be blown into your silo but only so far and supply companies require a minimum volume order. Asking the customer to barrow and shovel, would not go down well. And being a supplier to barrow and shovel, would kill any profit.

I suspect one has to have a grand setup to dry the chip/pellet enough for wholesale. And if you only have a limited customer base, is it going to be worth it?

Big plant, big lorries and a nationwide service - it's possible. But for a small arb outfit - it's a bank balance killer.

Edited December 18, 2013 by TGB

[Ty Korrigan]

We sell ours as mulch, it is very much a growing fashion here to mulch with wood chip.

I deliver a tipper load for 90euros locally.

I recently sold 16m3 of Lawson chip for 200euros instead of paying to tip it...K'ching!

 

Ty

[likeitorlumpit]

It is a saleable commodity. I've sold quite a bit though it's easier if you have composted it for a while first but that means double handling and that costs. But if you want a site that will take it with no notice and easy access sometimes it's just easier and more importantly quicker to give it away for free.

Reminds me of the guy who I met at a boot fair who said- yeah, I'll have a load- when we turned up with a load it turned out he just wanted about 20% of it.

Bit of a waste.

It's just fantastic as a shrub bed mulch, we use it on all our sites.

[colwoodlandcare]

We sell ours for £15 cbm fresh just chipped or £20cbm for our stuff that's sat around for a while. But some times just get rid of it for free if we can't sell it and its a long haul

 

 

Sent using Arbtalk Mobile App

http://Www.colwoodlandcare.co.uk

[alex_m]

it is a commodity - stobarts come to the yard every few weeks and pay £3/ton

[eggsarascal]

People giving it away around here. Glad to see the back of it!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

It's a good question!

 

I went through the same process 2 years ago. I wanted to use general arb chip for the boiler. Looked at the boilers available at the time, even grabbed a hammer mill to mash it down to 10mm (bankrupt auction stock) just in case it was going to work-out. Finally realised the best bet for me was a pellet boiler - the rationale has been borne out above. That said, I did conclude that a 'district' heating system would be better suited to general arb chip (larger scale - school / church / farm etc) I believe there is a market for it and the 'commercial' RHI incentive provides a decent return on the investment (even though I'd rather put all the staff from DECC in the burner for being inept, shiny assed bureaucrats but that's just because they've U-turned, prevaricated and lied about the roll-out of the 'domestic' RHI) There was a guy in France (can't remember his name but will find it if someone wants it) who was running a system of coiled pipe through large wood chip piles, was heating water for his house - you know how hot a pile of chip gets!

[benedmonds]

it is a commodity - stobarts come to the yard every few weeks and pay £3/ton

 

We are getting £10 a ton. Sold 200-300 tons last year.