DIY firewood.

[kscanes]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum, I am looking into producing my own logs for personal use. Me and my brother are trying to reduce the cost of heating our homes by buying in the timber and processing it ourselves, we would be be looking at buying a full lorry load ( 25t ish of hardwood) once a year. We are in the north notts area, if anyone can supply us please let me know, cheers.

 

I've sometimes considered doing that. I'd be interested in knowing how you get on.

[Duffryn]

You might want to check that this will actually save you. Green hardwood at say £50 a tonne will be circa £80 a tonne when dry. Then you have the cost of processing so say £90 a tonne.

 

Circa 3,500 kwh per tonne of logs. Assume 75% efficiency in a wood burner. So the effective cost is 3.4p kwh.

 

Oil delivers 10kwh per litre and cost 45p a litre, Oil boilers are 90+ efficient so each each kwh costs circa 4.9p.

 

These figures may alter a bit but the point I am trying to make is that the saving might not be as much as you first think

 

You still cannot beat a wood fire though !

[Homegrown]

You might want to check that this will actually save you. Green hardwood at say £50 a tonne will be circa £80 a tonne when dry. Then you have the cost of processing so say £90 a tonne.

 

Circa 3,500 kwh per tonne of logs. Assume 75% efficiency in a wood burner. So the effective cost is 3.4p kwh.

 

Oil delivers 10kwh per litre and cost 45p a litre, Oil boilers are 90+ efficient so each each kwh costs circa 4.9p.

 

These figures may alter a bit but the point I am trying to make is that the saving might not be as much as you first think

 

You still cannot beat a wood fire though !

 

Except a 15 tonne load of arb arisings in a roro bin will only cost £100 from us. Indeed I have an 8 wheeler load of processor sized oak, birch sycamore and robinia in tree lengths that have just come off a highways job which I will take offers for, trouble is we are 150 miles south of Blaggy.

[sandspider]

Where are you based, homegrown?

[OliB]

I've used a forestry haulier to deliver oak for milling. I know he operates between Derbyshire and Mid Wales, but probably elsewhere too.

 

Depending on distance I've paid £12-£20 a tonne haulage between 25 and 100 miles, including time spent picking thru stacks in the wood to get the best timbers for my purposes, so may be cheaper for firewood, but don't quote me on that.

 

You might be looking at £65 a tonne plus vat delivered in, depending on what he knows about in your area. If it's personal firewood the VAT would only be 5%. I've had decent hardwood logs at £45 a tonne plus haulage and vat.

 

No affiliation, just been very happy with what his company has done for me so don't mind saying so.

 

I probably shouldn't pass on his details over a public forum without his permission, but if you're interested I could give him a call and ask him if it's ok to pass on his number, which I'm sure it will be.

 

Oli

[Duffryn]

Except a 15 tonne load of arb arisings in a roro bin will only cost £100 from us. Indeed I have an 8 wheeler load of processor sized oak, birch sycamore and robinia in tree lengths that have just come off a highways job which I will take offers for, trouble is we are 150 miles south of Blaggy.

 

A no brainer then

[Lloyd--]

Where are you homegrown?

[Homegrown]

Where are you based, homegrown?

 

We are just off junction 10 of the M23 near Gatwick.

 

 

also large amounts of random sizes mixed hard and soft arisings.

[Pumpy]

I went down this route 6 yrs ago, it can be a massive saving compared to buying in logs, all depending on the price you can get it delivered in for, but you do need a lot of space, and a fair amount of time to dedicate to it, I reckon I spend about 6 weeks a year on firewood.

 

Think about getting a small old tractor sooner rather than later, it'll run a splitter, and a power loader will make the job a whole lot easier, my Ford 3000 rig was cheaper than a new stand alone splitter.

 

Build a massive wood store, enough to store 45 cube (about one artic load). I've tried using vented bags stacked 3 high in a pyramid covered with tarp, got full of rats so all the wood in the bottom/centre of pile was covered in **** and stinks of ratpiss, some of the bottom bags rotted (and they were on pallets) ended up jetwashing logs and re-stacking in a shed for 6 months just to try and get rid of it. I'm building my 4th woodstore this year so I don't have to use vented bags again, a 10ft lean to each side of a 20ft container I use as a workshop, this in addition to the c.18 cube stores I have already.

 

Don't buy in softwood, it's just not worth it in terms of processing and storage (softwood uses twice the space/processing for the same calorific value as hardwood), you can't leave it in a stack in the open for long before it'll start rotting, it's only just about worth processing it if it's free. I'm sure pros/people on here will disagree as they can sell it, YMMV! I've just got through 50 cube of willow I got "free" (free is a relative term by the time the log hits the logbburner ) no way would I pay to go though that again

 

It saves some cash, it's rewarding work, but after 6 years of waking up to freezing cold house in winter, we're planning to have undefloor heating fitted (open loop geothermal via boreholes) so the logburners will be more of an occasional thing rather than a chore. I'd still have woodburners tho, can't beat a real fire, and the resiliance factor considering gov energy policy is a real benefit for piece of mind IMO.

 

Good luck!

[spandit]

We are just off junction 10 of the M23 near Gatwick.

 

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also large amounts of random sizes mixed hard and soft arisings.

 

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