arboriculturist

GDH I recall you keep your Larch/Douglas for 12 months before chipping - what average do you get that down to if you don't mind me asking?

Crosscut using grip tallon or rotator on excavator - onto pallets - take loaded pallets to fast cycle time splitter with huge table - slid from pallet to table - split into crates. Monsters lift onto table with grab. We have tried pretty much everything else and this is the best it gets.

You signed up in good faith but the powers that be know that they are 100% in the driving seat. Any Barrister who agreed to consider legal action against a major league player will be looking for at least 5k deposited from your account into their's before they lift a finger, so that avenue will only ever lead you to a cliff edge. It will be harsh on you if they are able to side-step what appeared to be signed and sealed. In your position I would certainly be disecting those T&C's, just so you know exactly where you stand.

Here is the full article for those of you who are interested: Waste and some wood drying dropped from RHI 30 January 2018 by Luke Walsh , Be the First to Comment UK: Government now "urgently" needs to pass delayed RHI legislation, say trade associations The UK government has published a long-awaited response to its consultation into overhauling the non-domestic renewable heat incentive (RHI). The response says the government will take away funding for drying of certain wood-fuels and of waste. The response, published yesterday, comes from the consultation originally launched in December 2016. But the work was put on hold, following last year’s General Election, prompting the biogas and biomass sectors to both say delays were hitting businesses. According to the response, there are "few benefits" to allowing waste to be dried by RHI supported installations and it will no longer support this practice. The government said it also wanted to avoid applicants claiming they are not drying waste but cleaning or processing it. The government will also remove wood-fuel drying as an eligible heat use other than where the renewable heat installation is replacing a fossil fuel heat source. A transition period will be included to allow a wood-fuel drying plant that are in development to be accredited, according to the reponse. But the response also stated the government was "content" to retain the drying of "other, non-woody" biomass as an eligible heat use. The majority of these change will apply to new and to existing RHI-supported facilities, which add capacity on or after the date the reforms come into effect. This is currently "anticipated" to be spring 2018, according to the reponse. Two respondents to the consultation also said wood-fuel production was subject to the economic rule of supply and demand and sector will only grow where there is demand for the product. However, a number of respondents also expressed concern that as long as RHI payments are made to participants drying wood-fuel, the market will grow to "beyond the point of demand," according to the reponse. Around 80% of respondents also agreed there should be "some tightening" of evidence requirements. A number of suggestions proposed including a requirement for applicants to submit a business case to Ofgem and also that Ofgem develop a set of minimum industry standards for different drying processes. But other respondents expressed concerns introducing an "economic justification test" could "inadvertently lead" to legitimate projects being refused accreditation. According to trade body the Renewable Energy Association (REA) the response will "strengthen industry safeguards", but it still needs to "ensure innovative companies aren’t punished". REA and Wood Heat Association policy analyst, Frank Aaskov, said: "We welcome the principle of limiting eligible heat uses to ensure the scheme is used responsibly. The central goal of the RHI is to drive down emissions from the heating sector in a cost effective manner, and we must not be lost sight of that. The RHI is a complex scheme and the new rules will need to be tested and be open to change to ensure innovative companies aren’t being punished." Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association chief executive, Charlotte Morton, was "pleased" that not all drying practices would be be removed as eligible heat uses. She added: "This avoids the imposition of a blanket rule which, in our view, would have been a knee-jerk overreaction to what are important issues around drying practices. "The evidence and case studies of fossil-fuel replacement that ADBA submitted to the consultation will have been instrumental in shaping the approach that is being taken forward, and we are grateful to our members in the AD industry for their input into our response." Morton also said the government now "urgently" needs to pass the delayed RHI legislation that will guarantee higher tariff levels for renewable heat generation and restore confidence to the AD industry, allowing it to make a vital contribution to a range of policy goals." The government also asked for evidence on removing aquaculture as an eligible heat use. Around 22% of respondents supported this position. However, "strong evidence" for removing it was not provided, according to the response. It was also revealed last year, by Dr Oliver Quast head of market intelligence at the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) that "biomass projects exploited a loophole by adding a small amount of power, to gain the [better] CHP tariff" under the RHI.

Agreed it's difficult to guage the quality of a boiler just from the marketing and there are few people with varying brands on the forums. price is generally a very good indicator of quality. Did you originally avoid a Hertz chip boiler like Duffryn due to the very high initial costing and having to get a contractor in to chip combined with stacking soft roundwood up outside for 12 mths + and the huge space for chip required to make the contractor cost effective. Looks like you split at 20 " then dry ready to feed the ECO - straighforward low cost.

Those ECO Angus are nice compact units, whereas the GF is a lumbering inefficient beast. Unfortunately not everyone realises until they have shelled out their hard earnt cash.

So it appears that some serious producers like gdh and Ash plan to continue drying after their 20 year term expires. Long before this happens they probably know their boilers will fail due to internal corrosion, but I expect they except that overhead. The cost of a large scale naturally air dried operation is prohibitive, even though a Kiln Drying installation with the infrastructure is well over 50K using a gasification log boiler, nearer 100K using chip. The single most financially deciding factor is not having to buy stock in advance.

The debate on kiln and air drying has been raging on here for years and most of us can see both sides. A lot depends on where your current setup / investment lies. But the cost of buying AND filling 2000 + IBC's is prohibitive except for the very few. Agreed even 100m3 needs a footprint of 6m x 7 m. Fortunately we have space here, but there is a limit. We dry a significant amount outside and provided it gets covered before the rains arrive there is no problem at all. Valley bottom site may differ of course. Enjoying the debate, even though drifted off thread as happens.

It looks like production runs like a well oiled machine, we have far more vibration here but honing the process. Moving towards 100% air dried is the distant way forward, as rising costs of labour, electricity and softwood make it far more attractive if you have plenty of space, plus it ticks all the environmental boxes.

It is administered by UK gov. bodies, but driven by EU parliament directives. Like I have said, existing agreements will be honoured but the end is on the horizon for RHI. The Tax payer is picking up the tab for all RHI payments remember even though few of them seem to realise it.

No problem - Yes existing will run on for the 20 year term and the economics of new startups became nonviable as the Tariffs plummeted a year or 2 back.

RHI on bio-mass boilers is a 20 year term from date of commissioning. Driven by EU and as we are out that is the end of RHI.

Does the £ 9 cube include electricity for the fans and also the boiler won't last forever, which as you know is a big stack of money to replace. What I like about natural air drying is, although you need to invest in a lot of containers, you are not effected by price rises for electricity and softwood for drying price increases, which really hurt those who have to dry a lot.

Its uncanny how different peoples setups hundreds of miles apart can end up to be so similar in appearance, even down to the wheelbarrow under the screener on the Posch! Promo videos are always hard to get just right. I would love to produce one but just don't have the time, but when I do I will try to put myself in the customer's shoes when working on the story board stage. Are you now running 2 kilns inside and de-commissioned the container outside? The new kilns look like they are ply lined - does this not degrade? That video was a result, especially produced by an amateur friend - so well done to them, nice work.

How many metres do you dry with the 20 tonne Softwood and have you callculated costper m to dry

Do you then, think it will be economic to buy in roundwood to burn to dry your Firewood when the RHI payments run out? I have seen some Threads on here where people drying have calculated the costs of drying and from what I recall the cost to dry Firewood per m3 for roundwod and electricity was in the region of £20 - 25 Depending if on woodchip boiler or gasification log boiler.

I know many people in the Firewood business are wondering what will happen to those who's business relies solely on drying their Firewood using the RHI Tariff payments to cover the cost of drying. Businesses such as Certainly Wood are nearly 10 years into the 20 year RHI term - In 10 years all RHI payments to them stop. I'm interested to hear the views of others on the Forum.

I think he has a rotator as Ash empty's all his dried IBC's into the heap. He'll be along in a minute to put us in the picture.

Thanks for sharing that - not many would! Very similar to our setup without the mud - but with nice buildings. I am interested why you empty your dry Firewood into a heap, rather than tipping the dry Firewood straight from the IBCs onto the truck.

Regularly change the oil and the final drives would outlast the machine - don't, and you know the rest. Same goes for your truck diff.

4 high on level ground is fine, providing you don't use IBCs with pallet bases.

Make the walls from pallets - you will need to subdivide inside also with pallets into channels no more than 1 metre wide.

Spend your time at work and take it to a garage who specialises in ECU issues. Possibly crankshaft/ camshaft sensor but there are several other sensors on that vehicle that are all linked to the ECU and if faulty/intermittently faulty can result in the symptoms you describe. Can't rule out fuel delivery system issues either. Good luck.

That will never work - to dry timber successfully you need constant temperature and good airflow. There are numerous threads on here that will demonstrate just that and the free advice within those threads will point you in the right direction if you plan to take the forced drying course. Better to spend the time with family at this time of year imo.