ash_smith123

It doesn't work like that unfortunately. My 95kw boiler is on 8.8p and the 130kw eco Angus is on 6.9p. Yes as I said I do mix a bit of other stuff with it too. Chip and processor waste to bulk it up!

Still can't thank you enough!! The new one is working like a dream! If you are looking to insulate the outside with kingspan there is a company on eBay called seconds and co. They sell all the kingspan seconds. Most of it is brand new but you need to buy it in the summer! The price it goes for at auction nearly doubles in the winter.

I use about 3/4 cubic metres of wood to dry 30 cubic metres. I get loads of rubbish bits from processing, all knotty/branchy bits that don't go through the processor properly that I would rather cut big and burn. A lot of the stuff I get from my 2 main tree surgeons are sub 10" stuff so they cut them into 500-900mm lengths for me and I just dry them and they go straight in with no processing needed. If it's nice outside in the summer and I've not got much on we will go out and have a day in the yard cutting and splitting some big stuff for a bit of a change. Can get loads of 500mm+ stuff done in a day if you don't care about the size. I also mix my chip and the shards from the processor which from over 1000 Cube last winter we produce quite a lot of it! We get quite a lot of dry clean chip from a local waste management company on our estate as well. it's easily doable.

For me Yes 100%!.... But...I wouldn't buy a glenfarrow for a start, from my experience anyone who is selling a 40ft container kiln that isn't insulated is bonkers but I built my eco Angus system for £18,000. Asset finance costs me around £220+vat a month. Before I had the kiln I was only selling around 250-300 cubic metres max a year and selling out by October so had pretty much no trade after that. Until I could get anymore dry that would be the year after. Could never ever get a head of myself. Last winter I sold 1000+ cubic metres and kept my customers supplied with dry wood throughout the winter. We were then too busy and the kiln couldn't keep up with my demand so we built another one. We have been selling as much wood over the last 3 months than we did over a 3 month period in the winter. So that £220+vat of asset Finance may seem like a lot but I have expanded the business 4 fold+ in a year because of it! I can categorically say I wouldn't be where I am now without my kilns. For my business it had been worth it and would have been worth it without the RHI. The RHI has helped as I can now turn up to work with the knowledge that my bills will be paid before I even sell anything. I don't think many businesses would have that same situation. I've said it a few times a kiln isn't for everyone!

My business plan isn't reliant on the RHI, I've said it before I would have fitted kilns if the RHI was about or not. For me it has massively expanded the business as I can now supply my demand, which is growing rapidly off the back of being able to sell kiln dried firewood. I couldn't keep up with my seasoned customers before I had kilns, just could never get ahead of myself but now I am.

That's fair enough. I've been going for 4 years and started with pretty much nothing so would never be able to stock enough to supply my demand! I couldn't think of anything more time consuming than cutting/splitting billets and waiting for them to dry and having to cut them down again. If I didn't have the kiln I would never have been able to go full time doing firewood either. Every business is different and kiln dried definitely works for me. And Not just for RHI purposes!

Haha that's hilarious! So I have a flawed business plan because I get £20k+ a year for burning crap wood! [emoji106] yea righto! Another instance, I supply a lot of pizza oven customers, commercial and domestic and they ask only for kiln dried wood. They don't care if air dried can be less than 20% they ask for kiln dried and will only buy kiln dried! A pizza oven restaurant chain that has 6 restaurants asked for "KILN DRIED HARDWOOD" last week and that is what they want. I now supply them 10 cubic metres worth of nets a week and they are opening another 4 restaurants. If I said no I don't do kiln dried they would just go somewhere else. As firewood is my only income it's important to find summer income. I now sell over 50 cubic metres a week to pizza oven customers in the summer! This is my first summer doing pizza oven customers so hopefully it will grow year on year. Good luck with your air drying! [emoji106]

So you have 50 cubic metres cut to 500mm, split big and dried to under 25% in the middle for a customer that wants it in 3-4 weeks? And another 50 cubic metres every month after that for the next 4 months? What about if another customer also asks for the same or similar? Do you stock the same again too?

We also have an advantage because I can dry it in 7 days. Also situations like a customer ringing 2 weeks ago for 50 cubic metres of biomass fuel for his boiler cut to 500mm and dried to under 25% and needed it quick. Processed it and is coming out of the kiln tomorrow. It will be with him by Tuesday. Less than 3 week turn around for 50 cubic metres. It's a massive boost for income in July!! He will be looking for 200-250 cubic metres a year. That's a massive order I wouldn't have if I didn't have a kiln. You can react to things quickly, if you're air drying it you can't. Simple as that

Why is it unsustainable? All my waste I burn in my boiler would only be burnt anyway, or I would have to pay for it to go to landfill? I also have a few transit loads a week of rubbish wood from local tree surgeons that they can't do anything with that they said they would probably end up burning in their yard if I didn't have it. Got around 60 ton of leylandii coming in a few weeks foc that the guy can't shift. It's just all crap that would just end up in a pile somewhere rotting! We don't all go around putting premium grade timber in the boilers to dry more premium grade timber. That's something I think some of you guys are struggling to understand

It depends on how quick you want to dry it I suppose! You will only probably be able to produce 35/40kwh max but in a very well insulated 10 or 20ft container or room you could probably get hardwood down to under 25% in 10-14 days. Maybe less.

Tell me about it mate! I worked at Mojo suspension for 8 years and we used to get to see next years fix stuff in Feb the year before!

You get 1.5/1.6 out of a 1m crate? I had some and it just about filled a 1.2 cubic metre IBC level, and it was just! We also had 2.35m crates in that we got 2.5 cubic metres loose out of MAX! People quote 2M crates give them 3 cubic metres are not selling cubic metres!!

Would be worth just ringing and getting an account with palletline. Great company to deal with and you can get a pallet anywhere in the UK for £40-45

Pm sent!!

Went into the Nissan commercial garage in Cardiff end of last year and the sales guy had never heard of it! I think it was released last March so that shows you how much Interest they have had in it

Yes... Because people seem to be so hung up on not getting kilns because they don't believe they should be taking the governments money or the fact they are burning perfectly good wood to dry more wood. So if you don't want a kiln because of those 2 reasons why not get a system that's not on the RHI and burns waste?

Yep... What this guy said! [emoji106]

Yes it depends who you are but I'm guessing not many people have the money or space to store 3000 tonnes for over a year before you can sell or use it. If you wanted to sell 1000 cube a winter and air dry it to 20% which would take pretty much a year you would need 2000 cube stored up. 1000 dry for the winter your going into and another 1000 drying ready for the year after. What do you do with your waste? We get around a cubic metre of chip/processor bits/offcuts/crap bits from 8/10 cubic metres of cut firewood so you would have around 100 cubic metres of waste a year if you sold 1000 cube. Why not bother with the RHI and just get a system that burns all that? There was another thread yesterday saying people can't get rid of it.

Not if you wanted to sell more than a few hundred cubic metres a year. Would be near impossible to air dry 1000+ cubic metres a year at 20% moisture. To be honest though we will all be buying in kiln dried hardwood from Europe in 10/15 years time as there will be no hardwood left in the UK to process and Stove shops/manufactures have been telling people for years that softwood is rubbish and you should only burn hardwood.

I've never been that way Marc! I should broaden my scope outside the Welsh valleys a bit more! [emoji106]

Ha I was like a fish on a hook then [emoji12]

I didn't say I got my wood to the yard any other way than anyone else... ?! I was making the point that wood fuel as a whole has quite a big carbon footprint. So 1.. Me burning a small amount of wood to dry a lot of useful and quality wood fuel is a small drop in the ocean and 2...if customers are that worried about the carbon footprint of kiln dried wood they should all be driving around in electric cars charged by their solar panels... But these people usually drive around in 3L diesel range rovers so to say people won't by kiln dried firewood because of the extra "carbon footprint" it leaves is rubbish

I don't agree unfortunately. I burn only my waste (I have a lot of waste that I would have to pay to get rid of) or cheap "chip wood" that if I didn't buy it would only be going to port talbot to be burnt anyway. So am I producing anymore carbon footprint than them burning it? Maybe even less because where my wood comes from they usually have to pass my yard and drive another 60/70 miles. I'm sorry but if the people you are selling to care that much about the carbon footprint they would be putting solar panels up and not buying wood that has been cut by a big diesel machine, moved twice by a big Diesel machines, moved to your yard by a big diesel machine, cut down smaller by a petrol or electric machine, delivered to their house by a diesel van or truck. Me burning a very small amounts of wood to dry a large amount of quality dry product is a small drop in the carbon footprint ocean!

I personally think the price of kiln dried will start dropping to around the same price as seasoned. People will start to catch onto this and more customers will start buying kiln dried which would mean if your not selling kiln dried firewood you will start to struggle in the next few years. I think having a business model that hinges around the RHI tariff is a risky game to play. With the amount of new legislation and red tape coming in I can see most people's RHI tariff not lasting more than 5/10 years. We would have still got our kilns if the RHI wasn't about. It's more about being able to produce a consistent quality product all year around for me.