are pellet s worth geting in to?

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stihlslinger

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Iv got a small fire wood business I do on the side and was wondering if pellets are worth getting in to in the future?
 
I would guess it is like anything else. If you can buy in large volumes and then sell in small packages you will make a little on it. Worth the effort is more a personal choice in my mind.
 
I don't know of anybody who heats their house with pellets, I know a few people who have them as a supplemental unit it seems the same as corn, People use a little here and there or use it when the prices are down but when the price creeps up they quit burning. It seems from the perspective of a business owner that would be bad. Keep in mind that is only my opinion and I don't know that many people with them. But just a thought.
 
Currently cost of pellets is up retail and wholesale vs oil, propane, and ng which are down in most areas. Therefore as a business expansion area it is a poor choice- dito on making your own for resale. As an add on service for a few customers it currently provides little financial gain particularly if one needs to rent or construct dry storage area. The only companies making any money from pellets are the big boys selling to European markets. There is a firm not far from me making and selling pellets- for them it is a way of dealing with cast off material that would other wise be a cost to them to dispose of. I personally do not know anyone who heats full time with pellets - I do have several acquaintances with pellet stoves all for supplemental heat.

I have spent much time in research on this and as of this date I still can't justify the expense of making my own for sale or even for personal use, even though I generate enough raw material ( and have access to more) for my own personal use based on best guess estimates of comsumption in my local. Numbers are even worse for the compressed logs/bricks due to equipment cost on the commercial side.

Not trying to be a nay sayer , every area different and circumstances as well - just general info I have at present.
 
In our neck of the woods we have a couple of the leading pellet manufacturers in the west. Pellet stoves are kinda popular here even in small business's they offer nice clean heat and need no massive chimney. Our plants are located in an area that the sawdust costs only the hauling exspence, saw miles can no longer burn their sawdust so have to get rid of it somehow. If you have an outlet so you can buy pellets at a descent price it sure wouldn't hurt to offer them to your customers
 
Instead of pellets, could we make compressed firewood bricks instead? Could get full use of the waste and harvesting residues, and produce a more predictable and regular product? Tops and offcuts and sawmill waste in one end, chipped, ground, dried and (or just) pressed into bricks, bagged, and loaded pallets of 'em come out the other end for easy and economical storage and transport. I also wonder if this process would mean the heat and steam/pressure treated bricks made from various pest-ravaged trees could be allowed across state lines because they no longer pose any threat.

I wonder if such a plant could be built on the back of a truck, or in a 20' shipping container.

Perhaps it might actually be cheaper in the long run, to not cut and split traditional firewood, but chip/press it into better quality bricks that are of merchantable quality straight away.

Just musing out loud. I make no claim to any ideas being worthwhile. It's like the regenerative breaking mobile firewood processing truck idea that takes whole logs and by the time it gets to its destination, the wood is cut and split into firewood. In other words, useless daydreaming. But somebody has to.
 
Instead of pellets, could we make compressed firewood bricks instead? Could get full use of the waste and harvesting residues, and produce a more predictable and regular product? Tops and offcuts and sawmill waste in one end, chipped, ground, dried and (or just) pressed into bricks, bagged, and loaded pallets of 'em come out the other end for easy and economical storage and transport. I also wonder if this process would mean the heat and steam/pressure treated bricks made from various pest-ravaged trees could be allowed across state lines because they no longer pose any threat.

I wonder if such a plant could be built on the back of a truck, or in a 20' shipping container.

Perhaps it might actually be cheaper in the long run, to not cut and split traditional firewood, but chip/press it into better quality bricks that are of merchantable quality straight away.

Just musing out loud. I make no claim to any ideas being worthwhile. It's like the regenerative breaking mobile firewood processing truck idea that takes whole logs and by the time it gets to its destination, the wood is cut and split into firewood. In other words, useless daydreaming. But somebody has to.
Been doing that in this area for about 50+ years they are called presto-logs, there is still a good market my wife bought some this spring
 
Thanks. How do you find them compared to regular firewood, e.g. cost, BTU's, etc?
Just did a quick google - uses sawmill dust, has on average, significantly greater BTU's.

Has anyone done the math on a mobile presto-log operation, parked at a landing or landings, chewing through tops and waste wood?
 
The presto log plant is Spokane is in a very large building I think now they use natural gas for the boilers. Really don't know how all that equipment could be taken on site
 
Recently saw something about a mobile plant, didn't offer up a price, but from other sources on that companies equipment, around $100k. It was just the compression stage, no grinder-preheat/dryer on the input and no cooler or packaging on the output. Ruff ( this is the hard brick style/ not extruded) offers about the smallest unit stateside with good support start at about $60k. You will still need primary feed functions and post compression functions on top of that. I believe it is a German technology unit and mostly not sourced from Chi-com origins.
 
Did some checking-- seems like a lot of various ChiCom suppliers are offering up some mobile packages now( Hammer mill included ) for pellet production- course with this equipment design idea is usually ok- materials, assembly, support, and replacement parts - well we all tend to know where that stands for the most part. Quite the up tick in prices across the board for equipment without including shipping and import duties.
 
Not sure about sales but for heating an open concept home, pellets are on top in my books.
I've used wood pellets for primary heat for over 11 years now.
Great fuel and great investment in a wood pellet stove. Our stove was $2500 installed and we made that back in two years.
We have a very cold and long heating season here and our Enviro pellet stove never lets us down.
Here's a comparison, a friend has the same size and type home and uses oil forced air furnace and pays about $3000 per heating season whereas I'm paying about $600 per heating season.(October until April)
Plus I have one metal garbage can of ash when I'm done heating ....that's for the whole season....unbelievable really, stove is over 88% efficient
Can't say enough good things about pellet heating.
I also have a woodstove in the basement for shoulder seasons.
 
sorry I haven't been on here in a while my tablet keeps cutting off on me. im gonna look in to the brick thing some and see if I cant hillbilly engenier something close
 
I once had a pellet stove. Not a lot of heat, pricey, but once going you can forget about for good length of time. Just not for really cold areas.
I'd have to disagree with you on this one. A lot of improvements have been made to pellet stoves in the last 5-10 years. There are more strict EPA requirements and higher efficiencies as well. There are a lot of people using wood pellets in my area and they all seem to love the heat and low maintenance. Maybe it get a little colder in Montana but I don't see how anyone could say they are not for really cold areas. The only down side I see to them are you're at the mercy of the pellet supply and when you run out in the winter it can be almost impossible to get them. I think I'll stick with cord wood.
 
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