Yea the 275 gal is pretty much the standard ones I see or atleast the ones available to us. They sure make storing and moving firewood a lot easier and using the top of the bladder as a top is the icing on the cake.
IBC Totes -- Firewood system upgrade!
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Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
Dumb question here. I have a location on the edge of my property where I want one of my totes to go. However, there is a pain in the @$$ surface root there of a Silver Maple tree that I do not want to hurt. I already put an empty tote on it and the root is right in the center and the tote is level. I am sure putting a half ton or ton of wood in the tote is going to sit it down a little. Does anyone know if this could hurt the tree?
It is the perfect place for a tote as it is close to where I carry wood into the basement and completely out of my way.
It is the perfect place for a tote as it is close to where I carry wood into the basement and completely out of my way.
Can you put dunage or blocks down around the root to raise the tote up? Don't know if weight right on the root would hurt the tree or not. Would think No, weight distributed and the root over time would migrate downward over time with the pressure. Just not sure.
We stack our on a pallet so they don't get froze to the ground in winter. Not sure what your climate is but there's space under a pallet if you position it a certain way
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
That is a good idea. I have a lot of spare landscaping stuff laying around. Some cement pavers, landscape timbers and the like. So stack them all around the rack to distance it more from the surface root?
It can get pretty cold here. I did not stack mine on anything. I do not have a tractor to lift them anyway. So right now I am trying to strategically position them so I can carry the wood directly into my house from the totes. That is why I am trying to be so picky on where I locate them. This is a good idea though. Do you know if the totes sitting directly on the ground will cause them to rot out? I have a gravel area where I wanted mine to go, unfortunately I filled that area up with firewood I have been splitting so I had to position the totes elsewhere for now. My property is starting to look like a wood yard lol.
Yea we have pallet forks for the 3 point hitch. We can't fill them all the way up just about 3/4 but it's nice to have them off the ground. If you get a lot of freeze thaws here so things can sink in a get froze pretty quick.
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
Thanks. I think I will be okay but definitely going to keep an eye on them. Definitely something I will have to consider if I get a tractor in the future.
Also they hold a lot of wood. I have a truck with an 8' bed. I split a load of Ash yesterday and loosely filled up my bed. I also left a little early because I was running short on daylight. Having this in mind, I almost filled up one of the totes with the wood being neatly stacked. I would say it is almost 3/4 depending on how much I want to overfill it. I know we talk a lot of actual measurements and volumes of wood but I was very curious to see how much it would hold. If I was willing to overfill my truck I might have filled it up or gotten closer but they do hold a lot of wood. Because at first glance I bet a lot of people would assume that there is not a lot of wood in each one. So far I am happy with them, they seem to hold a lot of wood.
The issue I am having right now is I am cutting my access hole into the wider side. I have pieces that I did not cut myself so they are too long to stack into the tote vertically from the hole. So I have to stack them in horizontally from the access hole so I can get two rows. I will update with a picture later. I want to cut a bigger hole in them but I am scared it will let the wood avalanche out.
Does anyone have any tips on how to get rid of the jagged edges? I tried to round my edges over with a flap disc on the angle grinder and they still grab my clothes/jacket on the regular. I thought about spraying them with a little foam or graphite or something.
I will have to get a picture next time I'm at my dads. We stack horizontally. Since the forks only fit one way I believe we cut a hole on the narrow side for access. We leave atleast one or 2 pieces t the top for strength so it doesn't bulge out.
I think 5/8-3/4 of a face cord. We cut 16" we make two rows inside and then pack the middle the best we can.
I really don't know your situation but if you have several and maybe have scrap PT lumber lying around, you might want to make a "tote rack" to set the totes on. Level up an area two tote wide with blocks and timbers. Be able to weed whip under them and jack them up to re-level when needed. Just a thought.
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
Yeah the ones I get are 275 gallons. It took me forever to decide what side to cut my access hole into. I threw a couple of logs in there before cutting my access hole to get an idea and noticed right away I have a lot of wood that would need to be stacked horizontally facing the wide side. I also figured that if I had the access hole on the narrow side the wood at the back would be more difficult to reach.
So if you trust people on YouTube and around the web they are saying that the 275 gallon totes are exactly a face cord when stacked neatly and slightly above the metal top. No statistics here but that has to be correct. Because that means it would take me three trips of my 8' long bed being overfilled loosely. I could probably stack it in nice and neat and get half a cord or even a full cord but that would take too long and even a half of a cord would easily overload my payload capacity.
If you get a tractor, get a front end loader. Pallet forks are pretty cheap. So much better than the three point forks. They are a pain.
Me and my dad are going to try and get an accurate fill measurement. First we need to make a rack that's 4x8x16" so we know it's a face cord. When that happens I will report the findings. I bet it's a face cord if you do it like your saying. Guys have done the volume measurement with 275g = x amount of cubic feet or whatever
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
I am having trouble with my phone. Suppose to be getting a new one this week, it is why I haven't been posting a lot of pictures. It just dies at 100% battery if it is below 60 degrees.
I know you probably get this a lot but take it from me cherish every moment with your father. I am only 33 and lost my father unexpectedly last year and it is coming up on being exactly a year. Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday and sometimes it feels like he has been gone a decades. Not having him to help me out with this stuff hurts all the time.
Yea my dad's old, probably 10 years left. We try and do as much stuff as possible for memories sake. They don't make guys like they used to so i take every opportunity I can to do stuff or help him. We both moved up north about half mile apart. My sister has MS and needs 24 hr care so I'm nearby incase my parents need any help. Here's a good pic of us.
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When I stack the wood in the tote I try to keep the wood level or only slightly angled down on the outer side. I originally used a square from the bladder to go between the tote and pallet fork frame when moving the totes but I soon found I didn't need it. Wood just doesn't fall out even when moving the totes 400' up a 15% road. I stack my wood reasonably neat but I have seen a lot of pics here of much neater stacks (and of more regular wood) so I don't think that's the reason.
I cut the door in the tote using an angle grinder with cutoff disc. Then I gently use the disc to round off the sharp edges. It doesn't take much.
By my measurement a 275 gallon tote holds 1/3 of a cord or maybe a little more. If your splits are 16" then that's one face cord.
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
Is this because the 16" splits fit into the tote well vertically if you are facing the wider side? I see people doing all kinds of stuff. You know like two rows with a gap in the middle that has more wood or odd pieces in it.
ning
ArboristSite Lurker
I figure ⅓ cord as well in my 275's.
I've got a nice row of them out by my barn right now full of wood... wet. Good thing is those ones aren't expected to be needed this winter, but I need to figure out covering in the long term...
Most of my totes came without a bladder really cheap.
Tarp? I hate how they disintegrate within a couple years.
I've got a nice row of them out by my barn right now full of wood... wet. Good thing is those ones aren't expected to be needed this winter, but I need to figure out covering in the long term...
Most of my totes came without a bladder really cheap.
Tarp? I hate how they disintegrate within a couple years.
Hexa Fox
The Fox Rocks!
Have you seen where people are talking about these repurposed billboard tarps? I guess companies recycle them and sell them as tarps. People say they are nearly indestructible. I think Sean Donato originally told me about them. Anyway they are heavily sought after. I found some that I wanted and left it up on my computer overnight. When I came back drinking my coffee the next morning they were sold out of the size I wanted and a lot of others. I still want to try them out though. Maybe worth you looking into?
This is another reason I am trying to put at least two (or more) totes next to each other. Because if do decide to cover with a tarp it will probably be less hassle to cover both simultaneously.
I have cut and stacked firewood all my life but this is the first time I have ever gotten into it like this. So far I absolutely love it. I have some minor health problems and one of my biggest problems is staying active during the colder months. I am trying to protect myself as much as possible but moving the wood around is definitely good exercise. Plus knowing that it is going to heat my home or potentially be sold for profit is a really nice motivator as well.
EDIT:
Also do you mind telling me what you pay for your totes? I am just curious. Because it seems like people ask a small fortune for some of them. I am thinking about getting two more and trying to sell at least one of them. Not sure. My guy sells them to me with the bladder for $30 each. I see people selling them online for $100+ but I have no way of knowing how often they sell or if they sell at all. Also my guy lives a pretty good distance away. So it is not like I would be competing with him.
ning
ArboristSite Lurker
I'll look into the billboard tarp thing, I saw someone (online) use one to cover chicken tractors.
I've never seen them around here, so they'd probably have to be shipped to me.
I live in expensive-land, so $50 with a decent bladder is probably a good deal around here. I got 6 cage-only's for $40 each delivered a year-ish ago. I don't have a flatbed trailer and only have a smallish cargo trailer, and keep my truck capped, so pick-up is a tough one for me.
Here's prices from a current CL ad nearby:
275 Gallon Dirty Non-Food Grades picked up $25 per tank/delivered $50
275 Gallon Dirty Food Grades picked up $50 per tank/ delivered $60
275 Gallon CLEAN Food Grades picked up $75 per tank/$90 delivered
330 Gallon CLEAN Food Grades picked up $130 per tank/$150 deliveredI don't know that the bladders are so useful here (we get way more rain than snow, and when it rains it's often with a strong wind which will get most of a tote wet even with a lid on it) so I've mostly just gotten cages. I definitely don't want dirty non-food bladders as ... time is money, and I don't want to be messing with who-knows-what and disposing of it and/or the bladder.
Previously I'd built a few wood stack holders (PT 4x4 feet with 8' 2x4 across the bottom and at the ends going up and then across the top, with a corrugated steel roof to stop most of the rain); those hold 1/2 cord but the sheer convenience of having a tote I can split and immediately stack right where I split, wherever that is, and then put the tote somewhere else if I feel like it whenever with little effort (ie, tractor fork) was good enough that I'm using up the last of my wood in the old stacks and will try to sell them or just take them apart to repurpose. Considering these totes should outlast all of us, I think the price is worth it (especially since my time is worth way more to me so time-savers are ++).
My goal is that my next house be one I build, and instead of how my current house has a small wood box accessible from outside and inside (door next to fireplace) that has to be loaded by hand, the new house will have a somewhat larger in-wall wood box that will fit perhaps a (custom) 1/6 cord tote and just fork a tote into the wood box to "bring in wood". Thinking similar in size to the 275, but only half as deep (guessing a simple vertical square metal frame with no front or back).
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