Okay You Pallet Burners !

[grandnational]

since the last load of wood I had split for this year was elm...and I didn't realize it burns ultra crappy unless seasoned for 2+years, I "ran" out of wood last week. Yeah I have almost all of next years split and stacked, but it's still too green, and I have almost 2 cords of this elm just sitting in a row that I can't burn. So what have I been doing?

Pallets!!! I work as a construction inspector so there is plenty of access to freebies on job sites. I burn about 1-2 a day in my dutchwest insert. Takes me about 10 minutes to zip them apart with my little mchulloch 2.0. I also grab donnage scraps, literally 2x4's.

The mix heats suprisingly well too, my ranch holds at about 70, even in this weather ( 0-20).

I was a little worried about the creosote, especially because it's mostly pine, but I think it should be fine as they are pretty dry. Has anybody noticed more creosote buildup than normal as opposed to burning only seasoned hardwood?

 

[7sleeper]

I bought one of these for my BIL. A elektro saw from Makita.

It has 2000W and is way overkill for pallets! It is so fast that I bought one for myself and use it full length bar contact in wood. I have even used it for noodling with it's safety chain. It is great for sunday cutting.

7

 

[Shifty Eyed]

The hottest air that my fireplace insert ever put out was when I was burning hard maple pallets. It ran the temp in my 3000 sq. ft. house up to 80ºF when the outside temp was 13ºF!

 

[TMFARM 2009]

i have two semi loads of pallets here..... processed one load into shed and the other is getting done soon.... my friend goes around and collects used pallets for resale. he only sells 40x48's so anything else gets cut up and burnt in the stove....nothing better then free wood...most around here are made of hard wood..cut them with chainsaw the circular saw is too slow. just use a magnet for nails.... sorry the pic i had doesn't show the amount of pallet wood behind the split wood...its shadowed out.

 

[husky455rancher]

ive always gotten alot of pallets from work. my pallets arent the conventional pallets. they dont have near as many top pieces. just a few here and there. the rest is usually made out of 4x4's. they come in either 8 or 12 ft lengths. occasionally we get 20+footers. i dont care about nails. i let the ashes cool in a galvanized trash can. when i get an empty 50lb dog food bag i fill it with ashes and it gets the compator at the dump.

i havent burned many pallets at all this year were having a wicked bad winter and i got waay too much snow to go ####ing around w pallets. i do take a little home here and there for kindling.

 

[Fronty Owner]

A buddy runs pallets, crates, shipping boxes, etc from work thru his shop stove. Its dry and burns fast and hot so he can light it up after work or on a weekend when he's working out there and its warming in an hour and dying out in a couple hours.

 

[hamish]

Burn about 70-100 hardwood pallets per season in my woodstove in the shop, nothing beats free wood.

 

[spike60]

Burn about 70-100 hardwood pallets per season in my woodstove in the shop, nothing beats free wood.

Yeah, and I bet I know where they come from.

I wind up with plenty of pallets at the store. A lot of standard ones, but also a lot of wood from the tractor and Z-mower crates. People are always looking for the standard pallets. Most often to stack firewood on. The mower crates are all odd sizes and busted up, so they're no good for anything but burning. I take a lot home for the camp fire pit out back. We also have a few maple syrup guys who take them to fire their boilers. One guy takes them out in a minivan, so I always go out there with a chainsaw and cut them up for him.

I did a little pallet experiment in the fall. Was curious as to what one decent Z-mower crate would do in the woodstove. Burned hot, but quick. (pine) Being early in the season, and not burning round the clock, I got 3 or 4 nights out of it. An awful lot of cutting was needed, and it was really kind of a pain. If a guy was out of wood it could be done, but otherwise I didn't think it very practical for the typical sized woodstove. For you OWB guys though, I can see how it would be OK as there would be far less cutting involved.