do pallets make good firewood?

[IainW]

do the main 'blocks' in pallets give a good heat?

 

thinking ahead to good ways to scavenge firewood...

[mayalld]

do the main 'blocks' in pallets give a good heat?

 

thinking ahead to good ways to scavenge firewood...

 

No, they burn too fast, and produce too much tar in the chimney

[Lady Muck]

The blocks that join them are ok, if a bit fast burning. Never had any problems with tar, despite burning little else one winter. Unseasoned wood is the worst for that.

[Gibbo]

They light very quickly, then they're gone almost as quick.

[Sir Nibble]

And pallets are a nightmare to break up however violent you are with them.

[matty40s]

And pallets are a nightmare to break up however violent you are with them.

 

I use them to light the fire in early october-ish, and then maybe once or twice if the fire goes out before april-ish!!

Don't use the blue ones, you get covered in blue, allegedly, and it is norty if someone finds out.(burning them, not being blue)

Edited September 5, 2011 by matty40s

[Mac of Cygnet]

Well the house and boat are heated almost entirely by wood stoves, and my neighbour has a factory and offered me as many pallets as I could use. I refused. They are a b***er to break up, can ruin a chainsaw in seconds (on the nails), and burn away in no time, leaving ash full of said nails.

[mrsmelly]

do the main 'blocks' in pallets give a good heat?

 

thinking ahead to good ways to scavenge firewood...

 

NO

[Leonie]

do the main 'blocks' in pallets give a good heat?

 

thinking ahead to good ways to scavenge firewood...

 

Decent kindling but a pain in the alltogether to break apart/cut up.

[Yellowback]

And pallets are a nightmare to break up however violent you are with them.

 

Access to a welder and a bit of steel......................

 

 

................and the jobs a lot easier.

[JonL]

The secret to breaking up pallets is more about the correct application of force instead of out and out violence.

A well placed long crowbar levers them apart much better.

 

But they do burn very quickly - I suppose they are very soft wood

[County4x4]

My father in law burns nothing else at home in his stove. Dry softwood gives out excellent heat levels.

 

If burned hot rather than slumbered there should be little trouble with tar in the chimney - especially with a short flue like you'll have on a boat. There's an awful lot of rubbish talked about softwood as a fuel to be honest - the Scandinavians burn very little else and they're way ahead of us in woodburning terms. True - it's not as long lasting as hardwood, but providing it's dry it makes excellent firewood - as does most wood come to that. Just avoid pallets that have been fumigated with stuff like methyl bromide - outlawed in many places around the world now but still a fair few in circulation. Look for HT stamped or branded on the blocks - this denotes that the pallet has been heat treated to kill any nasties rather than chemically disinfected. Also avoid any ply, painted, chipboard or other "manufactured wood" types.

 

Pallet wood is generally pretty dry to start with - the boats you see with tar dripping down the outside of the chimney and over the roof are generally those who are scavenging deadfall and cut logs as they go along.

 

Andy

 

PS As far as processing pallets goes - run a chainsaw down the edge of the blocks, and cut the planks on a table saw. Avoids all the nails - simple. Blue pallets are generally owned by a company called Chep - they can enter premises and help themselves to any that aren't supposed to be there. They are also covered in paint and shouldn't be burned.

Edited September 5, 2011 by County4x4

[IainW]

thanks for this folks, i thought it may be a bit too easy!

 

i would be interested to hear what you guys find/scavenge/buy to fuel a multi-fuel stove...

[Guest wanted]

thanks for this folks, i thought it may be a bit too easy!

 

i would be interested to hear what you guys find/scavenge/buy to fuel a multi-fuel stove...

 

 

I used to spend ages scavenging bits of wood here and there but in reality it's just easier for me to earn the cash in that time and buy a bag of coal. That said, if you have a wood yard near by that would let you have their off cuts then it could be worthwhile. We have one wood yard close by and also hundreds of boats, I don't think they even have to sweep the floor!

 

I've been a bit busy this year but last year i collected all of the shredded paper from our head office and made bricks using one of those presses. It is a long slog and they take an age to dry but we topped up the coal using two 'bricks' a night and definitely gave us some heat.

 

Good luck

[County4x4]

Haha - I'll bet no end of folks have had a go at the paper briquettes and sworn never to bother with them again. I did a couple of batches one year and certainly won't be repeating the experience. As you say, a real mess and hassle to make, ages to dry out, and then basically they do little more than fill the stove with ash. Complete waste of time and effort in my opinion - I'll stick with my firewood briquettes ta very much!

 

Andy

[bizzard]

I burn a lot of wood. Willow mainly,but needs long seasoning to dry out, also oak.

Any wood burnt slowly will create tar-creosote clag in the chimney and once hard bristle brushes won't shift it,You'll need a steel wire brush. I use a wire brush lashed to a broom stick an can apply more side force to remove really stubborn clag.

I also don't bother with silly fancy chimney's,i use a thin walled bit of tube and silicon it lightly inside the collar orifice so any goo just runs back down.If you do use the fancy overlapping or double liner type and have goo trouble just wrap two turns of fireproof rope around the base overlap of the chimney and collar this should soak up the creosote,just renew it now and then. bizzard

[Bobbybass]

I burn a lot of wood. Willow mainly,but needs long seasoning to dry out, also oak.

Any wood burnt slowly will create tar-creosote clag in the chimney and once hard bristle brushes won't shift it,You'll need a steel wire brush. I use a wire brush lashed to a broom stick an can apply more side force to remove really stubborn clag.

I also don't bother with silly fancy chimney's,i use a thin walled bit of tube and silicon it lightly inside the collar orifice so any goo just runs back down.If you do use the fancy overlapping or double liner type and have goo trouble just wrap two turns of fireproof rope around the base overlap of the chimney and collar this should soak up the creosote,just renew it now and then. bizzard

I use 2 old drain rods. I found a drain cleaning brush that is actually slightly larger than the flu.

My wife holds a bag over the outlet...and I stand on the roof and push down with one huge push. This does it in one....and the brush comes out fine once I have done the 'down stroke'

 

TIP : Don't fiddle about doing little in-and -outs (sounds abit 'Carry On') You just make the roof manky.

If it did get stuck..I could always unscrew the brush in the fire itself.

One push..its done.

 

bob

Edited September 6, 2011 by Bobbybass

[blodger]

You do not come across so many discarded pallets these days; probably a sign of the times.

 

I usually saw them up with a bow saw along the inner 3x2 or whatever, then saw the parts into 6 -8"bits to light the fire and augment the coal. I find the ash the wood makes seful in slowing the burnng of the coal/fire so that it lasts longer and does not get too hot.

[larkshall]

Watch some of the blocks that seperate the load bed from the base on some pallets. There is a growing tendency for these to be made of a woodchip block. These are toxic....

[ditchcrawler]

Blue pallets are generally owned by a company called Chep - they can enter premises and help themselves to any that aren't supposed to be there.

Can they?

[County4x4]

Can they?

 

So I was told when I was working at a haulage/warehousing company who had a load (and I mean a load!) of "official ones" in their yard. I've never actually checked up on it though as I wouldn't consider burning them!

 

Andy

[Gibbo]

Can they?

 

No.