Fire chips

[Chipperhead]

Greetings:

Any of you tree men ever tried burning chips? This has been on my mind for about the last 10 years. Every time I dump a load of chips I just see BTU's going out the gate. Figured they would be more trouble than they are worth. Probably need special equipment for drying them and such. And hell, how good could they be anyway?

Well, I finally decided to give a shot. Just as an experiment. Dumped about a yard of chips in the yard. Tarp'em when it rains. Started burning them about a week ago. Holy guacamole. They ain't too bad.

First things first. They are NOT a primary source of fire. What I have done is get a good fire going, then toss the chips into the box. Thought they were killing the fire at first. Shut the door and figured a failure. A few minutes later the stove sounded like a roaring fire was in there. That's because it was. Dampered themdown and let em burn.

I have a hard time getting overnight fires in my stove. Put a paper grocery bag full of chips on top of the fire before turning in the other night, closed the damper, went to bed. Woke up to a warm house and a glowing bed of chips the next morning.

Now I guess I should mention that my Sierra Shenandoah R-77 e feeds the combustion air through a 12 inch or so grate under the fire bed. Like the old coal stove used to do. If I tried them in my fireplace insert, which I haven't, I don't know what the results would be. The air for my insert just feeds through the front doors. Maybe the chips would smother the fire. Maybe not.

Another part that I like about this is that I feel like I am getting something for nothing. I would have paid to dump those chips otherwise. And in fact, they dry right quickly, due to the extended surface area exposed through chipping. A little bit of work required to shovel them into the stove, or to bag them, but then I spent no time splitting them. Can't say this will take care of all my dump needs, nor replace my firewood, but I am certainly going to continue the experiment. I now look at the chips as a supplement to my wood pile.

Best regards to all,
Marty

 

[ponyexpress976]

Would be great if you had an OWB...kinda like a pellet stove on steroids. Feed silo for storage, auger feed...automatic heat

 

[CTYank]

Richard Hill, M.E. prof @UMO devised hogged fuel burners back in the '70s for ME Audubon Center and a federal office building. Clean & efficient systems. Hogged fuel (similar to wood chips) cost about $2.20/ton back then.

Part of his package, IIRC, was fuel storage that dried the fuel.

Might save you total re-invention of the wheel. :msp_biggrin:

 

[rmihalek]

Richard Hill, M.E. prof @UMO devised hogged fuel burners back in the '70s for ME Audubon Center and a federal office building. Clean & efficient systems. Hogged fuel (similar to wood chips) cost about $2.20/ton back then.

Part of his package, IIRC, was fuel storage that dried the fuel.

Might save you total re-invention of the wheel. :msp_biggrin:

Could you explain this a bit more? What is UMO? What do you mean by a "hogged fuel burner", "hogged systems".

Thanks.

 

[stihly dan]

I was thinking $hit chips at first read. I know the indians used to use buffalo $hit for there fires.

 

[Mac88]

University of Maine, Orono

http://forest.umaine.edu/files/2009/12/R.-W.-Rice-BCAP-Impending-Changes-and-MC-Considerations.pdf

 

[imagineero]

Take a look at this thread;

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/189472.htm

especially my post #13, also this thread http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/198147.htm

Yeah it burns, but not as good as just burning the wood. I sympathise with you fully as a tree guy. You can't give away your chip to councils, schools, golf courses, landscapers etc as mulch? That's what I do with all mine.

Shaun

 

[qweesdraw]

I've been putting them in my inefficient fireplace just to get rid of them.
We go though 2-#50 (of the tarp type dog food bags a day).
Have had the fireplace going almost 24/7 since this fall and haven't put a dent in the wood chip pile.
The fireplace also is good for eating up rotted wood i somehow end up with and crotches that aren't worth tweaking my splitters on.
It's my Crap burner I wish i would have used years ago for this purpose.
We have an insert downstairs for real heat!
Mark

 

[Chipperhead]

Thank you all for the replies and links. I looked online at pellet presses and different burners All of it is interesting. But my primary goal is to use the chips with no extra labor or equipment. Thought about trying to pick up an old pellet stove. The forced air would certainly burn the chips, but I suspect the irregular cuts would wreak havoc on the feed system.

The chips do burn better than I had anticipated, but obviously, not as good as stick wood. Since I haven't really been following the modern stoves, is the bottom air feed common now? I know I get a complete burn with my stove, no coals left in the morning, which is not necessarily a good thing to me. My fireplace insert will hold hot coals way longer than my stove. But my insert eats much more wood to heat the area.

Guess for the time being I will keep building my fire, then adding chips into it. They certainly do extend the "range" of the firewood. Seems like they have slowed down the rate at which my split wood disappears substantially. Maybe I will at least build some type of a dryer. I'm thinking of a cube with walls of 1/4 inch wire cloth. Fill it half way up with chips and roll it over once a day. That's still a little more work, but not much.

Good day everyone.

 

[old_soul]

interesting thread I had thought of this years ago when we burned wood in the old Russell furnace.

I think the key factor is not if they will burn, but how to keep them dry and separated to be ready to burn.

thinking back of some loads of chips that would be perfect for what you need....say a day of cutting down dead pines, oaks, ash trees..... especially if you chip the trunks......now you have 15 yards of dead, fluffy chips------light that pile and see the heat that is made!

Now the question is how to keep this pile dry. Short of dumping them inside a building, on concrete, I don't know how to do it. If you dump them on the ground, with the chip pile, they will absorb water from the ground. If it rains on the pile, forget it, it will never dry out, but will instead begin to decay.

If the trees had leaves, or even live wood, the chip piles will hold moisture inside them and begin to mold.

Picturing myself, trying to dry moldy chips, in order to save firewood, was the point where i gave up on the idea.

 

[stihly dan]

Portage and maine residential wood chip gasifacation boiler.

 

[qweesdraw]

interesting thread I had thought of this years ago when we burned wood in the old Russell furnace.

I think the key factor is not if they will burn, but how to keep them dry and separated to be ready to burn.

thinking back of some loads of chips that would be perfect for what you need....say a day of cutting down dead pines, oaks, ash trees..... especially if you chip the trunks......now you have 15 yards of dead, fluffy chips------light that pile and see the heat that is made!

Now the question is how to keep this pile dry. Short of dumping them inside a building, on concrete, I don't know how to do it. If you dump them on the ground, with the chip pile, they will absorb water from the ground. If it rains on the pile, forget it, it will never dry out, but will instead begin to decay.

If the trees had leaves, or even live wood, the chip piles will hold moisture inside them and begin to mold.

Picturing myself, trying to dry moldy chips, in order to save firewood, was the point where i gave up on the idea.

I let them dry for a few days on the ground then shovel into dog food bags with the tops open under a roof or in the sun in the summer,when dry a piece of duct tape over the top outside for winter.They are fairly waterproof.
You can also shovel chips into a wheelbarrow or trailer for a mower,they are thin usually 1/2 " and smaller.
Heck your not seasoning a log just a slivers of wood!
Works well for me and my 3 labs seem to go through that dog food.
Mark