Fire wood Prices?

[geordiewanderer]

Not sure what the going rate is for this way now as I'm stuck with the nasty central heating, but when I used to work for a large conservation charity the foresters would charge people 70 quid a trailer load of unseasoned large logs (which needed split). Staff would get them free....

I often visit a couple in the French Pyrenees to sort out their firewood (originally through Helpx) where the village residents are each allowed to cut 5 cubic metres per year. Pretty amazing really for free.....

 

[SiWhite]

Definitely make some calls to smaller local tree surgeons - when we moved into our home three years ago I had about nine tons of softwood (pine and conifer, which burns perfectly well in a stove) for under £100. No-one wanted to buy conifer as it isn't considered a good wood for burning - I'll attest to the fact that it burns perfectly well! We are still getting through the last of that load this winter.

Be aware that prices of chipped wood for supplying to biomass generators has increased recently - one big local arborist has bought a a chipper that will accept a five foot oak truck and produce chips for power generation. Absolute sacrilege if you ask me, but there we are; local supply may be short.

 

[santaman2000]

I live within a couple of miles of the Eglin AFB Military reservation. They sell firewood permits for $10 per pick-up load (cut your own) and a maximum of 10 loads fer household per year. They limit your harvest to scrub oak only for firewood but you are allowed to collect all the lightard (fatwood) you need.

A Christmas tree permit (limited to sand pines only) is $3 for a single tree, any size.

 

[Robson Valley]

ForInTek is a Forest Industry Technology organization jointly funded by the forestry companies in British Columbia.
Heat values from woods: their research shows clearly that there's more heat released from burning conifer wood,
based on weight, not size, than you get from any hardwoods. The resins in the wood are the source of the difference.

Lighting my wood pellet stove today, don't know this year's price per ton/2,000lbs. Was $250/ton last winter
and I burned 4+. Maybe 15 x 40lb bags to start with still downstairs.

I burn SPF pellets (mix of spruce/pine/fir) which don't snap/crackle/pop as they are compressed sawdust.
I have a forced air/oil-fired central furnace heating system in the house. The pellets are half that cost.

 

[petrochemicals]

ForInTek is a Forest Industry Technology organization jointly funded by the forestry companies in British Columbia.
Heat values from woods: their research shows clearly that there's more heat released from burning conifer wood,
based on weight, not size, than you get from any hardwoods. The resins in the wood are the source of the difference.

Lighting my wood pellet stove today, don't know this year's price per ton/2,000lbs. Was $250/ton last winter
and I burned 4+. Maybe 15 x 40lb bags to start with still downstairs.

I burn SPF pellets (mix of spruce/pine/fir) which don't snap/crackle/pop as they are compressed sawdust.
I have a forced air/oil-fired central furnace heating system in the house. The pellets are half that cost.

It burns very quick though, twice as fast if not more, and ontop of feeding the thing constantly, you have to pay more for it. The hotest fire i ever had was a fresh cut sycamore, full of sugar. It smokes before if gets hot enough, but build a fire big enough with enough thermal mass and it burns very hot. I could have spit roasted a horse though, so its not very eficient.

 

[acheter]

I bought a dumpy bag of split hardwood for £65 two years ago.

 

[Robson Valley]

Old thread. Winter is over, theoretically. Temps are 17C days, 3-4C nights.
I burned 4.5 tons = 9,000lbs @ $235+ tax/ton. So about $250, like last year.
House volume is 2 x 1,200 sqft and insulated to Canadian code standards.

No, SPF pellets don't burn quickly in a controlled fire smaller than a soup plate.
The fire in any pellet stove is automatic feed and automatic firebox cleaning.
The fire size is set by my control of the pellet feed rate.
Fire speed is controlled by a constant exhaust blower which pulls cold air up through the fire box,
in the manner of a blacksmith's forge.

There's a limit to that, about 500lbs or so and then I have to shut the stove down
to clean fine brown ash, maybe the volume of a good loaf of bread.
The point is to sustain the efficiency which is fouled by ash, like any other wood-burning appliance.

No, I'm paying less per ton that if I bought round wood, split.
That's a total hand-feeding chore. There was split dried round wood advertised in the local paper,
they were asking $200/cord. Maybe $150/cord I could believe but $200 is over the top.

 

[oldtimer]

£65 per M3 delivered for mixed cut and split logs sized for wood burner. Larger quantities are cheaper per M3. They also do vented bags for those with storage problems. Excellent service from firm based in Whitney.

This thread could become more relevant for us UK OAPs given today's news. Wenceslas for patron saint of the elderly? Or does his european origin rule him out now?

 

[Robson Valley]

Bought this house in 2000. It has the usual central heating furnace, fan and duct work which works very well. Runs on "furnace oil" which is quite similar to Diesel fuel.
Natural gas is the most economical. But because of the high water table, we will never see that. Propane and electricity are far more expensive as well.
Back in that day and time, we all could see oil prices rising and rising with no respite in sight.
A little research showed that a pellet stove, the Harman PP38+ model, would heat my home and for about 2/3 the price of oil.
So I did it. Spent $3,000.00 before I lit the first match. Slow, steady even heat, even the floors are warm, nearly silent.
The ton of pellets is delivered to my front yard. Plenty of room in the downstairs kitchen for all of it.
Thats a stack of 10 layers of 5 bags, about 6' x 6' x 6' .

I was right. The running cost savings of approx $1,000/yr recovered the capital cost of the pellet stove in the next 3 winters.
In the next two winters after that, the savings paid for the entire capital cost of the back-up solar power system.
That was a necessary evil with the weekly/daily power failures even in the -25C depths of winter.

Fast forward 12 years. The savings have assisted me in becoming completely debt-free.
Except for the usual monthly charges for phone, sat TV & radia, etc, I owe nothing to anyone.