# small square bale boiler



## kenny chaos (Jan 23, 2009)

Any leads on one and if not, why not.  Don't make sense to bring in bales and then reprocess into pellets.  I've seen the homemade big ones, no small ones?
Thanks-
Ken


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## Ugly (Jan 24, 2009)

I know a guy who loads 4 at a time into the largest model Empyre 650 OWB.... me. We picked up a load of hay with black mold for free and it's a great way to get the old pig chugging at high heat in the early mornings. It won't last long but holy crud it burns hot just as you'd expect if you see an old barn with a full loft set ablaze. It jumps the water temp in about 1/4 of the time it takes maple. I don't know if it's good for the thing but it shows no ill effects...door size is 30" x 36", I'm positive I could get six in but it gets so hot once the hay starts burning all you want to do is close the door... firebox size is 42"x57"x72"


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## daleeper (Jan 24, 2009)

Kenny, I think you have answered it yourself.  I keep wooling this around myself, and I come back to - it doesn't make sense.  

Wood pellets were derived out of wasted sawdust at the mills, and using them as a heat source has helped reduce those piles, thus taking a surplus commodity and utilizing it well.  I don't think that grinding wood down specifically for pelleting will be a good long term solution for heating here in the US.  I don't think baling hay or straw in square bales and burning it will be a real good long term heating solution either, thus no market for the stove you are asking for.  I really don't think growing switchgrass for pelleting will work out long term either, much as I would like to see it work.

Most of the folks that are burning bales have need for a lot of heat, have the equipment to make and feed the big bales, and have the material to bale. I can tell you from experience that it is a lot easier to move big bales mechanically than small ones.

If I were to own some sort of boiler system, one feature I would like is that the door would be big enough to fit a small square bale in, thus the option Ugly is mentioning above.  If we did have small bales to get rid of, they could be burned.   I have thought about building a big bale burner, and decided there are other things I can do besides bale for heat.  There are too many trees around our place that need cleaned up and can be burned for heat. 

Solid wood is easier to handle and store than small bales in my opinion, and I have handled both.


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## Rick Stanley (Jan 24, 2009)

The loading door on a Garn 1500 or 2000 is 18 inches in diameter. Would a standard hay bale fit through? I don't know off hand.......................


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## DaveBP (Jan 24, 2009)

These guys think there is a market for one.



> http://www.herlt-holzheizung.de/engl/HSVE.html


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## kenny chaos (Jan 24, 2009)

daleeper said:
			
		

> Kenny, I think you have answered it yourself.  I keep wooling this around myself, and I come back to - it doesn't make sense.
> 
> Wood pellets were derived out of wasted sawdust at the mills, and using them as a heat source has helped reduce those piles, thus taking a surplus commodity and utilizing it well.  I don't think that grinding wood down specifically for pelleting will be a good long term solution for heating here in the US.  I don't think baling hay or straw in square bales and burning it will be a real good long term heating solution either, thus no market for the stove you are asking for.  I really don't think growing switchgrass for pelleting will work out long term either, much as I would like to see it work.
> 
> ...





Yes, I agree.  There is no market for a small bale boiler and an extremely limited one for large.  As a purveyor of small squares myself, I'm aware there's always bad bales that have to be gotten off the fields and the thought of dropping one in a boiler evey morning and every nite to maintain a storage system is nice to dream about.
I don't see other agricultural products being utilized either.  There's just too much processing involved.  Even my junk hay I sell as mulch for $150/ton.   There's mountains of veggies around that are not good for market and go to waste.
I did come across an article quite awhile back about some new technology.  It was real sci-fi, soylent green type stuff.  Lots of big name, big money people involved.  They were setting up a still at a Tyson turkey processing plant and dumping feathers, guts and bones into it.  The end products were something like one quart of sterile water, 12 ozs. of powdered boron, 20 ozs. of calcium, etc..
I read an article yesterday that claimed "cleantech" was going to be the next megamillion-aire maker, ten times greater than the internet.  For the rest of us, we may be trading our chainsaws in for axes.


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## daleeper (Jan 24, 2009)

DaveBP said:
			
		

> These guys think there is a market for one.
> 
> 
> 
> > http://www.herlt-holzheizung.de/engl/HSVE.html



In the US?


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## renewablejohn (Jan 24, 2009)

Sorry to disappoint you all but in the uk they have been around for years hence their name farm 2000

http://www.farm2000.co.uk/ht.htm

The large ones are for round bales and the small one for little square bales.


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## daleeper (Jan 24, 2009)

renewablejohn said:
			
		

> Sorry to disappoint you all but in the uk they have been around for years hence their name farm 2000
> 
> http://www.farm2000.co.uk/ht.htm
> 
> The large ones are for round bales and the small one for little square bales.



The only disappointment from me is that they are not readily available in the US market.  Europe is working under a completely different set of regulatory, social and economic conditions that favor the development and use of these devices.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 24, 2009)

I am sure they could be imported especially with the current exchange rate and your new government drive towards green policies


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## kenny chaos (Jan 24, 2009)

renewablejohn said:
			
		

> Sorry to disappoint you all but in the uk they have been around for years hence their name farm 2000
> 
> http://www.farm2000.co.uk/ht.htm
> 
> The large ones are for round bales and the small one for little square bales.




Do you have personal experience with them?


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## JustWood (Jan 25, 2009)

I was reading in one of the farm publications about a few of these being used in the US. I don't think they were FARM but a similiar make that had been imported.
Europe has been ahead of the US on biomass heating/power generation for many years.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 25, 2009)

kenny chaos said:
			
		

> renewablejohn said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



They have an excellent reputation and a lot of my farming friends have them but I am a woodchip man and the same company also do the Danish Refo boiler using woodchip which we would be installing if we could get planning permission to have it installed.  We live in a grade 2 listed building so cannot always do what we want to do.


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## wantstoburnwood (Jan 25, 2009)

There is a straw burner down the road from me at a farm. They grow tulips in a greenhouse and grow potatoes. They also heat 2 houses with the same boiler. I have never seen it but it sounds like they are saving alot of money compared to fuel oil.


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## renewablejohn (Jan 26, 2009)

The farmers I know have the larger round bale boiler which they stoke using the tractor front end loader with bale spike. The price of wheat and barley straw is so high it does not pay to burn it in the UK. The farmers bale oil seed **** straw as it has no commercial value but because of its more woody nature burns for longer in the boiler. The boilers are not pretty and you do really need a spare barn to install them in which is not normally a problem on a farm. I think in the US some of your round bales are very tall and thin whereas uk round bales are smaller and fatter. The balers are made by people like John Deere so I dont think getting a baler suitable for the boiler would be a problem.


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