White Birch for Outdoor Wood Boiler?

[MNBobcat]

Buying the wood is half the cost of propane. I used to cut the wood myself right here on my property. But I'm busy with building a business and I don't have the time. So I've been buying wood the last couple years. I don't do much processing. I use the grapple on my skid and pick up 3 or 4 logs and drive over to the boiler building. I set the grapple to waist height, get out, cut the rounds to length and let them fall on the ground. From there, they go directly in the boiler. In 1 hour I can cut enough to last a week. I don't split, don't stack, etc.

Sometimes I'll fill the tractor bucket and dump the rounds into the storage room in the boiler building. Depends on what I feel like doing.

Eventually I'm going to build a wood processor that will be a skid steer attachment. For now, I do it the old fashioned way.

There's two ways to look at it.

Using dry wood means you have less wood to cut, because you don't waste a bunch of energy boiling off the water.

With your method, you don't have to store the stacks for a couple years.

As long as you are OK with the tradeoff, it's really a six or half-dozen deal. I wouldn't want to process all that wood though...

 

[ElmBurner]

Eventually I'm going to build a wood processor that will be a skid steer attachment. For now, I do it the old fashioned way.

Understood. Just depends on how you value your time.

You'd rather build a business than stack wood.

Most people here go the other way, where getting firewood is their hobby and/or not quite as easy as your setup. Hence, all the static...

 

[aansorge]

-20 up there feels like about 20 here. When it gets in the teens down here it's COLD. Southern Wet cold is a lot different than northern dry cold. A buddy of mine left an oil rig in Colorado where it was single digits and he said he was fine. When he got home it was 30 here and he was freezing to death

Bull. And Colorado and Minnesota are two very different climates. I lived in Texas and Minnesota (and Ohio). There is a massive difference.

 

[aansorge]

-20 up there feels like about 20 here. When it gets in the teens down here it's COLD. Southern Wet cold is a lot different than northern dry cold. A buddy of mine left an oil rig in Colorado where it was single digits and he said he was fine. When he got home it was 30 here and he was freezing to death

Bull. And Colorado and Minnesota are two very different climates. I lived in Texas and Minnesota (and Ohio). There is a massive difference.

 

[Rebelduckman]

Bull. And Colorado and Minnesota are two very different climates. I lived in Texas and Minnesota (and Ohio). There is a massive difference.

Texas climate is dry so that don't count. I guess we can just agree to disagree.

 

[aansorge]

Texas climate is dry so that don't count. I guess we can just agree to disagree.

Texas is a big state; not all of it is dry.

 

[aansorge]

http://www.bonap.org/Climate Maps/climate48shadeA.png

Minnesota is in humid, cold, temperate and parts of Texas are the same as Mississippi.

 

[Rebelduckman]

http://www.bonap.org/Climate Maps/climate48shadeA.png

Minnesota is in humid, cold, temperate and parts of Texas are the same as Mississippi.

The climate where I live is totally different from Texas but ain't no point in arguing. I know the northern states are colder. It does get pretty chilly at times down here though cause of the high humidity.

 

[Jay106n]

Obviously, coming onto this site with what you are saying is going to provoke resistance from the guys that do the hard hand work, but do what ever keeps you warm. You don't c/s/s, so you save a lot of time, but you burn wet wood so you lose out on the btu value. I can't say for for sure, but it all probably works out the sameish. White birch btu value is lower than oak, but will dry out faster if stored properly, in your case zip it. If that works for your warmth, wallet, and time, then so be it.

On this chart white birch is 4MTBU lower than oak, so its heating value is 17% lower. I would look for prices that compare.
(broken link removed)

 

[maple1]

I always called it UNzipping.