big questions about burning pallets

[mlandon1963]

I'm new to burning wood and have a quad 3100i insert,I have access to an almost unlimited supply of used pallet wood,am wondering what kind of pallet wood can i burn,these are pallets rated for international use(as a rule)they have HT stamped on most of them,I assume this means heat treated,not quite sure what that means and whether or not they are safe to burn,would still use cord wood primarily for overnites and while at work,i know this stuff will burn hot and would certainly not use it exclusively,but it seems such a waste to throw this stuff in the dump,which is what we are doing and have been doing for years,anyone see anything wrong with burning this stuff by mixing it in with my cordwood???would appreciate any replies,thank you,i am willing to deal with the issues of the nails

 

[begreen]

HT appears to be a requirement for Europe. It does stand for heat treated or kiln dried. Do be careful, it will burn hot and fast, but it would make good kindling. There are lots of threads on the subject if you search on - burn pallet.

Here's one to get you started:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/16290/

 

[fossil]

Wood is fuel. Dry wood is real good fuel. Free dry wood is really great fuel. You have control of the air supply to the firebox, which should allow you to keep the blaze to your liking, once it's established. I'm not even convinced you'd have to be careful to mix it with other wood, unless it just burns too fast to suit you. Try a few small fires (don't stuff the box full), and see how it burns. It's likely nice, dry hardwood, and I'd just love to have an unlimited free supply of it. If you don't like it, send it on out to me in Oregon. Rick

 

[jebatty]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but pallets, shipping containers, wood packing, etc. used in international (maybe even within US?) must either be heat treated or treated with an insecticide to better insure that insect hitchhikers are not transported across borders. Not sure this was the way, but intended to stop spread of insects like emerald ash borer, which is devastating US ash forests.

 

[mlandon1963]

thanks for the replies Begreen and Rick,i've been searching this Great website far and wide for insight into this,and I can't see enough bad sides to this to convince me not to burn this pallet wood,if I could find a cost effective way to ship this to Oregan
Rick I would,the way it stands we send tons of this wood to the dump at a cost of several hundred dollars a container load,it just seems such a shame that it could be converted to btu's to keep my family warm at no cost to the company(or me),with your insight and the insight of other threads i have searched i will pursue this,my goodness propane is expensive

 

[mlandon1963]

jebatty,yes that is what i gather also,just wasn't sure if there were some chemicals in heat treated wood,would not want to put my family at risk at any cost,thanks for the reply

 

[BrotherBart]

Do be careful with that stuff. I put three pieces of bone dry, sun bleached white ok in my NC-30 this fall on hot coals and with the secondary burn blowing blue flame on all four tubes I finally blocked off the secondary air intake at 750 and climbing fast. Yes, you control some of the air input. Not all of it.

Too dry wood burns like gasoline.

 

[Jerry_NJ]

mlandon, Quadrafire 3100-I you say. Let us (me) know how you like the insert and how well it controls real dry wood. I am in the decision stages, and will not use until next winter, and may end up with a 3100-I. Most of the "free wood" i have on my property is cedar and white pine, neither the best of fire woods, and both fast burning, so air control will also be important to me.

 

[BrotherBart]

Cedar and pine burn just fine. Faster because it isn't as dense but it still has moisture content so it isn't as hard to control as kiln dried or that bone dry stuff I burned.

They burn faster than hardwood because of the lower density of fiber in the wood.

 

[mtarbert]

I'm courious. With all the problems with beetles and bugs are pallets treated with any insectcide? Maybe something really Nasty like what the Army used for wooden ammo boxes?
Mike

 

[mlandon1963]

will try to update this post ,because I am very appreciative and inspired by the response ,we are heading to a cool weekend here,will try to burn just the pallet wood,and see how controllable the burn is with the air controls on the 3100i,I too am curious.as advised I will start with a small fire,I have only about 100 lbs of pallet wood to work with,the intention was to experiment anyway

 

[mlandon1963]

Jerry I got this insert in mid jan. and got my brother in law to deliver me some seasoned wood,this wood he delivered was from a dead standing pecan tree,now I don't know how pecan wood burns because i too am new to this,but i can tell ya that this stuff was very dry and the fire was very controllable with the 3100I,will be burning seasoned oak mostly next winter and hopefully every year after that mixed with pallet wood which is free to me ,I like the 3100I but when they say 18" logs they mean 18"logs,those firebricks at the back are pretty fragile,i cracked one this winter(i suspect one crack is ok 2 cracks wont work )feel pretty happy with the way the 3100 has worked for me,saved a bundle on propane,and oh it's soooo pretty !!

 

[jebatty]

Right now the treatment of pallets applies only to international shipments, but I think most pallet mfr's are complying because pallets can end up anywhere. Two treatments - heat and methyl bromide. Other treatments are under study (vacuum and microwave).

"Heat Treatment (HT): Wood packaging material should be heated in a schedule that achieves a minimum core temperature of 56ºC for a minimum of 30 minutes. The American Lumber Standards Committee administers the U.S. certification program for heat treatment. Methyl Bromide (MB) Fumigation: The wood packaging material should be fumigated with methyl bromide. NWPCA has been tasked by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to administer the fumigation program."

Methyl bromide is an ozone depletion gas which EPA is phasing out, subject to a critical use exemptions, including for treatment of pallets. It is very toxic. From what I read it appears to volatize to the atmosphere quite rapidly. Some quick research did not reveal that pallets treated with methyl bromide have residual gas in the wood. I also would assume not, as pallets are intended to handled by and be used in the presence of humans, and if residual toxic gas of any appreciable amount were present, I would think the pallets could not be used.

If you find pallets marked as treated with methyl bromide, I assume that they also would be safe to burn. Plus, burning of pallets is common in industrial disposal.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but pallets, shipping containers, wood packing, etc. used in international (maybe even within US?) must either be heat treated or treated with an insecticide to better insure that insect hitchhikers are not transported across borders. Not sure this was the way, but intended to stop spread of insects like emerald ash borer, which is devastating US ash forests.

Now if only other countries would follow the rules.... That's how we got all the emerald ash borers.

 

[mlandon1963]

How do you feel Now?
Marcie

 

[jebatty]

I suspect the emerald ash borer arrived before the rules were in effect. But before you jump over other countries, jump hard on the good ol' USA, because essentially nothing material is being done, fed or state or local, to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer. This represent a very large multi-billion dollar timber loss, plus shade loss, plus aesthetic loss, plus tree removal loss, and the list goes on.

The same thing is true of new exotics in the Great Lakes - can't do anything because it would affect international commerce -- grab the dollar now and to hell with tomorrow.

Another example of this country losing its will and soul to do what is right in the name of not raising taxes. We get what we pay for, and right now we're paying for nothing except trying to hold ground when the ground costs more than we are willing to pay.

 

[mlandon1963]

just a little update,i started a fire with this pallet wood in the wee hours of the morning,this stuff burns great!had to shut the air completely off,had the feeling that it could have really gotten out of control if i hadn't,but the fire was perfect,dancing flames,floating fire,secondary burners going almost constantly for about 2 hours,without adding anymore wood.I will stock up on the pallet wood after all it's free,thanks for everyones insight

 

[Burd]

Make sure it isn't treated with anything Ill use skids from work to get the box hot quickly and then put in the good stuff for longer burns and also for start ups. Also with skids they burn really hot so watch for over fire. If It give off heat safely burn it.If the skids are green or seem really heavy there most likely treated. Good luck cutting them to size for there allot of work and a pain in the ass to cut up. The cool thing, the nail from the skids give off great heat. (ha ha)

 

[Bill]

Methyl Bromide is a fumigant and leaves no residual, so don't worry about burning it. I like pallets, just not fond of the nails.

 

[Beanscoot]

In past years I would burn lots of pallets. I cut them up at work during lunch, on our big bandsaw. Ideally there are two people for this though. Then I'd fill up my 1969 Corolla trunk with them. Surprisingly, it held well over a large wheelbarrow of wood which I brought onto the porch immediately to burn. And I made no special trips to fetch wood, but taking a trunkload per evening kept me well supplied.
One risk though is getting fired for cutting up wood when one should be working!
By placing the pieces in the stove closely packed with no air gaps they'll burn much slower.

Finally, I dumped the ashes on an old small piece of plywood and used a nail magnet to remove the nails.

 

[allhandsworking]

Even if pallets are treated it is probable better then burning fossil fuel. I used to clean my hands with kerosene or diesel. Now they say you will die if you do that.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Some pressure treated (PT) wood is kiln dried as well, so don't think that a KD stamp means it's not. It would be expensive to make them out of PT lumber, but if it's scrap- they will use anything. If it says PT or is green (color, not "green" as in fresh) then definitely avoid it.

 

[pelletfan]

interesting post's
When my pellet stove arrived from Europe, it was mounted on a pallet which had a stamp on it, saying that it was heat treated, as well as a notice that the wood is safe for recycling.
Enclosed an interesting link about pallets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet
Have fun reading

 

[fossil]

Even if pallets are treated it is probable better then burning fossil fuel. I used to clean my hands with kerosene or diesel. Now they say you will die if you do that.

You resurrected a 6-month old thread about burning pallet wood to tell us how you used to clean your hands? Man, you should hold a workshop on how to use the search functions here. Rick