Another Way to Haul and Dump Logs

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BoiledOver

Minister of Fire
Apr 14, 2013
628
43°58'55 N - 85°20' W
Posted on craigslist. The front bulkhead rides a rail to the rear of the trailer pooping the logs out.

(broken link removed to http://centralmich.craigslist.org/grd/5060972139.html)
 
We use to haul/unload small square bales of straw in a similar manner except in box-van style trailers. The bales would be stacked by hand in the trailer or mechanically in "blocks" with a special claw like device then each block was pushed forward into the trailer off the loading dock (we did it by hand because we didn't have the mechanical equipment.

In front of the "blocks" or stacks of bales was a special built "pusher" type thing that had cables attached. Each cable was laid in the bottom corner of the trailer all the way to the back with some extra you would coil up before closing the doors.

When you got to the destination some people didn't mind the straw being in a large pile; in that case you hooked the cable to something solid and pulled the semi forward just letting the straw fall out the back. If they wanted it hand-transferred the device still saved a lot of walking in the hot, dusty trailer. You would unload the straw that was near the back of the trailer then use the cables to pull the entire stack closer to the back, repeat process until trailer was empty...
 
I'd like to find someone selling in that form near me. I could go thru one of those truck loads per year, without trying.
 
I'd like to find someone selling in that form near me. I could go thru one of those truck loads per year, without trying.
You might change your tune after running those new BK's you got, I was able to reduce my wood consumption by 20% last year.
 
I'm still burning $4k in oil, in addition to all that wood. No way will I reduce wood consumption, but the BK's may enable me to reduce my oil consumption, using the same amount of wood.

I'm also running three heat pumps, and one zone electric baseboard, in addition to all that wood and oil. I'm heating a small village.
 
Wow!!
 
I'm still burning $4k in oil, in addition to all that wood. No way will I reduce wood consumption, but the BK's may enable me to reduce my oil consumption, using the same amount of wood.
I'm also running three heat pumps, and one zone electric baseboard, in addition to all that wood and oil. I'm heating a small village.

So how big is this Estate ?
.Or is it just a small Manor House
 
Just counting heated space, we're looking at roughly 6660 sq.ft. in house + 1200 sq.ft. in workshop. The shop is superbly insulated with 6" spray foam in roof and 3" - 5" in walls, but the house... not so much. Prior owner of this house owned an oil company, so all their restoration work favored maintaining historic components (main house built ca.1773) over improving energy-efficiency.
 
Just counting heated space, we're looking at roughly 6660 sq.ft. in house + 1200 sq.ft. in workshop. The shop is superbly insulated with 6" spray foam in roof and 3" - 5" in walls, but the house... not so much. Prior owner of this house owned an oil company, so all their restoration work favored maintaining historic components (main house built ca.1773) over improving energy-efficiency.
Gotcha, let me ask the question? for that type of house what not a OWB with storage?
 
Gotcha, let me ask the question? for that type of house what not a OWB with storage?
I'm guessing the home has no means of getting the heat from the hot water to the air. OWB's work well in homes with existing hot water radiators and can be retrofitted to work with forced air heat systems by adding a heat-exchanger. In a home with no hot water radiator or forced air heating how do you get the heat to the air?

There are a few options I can see:
Add radiant floor heating
Add hot-water radiators
Add forced air heating system
Or just hang up some car radiators in each room with an electric fan blowing on them...

Last comment made in jest. Realistically, I don't think any of those are practical/affordable options in a historic home like that...
 
A truckload would be nice to help get ahead once in a while. I have neighbors that have a "spread" they use an OWB and originally were cutting wood off their own land. But after some years they decided to start buying truckloads of wood.
They switched some of their outbuildings to Coal. And had to go thru a ton of red tape with the town and zoning board.
I didnt know you needed to get a building permit to switch heating methods.
Their house was built in the 1700s too.
Their basement foundation is flat fieldstones. I like that stuff, I would focus on original restoration as well.
 
I'm guessing the home has no means of getting the heat from the hot water to the air. OWB's work well in homes with existing hot water radiators and can be retrofitted to work with forced air heat systems by adding a heat-exchanger. In a home with no hot water radiator or forced air heating how do you get the heat to the air?
We have an oil-fired boiler with six zones of baseboards, so no issue there. However, I heat with wood as much for the ambiance, as anything else. I'm not doing all this work, felling, bucking, hauling, splitting... to hide the fire outside in a shed or in the basement. I want to sit by a stove on a cold winter night, damn it! ;lol If I can save money while having that... well, that's just a bonus.
 
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