Does anyone burn only pallets?

[nsfd95]

I am thinking about a change In jobs that would take me away from an unlimited amount of free wood to a job that has an unlimited amount of free pallets. I am wondering does anyone burn just pallets? Does anyone see any problems with burning just pallets? I do know to look for HT stamped on the pallet. Thanks in advance.

 

[Plow Boy]

I think you would have to quit your job in order to put more wood in every hr. Pallets are good kindling, and decent to mix with other wood. But i would hate to burn pallets only. It is dry and not very dense, will go up quick IMO

 

[j7art2]

Quite the contrary. Many pallets are made from oak or other hardwoods, and will burn very well.

My concern is that heat treated lumber has 0% MC. Even 3 year seasoned wood doesn't have 0%. You can literally take a flame directly to some 0% soft wood and it'll go up on its own. I supplement my nastier or more wet firewood with HT wood to balance out overall MC and get a cleaner burn.

Your main concern will be that you will have to seriously watch for over burning. Heat Treated stuff burns significantly hotter than any firewood will.

 

[velvetfoot]

What's with the HT stamp? Desirable, if watched?

 

[Jags]

HT = Heat treated.

 

[Plow Boy]

Quite the contrary. Many pallets are made from oak or other hardwoods, and will burn very well.

what burn times do you have with pallets only?

 

[j7art2]

I'd never burn pallets only unless I wanted to melt my wood furnace. They're supplemental only. 3 pieces of 2x4 heat treated pallet wood burn as hot as a 4 log raging fire in my furnace. Obviously it's not going to last as long, but if you think you're going to fill your wood stove with pallet wood and just burn it exclusively, you'd better have the fire department on speed dial and good home owners insurance.

 

[Plow Boy]

I'd never burn pallets only unless I wanted to melt my wood furnace. They're supplemental only.

I agree totally

 

[j7art2]

I'll tell you what though, if you want a short hot creosote burning fire, pallet wood is the way to go. If you could actually use more than a few pieces at a time without burning your house down, i'd use it exclusively as I've got some good connections for it also.

 

[jeffesonm]

Pallets are annoying to cut up. They also take a up a lot of space for the amount of wood in there. I truck full of pallets has what, maybe a few hundred pounds of wood? I truck full of rounds/splits would be 2 or 3 times that.

 

[j7art2]

Agreed. I cut mine up with my limbing saw (I can one hand it and it's a top handle) and use pallet wood in my burn barrel from time to time to light off green or wet junk. There's no good way to store it.

 

[sepulvd]

I burn pallets once in a while by it self to safe wood. I put around 8 pieces of cut up to fit in my stove. Temps get up quick but never over 550 in the stove top. Also my only problem Is needing to reload every 1 1/2

 

[English BoB]

Plus you never know what chemicals have been spilt on the pallets,

Bob

 

[Valhalla]

As quick kindling, fire starter, why not! However, storing them is a waste of time for the amount of usable fuel.

 

[zig]

I use them to stack wood on. After 2 or 3 years and they break down , replaced and used for kindling.

 

[Poindexter]

Plus you never know what chemicals have been spilt on the pallets,

Bob

This. I pulled a couple oak pallets out of the seasoning rack herd this year. I was going to run them in my catalytic stove, but I didn't want to poison the cat with the metal in the nails. Then I thought maybe I could just cut chunks out and use the oak in my smoker, supposed to be pretty versatile on a lot of different meats.

Then I got to thinking about what might have gotten spilled on the wood since the bark came off. I took them to the transfer station so someone else could stack wood on them, or mebbe run them in a non-cat stove.

 

[billb3]

I did it one Winter as I had no firewood, had a fireplace and one of the kids had rung up some hospital and hospital related bills making the household budget really tight. Rather than watch a lot of TV and relentlessly practice making more kids I cut up pallets. They most certainly are made of various woods and for the most part the deck boards burn up pretty quick but the stringers can behave like small splits.
They are time consuming to cut up and are a bit time consuming to keep feeding the fire.

 

[j7art2]

All of the pallets I get are one time use pallets with things like unassembled lawnmowers shipped on them. Zero chemical spills, the wood looks just as if it came from the lumberyard.

I also break them down and use them for repurposed wood -- made 3 tiered shelving 30 feet long in my barn using strictly pallets. Come spring time, I'll be building a second chicken coop with them.

 

[sepulvd]

Pallets are the chit am currently building a wood shed with them

 

[xman23]

Just so much work breaking them up. And I only have been cutting up the half rotten ones that come out from under the stacks. My pieces are only small enough to burn in the fire pit.

If you guys have a method for cutting them up, I would love to hear how you do it.

 

[sepulvd]

I use a jigsaw or a reciprocating saw. No more than 5 to 10 mintues

 

[GENECOP]

Miter box, watch the nails.....

 

[Applesister]

Never burned pallets, even outside in a bonfire. The hardware is the hinge factor. I burn a ton of brush but bring pallets to the dump.

 

[Schmev]

good kindling but i hate pulling all or most of the nails. especially the older ones that have like 100 nails in a pallet.