Heating with Pallets? Yea or Nay?

[NordicSplitter]

I recently heard a story of a guy who ran his wood stove with NOTHING but pallets. Been doing it for years he says. Story says he goes through 700 pallets a year. Gets them for free from around town. He is retired so he has the time.....Just wondering if it is worth it and how effecient is it?

 

[weatherguy]

Some guys on this site do too, I personally would rather expend my energy cutting and splitting good hardwoods but it depends on what you have available, I think one guy is in Alaska where hardwoods are hard to come by. I know some guys in my town that get oak pallets for free from their shop and burn those all year. You have to pull the boards apart, pull the nails and cut it up, seems like more work than splitting wood to me but to each his own.

 

[DexterDay]

A guy from my work burns them... He takes the Oak pallets (scrap and junk) we get.. I work at a Steel Mill (Worthington Steel). So our pallets are on Steriods.. They all have 4x4 Rough Cut/Kiln Dried Oak boards (No moisture can be absorbed/dealing with steel/ Rust=Bad). There are 3 bottom big runners and depending on the size depends on how many 1x6's are on top. They vary from 32x32 to 54x54. All custom skids. Some of our customers just have there little coils banded to 4x4's when they ship out. So there are stacks of Oak/Kiln dried 4x4's everywhere. BUT.... My buddy has been taking the "Scraps" for years and he has no truck and lives in the City. So I will let him have "Dibs" on that wood. I can get all the wood I want. But still need some good wood for this winter. So if I can get a little, I will take it.

But yeah. He burns nothing but 4x4's and pallets... But there All OAK.

 

[ruserious2008]

I'm voting "yay"- I found several good sources of oak pallets, many are red oak, and for a small stove they are great. Well seasoned, no hissing and once you get the hang of it either with a chainsaw or a skill saw they're easy to slice and dice. I split the slats for kindling, use the 4x4 blocks and the 2x4 stringers also. I've also developed a technique where I take four of the slats, about 15 or so inches long- drill a small hole thru them and then with a couple of whacks of a hammer I drive a slightly larger wooden dowel into it and make my own "ruserious "o" log"! These also burn great. Stack, drill , whack...can make 4 or 5 a minute if I use my little drill press.
My preferred method of cutting the pallets up is to put it in a holder I made (can post a pic if someone wants to see it ) that stands it upright, I then use a chainsaw to cut the slats off all but the bottom ones , flip it around and then cut the last slats- that leaves me with the 2x4 "stringers and the 4x4 blocks with them. I then cut the stringers and separate the blocks using a table saw. They come out irregular in shape and size so I don't bother to stack them neatly- I put them in a "crate" of sorts that I made out of ...yup....pallets I can make fast work of a pallet in less than 2 mins using this method.
So... probably not the best for someone heating a 3000 sq ft house but if your heating a few rooms and can find some sources for pallets of the hardwood type I say they are a good option/supplement. And no BUGS!@ Oh final thought- there are nails of course. I just watch where I cut and run a big magnet (its the type on a handle for roofers to pick up nails with) thru the ashes before I dump them in the compost pile.

 

[DexterDay]

Yes...... Pics please. I may not make one. But I love Pics and to see what everyone else does. Sounds great.

 

[trailmaker]

Yes...... Pics please. I may not make one. But I love Pics and to see what everyone else does. Sounds great.

+1 we always want pics, no need to ask. I haven't burned pallets but it seems like a good idea for someone who lives in an urban area. A guy could probably get free heating fuel for the whole winter with a little urban pallet scrounging.

 

[Corey]

As long as they are not treated...

I've heated with them from time to time...make great kindling or when quick/hot fires are needed, though I don't know how well they would work in an overnight situation. I like to stoke once, then go to sleep, which usually means a few big, thick splits of cord wood. I don't think the small dimensional wood of most pallets would be enough for overnight. Even 4x4's might be pushing it.

On a btu/btu basis, I think pallets are more work by the time you gather them, haul them, break them down, etc (I've never worried with pulling the nails). I can probably do a truckload of wood or a truck load of pallets in about the same time, but there are much more btu's in a truckload of cordwood. But if the price is right.....

 

[mayhem]

Pallets are great fuel if you can get them in sufficient quantity. Many are made from kiln dried oak or paine, so you cna get alot of heat out of them quickly. Need to be careful about possibly overfiring your stove though, put in a whole mess of oak planks and it'll start out fine, but the heat will build pretty quickly because of the large surfce area and burn real hot for awhile.

I've used some in the past, but have never heated with them, just used them for kindling. I do not have a good supply, all the placesa round here that give away free pallets, you wind up competing with alot of other folks for them. I score a few a year which I use to keep my stuff off the ground and out of the mud rather than being able to cut and burn them.

 

[firefighterjake]

I vote Yea . . . helped me out in the first year when I only had semi-seasoned wood . . . having those cut up pallets helped me start the fire and helped "drive" the moisture out of the wood that I had so I could get a half decent secondary burn.

That said . . . I don't bother with pallets now since a) I have plenty of easy access to hardwood and softwood, b) my wood is well seasoned and c) cutting and stacking busted or cut up pallets is a pain . . . plus they burn up pretty quickly.

 

[Todd]

I use to use pallets when I was about to run out of wood. It was a lot of work cutting or busting them up and dealing with the nails.

I also use to buy left over chunks of hardwood directly from a pallet company. They would stack the chunks on pallets outside and you could just drive up and load up for $35 a load. Lots of OWB burners got their wood there since most of it was a little on the long side. I think they also had softwood for $10.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Why does everyone pull the nails?

I have fire my kiln on pallets- 40" lengths, 2 cord in a day. The nails formed a beautiful welded sculpture with black iron oxide crystals. I avoid them in the kiln because that black iron oxide fluxes into the firebrick, but that's at a lot higher temps than a stove runs.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If heating with pallets, besides the nails and making sure the wood is not treated, one has to be very careful to not overload and over heat the stove.

Adios, the reason a lot of folks pull nails has to do with where they are dumping the ashes. For sure if in a field, garden or lawn, you would not want nails there to run over with equipment.

 

[mesuno]

I saw a video a while back of a guy with a homemade wood boiler that took whole pallets! He had sized the door to take a whole pallet with no fussing about with saws/nails etc. If you have the skills to fabricate something it seems like that would be a sweet way to do it.

 

[firefighterjake]

Why does everyone pull the nails?

I have fire my kiln on pallets- 40" lengths, 2 cord in a day. The nails formed a beautiful welded sculpture with black iron oxide crystals. I avoid them in the kiln because that black iron oxide fluxes into the firebrick, but that's at a lot higher temps than a stove runs.

I never pulled them . . . but I made sure I didn't dump my wood ash in the garden or driveway like I normally do . . . and was very careful where I sawed the pallets with the chainsaw.