Weighing firewood

[dogwood]

Any ideas of how to weigh a wheelbarrow of split firewood short of buying an expensive industrial scale or weighing each piece separately?

 

[saskwoodburner]

Three bathroom scales?

 

[NordicSplitter]

When you look at a list of the 30 most common woods from A-Z, the average seasoned face cord weighs roughly 900 lbs. Create a face cord of seasoned wood and then count the number of splits in it. Divide to come up with the average weight of each split and then multiple that by the number of splits you put in each wheel barrel load and you should get the weight of one load.
ps....Add the weight of the wheel barrel if you want.

 

[Jags]

Put them in a tote and weigh it. You may need to break it into two or three loads.

 

[kennyp2339]

Three bathroom scales?

I love Canadian engineers !

 

[saskwoodburner]

I love Canadian engineers !

I guess 2 scales would work if you used a 2x4 for the back legs. It seems everyone has at least one scale in the house, so I guess $10 at Walmart and your problem is solved.

 

[kennyp2339]

Or call the neighbor

 

[Applesister]

Feed stores and scrap iron places have drive over scales. Bring your wheel barrow and load of wood and walk it over the scale.
Fill the wheelbarrow with your load, dump in back of truck, throw wheelbarrow in and go for a ride...

 

[TedyOH]

Any ideas of how to weigh a wheelbarrow of split firewood short of buying an expensive industrial scale or weighing each piece separately?

I'm curious as to why you'd want to know this weight?

 

[dogwood]

Saskwoodcutter, great idea about using bathroom scales. I'm going to try that out. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

TedyOH, Jebatty in an old post in the Boiler Room, described using weight to determine how much wood to put in a wood gasification boiler to raise storage temperatures a set amount. His idea, I understand, is weight is a better determinate of wood BTU content than volume. In my case that vol;ume would be roughly a wheelbarrow full per load. I'm burning a mixture of oak, locust, cedar, and various other unidentified hard and softwoods found here in the western portion of Virginia. If total weight would be the measure of the BTU content It wouldn't matter if the load was mixed hard and soft wood.

To avoid creating creosote, my Tarm Solo Innova wood gasification boiler should burn full out as designed, and not idle. I usually burn a load when my thousand gallon storage tank drops from 180 to 140 degrees, I have been undershooting and overshooting the amount of wood (approximately one wheelbarrow full) needed for each burn to replace that forty degrees.

Knowing the volume only of the wood is throwing me off. So hopefully I will be able to add to or subtract some splits from the wheel barrow to get the right weight of wood that will raise the storage 40 degrees in a single full out burn. That will optimize the boilers performance, avoid creosote buildup,and keep me from having to have to add more wood when I underestimate the load. That is once I figure out the weight that does that trick, and allow for what is being used to directly heat the house while the boiler is burning and recharging storage..

Thanks again all.

Mike

 

[saskwoodburner]

Saskwoodcutter, great idea about using bathroom scales. I'm going to try that out. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

TedyOH,, Jebatty in an old post in the Boiler Room describes using weight to determine how much wood to put in a wood gasification boiler to raise storage temperatures a set amount. His idea if I understand it correctly, is weight is a better determinate of wood BTU content than guessing at the btu content by the volume of wood being used, in my case roughly a wheelbarrow full per load. I'm burning a mixture of oak, locust, cedar, and various other unidentified hard and softwoods found here in the western portion of Virginia. It wouldn't matter if the load was mixed hard and soft wood as the total weight would be the measure.

My Tarm Solo Innova wood gasification boiler should ideally burn full out as it was designed to, and not idle, to avoid creating creosote. I have been undershooting and overshooting the amount of wood for each burn. Knowing the volume only of the wood is throwing me off. So hopefully I can add or subtract some splits to the wheel barrow load to get the right weight of wood to raise my thousand gallons of storage roughly 40 degrees. That is once I figure out the weight that does that trick, and allow for what is being used to directly heat the house while the boiler is burning and at the same time charging the storage tank.Thanks again all.

Mike

Glad to have helped you on your way. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Jags]

Weight is a very good method to calculate available BTU in a wood load, but keep in mind there are other players in the game. Moisture content of the wood and the efficiency of the burner also play a big factor.

 

[dogwood]

Good points Jags,

I do have the less common problem of wood that may be too dry. I have been mixing some wetter wood in with a dump truck load of oak that I split six years ago and some locust felled twenty-three years ago. That wood is quite dry to say the least. Moisture meter readings are in the low teens or below. I've been concerned about the fire getting too hot in the boiler's secondary burn chamber, where the gasification burning occurs.

Mike