Firewood Price Guide

FreeBear

QrizB said: I would be surprised if a one tonne bag contains more than 300kg of dry logs.

Also depends on the type of wood. Willow & Poplar weigh very little once dry. Oak on the other hand, is pretty darned heavy, so you might get 300Kg in a bulk bag.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I think dumpy bags are expensive way to buy firewood, they are loose fill so by the time you stack it you end up with a small pile of wood.

Ideally everyone would sell stacked and by the cubic metre so you can compare prices.

The crates online may appear expensive but they are stacked neatly in the crate (I presume by the pictures) and the websites I've looked at in the past detailed how many cubic metres worth you were getting. 

Anyone selling firewood in England in quantities of 2 cubic metres of less should be certified (this is to ensure they supply you with wood that is less than % moisture) and give their certification number to the customer. Do the dumpy bag sellers bother with this? 

fimacdoodle

I live near woods and take a rucksack out with me when i walk the dog and collect windfall. I would say my woodburner uses 2 rucksacks of wood in an evening.
I also collect pallets when they are free to take from the local companies.
I have not bought wood for maybe 5 years now......

try it....

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Having a look at proper suppliers near us, for hardwood it ranges from a 70cm cubed bag (which is my maths is correct equates to just a third of a cubic metre) for £60 up to £120 for an actual cubic metre with varying dumpy bag sizes and prices in between plus offers for more than 1 bag at a time but this is all loose fill. 

Probably people on Facebook doing the dumpy bags a bit a cheaper.

One place does stacked crates (of Hornbeam and Maple) for £141 a cubic metre, the same place also does 8 cubic metres of oak and ash for £880 but no mention of loose or stacked on that offer. 

All I can say is I don't see how people who actually heat their home with wood could afford those prices, fine if it's a luxury or an extra to cut down on the heating bill but we heat the rooms, central heating and hot water with wood, considering how much we burn it would cost thousands a year at those prices.

FreeBear

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said: All I can say is I don't see how people who actually heat their home with wood could afford those prices

If wood is your primary source of heat, it only makes sense if you have access to free/cheap logs. And to keep costs down, you need to be cutting, splitting, and seasoning the logs - For that, you will need a lot of space.

henry24

FreeBear that's one of the things I don't understand to burn just wood you need lots of space but people come on sites like this say they can collect enough bits of wood while out walking to keep a fire going. How bits the fire because I couldn't 

QrizB

henry24 said:

FreeBear that's one of the things I don't understand to burn just wood you need lots of space but people come on sites like this say they can collect enough bits of wood while out walking to keep a fire going. How bits the fire because I couldn't 

According to Forest Research, dry logs contain about 4kWh/kg. If you want to keep a 2kW fire burning for 4 hours you'd need 1.6kg of wood, which I guess you could manage to pick up on a walk if there's plenty of windfall and not many other people to compete with.

For whole house heating it's a bit more of a challenge. In January I was getting through about 50kWh/day of gas; that's equivalent to 12kg of wood, which is more than "a few bits" - it's roughly a whole pallet! I guess if your daily walk takes you through an industrial estate you might manage to forage a pallet a day, at least until they catch you ...

(Checking eBay you can buy used pallets for around £2 each, if you're lucky to have someone nearby selling them. £2/day is similar to my gas bill.)

henry24

Most pallets are soft wood or chip board and don't give out much heat 

FreeBear

QrizB said:

henry24 said:

FreeBear that's one of the things I don't understand to burn just wood you need lots of space but people come on sites like this say they can collect enough bits of wood while out walking to keep a fire going. How bits the fire because I couldn't 

According to Forest Research, dry logs contain about 4kWh/kg. If you want to keep a 2kW fire burning for 4 hours you'd need 1.6kg of wood, which I guess you could manage to pick up on a walk if there's plenty of windfall and not many other people to compete with.

If you are scavenging windfalls, it will still need to be kept somewhere under cover until it is dry enough to burn. Even if you are getting hold of pallets, these are often left lying around outside, so will be relatively damp.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

FreeBear said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said: All I can say is I don't see how people who actually heat their home with wood could afford those prices

If wood is your primary source of heat, it only makes sense if you have access to free/cheap logs. And to keep costs down, you need to be cutting, splitting, and seasoning the logs - For that, you will need a lot of space.

Indeed but where do you get 10 to 20 cubic metres of wood from every year for free/cheap? I guess not many people are needing this much to keep warm but our house is fairly big and in an exposed location so its difficult to keep warm.

Round here a lot of people burn wood so it's in high demand and no one is giving it away. We couldn't survive off sticks or pallets, my theory is if it takes longer to collect than the time it would keep us warm then it's not worth doing so breaking up pallets or wandering through the woods wouldn't be rewarding.

There is the odd opportunity to top up for free but only by luck. The amount of wood in our area just lying around rotting could heat our house for a lifetime but it's either inaccessible or belongs to someone.