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[slosh250]

Anyone burn saw dust any? Please post pro's and con's . I live in sawmill country and the stuff is just abundent here. Just an idea.

[Scott7m]

Never tried it, id say it would smoke like mad and not burn as hott since it would be mashed together

[MattyNH]

I would think it would smoke big time..I don't see it lasting for a burn time..

[willieG]

fire place logs used to be made (maybe still are) from sawdust. i t was extruded in such a way that it was compressed so tight that the moistur in teh sawdust was all that held it together. they would dump the dam stuff in a hopper and if would be squeezed so tight by a screw taht it would come out the end like elephant turds and jsut get chopped off at the proper lengths. i used to see them in stores about 14 inches long and 4 inches across. they burnt great but i think loose sawdust would require a lot of air adn some special type of burner?

[Scott7m]

Yea Willie same way wood pellets are made, under pressure they get hot and the cellulose breaks down and glues the pellet together

Regular saw dust smokes like crazy and requires lots of air

[MrDan27611]

When I was talking to Portage and Main about buying my boiler, the owner was trying to talk me into buying a chip burner. Knowing I had an unlimited source of sawdust, I asked if the burner would burn sawdust instead. He said that yes, they could make it burn sawdust and it would work. Not exactly empirical evidence but an option.

[slosh250]

interesting, it would smoke like no other im sure. probly could mix with wood and maybe extend burn times a little who knows

[dwneast77]

MrDan -  The P&M Chip Burner works exactly like a pellet boiler.  They have a great video on their web site (via YouTube).  It's an expensive unit, $30k, but I'm considering it in the future when my wood boilers crap out as I have a very high heat load.  One nice thing, even at full heat load  running flat out, he said it would go 3 days on a fill.   Hardest part (other than paying for it) is chip storage.  I'm also considering pellets as an option.  Easier to set up a silo, but then I'm not sure about bulk pellets in my area.   And they would cost more than chips.   

[wrudoing]

i have burnt tons of it, i have a cabinet shop burns good needs to be mixed shoveling it full does not work i have the kids fill 30 gal garbage bags throw in 1 or 2 level it out and put your fire wood on top. The problem is getting it into the burner bagging it is not cost effective and shoveling it is dangerous. Really need a chip style burner made for this type material IMO. What im going to try next year is tree grindings mixed with saw dust,  that would be something that could be shoveled in without blowing up or blowing away??

[willywood]

You might want to take a look at the Bio-Burner.

http://www.leiprod.com/leiproducts/

It will burn wood chips, pellets, sawdust and just about any other biomass waste judging by their videos on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/LEIProducts?feature=watch

Half the price of the P+M burner I believe.

[dwneast77]

willywood -  That looks like a nice unit.  I'm far from ready to move on a new unit, but I've requested a price on the BB500.  Can't hurt to ask.

[willywood]

I think the BB-500 has an output of 500,000 btu/hr. enough  to heat 30,000 sq. ft.
What are you trying to heat?  I think that unit costs around $36,0000 + $5000 for the hopper.

[dwneast77]

I'm heating my home 24'x60' or 1440 sq. ft., 2 story and not greatly insulated.  On a slab in Maine.  Not overly efficient.  I'm working on tightening it up.  I'm also heating 4 greenhouses and have 3 more I'd like to tie into the system.  Currently I'm using a CB E-2300 and a Wood Doctor HE10000 with a combined total btu output of about 450k btu's. 

$40k is a lot of money to shell out.  They actually have not responded to my inquiry yet, so I'm solely going by your estimate.  P&M has 2 chip burners,  a 500k and a 800k.  The comparable 500k btu unit is $31k with bin.  Many of the same features, such as network interface.  I like that.  Just for giggles, the 800k btu unit runs about $80k.  Better off to buy two of the 500s and save money.   The other option I'm considering is possibly 2 of the CB Maxim pellet boilers at 250k btus each for about $8k each.  Figure $20k total.  Not sure what their bigger hopper costs?.  But Pellets would probably cost more than double what chips would cost.  So I have a lot of thoughts running through my head. 

[willywood]

I saw both units at a trade show in Virginia and I.M.H.O. the P+M unit is a joke compared to the Bio-Burner.  It looks like P+M spent a weekend re-jigging a wood boiler to burn chips so that they could compete in that market.  No comparison in technology as the Bio-Burner is solely designed to burn biomass and has a propane ignition system, cyclonic combustion and exhaust system.  Don't know where you're located but if you get a chance to check one out do so.  I was really impressed with this product and when my wood choppng days are over I'd like to give the BB-100 a go.

[dwneast77]

willywood - I'll keep that in mind.  Thanks.