Summary of woodfuel standards
Wood burns, doesn’t it? So what is the point of a set of standards for woodfuel?
Put simply standards provide a language which allows woodfuel to be described in an accurate and unambiguous way for both buyers and suppliers. While petrol and diesel may appear superficially to be very similar, if you put the wrong one in your car you won’t get home and you’ll receive an expensive repair bill. Similarly if you put woodchips of the wrong moisture content or chip size in your chip boiler that too will stop working, you’ll get cold and receive an expensive repair bill! Or if you use unseasoned firewood on a wood burning stove you will also get cold, and spend more money on fuel, maintenance and replacing the boiler earlier than you need to.
The key parameters that need to be specified in an unambiguous way for woodfuel are:
- Moisture content – because water doesn’t burn!
- Dimensions – to make sure it fits the appliance and its fuel handling system
- Origin – where does it come from and what does it consist of
- Ash content
There are other parameters may also need to be given for specific types of woodfuel, but these are the key ones.
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