burning hay for fuel?

[Taylortractornut]

I have a friend that buys the mini rounds of hay I bale. He sells them for decorations. He then gets hired to pick them up for disposal after the fall season. I helped him make a barrel stove that uses a removable lid drum. He had smoldering problems but I suggested that we use a 3 or 4 inch squirrel cage blower. It works good. Most of the hay I bale him is sage grass. Some of the grass hay I bale is also dried a bit much for animal feed so it burns pretty good. It heats a shop pretty good.

 

[MotorSeven]

I have had a similar idea bouncing around in my pea brain. Hay mixed with sawdust and wax, then compressed into logs. It might take some trial and error, but I bet it would burn as good as wood and be a heck of a lot cheaper. One of these days I'll give it ago....and I have a sawmill, so wax is the only only ingredient I don't have on hand.

 

[clemsonfor]

Why would you plaster a bulding with hay? I think here in the moist humid climate in the south it would rot even stuck to a buldging in a few years?

 

[brokenknee]

Purchase a pellet mill and make pellets out of it. Then if you have excess you can sell the pellets.

Pellet Pros

 

[tcreeley]

There are a lot of wood boilers in my area and people love them - hook into the hot water system- self contained outside units and they burn all wood, soft, hard etc, and big pieces. A lot of people cut their own firewood. These wood boilers save money- much cheaper than oil,gas,electric, so people use them, even though they have to load them regardless of the weather. Wood pellets are catching on. People are tired of the high energy costs and install these pellet burning wood stoves.
You also can buy compressed wood bricks to burn in your wood stove - leavings from hardwood floor manufacturing.

I'm guessing that hay pellets could be burnt in wood pellet stoves?

 

[powerpace]

Why would you plaster a bulding with hay? I think here in the moist humid climate in the south it would rot even stuck to a buldging in a few years?

The construction concept is not new and is proven even in humid area, The STRAW is low in moisture. Cured hay probably has too much moisture.

In New Mexico and Colorado they have built public buildings using straw bales. Depending on how backward your building code departments are in your area they may never allow them. In Douglas County, OR where I live Geodesic domes were not allowed to be built for years after the rest of the world had them. The inspectors couldn't grasp the concept even with the engineered drawings in front of them.

The bales are non load bearing, all they do is insulate and fill the void.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Off subject but n the bale building a friend of mine had 15 calves born right before the rare 12 inch snow. He ran out of barn space so wee to sveral round and square bales and made shelter with some logs across the top and a tarp. THat made the best warmest shelter till the spring even after the snow they still went to it til lthey ate it.


A bale furnace maybe the way to go here Cogon grass is an invasive grass and it hasnt got to our county yet but its in the next one over. It burns off super hot and is a danger to pine tree plantations. It also thrives in poor soil to . I have a friend in Florida thats working with a company to bale it on his farm which it has over run to burn in a boiler for a green house and maybe a cogeneration plant.

 

[forgeblast]

I have had a similar idea bouncing around in my pea brain. Hay mixed with sawdust and wax, then compressed into logs. It might take some trial and error, but I bet it would burn as good as wood and be a heck of a lot cheaper. One of these days I'll give it ago....and I have a sawmill, so wax is the only only ingredient I don't have on hand.

Get a few bee hives and you will have the wax you need.