Will A Vermeer 7" gas chipper do what it says?

[sixdogs]

Will a new (rental) Vermeer 7" gas chipper -BC700XL actually chip what it says? I have a bunch of green American Arborvitae --Northern White Cedar--to chip and some of it is 5" on the butt with some odd shaped branches. Plus it's green.

All the videos show smaller branches but none show bigger wood and I'm beginning to wonder it they will chip it effectively. I don't want to cut every branch off or have it plug with sap or whatever. A rental works for me because this is flat farm country and not much of a need for a chipper.

Any opinions on this chipper before I rent it?

BC700XL | Brush Chippers | Equipment | Vermeer

 

[mark02tj]

Many years ago I rented a Vermeer like that. I don't remember the size - I think it was a 10" or so. It took everything that I put in the chute. If I remember correctly, the feed kind of adjusted itself with bigger stuff. You might have to watch it a little and stay on "the bar" that controls the feed direction. In other words, if it starts to bog down, kick the feed in reverse.

I had a tree crew out here a couple of months ago. Their chipper was down and they had a rented Vermeer with them. Again, about 10". It also took everything that was fed into it.

Also, the picture in your link shows the guy feeding into the back of the truck. When I rented that chipper years ago, I did the same thing. I happened to mention this to the guy at the rental place and he gave me some good advice - If you're chipping into the back of the truck, put a piece of plywood over the back window!! :thumbsup: He said that they'd had more than one person that didn't do that and came back with a busted window.

Have fun! Feeding a chipper all day is a LOT of work!

 

[EarPlug]

Why not take a 3 foot chunk of your biggest wood to the rental place and let the demo the unit?

 

[davesl708]

I have use Vermeer 6" and 9" chippers twice a year for clean up. Both models perform without problems. It will depend on the rental agencies maintenance program.

 

[bigtiller]

7" will give you a problem, it only has a 6x8 throat. I wish I could tell you more, I almost bought one in 1993. They called it a 620 back then.

 

[4570Man]

I have watched tree guys chip big stuff, but trying to chip 6-9 inches logs was a real workout for the 110 hp diesel powering their chipper. Their chipper had a self sensing load and self adjusted the feed rate to match. Even with their huge chipper they had to cut every branch off the trunk. The only way to avoid having to cut every branch off the trunk is to simply burn it.

 

[sixdogs]

Why not take a 3 foot chunk of your biggest wood to the rental place and let the demo the unit?

That's what I did and no problem. I rented it and went home and chipped 40, 12-14 ft tall cedars in 2 1/2 hours and it chipped anything I could get into it. This model apparently differs from the earlier version in that it has some sort of controlled feed. When it started to plug, the feed rollers backed off and stopped. When the plug was cleared it started to feed itself again. I jammed all kinds of green, sappy trees and branches in and it handled everything 100%.

It is shocking how well it worked and I cannot say enough good things about this chipper. It seems brilliantly engineered, well made and does more that I expected it to. Some branches that I had cut off in anticipation of problems I really didn't have to. It chewed everything up into little bitty tree pieces and I was done way sooner that I expected.

I have used lots of chippers over the years and this was the best ever. I would compare it to a high HP tractor PTO version. The feed rolls had to have something to do with it in that I could not plug it despite jamming in everything but the kitchen sink. It simply would not plug and I have plugged the best of them.

Therefore, I am giving this model and my experience a coveted, two thumbs up, 100% rating. This Vermeer chipper was outstanding and then some.

 

[Member]

Will a new (rental) Vermeer 7" gas chipper -BC700XL actually chip what it says? I have a bunch of green American Arborvitae --Northern White Cedar--to chip and some of it is 5" on the butt with some odd shaped branches. Plus it's green.

All the videos show smaller branches but none show bigger wood and I'm beginning to wonder it they will chip it effectively. I don't want to cut every branch off or have it plug with sap or whatever. A rental works for me because this is flat farm country and not much of a need for a chipper.

Any opinions on this chipper before I rent it?

BC700XL | Brush Chippers | Equipment | Vermeer

I have rented a Vermeer BC625XL a few times. It took everything that fit in the throat. I would say you won't have to cut *every* branch off but you will have to cut off some. I think an advantage of the Vermeer chippers is that they slow down/stop the feed roller automatically if the cutting wheel slows down and when the cutting wheel speeds up they start feeding again automatically. I wish my Woodmaxx did that.

 

[sixdogs]

I have rented a Vermeer BC625XL a few times. It took everything that fit in the throat. I would say you won't have to cut *every* branch off but you will have to cut off some. I think an advantage of the Vermeer chippers is that they slow down/stop the feed roller automatically if the cutting wheel slows down and when the cutting wheel speeds up they start feeding again automatically. I wish my Woodmaxx did that.

Well, they must have changed something because the BC700XL that I rented handled cedars with many strong branches at a right angle to the truck. Very difficult to feed. I was not gentle by any means but just jammed stuff in. I have cut plenty of branches to fit into chippers over the years but not this one. It ate every tree I could stuff in there, regardless of the branches. I'm probably never going to need another chipper again but if I do I'm renting this one. This outperformed the PTO chippers I have used over the years by a wide margin and I was surprised how well it worked.

One downside, I guess, is the velocity that the chips exit the thing with. I just shot them in a pile on the ground but I would guess it would take paint off your truck and maybe break the back window so aim somewhere else.