Posted: 10/5/2010 3:16:51 PM EDT
| Anybody have or use an electric log splitter? if so how do youlike it? |
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I'd be interested in this as well.
Most of the pure electric models I've seen are fairly small, and (my guess) underpowered. I was thinking a hydraulic splitter driven by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine would be a good option. For around the house it would be a lot less noisy. But I'd be intersted in experience with any of the electrics. |
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I'd be interested in this as well. Most of the pure electric models I've seen are fairly small, and (my guess) underpowered. I was thinking a hydraulic splitter driven by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine would be a good option. For around the house it would be a lot less noisy. But I'd be intersted in experience with any of the electrics. There is one for sale for 275.00 at the local store. I am fairly certain, from looking at it, that I can hand split anything that it can split for the price of a maul. And the majority of what I split is larger than the splitter. 24" diameter oak, sweetgum ... maul can handle it, but I doubt that little bitty machine could do it. TRG |
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I was thinking a hydraulic splitter driven by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine would be a good option. I'd think you'd need a heck of an electric motor to drive a hydraulic pump sufficient to meaningfully split firewood. I'm not a hydraulics expert so maybe I'm wrong on that. FWIW, I've seen several posters over the past year or so who spoke highly of their electric splitters. I haven't yet seen anybody posting that their electric splitter was a POS. |
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I was thinking a hydraulic splitter driven by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine would be a good option. I'd think you'd need a heck of an electric motor to drive a hydraulic pump sufficient to meaningfully split firewood. I'm not a hydraulics expert so maybe I'm wrong on that. FWIW, I've seen several posters over the past year or so who spoke highly of their electric splitters. I haven't yet seen anybody posting that their electric splitter was a POS. I'm no expert in hydraulis, electric motors, or small gasoline motors. But it seems to me you should be able to get a lot more torque from an electric motor than a small gasoline motor of similar physical size. I think they drive multi stage (two stage?) hydraulic pumps with the gas motors. I think you have to use hydraulics to get sufficient force multiplication, but I don't know what a reasonable motor HP should be. My table saw has a 3HP motor and my dust collector has a 2HP motor. I know the table saw will plow through anything. It's probably all in the gearing. I imagine running a hydraulic pump is a high torque low RPM required regime. Spitballing here, but I was thinking it would be quieter, and if some SHTF scenario, running a quiet generator (Like a Honda) that powered and electric splitter may be better than a noisy gas splitter. Thinking splitter here in this situation as a means to save food calories that would be used up hand splitting a large wood pile. There may be a downside, other than portability, that we don't see big hydraulic splitters with electric motors. Just curious if anyone has seen or has experience with them. |
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I've been wondering about those myownself,
I know from back when I worked in a small engine shop it was said that a 1hp electric motor was the equivelent of a 2 1/2 to 3hp gas small engine; course I can't remember if that electric was a 110v or 240 three phase motor either 
ETA: I'm getting tired of swinging a maul and/or sledgehammer 
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I'm no expert in hydraulis, electric motors, or small gasoline motors. But it seems to me you should be able to get a lot more torque from an electric motor than a small gasoline motor of similar physical size. I think they drive multi stage (two stage?) hydraulic pumps with the gas motors. I think you have to use hydraulics to get sufficient force multiplication, but I don't know what a reasonable motor HP should be. My table saw has a 3HP motor and my dust collector has a 2HP motor. I know the table saw will plow through anything. It's probably all in the gearing. I imagine running a hydraulic pump is a high torque low RPM required regime. Spitballing here, but I was thinking it would be quieter, and if some SHTF scenario, running a quiet generator (Like a Honda) that powered and electric splitter may be better than a noisy gas splitter. Thinking splitter here in this situation as a means to save food calories that would be used up hand splitting a large wood pile. There may be a downside, other than portability, that we don't see big hydraulic splitters with electric motors. Just curious if anyone has seen or has experience with them. Actually hydraulics need higher speeds "low" torque. I put "low" in quote because hydraulics are terribly inefficient so they still require quite a bit of torque. Either way, HP is HP, so if you've got a 35 ton splitter with an 8 hp gas engine on it, you would need a similar HP electric motor. You may be able to get by with a little smaller electric motor just because of the torque rise on electric motors. Just an educated guess but I would say maybe a 6 hp electric could be substituted for a 8 hp gas engine. You ever seen a 6 hp electric motor? They aren't small... and they aren't cheap either... As far as the smaller electric splitters, I've never used one so I can't weigh in. |
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ETA: I'm getting tired of swinging a maul and/or sledgehammer +1 But ... it keeps me honest about my own physical conditioning. I was stiff and sore Monday from cutting and loading the first firewood of the season. Sucks getting old, but, there is something youthful and fulfilling about hearing the dull 'pop' of a log and knowing it was not a lumbar disc instead. TRG |
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I am going to throw out a dissenting opinion here. My dad has one and I have seen several of these in the past for $100-200. I think he paid somewhere in that price range. We use it down on his farm to split wood from trees that fall over his roads and, given that I have a pretty bad back for my age, I think they're great. They won't handle the tabletop-sized pieces, but for normal sized stuff they're great. They also require virtually no maintenance in comparison to the gas-powered deals, they're easy to store, and they never fail to start.
There's a bunch of videos of them on youtube. I've put one in this post, but you can look at the links and go from there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsc8yG5aMCg&feature=related |
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I'm no expert in hydraulis, electric motors, or small gasoline motors. But it seems to me you should be able to get a lot more torque from an electric motor than a small gasoline motor of similar physical size. I think they drive multi stage (two stage?) hydraulic pumps with the gas motors. I think you have to use hydraulics to get sufficient force multiplication, but I don't know what a reasonable motor HP should be. My table saw has a 3HP motor and my dust collector has a 2HP motor. I know the table saw will plow through anything. It's probably all in the gearing. I imagine running a hydraulic pump is a high torque low RPM required regime. Spitballing here, but I was thinking it would be quieter, and if some SHTF scenario, running a quiet generator (Like a Honda) that powered and electric splitter may be better than a noisy gas splitter. Thinking splitter here in this situation as a means to save food calories that would be used up hand splitting a large wood pile. There may be a downside, other than portability, that we don't see big hydraulic splitters with electric motors. Just curious if anyone has seen or has experience with them. FYI Those are BS max horsepower figures. If you run the calculations a 2hp motor running on 1 phase 120VAC @ 70% efficiency requires 18.5 amps (9.25A @ 220VAC 2 phase). It would trip the breaker on startup. Without getting into gruesome details, an electric motor will provide more useable power than a gas engine with the same horsepower rating. |
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I got this one recently.
log splitter Its electric/hydraulic. I am a low end user but i was surprised how much it really did; i was splitting 17, 18" dia. maple and oak. Granted i had to do some by hand but within its parameters i was impressed. I like the fact that its 120v so I can use it inside if i want. |
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FYI Those are BS max horsepower figures. If you run the calculations a 2hp motor running on 1 phase 120VAC @ 70% efficiency requires 18.5 amps (9.25A @ 220VAC 2 phase). It would trip the breaker on startup. Without getting into gruesome details, an electric motor will provide more useable power than a gas engine with the same horsepower rating. That's what I always thought (red part). My 3HP table saw motor isn't overly large maybe a foot long and 8" in diameter. It is a 220V motor on a 30A circuit breaker with (IIRC) an 17A draw. The 220V limitation would hamper protability for a log splitter setup. |
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I am probably going to start a shitstorm, but I am jumping in.
I have this one. I would love to have a gas splitter or even one for my tractor PTO, however, I just don't want to spend the cash at this time. (and I have not been charging anything for a few years now). In reality, this unit works fine for me. I have had it a couple of years now and it's still working. We moved out into the country about 5yrs ago. We have a LOT of oak trees that were cut down by the power company for the electrical right of way, and we love to BBQ with oak, so for the first few years I would just split it as we went along. We finally got to the point where the only logs left were pretty big and it got harder to split (and painful). I bought the electric unit from Home Depot and it has split everything I have tried. Some logs are bigger that the manual suggests, however, I just start the split, stop the unit, rotate the log 180 degrees and start it again and it gets the job done. For $300.00, it's already paid for itself at my house. |
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I have one and it is a beast!!! It is some slower than a Honda 30 ton but it rocks for 280 dollars. I put it in the tractor bucket and raise it to a comfy level and go to town. We used it for 6 hours at a time in the Spring, the neighbor borrowed it and we split huge logs (diameter) in to manageable pieces.
The only thing it would not split 100% is Sycamore and it was just cut and wet. I give it 10 for value 6 for function and unknown for life duration. ETA you need a 20 amp breaker for mine |
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ETA: I'm getting tired of swinging a maul and/or sledgehammer +1 But ... it keeps me honest about my own physical conditioning. I was stiff and sore Monday from cutting and loading the first firewood of the season. Sucks getting old, but, there is something youthful and fulfilling about hearing the dull 'pop' of a log and knowing it was not a lumbar disc instead. TRG I'm not going to deny I need the excercise because I surely need it, but as I've gotten older I've begun to accumulate equipment that makes working a lot easier. earlier this year before the trees leave'd out we cut/cleared a couple of acres of postoak and blackjack from 2" to 2' thick on my days off, if it wasn't for my nephews (11 and 13yo), a couple of good chainsaws with plenty of extra loops and a tractor w/fel we wouldn't have gotten done what we did in so short of time period; my nephews refuse to learn how to drive the tractor so for now they're pickups and stackits, one of these days they'll learn driving the tractor is a lot easier than picking up big chunks of tree; they do seem to enjoy watching me swing a maul/sledge splitting the chunks though
ETA: I plan on getting one of the pto driven splitters when I get the tractor paid off. |
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From what I've sen everyone who has one loves the damn thing and everyone who doesnt have one says theres no way it could be worth a damn. That observation is spot on. Two of my buddies who were in on the planning stage pooh-poohed the idea of an electric splitter. After seeing it in operation they both were impressed and told me that they had changed their minds. One doesn't burn wood anymore but saw the utility, the other wants to borrow it! |
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You trade speed for power. A small electric motor can run a 100 ton hydraulic ram, but it will take for ever because the "in" line would need to be such a small ratio to the diameter of the cylinder. It's the same principle that Quackenbush (big bore air rifles) can fill a resevoir to 3000 psi with a hand pump...it just takes a god-awful number of pumps because the piston is like 3/16" diameter. We have an electric Dake 75 ton press here at the shop. I believe it has a 1 or 1.5 horse motor. It takes forever for that thing to move. I'd say if you value your time, get a more powerful gas spliter. If you enjoy playing in your woodpile on a nice, crisp day, use whatever you want and time be damned. |
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I'm no expert on these things; but my recent experience is that electric splitters are lame. My neighbor bought one and as I was helping him we both became very frustrated at the slowness and lack of power - so he returned it. Where I just picked up another load they were using a gas powered splitter, that was much larger and it seemed to work really well - although i only watched as I loaded my truck.
Personally, I have been really enjoying hand splitting. The rounds are all med/small and dried out well. There's just something satisfying and addictive about splitting wood. Bucking it up? That's another story..... -JC |
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ETA: I plan on getting one of the pto driven splitters when I get the tractor paid off. I wonder about the wisdom of this plan, myself. I have a tractor that could run a hydraulic splitter. By the time I purchase the 3pt unit, the controller and additional lines, I will be within the ballpark of a stand-alone unit. Especially if I find a used one on the Interawebz. Using my tractor, with its 55HP engine seems like a no brainer, however, that also means additional wear and tear on a 1954 Farmall instead of a Honda 2 stroke. Not to mention the convenience of driving one tractor to the log with the splitter behind it and the other tractor with the wood wagon behind it. When I finally break down and let myself buy a splitter, I think it will be the stand-alone kind. TRG |
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My brother has the Harbor Freight splitter. He got it just to split up one huge oak. I was surprised it could break up 36" wet trunk. If there was a knot you had to horse it around and battle it.
A real plus is not listening to a gas motor drone on all day. The down side is that it can't stand up like a better gas model, and it's on the ground so you have to bend over and stay there to operate. |
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Anybody have or use an electric log splitter? if so how do youlike it? I inherited one with my house. Too small for my needs. I have a monster maul and split every piece of almost 4 cords of oak with it that I just stacked. I am 63 years old and think a gas powered splitter might be in my future. Probably around 25-27 ton. Large oak rounds almost always require a certain amount of maul work to get them down to splitter size. Just my .02. |
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ETA: I'm getting tired of swinging a maul and/or sledgehammer +1 But ... it keeps me honest about my own physical conditioning. I was stiff and sore Monday from cutting and loading the first firewood of the season. Sucks getting old, but, there is something youthful and fulfilling about hearing the dull 'pop' of a log and knowing it was not a lumbar disc instead. TRG You got that right, Brother! |
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ETA: I plan on getting one of the pto driven splitters when I get the tractor paid off. I wonder about the wisdom of this plan, myself. I have a tractor that could run a hydraulic splitter. By the time I purchase the 3pt unit, the controller and additional lines, I will be within the ballpark of a stand-alone unit. Especially if I find a used one on the Interawebz. Using my tractor, with its 55HP engine seems like a no brainer, however, that also means additional wear and tear on a 1954 Farmall instead of a Honda 2 stroke. Not to mention the convenience of driving one tractor to the log with the splitter behind it and the other tractor with the wood wagon behind it. When I finally break down and let myself buy a splitter, I think it will be the stand-alone kind. TRG the way I figure if I can find one of the 3pt pto driven splitters at auction for a great price I'll buy (last one I seen went for just under $600 but out of my range at the time) and since I've already got the tractor it makes sence because I'd only be splitting wood a short time every year and hell I've only put approx 60hrs avg a year on my tractor since I bought it so it's not like I'm working the hell out of it. |
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In 1977 I purchased a Didier log splitter made in Franksville Wisconsin. The company nolonger exists from what I've heard. This unit is rated at 10 ton and had a 5HP Briggs and Scrap Iron engine. The engine powers a 2 stage Barnes hydraulic pump that "shifts" down when encountering a tuff block of wood to split. After powering thru it speeds the movement of the hydraulic ram up again. The unit works perfectly to this day with only the engine having been replaced. I got a heckuva deal on a 4 HP Honda and this engine works well on the splitter also. (The B&S wore out)
This splitter has split wood to heat 2 houses and a cabin for the last 33 years. It has a 24" ram and a 7" high wedge, which I think is the key to how much power you need. We can split most any block of green wood including Elm if we start on the outside of the block and take off smaller pieces, which we prefer. If starting out splitting the block in half, we can run into trouble sometimes, but not when we work the block from the outside first. Getting to your question, I think the electric would work if you start out splitting from the outside and spin the block till you get it to a manageable size then split it as you desire. I was told by an electric motor repair place that a 4 HP gas would be needed to replace a 2HP electric motor both running at 3400 rpm. |
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The majority of what I split is what I cannot lift. How many amps does this electric require? What are the odds of running it with a generator, or power inverter?
I just finished cutting, splitting and hauling the second cord of wood for this season. My lower back is posting this question. TRG |
| I just bought this one on sale for $999 after seriously considering an electric splitter. I wanted to split in the woods so I could unload smaller pieces from the truck which meant hauling the generator around. Also, the cycle time on the gas powered splitter is faster. I'll burn 3-4 truckloads in a normal winter and don't have a lot of time to get the wood. Ergonomics was a factor. I didn't want a splitter so low to the ground. |
OK I am brand new to fire wood, just cut my first cord last week. Wood stove is being installed in two weeks. I read through this thread and then read the reviews on the Homelite 5 ton splitter from Home Depot. Decided to take a chance and bought one tonight. WOW I have to say I am very impressed and pleased with it's performance. The specs said logs as long as 20" and 10" round. I cut my logs to 16" lengths and was splitting stuff over 10" with ease. Thanks for this thread and the splitter was worth every penny!!! 
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I've had one for 4 years & love it!
In my AO it is Fir & Pine & it will split any piece that I can fit into it. The great things about it is that it stores in almost no space upright in a corner, way easy to move, NO fuel & oil to mess with, starts instantly of course, runs on $04.5 a KW- way less than gas! And doubt that I will EVER have to rebuild the motor in my lifetime. After many years of hand splitting, it is nice to know that I don't have to worry about putting a maul through my leg or have a steel chip from a wedge imbed in my forehead! Not saying it is for everyone, but sure works for me & the EXTRA money saved can go to other preps...... |
| After reading this post I purchased the task force 5 ton splitter from lowes. I have split over two cords of wood with it and I am very happy. This splitter went right through wood well over its reccomended size with out trouble. I placed it on the bed of my truck to avoid bending over and had no issues running off the house or my generator. For the money this splitter is well worth it. Lowes.com showes over 120 positive 4 + star reviews. |
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The majority of what I split is what I cannot lift. How many amps does this electric require? What are the odds of running it with a generator, or power inverter? I just finished cutting, splitting and hauling the second cord of wood for this season. My lower back is posting this question. TRG 20 Amps =20 x 120 v =2400 watts to start mine. Some of use 10 cords 
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Not to take this off topic, but a friend loaned me his manual hydraulic wood splitter. Similar to this one. I was surprised how well it did. Granted, I only split 2-3 cords max each year.
It's basically a 10 ton hydraulic ram w/ two handles. One handle moves a lot of fluid and the other moves a little. I had my 7 y.o. son help me split and it was a good time. He would use the easy handle (one that moved a little fluid) and I'd take the other. We were easily splitting 12"-18" oak and cedar from property. If you don't split a ton of wood, it's a good deal for $120. If TSHTF, it'll save on gas, but still split your wood. My 5 y.o daughter also helped some. |
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Not to take this off topic, but a friend loaned me his manual hydraulic wood splitter. Similar to this one. I was surprised how well it did. Granted, I only split 2-3 cords max each year. It's basically a 10 ton hydraulic ram w/ two handles. One handle moves a lot of fluid and the other moves a little. I had my 7 y.o. son help me split and it was a good time. He would use the easy handle (one that moved a little fluid) and I'd take the other. We were easily splitting 12"-18" oak and cedar from property. If you don't split a ton of wood, it's a good deal for $120. If TSHTF, it'll save on gas, but still split your wood. My 5 y.o daughter also helped some. That's originally what I was looking at. But at $75 off, the electric model is tempting me. |