Welcome to Wood Chipper Rental HQ!
Using quality wood chipper rental equipment is basically the way to reduce large logs, plant, and wood debris to little piles of dust…OK, not quite but you get the idea.
They’re great for use when clearing vegetation, removing trees, disposing of bushes and shrubs that have been uprooted, as well as provided clearing breaks on property.
That said, not everyone needs a wood chipper year-round.
Seriously, who cleans up their yard of sticks and debris in the middle of winter? At least in the Northern and Mid-Western states.
For all you folks in warm and sunny winter climates…Well, more power too you!
Since it doesn’t make sense to buy a wood chipper if you don’t use it that much in the first place renting the equipment keeps your costs down while enjoying the benefit of being able to break down vegetation matter quickly.
Types of Wood Chipper Rental Units
Wood chipper rental units come in a variety of sizes to meet various wood chipping needs. Depending the type of job involved, the right equipment for your individual job should be rented to be the most efficient and keep unnecessary rental costs down.
There’s no point in renting a smaller chipper only to make a big job take longer and incur more rental fees.
Small jobs can be managed easily with 25 HP (or even smaller) model that can munch up a newly cut two and a half inch tree diameter in seconds.
These units make easy work of thin-trunked bushes, small trees, shrubs, yard cleanup of fallen or trimmed branches and similar jobs.
If direct chipping is desired instead of shredding, small models come with lower horsepower variations that work slower but produce a more even chip and wood bit production.
If you want bark material, these models work the best, particularly with saplings and two inch diameter wood branches. All are easily maneuverable by one person, rolling on a two-wheeled axle and placement pad.
Naturally if you have some hard-core chipping and shredding to do you can get a monster model with a Cummins diesel that puts your neighbor’s Toyota Prius power plant to shame. But that’s only for serious chipping of course.
Large clearing projects require a larger machine both for tree trunk diameter capacity as well as resilience and durability for large consumption jobs. Many such units are large enough to be towed into the operational place by a pickup truck, being a bit too heavy for one person to lift and carry. A number of units come with an extended exhaust unit/output chute as well, to blow by-product debris clear away from the machine and user, avoiding jamming and injury.
Wood Chipper Rental Costs
Cost-wise, the dollar amount you’ll spend using a wood chipper rental depends on how long the unit will be needed, the size of unit borrowed, and the rental companies own indirect costs added to the unit utilization.
That said, a small wood chipper averages approximately $115 to $130 per day, while a medium commercial chipper with a six inch diameter capacity can cost as much as $185 to $200 daily.
Large chippers are far more, with a 12 inch diameter capacity costing as much as $410 to $425 a day. Rates per day drop a bit if the rental is taken out for a longer period, with borrowing options including weekly and monthly rate setups.
An added benefit is the reduction capacity of the wood chipper. Once the vegetation and wood are essentially minced up you, the user, can then turn around and take that the bark or by-product for use as fertilizer or ground cover. Depending on the type of wood chipper rental utilized, the broken down material size can be almost as small as powder or as chunky as bark pellets.
Because a wood chipper breaks vegetation material down so small, it can easily be buried into the ground to be used as nutrient fill since the smaller bits of wood break down faster and add carbon matter to the soil.
Note: Skip the next paragraph if you love Al Gore!
Where were we? Oh yeah, you can mix chipped wood bits into the soil to add carbon. Talk about carbon sequestration right?! Al Gore probably couldn’t do better even if he does buy “carbon offsets” as an excuse for flying all over the globe warning about the dangers of global warming (I mean climate change). Oh, sorry to get off on a tangent about that… :)
Alternatively, for areas where erosion prevention or weed abatement is needed, the bark works likes any other ground cover product, covering the treated area and blocking vegetation growth. As a result, instead of having to haul the chipped material to the dump, it can be re-used on the property almost immediately.
I Know You’ll Skip the Wood Chipper Rental Safety Section :)
In terms of personal safety when using a wood chipper rental well we all know we’ll end up running a chipper with loose fitting clothing and no eye protection while smoking a cigar and eating foods high in saturated fat (which is actually good for you BTW if you ask many knowledgeable folks).
The thing is bad things do happen so here’s what you should know about wood chipper rental safety (PDF link): The user (that would be you!) should always wear personal protective gear when operating or working near a wood chipper.
Eye-goggles, leather gloves, full sleeve shirts and pants, and boots are all recommended personal wear. The chipper should be operated per instructions and wood that is larger than the recommended capacity should never be jammed into the chipper.
If the chipper stalls or plugs up, the user should turn the unit off completely and wait 60 seconds and be sure to listen and look for signs continued movement of the cutting drum or disc.
The power source or ignition should be confirmed to be in the “off” or disconnected position. A separate piece of wood may be used to un-jam the unit if easily done from a distance. Never stick a hand or fingers into the chipper to remove debris, even when the machine is off. If the jam is too complicated, the unit should be brought back to the rental facility for repair.
Where to Find Wood Chipper Rental Units
Most wood chipper rental equipment can be found locally through rental equipment dealers. If unsure, a quick search on the Internet or with a phone book will find a local dealer quickly. Some equipment companies are nationwide as well, with websites that can direct you to the nearest local outlet for a particular equipment type, model, and capacity.
Sunbelt Rentals
One of the top companies for wood chipper rental units is Sunbelt Rentals. You’ve probably seen their familiar green equipment with the bright yellow sunburst design at work sites or on tractor trailers.
Sunbelt offers three different wood chipper rental models for use depending on the size of job and wood or brush you will be working with.
The entry level unit is what they call a small chipper/mulcher. It is a unit made by MacKissic with the model # SC262-16ERL. This small chipper/mulcher uses a 16 HP Vanguard gasoline engine, has a 5” x 4” feed opening and can handle up to 4” diameter material at a feed rate of 10 fpm. The cutter head unit is a disc type. While it is a fairly small unit it still weighs in at 1100 pounds so it’s no lightweight.
If the small chipper isn’t big enough for your job you have the option of moving up to the 6 inch wood chipper rental unit offered by Sunbelt. This type is a either a:
- Rayco RC6D
- Vermeer BC600XL
- Vermeer BC625A
All with a disc type cutting head and powered by a 25-27 HP Kohler gas engine. These models have a feed opening of 6 x 6 inches and feed rates vary from 180-230 fpm. These models are significantly heavier and approach the 1 ton mark.
Last but not least in the Sunbelt wood chipper rental arsenal is the impressive 12” Vermeer BC1000XL. It loses the wimpy gas engines for a powerful 85 HP Cummins diesel engine and uses a drum type cutting head. The feed opening is 12 x 17 inches to accommodate 12 inch diameter material which it can process at a rate of 105 fpm.
This is a 4000+ pound unit so keep that in mind when you plan to rent one since you’ll need towing equipment that can handle the load.
The weight also makes it a bit more necessary to be cautious with the unit if you’ll be working in sensitive areas where turf or landscape damage could be an issue.
Home Depot
You may also be able to get a wood chipper rental unit from Home Depot if you have one in your area. More than likely you do, right?!
Home Depot calls their units brush chippers but they are similar to what is offered by Sunbelt which we’ve discussed above. If you get a unit from Home Depot you’ll probably be using a Vermeer BC625A model which is listed as a 25 HP unit capable of handling up to 6 inch diameter brush, saplings and logs.
The model has an automatically controlled feed intake and a 64 inch feed table. You can also rotate the ejection chute 240 degrees to put the chipped material exactly where you’d like it to be. The unit has a 7 gal fuel tank and can be towed behind any number of trucks or SUVs since it weighs in at a fairly light (compared to the full size units) 1700+ pounds.
RentalMax
If you are just doing a very small yard job all these units are probably still a bit too large for your needs. The good news is there are even small units available from folks like RentalMax.
They offer a small 8 HP model made by Echo/BearCat that is easily portable since it can roll on wheels in a similar manner to using a dolly or hand cart. It can handle up to 1.5 inch material and costs around $110 per day to rent (this may vary depending on your location).
They also offer a slightly larger 8 HP wood chipper rental model from BCS that will chip up to 2.5 inch brush and branches.
Other Brush Chipper Models & Sources
While not every wood chipper rental company will have all the models available there are a number of models out there with even more capabilities.
For instance the Echo/BearCat lineup includes the CH450H which is design to mount on a mini skid steer unit and essentially becomes a self-propelled wood chipper unit which can handle material up to 4.5 inches in diameter. They also offer a number of more traditional trailer mounted chippers of small and medium sizes.
So that’s a lot of info and unfortunately reading it hasn’t magically cleaned up your yard or the back forty for you so now it’s time to go out and find yourself an actual, real-life wood chipper rental unit whether large or small and get the job done!