An electric splitter is something that comes in very handy when you have large wood logs sitting idle at your home and you can easily cut them with the help of this equipment. Splitters are necessarily useful for those who have a fireplace at their home or require chopped wood for any use. They have a pretty simple mechanism for the work. But no matter how much you have dealt with equipment that has a blade, you always have to be really careful while you are using the same.
Electric splitters can be used in households as well as professionally as well. You just have to make sure that whichever you have purchased meets your requirement. Let us tell you first how an electric splitter works before we head into learning different types of electric splitters.
If we have to put it in simple words, an electric splitter works exactly in the way the ax works in human hands. There are certain components or specifications of the splitter that makes it easy for them to work, Let us directly cut through to the required information that you are here for,
- Electrically powered engine
- Hydraulic oil tank, usually up to 3 to 3.5-gallon capacity.
- Hydraulic oil pump that works in stages
- Hydraulic cylinder
So now, with these components and parts of the machine, you can easily get the wood split into two.
- The hydraulic pump of the machine pushes the log into your machine once the log is placed over it.
- Usually, this hydraulic pump is operated because of the hydraulic oil in the electric splitter.
- The pressure valve of the splitter helps cut the wood or log in two which directly operates because of the electrically powered engine.
- The pump puts low pressure on the piston after the wood is successfully split into two.
- When you put the log again in the tool, it will use its maximum pressure to split the log.
- Depending upon the stages of hydraulic pumping you will get the best performance. Although, it is suggested that the 2-stage hydraulic pump system works the best for all sizes of logs.
- Just plug in the splitter to an electric outlet and get the logs for your fireplace without putting in the extra hard work that takes out all the fun.
Types of Splitter
There are basically two types of electric splitters seen in the market, 1) Horizontal splitters, and 2) Verticle splitters. Let us learn in brief about both of them.
1) Horizontal splitter
Horizontal splitters are most useful for homeowners as they are not very costly and you can easily get them at your set budget price. The horizontal log splitter will work the same way as mentioned above but the only setback for some people might be that you cannot cut the large logs in the horizontal splitter. If you using logs just for your fireplace then by all means this will be an ideal splitter for you. Even though they work in different way then the vertical splitters you will still have to follow the safety measures to use it.
2) Verticle splitter
Verticle splitters are used by almost every customer who is using an electric splitter and has a good need of cutting the logs on regular basis. They are better suited for the log which can hardly be carried by hand because of its weight and cannot possibly be cut in the horizontal splitters. Don’t worry, even if you are planning to get the verticle electric splitter you can easily cut the small log in it too. It is necessary to mention that you will be spending a little bit more than you will be spending on the horizontal splitters.
Both of these splitters as they are equipped with a blade require a certain amount of precaution that you will have to take while you are using the splitter. Let us go through the guidelines that you can make sure to follow for your own safety.
Safety Guidelines for Using Electric Log Splitters
It doesn’t matter what tool you are using, if it has a blade you have to take precautions irrespective of how it is operated manually or electrically.
- Make sure that there is no kid or pet around you when you are operating the splitter.
- Make sure that your hands are covered in gloves and not near to the blades when it’s cutting the logs in two.
- Try to avoid using the splitter during the nighttime as you surely do not want to work with a tool that literally amputates your hand if you are not too careful.
- Make sure that you are not wearing loose clothing that can be caught in the splitter’s any part of the blades.
- Make sure that you are not wearing any jewelry that is hanging too low or can drop in the splitter and cause an accident.
- Make sure that you are wearing proper safety shoes and not flip-flops.
- Make sure that you are wearing safety glasses that can perfectly cover your eyes.
- Make sure the splitters are sturdy and properly locked on the surface you are splitting your logs in.
- One thing that is highly advised by all the electric splitter providers is that only one person at a time should work on the splitters. More operators over the tool can increase the chances of accidents.
This is one of the heavy types of machinery that is very dangerous to use if proper safety measures are not followed. So make sure that you are following all the necessary safety measures that are needed and only after that you can start your machine. You can even use the above-mentioned safety criteria as a checklist before you start splitting the logs in your electric log splitter.
Cost of the Electric Log Splitters
If you are wondering about the cost of the log splitters, one thing that you have to keep in mind is that the electric log splitters will cost you more than manual splitters or gas-operated log splitters. As they require less maintenance and also they are very efficient when it comes to cutting the logs sooner and in a proper mechanical way. The average cost of the electric log splitter is between $200 to $300, you can even get a higher-priced splitter if you are open to it but most standard log splitters will not cost you more than $300.
Conclusion
There are numbers of choices you will get when you have to purchase a log splitter but if you want a log splitter with high performance, easy maintenance, and good efficiency you will definitely end up purchasing an electrically operated splitter. As we learned cutting the wood in the hydraulic press with the electric outlet will be one of the easiest ways to have logs for your fireplace.
We learned what are the mechanisms of the electric splitter are, we also learned how you can cut the log in the splitter all the while making sure that you are following the suggested safety measure in order to avoid any accident. We hope this article helped you understand how electric splitters work all the while making sure that you understand why they are also better than cutting your logs with an ax.