You may have read about how the DR RapidFire Flywheel Log Splitter is more efficient than an equivalent hydraulic log splitter. But how much more efficient? What do we mean by that? Here’s the inside scoop, straight from our engineering and product testing teams.

Flywheel log splitters, often known as kinetic log splitters, simply use less fuel than hydraulic splitters because of their efficient design. The flywheel system consists of either one or two large, heavy flywheels that hold kinetic energy as they spin, requiring minimal input from the engine. Hydraulic pump systems, however, require a steady stream of energy from the engine. The efficiency of flywheel log splitters makes them not only much, much faster than a hydraulic equivalent (6X faster!) but also less fuel-hungry.

In our tests, the K22 RapidFire splitter used about half the amount of gas as an equivalent hydraulic model, while splitting over twice the amount of wood. All told, the K22 knocked out 7.6 cords of wood per gallon of gas, while the hydraulic only got to 1.7. That’s efficiency at work.