01
Trusting chamber air temperature
Air temperature is not core temperature. A record showing only air temperature is not a compliant record.
FixRequire probe traces from inside the wood.
01How a charge runs
- Inspection first. There is no sense treating a pallet that will fail structurally next trip. Anything needing repair is repaired with treated stock beforehand.
- Stacking for airflow. Pallets go onto chamber carts with channels. A solid block heats unevenly and the centre fails.
- Probe placement. Thermocouples are driven into the thickest component of the coldest-positioned unit — usually a centre-stack stringer.
- Ramp and hold. The chamber ramps until every probe reads 56°C. Only then does the 30-minute clock start. Any dip restarts it.
- Log. Charge number, date, duration, probe traces, operator and pallet count are recorded.
- Mark. Two opposing stringers or blocks are branded, so the mark is readable from either side of a container.
02What treatment does besides killing pests
- Moisture drops to 15–20%. Lighter pallets, lower freight weight.
- Mould risk falls sharply. Wet wood in a sealed container grows mould in days; dried wood does not.
- Fastener hold improves as the wood dimensionally stabilises.
- Weight loss is real money. A treated 48x40 can be 4–7 lb lighter than the same untreated pallet after a rainy week.
That last point matters for anyone weighing out rather than cubing out. On a 26-pallet trailer, 6 lb per pallet is 156 lb of payload recovered.
03Pricing and turnaround
| Volume | Price per pallet | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Under 200 units | $1.90 | 2–3 working days |
| 200–999 units | $1.55 | 1–2 working days |
| 1,000–4,999 units | $1.30 | 1–2 working days |
| 5,000+ units | $1.10 | Scheduled to your release |
| Crates and dunnage | By volume | Quoted per job |
By the numbers
The figures worth remembering
Four numbers that decide most of what follows on this page.
- Core temperature, measured in the wood
- 56°CCore temperature, measured in the wood
- Continuous hold
- 30 minContinuous hold
- Full charge including ramp and cool-down
- 4–8 hFull charge including ramp and cool-down
- Cost per pallet by volume
- $1.10–1.90Cost per pallet by volume
Rules of thumb
Carry these in your head
- 01Probes in the wood, not the air.
- 02Any dip restarts the clock.
- 03Treatment drops moisture to 15–20% — lighter pallets, less mould.
- 04We do not fumigate and never have.
Before you order
The decisions we will ask you to make
A quote turnaround is limited by how many follow-up questions we have to ask. Working through this list removes nearly all of them.
- 01
Inspect before treating
There is no sense treating a pallet that fails structurally next trip.
- 02
Repair with treated stock first
Otherwise the treatment is undone by the repair.
- 03
Stack for airflow
A solid block heats unevenly and the centre fails.
- 04
Probe the coldest position
Thickest component of the centre-stack unit, not the accessible outer pallet.
- 05
Keep the trace, not just the certificate
The trace is the evidence. A certificate is somebody's assertion about it.
- 06
Obliterate superseded marks
Two marks invite the wrong question at a border.
What goes wrong
Expensive mistakes, and the fix for each
Every one of these turns up in ordinary purchase orders. All of them cost multiples of whatever they appeared to save.
02
Opening the door mid-charge
Probe temperatures drop within seconds and the 30-minute clock restarts.
FixOperators learn this once. It is also why suspiciously round total times are worth questioning.
03
Treating green or soaked wood on a normal cycle
Water absorbs enormous energy; a charge of wet pallets can take twice as long to reach temperature.
FixAllow for it in scheduling rather than cutting the cycle short.
Side by side
Pricing and turnaround
| Volume | Price per pallet | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Under 200 units | $1.90 | 2–3 working days |
| 200–999 units | $1.55 | 1–2 working days |
| 1,000–4,999 units | $1.30 | 1–2 working days |
| 5,000+ units | $1.10 | Scheduled to your release |
| Crates and dunnage | By volume | Quoted per job |
Against our interest
When this is the wrong answer
We would rather lose the order than sell you the wrong thing. These are the situations where this page is not what you need.
- 01
Domestic-only fleets
ISPM-15 governs international movement. Treating pallets that never leave the country buys nothing except drier wood, which is occasionally worth it on its own but rarely worth planning around.
- 02
Sterilisation claims
Heat treatment is a phytosanitary measure against wood-boring pests. It is not a food-safety sterilisation process and should never be presented as one.
- 03
Structurally marginal pallets
Treatment does nothing for a cracked stringer. Inspecting and repairing first is not an upsell, it is the only sequence that makes financial sense.
What moves the price
Cost drivers, and roughly how much each one is worth
A quote is not a list price with a discount applied. It is these variables added up, which is why two quotes for nominally the same thing can differ so widely.
| Driver | What it is | Rough effect |
|---|---|---|
| Charge volume | The chamber costs the same half full. This is the dominant driver. | $1.10 to $1.90 |
| Starting moisture | Water absorbs enormous energy; wet charges take far longer to reach core temperature. | Throughput, not unit price |
| Component thickness | The thickest member sets the cycle. Hardwood stringers take longer than SYP. | Cycle time |
| Collection and return freight | Quoted separately, and often pairable with an existing route. | Lane-dependent |
Due diligence
Questions to ask any supplier
Us included. The answers tell you a great deal, and so does how quickly they arrive — a yard that has these documents ready is a yard that has thought about them.
- 01
“Where exactly are the probes placed, and in what?”
- 02
“What happens to the clock if a probe dips below 56°C?”
- 03
“Can I have the probe trace for my charge?”
- 04
“How long are charge records retained, and in what format?”
- 05
“Do you fumigate at all, and if so with what?”
- 06
“How do you handle pallets that arrive with an existing mark?”
The rulebook
Standards and authorities that actually apply
Plenty of pallet marketing invokes standards loosely. These are the real documents behind this subject, and what each one does and does not cover.
- ISPM-15
56°C minimum core temperature held for 30 continuous minutes for conventional heat treatment, plus marking requirements.
- IPPC mark specification
Wheat symbol, ISO country code, registered facility number and treatment code, applied permanently to at least two opposing sides.
- ALSC-accredited agencies
In the United States, facility registration for ISPM-15 marking is issued through agencies accredited by the American Lumber Standard Committee.
- Montreal Protocol
The basis for the global methyl bromide phase-out, and the reason MB-marked wood is refused by an expanding list of destinations.
Vocabulary
The terms used on this page
Defined the way the trade uses them, not the way a dictionary would.
- Heat treatment (HT)
- Raising the core temperature of wood to 56°C for 30 continuous minutes to satisfy ISPM-15. Also drops moisture to 15–20%.
- ISPM-15
- International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15, governing treatment of solid wood packaging crossing international borders.
- IPPC mark
- The stamp showing compliance with ISPM-15: wheat symbol, country code, facility number and treatment code. Missing any element invalidates it.
- Kiln dried (KD)
- Lumber dried in a controlled kiln to a specified moisture content, typically ≤19%. Not the same as heat treatment, though the processes overlap.
- Dunnage
- Loose wood used to block, brace or separate cargo. Covered by ISPM-15 and the single most commonly forgotten item on an export shipment.
From the journal
Longer reading on this subject
Written by the people who grade, repair and haul the wood — including the articles that argue against buying from us.
Compliance6 min readPriya Raghunathan
Reading an IPPC stamp: a field guide
The mark has four required elements. I have seen shipments held because one of them was missing and nobody at either end knew what they were looking at.
Read
- ISPM-15
- export
- compliance
Compliance5 min readPriya Raghunathan
Dunnage: the wood that stops containers
The pallets were compliant. The crate was compliant. The two lengths of untreated 2x4 wedged against the load were not, and they were the first thing the inspector saw.
Read
- ISPM-15
- dunnage
- export
Compliance6 min readPriya Raghunathan
Heat treatment records, and the day a border agency asks
The mark on the wood is the declaration. The record behind it is the evidence. Most of the time nobody asks for the second one, and then somebody does.
Read
- ISPM-15
- records
- audit
Questions
Answers to what buyers actually ask
Straight answers, including the ones that cost us the sale.
Can you heat treat pallets I already own?
Yes. Send them in or we will collect on a scheduled route. They are inspected first — treating a pallet that is about to fail structurally wastes your money — and anything requiring repair is repaired with treated stock before it goes in the chamber.
How long does heat treatment take?
The hold is 30 minutes at 56°C core, but a full charge including ramp-up and cool-down runs 4–8 hours depending on load size, species and starting moisture. Practical turnaround is one to three working days.
Do you offer methyl bromide fumigation?
No, and we never have. Methyl bromide is an ozone-depleting substance in global phase-out, and a growing list of destinations refuses MB-marked wood outright. Heat treatment achieves the same phytosanitary outcome without the chemistry.
What records do I get?
A treatment certificate quoting the charge number, date, duration and pallet count. The underlying probe traces are retained for seven years and can be produced if a border agency or customer asks.
Does heat treatment change the pallet itself?
It lowers moisture content and can cause minor surface checking, which is cosmetic rather than structural. It does not sterilise the wood permanently or prevent re-infestation. The treatment is a one-time phytosanitary measure, and how the pallet is stored afterwards decides its condition on arrival.