# Eco Brick "Playing with Fire"



## Magus (Dec 15, 2010)

Hello fellow Burners

I decided while at Tractor Supply this morning to pick up some Eco Brick to try out and give everyone a rolling report. 
I picked up 4 packs. $3.99 a pack...8 count to a pack.

I cleaned out my stove of all ashes. 
The house was at 59 degrees F.
I made a starter fire with some paper and cedar kindling strips.
Made this in a tee-pee form. 

At 10:13, I lit the fire. Within 2 minutes  the Bricks (which were also in tee-pee form) caught fire. 
I started with 3.
As soon as those caught I placed them N&S (on their sides)...then added another going N&S
I also put 2 going across E&W on top of those.

Within the next 5 minutes all were on fire with the door closed) 
Within 20 minutes from starting the fire, the flue temp was at 300 degrees.

I let it climb to about 400 degrees then fully closed the flue damper. 

almost an hr later it is 64 degrees in the house, the flue damper is still closed and the flue temp is back down to 300 degrees....the very low end of the burn zone. 

I will try to keep everyone updated (if interested)

The reason I am trying the Eco Brick is to see if I can get 6hrs of burn time ( i.e clean overnight burn) and how many it will take to do so.


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## Magus (Dec 15, 2010)

So far two good things have come from this. 

Being that I am Green at wood burning I now know the following:

I now know what my flame is supposed to look like when I am burning dry "seasoned" wood
Seasoned cord wood will be easier to catch fire (not like the stuff I am using now)

Having the right chimney length is very important. My stove will probably perform better once I add the other 2ft of chimney pipe ( ordered that today)
I believe by adding the extra 2ft will create a better draft for my stove and make it easier to control the stove with either the stove damper or the flue damper.


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## shawneyboy (Dec 15, 2010)

If you have a low or slow draft situation, you would be well advised not to use the flue damper and control only by the stove damper.  I assume you are speaking of the air inlet control.  But yes if your draft is less than ideal adding 2 feet may make a big difference, if it is far less than ideal it may make a minor difference.

BTW how tall is your flue now?


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## baspinall (Dec 15, 2010)

I used them a couple of times to get my splits started. They burned hot for me if I put more than three in there I am reaching temps well over 700 on the stove top!


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## Magus (Dec 15, 2010)

shawneyboy said:
			
		

> If you have a low or slow draft situation, you would be well advised not to use the flue damper and control only by the stove damper.  I assume you are speaking of the air inlet control.  But yes if your draft is less than ideal adding 2 feet may make a big difference, if it is far less than ideal it may make a minor difference.
> 
> BTW how tall is your flue now?



I have 6ft of black pipe (including offset) 5ft 8inches not including the offset of 33 degrees. 
Plus 3ft section of triple wall chimney pipe.
So a total of 9ft of pipe run. The stove calls for a minimum of 11 ft all together so the two ft I have ordered will put me at the minimum.

As of 12:15 temp is still at 300 degrees for the flue.
House is at 68 degrees.


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## shawneyboy (Dec 15, 2010)

Wow that is a short flue. Adding a couple feet should help dramatically. Heck you are adding what 20-25 percent more. I would think at that short you are not passing the 10-2-3 rule. You may want to get it even higher than 11 feet.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 16, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Hello fellow Burners
> 
> I decided while at Tractor Supply this morning to pick up some Eco Brick to try out and give everyone a rolling report.
> I picked up 4 packs. $3.99 a pack...8 count to a pack.
> ...




Magus, you can do yourself a favor from now on by never emptying your stove of all the ashes. Leave a couple inches at least and you will have better fires.


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## crossout (Dec 16, 2010)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

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hey i did that last week i empty the whole thing out and just found out a few days ago that i should of left a few inches of ashes on some other sites about burning wood in wood stoves and i did notice it was harder to have a good fire without ashes lol i am going on my 3rd week of using the wood stove inserts just trying to learn all the right things that we are supposed to do with wood stoves..


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## bboulier (Dec 16, 2010)

From Backwoods Savage:  

"Magus, you can do yourself a favor from now on by never emptying your stove of all the ashes. Leave a couple inches at least and you will have better fires."

Are there any controlled experiments about leaving ashes?  Are there any manufacturing reps who can provide information?  Any physicists who want to respond?  This question is a frequent one and worthy of a definitive answer.

I am not convinced that leaving ashes is a good idea.  My insert has fire brick.  Ashes would insulate heat transfer to the fire brick and therefore send more fire/heat up the flue.  Consequently, heat storage would be impaired and I would receive less heat from my firewood if I left ashes.  Am I wrong?


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## cptoneleg (Dec 16, 2010)

Who knows for sure, they are speaking from years of experience, which is what we do here. We got up to 40* the other day and I shut mine down and cleaned it out spotless. Heck I can make a couple of inches of ash easy. But burning 7/24s I don't bother much with the ashes maybe take out a little shovelful ever now and then, so ther is always at least afew inches in there.     

                             But most of the controlled experiments are keeping our homes warm, just pick out the parts you like  So I will give you a definate answer if you think your stove runs better with all the ashes out you have yourself a real job.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 16, 2010)

[quote author="bboulier" date="1292486629"]From Backwoods Savage:  

"Magus, you can do yourself a favor from now on by never emptying your stove of all the ashes. Leave a couple inches at least and you will have better fires."

Are there any controlled experiments about leaving ashes?  Are there any manufacturing reps who can provide information?  Any physicists who want to respond?  This question is a frequent one and worthy of a definitive answer.

I am not convinced that leaving ashes is a good idea.  My insert has fire brick.  Ashes would insulate heat transfer to the fire brick and therefore send more fire/heat up the flue.  Consequently, heat storage would be impaired and I would receive less heat from my firewood if I left ashes.  *Am I wrong?[*/quote]

Yes.


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## Magus (Dec 16, 2010)

shawneyboy said:
			
		

> Wow that is a short flue. Adding a couple feet should help dramatically. Heck you are adding what 20-25 percent more. I would think at that short you are not passing the 10-2-3 rule. You may want to get it even higher than 11 feet.



I dont know what the 10-2-3 rule is. 
My roof pitch is a 12-2.

If I go higher than 11 feet...meaning adding more than 2 more feet, I will have to put a brace on the roof which I dont want to do.


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## Magus (Dec 16, 2010)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

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While I can see the logic of leaving ash at the bottom of the stove in the older stove I had (protect the bottom from heat and cracking) I dont see how it help when I now have a stove with fire brick at the bottom of the stove. 

Should I still leave ash at the bottom even though I have fire brick at the bottom?


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## Magus (Dec 16, 2010)

My first attempt with the Eco Brick failed. 

It did catch fire quickly but only held the temp of 300 degrees for two hrs. (This is with the flue damper totally closed)

What went wrong?...I did not follow the directions of the stacking of the bricks as recomended. 

I will try again tonight to see If I have better results. 
If I have better results, I will try and order a pallet of the bricks for this winter and get some Oak to cut up and season for next year. 

Burning what some "dealers" call "seasoned" wood is not fun at all. 

I am not trying to get away from using natural cord wood. I purchased the wood stove for the FULL experience, not tossing man made bricks in my stove.

I think something is happening to me...
1. I really like burning wood now. 
2. I now hate the sound of the central heating system kicking on in the middle of the night!
3. What I like more is having my house at 75 degrees and not paying the energy company any more than I have to :?)


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## shawneyboy (Dec 16, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

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"The rule states that the top of the chimney must be 2 feet taller than anything within 10 feet and must be no less than 3 feet above the roof penetration. The entire basis for this rule is that the natural draft is affected by surrounding roofs and other obstructions when the wind blows. "

At a min. you want to meet this rule.  It can do more than just effect your draft.

If the top of the chimney is below the top of the roof, or some other obstacle, wind blowing across the obstacle creates turbulence that can push air (and smoke) back down flue, in extreme wind conditions even when meeting this "rule" you can still have turbulence issues.  

I also didn't want a brace, but.... I figured, in order to have a safe and effective stove,  add more, brace it and sleep soundly.  I would encourage you to do the same if needed.


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## Magus (Dec 16, 2010)

shawneyboy said:
			
		

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Yeah...I kinda figured this out...Although I have an O.k draft right now and we have had some good winds...I have had no back puffing. 

The extra two fee will take care of :2 feet taller than anything within 10 feet and must be no less than 3 feet above the roof penetration. I know having a longer chimney would prob be better...Im just being bull headed right now.


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## BrotherBart (Dec 16, 2010)

Ya want a controlled experiment relative to leaving or not leaving ash in a stove? Just start one fire in a cold stove without ash and then do it again with ash. About once a year I get stupid and shovel all the ash out of the stove. It takes me twice as long to get the thing back up to running temp with the without ash as it does with it.

I sit wondering what the heck is wrong until I realize what I have done. 

One thing it does is allow better air channels under and around the wood. The other is the insulation factor under the wood. You don't insulate your attic with bricks do ya?


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## Magus (Dec 16, 2010)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> About once a year I get stupid and shovel all the ash out of the stove. It takes me twice as long to get the thing back up to running temp with the ash as it does without it.
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> I sit wondering what the heck is wrong until I realize what I have done.
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> One thing it does is allow better air channels under and around the wood. The other is the insulation factor under the wood. You don't insulate your attic with bricks do ya?



Did you mean it takes you twice as long to get the thing back up to running temp "without the ash" than with?

I just figured the ash would be taking up space in my small 1.8 cuft box.

Also...do you know if there is a way to go with  thinner fire brick to increase split size? or Is thins not a smart thing to do?


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## BrotherBart (Dec 16, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Did you mean it takes you twice as long to get the thing back up to running temp "without the ash" than with?



Yep, a typo.


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## fmer55 (Dec 16, 2010)

i have a vc montpelier insert and i find that when i clean the box out fully i reach full temps much quicker and my fan willl kick on quicker, as well as the fact that the firebox is small and a buildup hampers the size of my load..........to each his own i guess...problem is like to burn for days on end and no time to clean out a box....HAHA


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## RedGuy (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm also expirementing with eco-bricks right now as we speak. I've found that even though my wood was cut down about 8 months ago into logs, it's still way too green. With the Eco-bricks at $2.99 a pack the price per ton comes out to basically the same as what they're selling wood for around here, that's supposedly "seasoned". I figured that I KNOW that the eco-bricks are dry and ready to burn so I'll buy them over cord wood for this year and keep splitting and stacking my wood for next year. So far, I get about a three hour burn out of three bricks, and that keeps the house at about 72. BTW I called TSC and talked them into $2.99 a pack if I buy a whole skid, which is 81 packs, this is $1 off the $3.99 regular price. I bought all 7 packs they had at the Howell store and if they work well I'll order a skid, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll go on sale and I'll get a better deal before I run through that skid.


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## Cate68 (Dec 17, 2010)

I'd like to see a picture of these bricks burning if anyone can post one.


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## RedGuy (Dec 17, 2010)

I don't have any pics, but for me so far they basically burn in three phases, first infurno! When you first put them in a hot stove they really take off even with the damper shut. This can last for 30 minutes or so, though today I started them off a cold stove and they basically skipped this step. Next is a very constant burn that puts out plety of heat with low damper settings, this so far has lasted about 2 hours for me. Last is a low burn where there's very little flame, still decent heat, this last about 30min- 1hour. This is all based on 3 bricks at a time. This morning when I got home from work the stove was cold, the last time I'd loaded it was about 8pm and that was 2 bricks ontop of 3 that where about 1/2 burned. I had VERY little ash which tells me that basically the whole brick burns turning into heat. I used 10 bricks from 1:30pm til the last load at 8pm keeping the house in the mid 70's. Not sure how long it burned after the last load as I left at 9pm, but it was going strong then. I loaded it with 4 bricks this morning, 2 N/S under 2 E/W stacked loosely, the expirement continues.


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## Battenkiller (Dec 17, 2010)

bboulier said:
			
		

> I am not convinced that leaving ashes is a good idea.  My insert has fire brick.  Ashes would insulate heat transfer to the fire brick and therefore send more fire/heat up the flue.  Consequently, heat storage would be impaired and I would receive less heat from my firewood if I left ashes.  Am I wrong?



Insulation doesn't prevent heat transfer, it only slows down the rate of transfer.  The whole idea of the EPA stoves is to get them up to secondary combustion temps as quickly as possible, thereby reducing the total particulate emissions for a given load.  The beginning of the burn cycle is the dirtiest and least efficient because internal temps aren't high enough to support secondary combustion.  You really want to transition through this early phase as quickly as possible.  The ashes allow the internal temps to rise quicker, and secondary combustion to begin earlier in the cycle.  At that point, the air is cut back, slowing the volume of hot gases going up the flue and allowing internal temps to get even higher.  These higher internal temps are better able to transfer the heat into the sides, top and front of the stove.   Which is, after all, what you are trying to accomplish, eh?

Of course, you can get too many ashes.  You need to find the right amount for your particular stove/flue/wood/operator combination.  I was advised to leave 1 1/2 - 2" of ashes on the bottom of my stove, but then I realized that the 1 1/2" tall ribs on the bottom of my stove (no firebrick on the bottom) are the best indicator of ash depth.  This particular stove works best for me if I keep it to the top of the ribs but no higher.  If I allow ashes to rise another 2" above the ribs, the air has a problem getting through the load and the burn suffers.


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## VCBurner (Dec 17, 2010)

You can go on this site and check out what they look like as well as other info about them:
http://ecobrick.net/
I tried a pack of eight in my stove and I had positive results.  The heat output seemed higher for the entire burn cycle and my fire box was about half full.  It was heating 8-9 hours later still!  The cat was at 500 and firebox sidedoor  temp was 250.  This would normally be achievable on a full box of good firewood.  I forgot to leave some ashes on the bottom, I usually clean it out completely about every ten days.  My manual suggests that the stove works better when cleaned completely.  I have not compared burns w/ or w/out the ashes.  I do understand a lot of experienced people leave ashes in the firebox and have better burns.  I find that to be true w/ a big bed of coals in my case.  The wood loads catch fire quicker and I can damper down faster.  My ash box being full or empty would not impact the burn as much as some stoves.  The ash pan area has no supply air going through it unlike the old Dutchwests with an air intake on the ash pan door.  My primary intake is on the sides of the front glass door and secondary "cat air" is above the side loading door.  I want to try some eco bricks again.  This time I'll load the firebox and see what'll happen.  I can probably fit close to two 8 packs in the firebox.


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## Battenkiller (Dec 17, 2010)

I was playing around with brick fuel a lot before the weather got really cold.  I got my best burns with just the bricks in the stove to begin with.  No coals, no extra ashes.  

They are a slow starter as far as heat output, but once they get going well they are amazing in how much heat comes out of such dinky things.  I think extra ashes might actually hurt the way they burn since a big part of their heat output seems to come after they hit the coaling stage.  They produce the hottest and longest lasting coals I've ever encountered.  I am not at all sure why that is, but the stove temps tell the tale in the end.  

Due to the expanded and somewhat porous nature of the coals, I think the ability to generate sustained high temps has to due with the fact that air can get through them more readily.  Anything that would reduce the direct exposure to air at this point would probably slow down the burn and reduce heat output.  I don't have enough practical experience with them yet, just a hunch is all I'm going on here.  Since I have a ready supply for three different brands of bricks (Envi, Bio-Brick, Wood Brick Fuel) just minutes from my home, and since I want to be done with the cord wood thing by mid-March, I will be getting lots of experience with them this spring.  I intend to burn them every which way I can to see just how much potential they have.

FWIW you can get set up with your own wood brick making machine for about $150K.  That's less than $2000/month for ten years at 10% interest.   All you'll need besides the machine is a big metal building, a fork lift and a ready source of kiln-dried sawdust nearby.  Paying as little as $15/ton for the raw material, you can start turning a profit almost immediately and help preserve the environment in the process.  It's about as green as a business can be these days.  90% of this sawdust ends up being blown into nearby woodlands, producing tons of methane (an extremely potent greenhouse gas) as it decomposes.


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## begreen (Dec 17, 2010)

Packed tightly, they should give you a nice long controlled burn. Wish someone nearby made them. I'd like to try them out in the T6 and see how they work in it. I liked burning BioBricks in the Castine, but the firebox shape was somewhat limiting. There is a pic of them burning in my wiki review of them:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/


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## Battenkiller (Dec 17, 2010)

BG, it was your great review that got me to try them in the first place. ;-)


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 17, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

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Yes.


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 17, 2010)

bboulier said:
			
		

> From Backwoods Savage:
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> "Magus, you can do yourself a favor from now on by never emptying your stove of all the ashes. Leave a couple inches at least and you will have better fires."
> 
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If this were true, that would mean the flue temperatures would be high and this is easy to check. On our stove, the flue temperature generally ranges from 300-350 degrees but lower towards the end of the cycle. Many run 400 degrees. These temperatures are not too high but higher would mean that then you would be losing heat up the flue.


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## bboulier (Dec 17, 2010)

Battenkiller said:
			
		

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Thanks.  I have asked this question before, but now think I have a definitive answer.


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## agartner (Dec 18, 2010)

I've been running 100% solid brick fuel (bio-bricks) since November 1st.  Convenient as hell, very low ash, and very predictable in the stove.  A "tee-pee" built over a quarter cedar will get my Kent 1/4" rolled steel stove from dead cold up to 250 in about 15 to 20 minutes, at which point I push the teepee (in full burn) all to the back of the firebox, scrape forward my ash to the lip, and put in anywhere from 8 to 12 more bricks, packed tightly together.  As that load hits 400, I cut my air back to 50% until the flames engulf the front "face" of the load (I call this the "thermonuclear phase" as that's what the firebox looks like).  My air goes back to 1/4 and the stove at this point will cruise at anywhere from 500-625, with a peak burn no higher than 750.  The cruise is good for anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, with a nice slow bleedoff to anywhere from 200-300 eight hours later.  

Cycle begins the next morning by taking out the ashes from behind the door lip, pulling forward the leftover coals and embers, and building the tee-pee again.  

Absolutely love 'em so far.


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## bboulier (Dec 18, 2010)

These sound interesting.  Right now I have scrounged enough wood plus a felled tree for next year and the year after to keep going, but I see the potential attraction of the eco-bricks in the future.  For me, an important problem is storage.  I can store wood splits (covered) outside.  Where do you store your eco-bricks and how much space does a ton take up?


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## Battenkiller (Dec 18, 2010)

agartner said:
			
		

> The cruise is good for anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, with a nice slow bleedoff to anywhere from 200-300 eight hours later.



Nice!  I'd need 50 pounds or so of well seasoned hickory to get the same effect in my stove.


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## begreen (Dec 18, 2010)

I would add that they are very clean burning as well.


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## VCBurner (Dec 18, 2010)

Nice review BeGreen.  Very helpfull and comprehensive.  I'd like to buy a couple more bags and try the test myself.


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## RedGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

bboulier said:
			
		

> These sound interesting.  Right now I have scrounged enough wood plus a felled tree for next year and the year after to keep going, but I see the potential attraction of the eco-bricks in the future.  For me, an important problem is storage.  I can store wood splits (covered) outside.  Where do you store your eco-bricks and how much space does a ton take up?



They really take up very little space, I belive their 1 ton pallet is 42X42X48. I plan on simply stacking them along the wall in my garage. However I'm still alittle on the fence about them. Seems the longest burn I can get out of them is about 4 hours. Plus tonight I got abit of a scare as I loaded the stove up with 8 bricks hoping to get a good long burn. What I got instead was what I belive to be an overfire after only 1/2 a hour with the damper completely shut. I noticed the upper lip of the stove opening starting to glow alittle. So seing as my air was already closed I figured my only option was to try and smother the fire. So I smashed down the bricks as much as I could, covering the air inlet then grabbed two of the wettest splits I had outside and threw them ontop. Luckily this clamed things down in pretty short order. Still with 8 bricks it only burned for 4 hours, granted the results of this may be alittle scewed due to my reaction to lower the stove temp early on, Plus may have to do with the size of my stove. In any case before that incident I'd used 26 bricks over a 30 hour period with 10 hours between loading for the nighttime portion. Doing this my home stayed in the low to mid 70's except over night where the temp dropped to about 60 by morning when the furnace kicked on for about 1/2 an hour to bring the temp back up to 68 after which the stove provided heat for the rest of the day.


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## agartner (Dec 18, 2010)

I store mine in the garage.  I buy them by the pallet - one pallet has a ton, and I double stack them so I can get my 3 tons in the floorspace of two.  One thing to keep in mind with these things is that you don't want to store them outside, because they do not like to get wet.  At all.  Once wet, the brick will simply disintegrate into almost useless sawdust.  

RG - your stove looks for the most part similar to mine.  Are you packing them tight against each other or are they loose?  Packing the bricks tight against each other is the way to go.  With 8 bricks, I would build them into a block 2x2x2.    I also try to get my air turned down earlier rather than later - if I back it down when my stovetop is already at 500 I know it will peak uncomfortably high.


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## Magus (Dec 18, 2010)

agartner said:
			
		

> I've been running 100% solid brick fuel (bio-bricks) since November 1st.  Convenient as hell, very low ash, and very predictable in the stove.  A "tee-pee" built over a quarter cedar will get my Kent 1/4" rolled steel stove from dead cold up to 250 in about 15 to 20 minutes, at which point I push the teepee (in full burn) all to the back of the firebox, scrape forward my ash to the lip, and put in anywhere from 8 to 12 more bricks, packed tightly together.  As that load hits 400, I cut my air back to 50% until the flames engulf the front "face" of the load (I call this the "thermonuclear phase" as that's what the firebox looks like).  My air goes back to 1/4 and the stove at this point will cruise at anywhere from 500-625, with a peak burn no higher than 750.  The cruise is good for anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, with a nice slow bleedoff to anywhere from 200-300 eight hours later.
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> Cycle begins the next morning by taking out the ashes from behind the door lip, pulling forward the leftover coals and embers, and building the tee-pee again.
> 
> Absolutely love 'em so far.



When you say "at this point will cruise at anywhere from 500-625" is that the flue temp or stove top temp?


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## RedGuy (Dec 18, 2010)

agartner said:
			
		

> RG - your stove looks for the most part similar to mine.  Are you packing them tight against each other or are they loose?  Packing the bricks tight against each other is the way to go.  With 8 bricks, I would build them into a block 2x2x2.    I also try to get my air turned down earlier rather than later - if I back it down when my stovetop is already at 500 I know it will peak uncomfortably high.



I packed them loosely with 4 N/S 4 E/W. I figured 8 would be OK as I'd used 6 earlier in the morning to get the stove going and they took off pretty slow. I think what made the differance was the 6 I;d used earlier was on a dead cold stove with no coals, where as when I packed it up with 8 there was a good bed of coals going. I think I'll stick with 6 max for now. Also with a hot stove pretty much shut the air down right after I load the bricks as they take off pretty easily.


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## agartner (Dec 18, 2010)

Magus - the cruise is stovetop - I keep it along the front edge of the stove.  I don't have a probe on the flue but I check surface occasionally with the handheld infrared and have never seen anything over 350.  

RG - I use a loose pack on a cold stove - 4 bricks built into a tee-pee, then once those catch and my temps come up, I reload with a tight block of bricks.  Once the block "catches" I start dialing back the air.  Try it and see what happens.


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## Magus (Dec 18, 2010)

agartner said:
			
		

> Magus - *the cruise is stovetop *- I keep it along the front edge of the stove.  I don't have a probe on the flue but I check surface occasionally with the handheld infrared and have never seen anything over 350.
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> RG - I use a loose pack on a cold stove - 4 bricks built into a tee-pee, then once those catch and my temps come up, I reload with a tight block of bricks.  Once the block "catches" I start dialing back the air.  Try it and see what happens.



Thanks...The problem is my stove manufacture does not mention what is the optimal temp to keep the stove top. Alot of the post that are talking about temps...I never know if they are talking about what the flue temp should be or the stove top.

Do you know if there is a good range to keep the stove top vs the flue?
Should I buy a different term for the stove top?


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## Battenkiller (Dec 18, 2010)

BeGreen said:
			
		

> I would add that they are very clean burning as well.



That's why I want to use them in the shoulder season.  I don't feel that small loads burn as cleanly and efficiently as loads the stove was designed for, at least I know mine doesn't.  Most stoves need to be hot and have a nice coal bed to get the secondary going.  These bricks don't need a lick of coals under them to sustain a nice, clean burn.  The fact that 3 or 4 bricks and a piece of firestarter will get the stove up to operating temps for a few hours and just fade away to a small pile of ashes is very appealing to me.  

I'd love to hear some reports from cat stove owners, they seem like they'd work fantastic in something like a Fireview.  I doubt we'll get Dennis to give up on his 7 year old white ash any time soon, but maybe he'd let the stove go out one time in the spring just to report back to us what 3 bricks did for him.  I'll mail a package of Envi-8 to him if he's interested.  ;-) 

As far as getting them to your location, this would be the ideal product to have a cooperative buy with.  Unlike firewood, everyone would know exactly what they are getting, no surprises.  If 12 guys within driving distance each agreed to buy 2 pallets, it might be worth getting a truck load delivered to a central location.  The size of the membership on this forum makes that at least a possibility.  There are probably dozens of lurkers to every active member who would come to the surface if such a buying plan was announced here.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Dec 18, 2010)

I am trying some eco bricks as we speak.  They are working well but are a bit *weird*.   That is a very scientific observation.   I wish I had access to the firebrick options you guys in New England have.


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## Magus (Dec 18, 2010)

Overall Stove performance

Well...I added two more feet to my chimney. 

WOW! what a big difference!

I am burning cord wood in it right now but I am going to try and give it another go with the Eco Brick tonight. 

I figure by the time I get home from work, I will have a nice ash bed to place them on to try and get an all night burn...i.e 6-7 hrs. 

I installed the 2ft section last night and have noticed that it drafts much better and I can control the air from the damper on the stove much better. I will try not to use the flue damper. I was told on a EPA stove I did not need the flue damper. I just installed in at the beginning because my neighbor has one.


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## Battenkiller (Dec 18, 2010)

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
			
		

> They are working well but are a bit *weird*.   That is a very scientific observation.



There ya go, we _love_ hard scientific observation here! ;-P 

The weirdness goes away for me after I close the stove doors.  That's about the only advantage I can think of to not having any glass in the front of the stove.  What happens behind closed doors, stays behind closed doors.


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## agartner (Dec 18, 2010)

Magus - good to hear the extra length made a difference.  With stoves, the chimney and the draft within it is the "engine" that drives the the whole shootin match.  As to "recommended" stovetop temps - well basically you want it high enough to burn clean without making anything glow that ain't supposed to, and low enough not to blow you out of the stove room.   As far as thermometers go, pretty much any magnetic one will do - I think mine is a "rutland".  They're dreadfully inaccurate, however what they do is give you a consistent ~reference~ point as to your stove's performance.  If you're warm, and you're not bellowing smoke out of the stack, and nothing is glowing that shouldn't be - then you're probably pretty close to where you want to be.


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## shawneyboy (Dec 18, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Overall Stove performance
> 
> Well...I added two more feet to my chimney.
> 
> ...



Glad to hear the 2 feet made a big difference for ya.


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## Rockey (Dec 19, 2010)

What a coincidence. I just happened to be driving by TSC and figured I'd pop in and see what those Eco bricks looked like and just happend to pick one up to see how they work. 

Yeah, no it didnt actually go down like that. I drove to TSC because of this post and I didnt just pick one up - I wiped them out. I threw 2(bricks, not packs) of them on top of the oak that was burning when I got home. Burned hot and kept the cat burning bright for a while. Coaled up nicely and I was quite surprised  because two of these bricks arent very heavy.

What does the price come to per brick if you buy them buy the ton? I like them enough to consider buying a ton. A lot less messy and much more flexibility in how you can configure and stack. This could make for one hell of a game of Jenga in the stove!


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## agartner (Dec 19, 2010)

Not sure about the eco's in your neck of the woods, but up here in n'england, I paid 270 a ton plus shipping for biobricks.  To make the math even, lets just call it 300.  A ton of what I got yields 1000 bricks - 2lb each, so if my math is right, it comes out to about 30 cents a brick.  Pushing through anywhere from 20 to 24 bricks a day at full burn, I'm tossing about 6 to 7 bucks a day into the woodstove to stay warm.


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## RedGuy (Dec 19, 2010)

I talked the manager at my TSC into $2.99 a pack if I buy a whole skid, which works out to $242.19 for 81 packs @ 2025lbs. So one brick works out to $0.37/ brick. I think I figured out how to get a good burn finally, last night I started with a loose stack of 4 2 N/S 2 E/W (tried the pryramid like the directions, but my stove is too small), after those got good and coaled I smashed them and spread them out across the bottom of the stove, then laid out 4 more bricks ontop all N/S placed tightly next to each other. This gave me a good hot 4 hour burn without having to mess with them all the time, got the best secondary burn I've ever had in this stove, secondaries burned great for just over 2 hours.


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## Roxburyeric (Dec 19, 2010)

bboulier - I also have the Jotul 550 stove and find that you cannot leave 2 inches of ash in the stove. Most effective for nice long hot burns seems to be very little ash left on the bottom (an inch at most). So I clearly don't agree with everyone posting to leave two inches. Remember every stove, home, flue, draft is different so do what works best for you. Not trying to be horse's aXX here - but I think many forget how different every situation is.


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## bboulier (Dec 19, 2010)

Roxburyeric - I agree, Two inches in the 550 is way too much.  I now leave an inch or less.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Dec 19, 2010)

I could order a truckload of biobricks.    Maybe I'll set up a retail store 

At this time we do not offer residential deliveries under 20 tons of fuel, but hope to in the future. If you are looking to purchase a truckload of fuel, please call in and speak with our truckload specialist.

We work exclusively with manufactures of high quality pellets and bricks, and can arrange for delivery of a truckload of pellets or bricks directly to your location. Pricing is available throughout the United States.

Please ask for a Truckload Direct Specialist:

Call:1 (800) PELLETS / 1 (800) 735-5387

E-Mail:sales@woodpellets.com


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## agartner (Dec 19, 2010)

Yup, unfortunately, the folks at woodpellets don't have distribution centers everywhere yet, so if there isn't a DC near you, this is their default answer.  If I get over to their corp hq this year up in Goffstown, NH (this totally depends on whether I need to buy another skid, which is looking doubtful), I'm going to have to make it a point to find out where their distribution centers are.


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## Magus (Dec 19, 2010)

Note: You may want to keep an eye on the Eco Bricks...they burn hot

last night I put 5 eco bicks on some hot coals I had.
This was about 6:30pm....at 10:30pm ..I was still getting som good heat from them. 

I decided to pack three more in before bed time. 
Wife wakes me up 10 min after being in bed...asking me what is that smell.

it was the smell of the black pipe curing. 

I knew that smell only happned at higher temps.

Went out to the living room and the flue temp was *600 *degrees.

Keep your good eye on these...they can run away form you...especially when you toss them in, in a willy nilly half sleep stupor like I did and left the stove damper WIDE OPEN!


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## RedGuy (Dec 19, 2010)

BTW Sounds like TSC will be carrying these all winter as the manager told me the warehouse had 34,000 packs ordered that will be in next week, I assume this is for the S.E. Michigan area. With such a supply wouldn't supprise me to see them go on sale again in the future.


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## begreen (Dec 19, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Note: You may want to keep an eye on the Eco Bricks...they burn hot
> 
> last night I put 5 eco bicks on some hot coals I had.
> This was about 6:30pm....at 10:30pm ..I was still getting som good heat from them.



Tossing them on hot coals really is not the way they were designed to burn. Not saying it won't work, but as noticed, a lot of heat heads up the flue quickly.


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## scajjr2 (Dec 19, 2010)

We've been trying Eco Bricks we got at the Tractor Supply in Derry, NH, using them in our old HearthMate stove. Seems to take a while to get them going, 6-8 bricks will burn OK for about 4 hrs.

Wife went on Tractor Supply web site and found you can order them and they will ship to the store, free shipping if the order was $50 or more. We have no garage (yet, next year we hope) or basement so we can only store about 40 8-packs on our small enclosed porch at a time.

Sam


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## Battenkiller (Dec 20, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Went out to the living room and the flue temp was *600 *degrees.
> 
> Keep your good eye on these...they can run away form you...especially when you toss them in, in a willy nilly half sleep stupor like I did and left the stove damper WIDE OPEN!



Well, gosh, just about anything will get away on you if you leave the stove wide open.  Five or six decent splits of well-seasoned white pine left that way woulda got the pipe up way past 600Âº. ;-)


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## Magus (Dec 20, 2010)

Non Eco Brick Related

I have noticed that as a wood burner...I am changing.
First I wanted to get a wood stove...got one and installed it. 
Then I wanted to just burn wood..semi wet dry...did not matter. 

NOW! I want to burn only dry wood, want to know what kind of wood I am burning and how effective I am at burning it.
I have found that when I am splitting wood now...I pick up the split to smell it...I know...sounds kinda wierd. 
I now want to stack it a certain way so that it Looks good. 
I am developing a "system"...
I now look at dead or fellen trees and smile. 
My clothing smells of wood smoke...and I like it.
I am looking forward to a power outage!

I ticks me off when the central heat kicks on at night 

This may get way out of hand


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## shawneyboy (Dec 20, 2010)

Magus said:
			
		

> Non Eco Brick Related
> 
> I have noticed that as a wood burner...I am changing.
> First I wanted to get a wood stove...got one and installed it.
> ...



I resemble all of this, even the smell the split


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## Magus (Dec 20, 2010)

To add to this: I dont care how crazy I look to my neighbors splitting wood in my driveway...I will be warm and they will be paying the gas company.
I am mindful not to run my chainsaw past 7pm...I know I freaked my neighbors out when I first got it...dark....10pm....chainsaw starting up....Yeah... that was kinda funny!


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## Cate68 (Dec 20, 2010)

shawneyboy said:
			
		

> Magus said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I'm one of you too... I search for firewood everywhere. I check out other people's wood stacks as I pass by. I re-stack my piles for fun. I mark certain species of wood with an "X" to keep them separated (I get laughed at for this!). My inside storage is always neatly stacked (and restacked) and swept clean. I've always hated the cold...now, I get mad when it's too warm to start a fire. I check out other people's chimney caps. 

Pathetic, I know...


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## Magus (Dec 20, 2010)

Cate said:
			
		

> shawneyboy said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


HA! wow...Im not alone...I check chimney caps as well then wonder when I see smoke...I wonder..Pre-EPA? wood still wet? Just starting up? It that regulation hight?...Then try and smell the smoke to figure what they are burning...Ash...Oak. etc


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## agartner (Dec 20, 2010)

"I have noticed that as a wood burnerâ€¦I am changing."

Guilty as charged.


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## Magus (Dec 21, 2010)

Last night I decided to go off the deep end and turn the "back up" central heating off in the house. 
it was about 20 last night I believe. 


I got the house up to 77 degrees before going to bed. 

Woke up this morning, house was at 66!

So in the words of Borat...GREAT SUCCESS!

Now...for my next trick...to let the furnace turn it on once a week to make sure it still works.


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## Mainely Saws (Dec 21, 2010)

I too have become a fan of the wood bricks . I have a smaller firebox ( 1.7 cf) & it's an east /west design . I have found that the ECO Bricks that I bought at the Tractor Supply store at $239 per ton are just the right size to place 3 bricks N/S in my stove & then put a large half round of oak E/W on top of the bricks . With this configuration I get a significantly longer & warmer burn time & typically after the large half round has burned down there are still enough of the bricks left to put another large half round on top of them again . I would suspect that if a person's wood supply is not as dry as it could be that these bricks will help give you a better burn . 
   I do have a question about wood bricks in general & that is " Are there different BTU ratings per ton of bricks " ? I have talked with some different suppliers of bricks & of course the suppliers that have a higher cost per ton warn that their bricks have a higher BTU than others priced less . This may be true but I haven't come across any specs on different bricks just yet .


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## Heem (Jan 14, 2011)

With 300 feet of snow (3ft deep x 100 feet distance) between me and my firewood stacks, I'm starting to wonder if for the next couple weeks I should give some bricks a try. I've read some threads here and I'm still not 100% sure on this question: Are these safe in EPA Stoves? Or are they designed for older stoves?


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## canboy (Jan 14, 2011)

The Eco Brick website says that a pallet of Bricks is "= 1 cord of wood".  A pallet is 42" X 42" X 49".  A cord of wood is 48â€x48â€x96â€.  That means that it takes 3 times the volume of cord wood to generate the same number of BTU's as Eco Bricks.  http://ecobrick.net/home

In the instructions contained on the website they show you how to load a Catalytic or combustion air-tube fire box with eco bricks tightly packed together.  In the example the firebox is loaded as full as you would load with wood.  To me that means you have 3 times the energy in the firebox.  http://ecobrick.net/instructions

People at this site seem to be suggesting that the firebricks are burning about as fast as their cord wood loads.  Now that would suggest to me that we are creating 3 times the heat/temperature as well.  

To me this just sounds dangerous.  Am I missing something in the equation?


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## Mainely Saws (Jan 14, 2011)

To me , some common sense goes a long way . A person wouldn't load the stove full of seasoned oak & leave the air inlet all the way open or that would be dangerous . The firebox in my stove is small ( 1.7 ) & I put 3 ECO bricks in there N/S laying them on top of some kindling or wristwood & then lay a nice chunk of oak E/W ( I have an E/W stove ) & after it reaches temperature , I dampen it down & let it cruise . I have a strong draft ( 35 ft chimney ) but the temp has not run away . Every situation may be slightly different but I have had a good experience using the ECO bricks & I will continue to use them in the future . I like the way that the ECO bricks sort of act as the engine that drives the fire & that they pretty much burn down to nothing  ( after letting in a little air as time goes by ) . I don't do the teepee thing because of the small firebox size but I don't need to. 
  Give them a try & experiment a little bit & see if they serve a useful , cost effective purpose for you .


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## andella (Jan 14, 2011)

I use both wood and bricks and find them to be very similar in heat.  When using the bricks you just have to pack them in tight as you can with no space inbetween the bricks after your initial teepee style fire is going strong.  Routinely get about 6 hours of good heat out of them with the draft all the way closed on my Jotul C550.  I generally uses 3 or 4 to get it started and put 12 - 14 in stacked tightly for the long haul.  Stove top temps generally in the 500 degree area with the fan on high.


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## SnapCracklePop (Jan 14, 2011)

I found a place in Ohio that will deliver a skid of EcoBricks free up to *150* miles.

I put my zip code into their calculator.

I live *151.5* miles from them.

Dang.

I like the idea of folks' joining together to place an order. Maybe they'd do a free delivery if three or four of us placed an order.

I'm in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Anybody near me interested? Anybody? Don't be shy...

Nancy


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## Dave_1 (Jan 14, 2011)

Nancy,

Got access to a full size pickup w/o a camper top*?*

If so, locate a U.S. Post Office, Walmart, Target, etc within the 140 miles from the distributor.

Request a â€™*tailgate to tailgate*" transfer of a full pallet, they do all the grunt work.

Schedule a ship date down to the hour in the chosen parking lot.

Tell them to cell call you if there are any changes.

If your neighbors burn wood they may want to get in on this as well.

The more pallets ordered the more they will want to accomodate you.  ;-)


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## Heem (Jan 15, 2011)

Well, I did it. Went to the hardware store and grabbed a couple packs of bricks from BioPellet, which, after I bought them learned are not only from my home state, but from my home town. Bonus for less fuel used to transport them.

I put in 3 just for testing, and they lasted about 3 hours. I had a bed of coals from regular wood splits, and just dropped them on. Within 10 minutes stove top was up to temperature and I backed the air down. I now just loaded up 6 of them to see how this goes.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Jan 15, 2011)

Heem said:
			
		

> I now just loaded up 6 of them to see how this goes.


  You might end up needing to change your underwear!


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## SnapCracklePop (Jan 15, 2011)

Great idea, Dave. Thanks!

Gotta have an over-the-fence chat with my wood-burning neighbors...

Who own pick-em-up trucks...


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## Heem (Jan 15, 2011)

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
			
		

> You might end up needing to change your underwear!



it was probably time anyway.


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## RedGuy (Jan 17, 2011)

I've been burning my bricks but not nearly as much as cord wood as I found a great sorce for good dry wood mostly ash and elm for $150/ cord so that's nearly $100 less than I paid for my pallet of eco bricks. I have found though that they are GREAT starters! I typically start the stove up in the morning (cold) with 4 bricks evenly spaced N/S with a couple medium splits ontop of them. With a few crumples of paper in the three gaps between the bricks lit the stove will be up and running in very short order. I can have it up to 600 deg within 1/2 an hour. Then I pretty much burn wood all day inless the fire needs a boost at which point I'll through a couple bricks in. This combination has been working very well for me.


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