# ECO Bricks, Do You use them ?



## The Cank (Nov 15, 2014)

Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :

How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.


----------



## kennyp2339 (Nov 15, 2014)

Look up eco bricks on youtube, I guy in Long Island NY did a nice 3 video series showing the difference of burning strait cord wood vs eco bricks, he showed the difference in burn times, ash levels, ease of use, and heat out puts...I've read a bunch of reviews on hear and the bricks seemed pretty good, I watched the u tube video's and I was sold on them if I ever get jammed up. Right now I have really good firewood (3) year plan but again if I get jammed up I will have an alternative.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 15, 2014)

Where can you buy them?  I can't find them in my area


----------



## Phoenix Hatchling (Nov 15, 2014)

While these do burn hot, they tend to smolder for a long time throughout their burn cycle, and therefore I would mix them in with splits. Flame of course burning off the smoke. Given the fact that they are so low in moisture, don't assume they can't produce copious amounts of smoke. From a cold start, they take quite a while to catch fully, and your stove temps will only rise slowly. Adding them in with not so ideal wood is best, but test the waters slowly as once they do catch and take off, and if there are lots of air voids around them your stove temp will shoot up quickly. Having too much in there without them being packed tightly can definitely cause an overfire condition.


----------



## kennyp2339 (Nov 15, 2014)

That's the thing about these blocks, I can't find them either in my area.. I did find another brand that a lumber yard sells.. I should be the same concept if its a pressed hard wood product.. I'm in NW jersey .. I think the Eco blocks are more of a east New England / Long Island thing


----------



## HotCoals (Nov 15, 2014)

I  have tried diff ones.
Some do well some not so well.
I bought a ton of these to experiment with and so far I am not impressed at all.
I bought them on sale for 3 bucks a package.
To buy a cord of wood it's about 210 for me..a ton of these bricks((300 bucks) is suppose to = a cord. Pricey.
The eco ones are much better imo.



http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/eco-bricksreg;-fuel-blocks-pack-of-3


----------



## brad wilton (Nov 15, 2014)

up here they have quite a choice  burnt with them one year ,burnt hot don't load like you do with wood pretty intense once burning,wife finds them to hot gives her headache .i'm going to buy some overniters see how they work let you guys know.


----------



## Mainely Saws (Nov 15, 2014)

I use them & they have their place . In my area a cord of semi-seasoned wood sells for $250 & up . I have used Eco bricks & the large Tractor Store bricks at $287 per pallet ( slightly under a ton ) . As others have said , they are a nice combo to use with wood & possibly wood that is not totally dry . A fair amount of the heat given off is during the coaling stage & for me it tends to last a fairly long time . Not a lot of heat from one or two bricks but just the thing for the shoulder season . They also take up a lot less space to store compared to a cord of wood ........


----------



## HotCoals (Nov 15, 2014)

They actually only take up about a 1/3 of the space of wood. I can put a ton of bricks in my 4x8 trailer with 16 " sides that will hold just a 1/3 of a cord if I stack the wood in.
With what I can but both for I'm thinking it will cost me about 40% more to burn the bricks compared to wood.

Now with the wood i'm always a year ahead. So I end up moving it twice. Way out back when I get it then the following year it goes into my basement.

The bricks could go straight into the back of my garage. No bugs..real low mc.


----------



## JayD (Nov 15, 2014)

You should have a TSC store around there. I used these smaller one's to mix with firewood in the past when my wood was not up to par. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/redstonetrade;-ecobrick-pack-of-6?cm_vc=IOPDP


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 15, 2014)

Thanks for the link.    The 3 closest stores say they are out of stock.    Which probably means they don't stock them.


----------



## prezes13 (Nov 15, 2014)

I like Eco Bricks.  They extent my burn times and if I had to buy wood $200 a cord "seasoned" I would rather buy bricks for $265 a skid.  They are great to supplement not so dry wood or burn on their own but a bit pricey.  I get wood free other than my time processing and stacking it.  That's a six bricks after 3-3.5 hours of burning.  House went from 65 to 72 and stove temp are in the mid 400s


----------



## HotCoals (Nov 15, 2014)

You see if i put 40-50 lbs of great wood in my stove I can get 12 hours easy out of it in temps around 30-40
Now if I go by what they say 20lbs of wood bricks =40 lbs of wood i get about 8 hours of the same burn time.
That is with my cat stove choked down . The cat really likes the compressed bricks though..kinda like a special treat.lol


----------



## JayD (Nov 15, 2014)

If there out of stock order them, If they don't stock them?  You can still get them, Talk to the manager, They have trucks coming in from the warehouse all the time, All they have to do is put a pallet on the truck. If the manager give you the run around call corporate.  My buddy just did that last year for some bagged chestnut coal they had on sale for a good price, He bought 1/2 ton to try out, The other 1/2 ton sold out in 2 days. They keep it in stock now and sell quite a bit of it,


----------



## cheechblu (Nov 15, 2014)

I buy the big ENVI blocks. 3 to a 20lb. pack.  Add 3 splits and I get a steady stove top 550* burn, secondaries with air shut down, and a 225* stove with plenty of hot coals after an 8hr. over nite burn.   I pack them closely.  Already hot coals underneath, shoveled to the front.  Nice warm home.


----------



## fredarm (Nov 15, 2014)

I use the Eco Bricks from TSC.  I put 2 north-south (front to back) in the bottom of my stove, 2 or 3 small splits on top and some kindling and a quarter of a Supercedar on top of that.  The Eco Bricks fit nicely north-south, which my splits do not because of the small firebox.  They give a good base for the fire and make reloading easy because they are still burning when the splits are done.  They also help with less than perfectly seasoned wood.


----------



## Swedishchef (Nov 15, 2014)

The Cank said:


> Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :
> 
> How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.



Howdy!

I purchased 18 boxes of pressed logs this year. I felt my wood would be a little wet and wanted to mix something that had low MC with it. I normally keep all my wood in a shed outside and I got caught this year; the wood had been rained on, it got cold, and I put it away. Long story short, I have 2 stacks of wood in my basement (2-3 weeks worth) and I am rotating stacks, it is drying quite well now. Down to 25%.

That being said, I actually break ONE log into pieces (fairly easy) and spread them in the stove while I load with wood. They take off FASTER than 1 big log. They help the temps climb quicker. I had tried 4 logs by themselves one. They don't light very well but once they take off, WATCH OUT, nuclear. I wouldn't put more than 4 in my stove.

Andrew


----------



## sigepsb (Nov 15, 2014)

NJ_Burner08002 said:


> Where can you buy them?  I can't find them in my area



Dealer Locator: http://ecobrick.net/dealerloc

Unfortunately, it says my nearest dealer is in Brunswick, TN. So, I guess I won't be giving those a try.


----------



## The Cank (Nov 15, 2014)

This is awesome ! I am stoked to try them.. I have a Tractor Supply right down the road from me.. I'll have to go on Monday and pick up a decent amount. I'm going to toss them in with my splits with the ECO on the bottom as a base like someone stated .. I am really looking forward to the longer burn times and hotter temps.. I've split a lot of my wood down even smaller because it was a little to wet and now the splits burn quickly but I am happy to report that I no Longer have 7 inches of unburnt coals in my box in the morning


----------



## Mainely Saws (Nov 17, 2014)

One other nice thing about any of the bricks that I have tried is that they burn completely & leave a very small amount of fine ash ............ I doubt that I would burn them exclusively without firewood over the heating season but I have gotten to the point where they are part of the plan .....................


----------



## The Cank (Nov 17, 2014)

I just bought some today and I have one burning now with a full load of wood on top of it .. Temps stays nice and hot for a long time ..So far so good


----------



## Treacherous (Nov 17, 2014)

If you have ever have the opportunity to try these you will be sold...

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/
http://www.homefirelogs.com/


----------



## Cory S (Nov 18, 2014)

Posted a little review here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-eco-brick-review.135142/

Wasn't that impressed with burn time or cost.


----------



## Bigg_Redd (Nov 18, 2014)

The Cank said:


> How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ?



I do not.  But I would.  If they were free.


----------



## WriteNoob (Nov 18, 2014)

Just tried them last night. Probably could've gone 10 hours, but reloaded with pine at nine, because of time constraints. Will be using them in the morning, to get a full workdays burn, until my wife becomes proficient with the stove. Stove loves them, I like them, pocket book isn't as positive on the issue.  Only have pine to burn, and at 6-7 hours, so far, it won't last the day.


----------



## cheechblu (Nov 18, 2014)

Treacherous said:


> If you have ever have the opportunity to try these you will be sold...
> 
> http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/
> http://www.homefirelogs.com/


Look interesting but the closest seller to me is over 2 hours away.  Oh well.


----------



## ddahlgren (Nov 18, 2014)

I use them all the time though not that fond of the ones from TSC that are large. The eco brick bio brick and hot brick. True Value here has hot bricks and they work very well for me because of the small fire box and short chimney though the chimney does draw well. I put either 6 or 7 in with a little kindling between them on a cold start and they take off well take 5 to 10 minutes to get rolling along with secondarys by 30 minutes stove at 450 and the next 30 minutes up to 650 to to 730 on the stove top and hangs there for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours then slowly goes down to 450 and hangs there for the rest of the burn. The old plaster walls really suck up the heat and release it back into the room so basically loading BTU into the walls so the very hot stove does not overheat the house all that bad. If I need more heat let the coals burn down for about an hour or two then reload 6 in a pattern easier to load with fire place tongs as the stove is still 400. They take off easily and secondarys in 10 to 15 minutes. I have not needed more than 2 burns in one day. The down sides they are expensive at 7 dollars a day and don't walk too far away from them until well into the burn. The big thing to watch is the time before the fully closed and on secondarys. I have had a couple of times only away for under 5 minutes and thought the stack probe died on me then realized it wound all the way around to 50 but actually 1200. Funny thing is that is the first time the Rutland magnetic thermometer read well into the safe burn zone.

To sum up my thoughts
Pros
Clean dry easy to load give plenty of heat and can store indoors

Cons
Cos and have to stay on top of them until well into burn cyclet


----------



## fatjay (Nov 18, 2014)

I used to burn wood, not much free wood in the area so it's all bought, and about 230-250/cord. I decided to buy pellets after reading about pellet boxes, and built a pellet box. They burn well, but not very hot. Still minimal ash which I can't complain about. Then the hardware store gets hot bricks in and being a frequent shopper, they say take 2 packs of these and try them out and let us know what you think.

Tossed 5 on hot coals 8hr after lighting 1/3rd bag of pellets. HOLY HOT VERY FAST. Had I not checked on it 15min later, I left my dial at 8. i would have very easily had overburn and could have created a fire hazard. It had topped 700F in a very short time. I dialed all the way back down to 2. During the initial burn be sure to keep an eye on them. Overcooked and burnt those 5 and the stove was down to 400F in roughly 5 hours. I think I burned to hot to fast though and lost a lot.

Tossed 4 in at 7pm and the stove was back at 700F in about 15 minutes. I will let them burn until 11pm before tossing 3 on overnight. Still trying to figure out how to control the air for these.

I'm going to buy a pallet this weekend most likely. $300/ton and infinitely easier than wood.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 18, 2014)

fatjay said:


> I used to burn wood, not much free wood in the area so it's all bought, and about 230-250/cord. I decided to buy pellets after reading about pellet boxes, and built a pellet box. They burn well, but not very hot. Still minimal ash which I can't complain about. Then the hardware store gets hot bricks in and being a frequent shopper, they say take 2 packs of these and try them out and let us know what you think.
> 
> Tossed 5 on hot coals 8hr after lighting 1/3rd bag of pellets. HOLY HOT VERY FAST. Had I not checked on it 15min later, I left my dial at 8. i would have very easily had overburn and could have created a fire hazard. It had topped 700F in a very short time. I dialed all the way back down to 2. During the initial burn be sure to keep an eye on them. Overcooked and burnt those 5 and the stove was down to 400F in roughly 5 hours. I think I burned to hot to fast though and lost a lot.
> 
> ...




Where in Eastern PA did you get them.     I live in NJ but travel a lot to Eastern PA.    For instance going to Harrisburg tomorrow.


----------



## fatjay (Nov 18, 2014)

NJ_Burner08002 said:


> Where in Eastern PA did you get them.     I live in NJ but travel a lot to Eastern PA.    For instance going to Harrisburg tomorrow.


I'm by King of Prussia. My local hardware store is privately owned by some friends of the family. They recently franchised with Do It Best. Here is their store:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...63,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x45cd1f285a9a493c


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 18, 2014)

fatjay said:


> I'm by King of Prussia. My local hardware store is privately owned by some friends of the family. They recently franchised with Do It Best. Here is their store:
> 
> https://www.google.com/maps/place/Collegeville Do it Best/@40.178754,-75.438463,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x45cd1f285a9a493c



They have hot bricks?


----------



## JTRock (Nov 18, 2014)

I use the big blocks from TSC. Redstone load 2 north south and a split east west with fire starter in the middle. I do this just to get the party started since my wood isint fully seasoned. This helps tremendous.

No need to reload anymore bricks after that the coals are good and hot and make the splits burn well


----------



## fatjay (Nov 18, 2014)

NJ_Burner08002 said:


> They have hot bricks?


Lots of them, was just in today and they gave me to packs of 15 to try out as they wanted a review. They just got them in and have been selling but not to people they knew, so they couldn't ask for a reccomendation. I'm their guinea pig with stuff. At this point, I'm still playing iwth stacking in different ways and varying the burn rate with the dial on the front to see if I can get a good 8hr burn and 1-2hr smolder to last a full day at work, but they seem to be working well.


----------



## ridemgis (Nov 18, 2014)

The Cank said:


> Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :
> 
> How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.



I've burned a couple tons of BioBricks and ENVI bricks.  If you want a ton of heat fast these will do it.  If you want a long, steady burn with decent heat output, they will do that too.  Much of how they burn is based on how you place them in the stove.  Put in a bunch, loosely packed and you'll have an overfire.  Stack them tightly and you'll have coals in the morning for an easy restart.  And in most all cases, a single brick or three will not impress from a cold start.

Many evenings on coming home to a cold stove and house, I loosely stack six 8" envi blocks in three layers alternating EW & NS.  I put one quarter of a super cedar on top, light it, and then leave the door cracked for five to ten minutes and I'm good for several hours of good heat.  When the flame is gone, I open up the primary and get another hour out the fast burning coals.  

If the price were comparable to firewood I might burn these exclusively.  

My two cents on the subject,
PJ


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 18, 2014)

fatjay said:


> Lots of them, was just in today and they gave me to packs of 15 to try out as they wanted a review. They just got them in and have been selling but not to people they knew, so they couldn't ask for a reccomendation. I'm their guinea pig with stuff. At this point, I'm still playing iwth stacking in different ways and varying the burn rate with the dial on the front to see if I can get a good 8hr burn and 1-2hr smolder to last a full day at work, but they seem to be working well.




How big are they?    Packs of 15?      I plan on stopping by tomorrow on my way to harrisburg.


----------



## fatjay (Nov 18, 2014)

They are these:
http://rhp-hot.com/

It's 5x3, they are deceptively heavy. I'd guess each brick is roughly 5"x2"x3", give or take. A pallet of 990 bricks is just shy of a ton for $300, $6.99 for an individual pack of 15.

Please don't buy them all, I still haven't bought my stock yet 


NJ_Burner08002 said:


> How big are they?    Packs of 15?      I plan on stopping by tomorrow on my way to harrisburg.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 18, 2014)

Won't buy them all. Lol.     Probably just 45-60 of them to test.


----------



## fatjay (Nov 18, 2014)

NJ_Burner08002 said:


> Won't buy them all. Lol.     Probably just 45-60 of them to test.


Haha ok. I only say because there's some people in the area that are buying out all the little guys only to turn around and resell them at a marked up price because they have the corner on the market. They call most places in a 60mi radius 2-3x a week, buy on the phone, and send a truck for them. Mostly pellets but I wouldn't be surprised if htey branched into hot bricks.


----------



## Ford850 (Nov 19, 2014)

Thanks for the tip on these Eco Bricks.  I'm going to give them a try.  Menards sells them for $3.29 a pack, but my stove dealer sells them for around $225 a ton (pallet of 100 packs).  From what I've read you have to use at least 6 bricks, tightly stacked, to get the most efficient burn.  Looking forward to trying these out.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 19, 2014)

fatjay said:


> Haha ok. I only say because there's some people in the area that are buying out all the little guys only to turn around and resell them at a marked up price because they have the corner on the market. They call most places in a 60mi radius 2-3x a week, buy on the phone, and send a truck for them. Mostly pellets but I wouldn't be surprised if htey branched into hot bricks.




I stopped by your store.    I picked up 150 of them.    The guy said he has a whole trailer full but he wasn't sure he would be able to get more.     They certainly burn well, I have 2 in there now.    Nice product.       Thanks for the tip.     Nice store.


----------



## fatjay (Nov 19, 2014)

NJ_Burner08002 said:


> I stopped by your store.    I picked up 150 of them.    The guy said he has a whole trailer full but he wasn't sure he would be able to get more.     They certainly burn well, I have 2 in there now.    Nice product.       Thanks for the tip.     Nice store.


Thanks, glad it worked out. They have a lot, but like pellets, they're a bit questionable as to supply.

I like htem, they burn well, but I've encountered something. When they're done burning or giving off significant heat, there's still a hard shell., which can get in the way when trying to stack new ones. It'd be easier if it left a small pile of embers to light the next stack.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 19, 2014)

I will be stopping by again in a few weeks.    Hopefully there will be some left then.


----------



## eclecticcottage (Nov 20, 2014)

We did the first year-mixed with bought "seasoned" wood to help keep temps reasonable.  Now that we've got our own seasoned wood, we don't use them-no need.  We might still buy a couple packs to use in case we both got sick and didn't want to go out to bring in wood, Haven't gotten around to that and they're probably sold out now.


----------



## NJ_Burner08002 (Nov 23, 2014)

Going to get some hot bricks tomorrow.    Hope they haven't run out.


----------



## Poindexter (Nov 23, 2014)

I have 1800# of them to play with this year, local factory about 20 miles down the road, I doubt they "export" to the lower 48.  These guys: http://www.superiorpelletfuels.com/ 

The very worst time of year to buy cordwood is March. If you run out of wood here in Feb you have not planned well and are going to have to open your wallet.  I just bought a truck load of logs in October for $975 that was sold to me as "5 cords" but is likely to split out to more like 7 cords.  Call it 6 cords for 975, I paid $162/ cord for green logs.  

To be sure I had to buck them and still have to split and season them, but on the SPF homepage linked above the only folks who really pay $330/ cord to make bio- logs look like a good deal are poor planners.  I haven't had to pay $4/ gallon for #2 oil yet neither, my last fill was $3.74/ gallon.  And my stove is way better than 50 percent efficient.

I have burnt about ten of the bio logs so far.  As above they don't light as easily as cord wood, but light right off on a good bed of coals.  With the main stove door cracked open they do indeed burn nuclear hot.  With the door shut and the cat engaged (BK Ashford 30 here) they settle right down and burn a good long time for me, very fine ash when they are done.

These ones I can get are the kind that expand lengthwise when burning.  The directions say to lay them in the firebox parallel to the glass and when I didn't that one time the end of the log got to pushing up against the glass hard enough for me to open the door and take part of the flaming log out.  Throwing half a bio-log out in the snow in the yard seemed like it would be a lot cheaper than replacing the glass in the stove door.

I can't see a difference in my exhaust plume opacity running a bunch of bio-logs versus running a box full of my seasoned birch or spruce.  I am in an EPA "non-attainment" area for air quality.  It looks like when the air pollution police get here it's going to be curbside measurement of exhaust plume opacity that determines if the homeowner gets a ticket or not.  As proposed we have six minutes to get from cold stove to plume opacity under 60%.  On low air quality days if will likely be six minutes to get exhaust plume opacity to under 40%.

What I see when my cat equipped BK Ashford is running good is zero percent opacity.  Right at the chimney outlet I see nothing, zilch, nada, about a foot away a white puffy cloud forms, should be nothing but water vapor condensing as it cools.  I have been practicing even though the rules haven't been finalized yet, never mind have an effective date; but what I have been doing meets the proposed air quality rules.

I fill my Ashford every 12 hours, the cat has been hot enough to be active, continuously, for over a month now.  If it is cold out, I run  the stove on 2/3 for twelve hours and have a couple inches of coals in the bottom.  If it is "warm" out I run the thermostat at 1/3 and have a stove box about half full of burning wood after twelve hours.  Either way I disengage the cat, fill the box to full with more cordwood or bio-logs, close the door, re-engage the cat and the exhaust plume is back to zero opacity by the time I can get my boots back on and get out in the yard to look.

To be sure my eyeball is not an EPA calibrated test device.  And my cord wood measures pretty much 11-16%MC per gizmo, I have found a few pieces of 18-20% MC here and there.  Having said that, I don't see that running bio-logs in a cat stove is any cleaner than running good dry wood in a cat stove.

Pricey little SOBs, but they don't take up very much room for their inherent heat value, and they are dry enough to burn good at time of purchase.


----------



## samfatboy (Nov 28, 2014)

I'm a new member to this site, although I have lurked for a while.  I have an Appalachian 52 Bay insert that I bought back in 2008 when I decided I was tired of giving all my money for oil to people in places that don't have the same set of values I have. 

My house is a center wall colonial with a fireplace in the family room on the northeast side of the house,  and the bedrooms over the living room on the southwest side of the house.  So getting heat from the fireplace to the bedrooms has been a challenge.  My oil burner is a forced air system, so I have kept the fan turning to circulate the fireplace heat, but it is not the most efficient system in the world.

At first I burned only cord wood, which I would purchase locally.  Slab wood from a local saw mill was the best, but they stopped cutting it down to fit into the stove.  I got burned on several bad cords from local sellers and decided to look into Bio Bricks.  BT Pellet here in Connecticut sells several brands of compressed bricks, and I have tried them all.  For a consistent burn, the Bio Bricks have been best in my stove. 

For me time is money.  There is a lot of free wood available to me, but if I consider the time it takes me to cut it, stack and store it, at my hourly wage it costs me way more than $300 a cord.  Even having cord wood delivered requires me to stack it, store it properly, and protect it from the elements, which still drives the cost to well over $300 per cord.  I can buy the Bio Bricks for $240 to $250 per ton, pick them up in my chevy 3500 vandura, and have them neatly stacked in my garage in under two hours.  I don't have to deal with bugs, snakes, wolf spiders, rotting wood, or trudging out in the snow to get more wood.  

My first year of using my stove, I went from burning 1300 gallons of oil to burning 700 gallons, and 2 cords of wood.  At the price of $2.75 per gallon in 2008/2009, I saved half the cost of my stove installation in the first year.  The stove has more than doubled it's cost in savings over the past 6 years.

This year, with the prospect of oil hitting $4.00 per gallon, I decided I needed to get a stove for the living room, and get completely (for the most part) off of oil. So I bought an Englander 25pdvc pellet stove in early September.  You can thank me for the recent fall in petroleum prices!  So far in October and Nov I have burned 1 ton total of pellets and bricks.  

This week is the real test.  It has been an unseasonably cold late November here in Connecticut, with today's high only 34 degrees, and tonight's low to be around 12.  Last night's low was 20.  The past two days I have burned about 60 pounds of fuel per day while keeping my home at about 70 degrees.   I figure January and February may average around 80 pounds per day, March and April probably more like 30 pounds per day. On the spreadsheet that works out to about 8440 pounds total, or about 4 1/4 tons -- so I will round up to 5 tons.  At $250 per ton that is $1250 versus at least 1300 gallons of oil at $2.85 per gallon -- assuming ISIS doesn't overrun Baghdad -- or $3705.  

My Englander should pay for itself in the first year!  And the bags of pellets tell me that burning pellet fuel is green and CO2 neutral.  I don't believe a word of it, but if it keeps Al Gore happy. . .

All the tips I have found  here on this forum are greatly appreciated, and I will follow up with how well my game plan works out.


----------



## ddahlgren (Nov 29, 2014)

How many BTU/ton any idea so I can add to the possibility for the bricks? Are they all the same? Trying to add to my database of different fuel vs. cost and effort. So far coal is winning


----------



## WriteNoob (Nov 29, 2014)

Common parlance is that one ton of bricks is equal to one cord of hardwood, BTU-wise.  Burn characteristics have been stated as somewhere between wood and coal.  I don't know if they're assuming oak, for the wood, or some average. Unfortunately, I don't have hard data, only what is stated in adds and on the forums.


----------



## samfatboy (Nov 29, 2014)

My experience is that the BioBricks are equivalent to medium hardwood grade firewood for heat output  and burn time.  In my stove, oak slab wood burned the hottest and the longest, along with Fir, followed by oak and maple.  Bio Bricks would be about equivalent to medium dry oak or very dry maple -- in my stove.  I don't think a ton is quite equivalent to a full cord of good, dry oak -- probably about 85 or 90 percent - but that is a guess , I don't have any way to measure.  For me it is more about time and convenience. 

Right now my biggest concern is another apparent shortage of pellets for my new pellet stove.  I was counting on using it to provide primary heat to our bedrooms, but all of the sudden, it got cold and they are hard to find right now.   I have enough to last through December, but do not want to run out and not be able to find any like what happened to a lot of people last February - March around here.  The bricks seem to be available though.


----------



## Poindexter (Nov 30, 2014)

We run out of pellets up here _every_ winter.  The turtles keep enough for a winter and a half in their garages, buy in the summer when pellet prices are low and have no idea how much pellets cost in Feb/Mar, because they aren't looking for any.  The hares buy pellets one Prius load at a time and are caught short year after year after year.

Pound for pound should be the way to determine the heat value of pellet logs.  It's all cellulose, same as balsa and fir and white oak.  How many pounds of wood you got in that bio-log ought to tell you exactly how many BTUs are in it, once you correct for MC. 

Coal is tough to beat on a  $/BTU basis, and it is real easy to handle if you buy the right size lumps.  In a well engineered correctly operated stove emissions can be very respectable ass/u/meing you keep the rain off your dry coal.  The down side for me is common impurities like mercury that collect in the ash bin.  If you're done making babies and have a coal mine less than 200 miles away it's probably worth considering.

I don't really want to think about my hourly rate for handling cordwood.  But it does save me buying a gym membership, and splitting over the winter gets me outdoors a little bit at a time when it is too cold to wander very far from the house. And the savings off my oil bill go in my hunting/fishing account, real nice to put money in that account with three kids in college.


----------



## ddahlgren (Nov 30, 2014)

I am going to take a try at burning coal this year and bought a used Crane 404 a well proven design not as good as an old base burner from the early 1900's but a known quantity and plenty to be found and plenty of people that gladly offer advise as to how to get the most out of them. Water is really not an issue and the better coal is washed before it is bagged or delivered bulk. You don't have to season it and contains more btu per unit in using wood by the cord and coal by the ton. Toxins are microscopic and pretty much blown out of proportion by those selling alternate fuels as opposed to actual scientific studies and checks for them. To say it all the same is like saying all wood is the same and varies by type and what vein at what mine it came from. I am going to try it to get to 12 to 24 hours between dealing with the stove and will be switching over this week. If anyone is curious in the differences I experience will be glad to report back here. I have no plans of leaving this forum when I switch as have made plenty of online friends.


----------



## cheechblu (Dec 4, 2014)

I am going to take a try at burning coal this year.........

Good move.  I burn wood upstairs in my Jotul, but when the temps only hit 30*, I'm shoveling coal into my furnace in the basement.  Can't beat those BTU's.  Convenient and anthracite is clean.  I started last winter burning coal and it was a learning curve.  Got great info from the crowd at NEPACROSSROADS.com.good luck. And let us know how it turns out.


----------



## ddahlgren (Dec 4, 2014)

cheechblu said:


> I am going to take a try at burning coal this year.........
> 
> Good move.  I burn wood upstairs in my Jotul, but when the temps only hit 30*, I'm shoveling coal into my furnace in the basement.  Can't beat those BTU's.  Convenient and anthracite is clean.  I started last winter burning coal and it was a learning curve.  Got great info from the crowd at NEPACROSSROADS.com.good luck. And let us know how it turns out.


 I have been on the same site as well and finally finished all the details this morning and picking up tools actually one last 5 minute task to do make and install 2 new handles for the doors if I can find the 3 foot piece of wood dowel I bought to make the. My mistake buying it a week ago and now can't find it for the life of me. Will do other things around the house and shop until I stumble across it.


----------



## edge-of-the-woods (Dec 4, 2014)

fredarm said:


> I use the Eco Bricks from TSC.  I put 2 north-south (front to back) in the bottom of my stove, 2 or 3 small splits on top and some kindling and a quarter of a Supercedar on top of that.  The Eco Bricks fit nicely north-south, which my splits do not because of the small firebox.  They give a good base for the fire and make reloading easy because they are still burning when the splits are done.  They also help with less than perfectly seasoned wood.



I'm gonna try them NS like you say, that sounds like a good idea!


----------



## cheechblu (Dec 4, 2014)

ddahlgren said:


> I am going to take a try at burning coal this year and bought a used Crane 404 a well proven design not as good as an old base burner from the early 1900's but a known quantity and plenty to be found and plenty of people that gladly offer advise as to how to get the most out of them. Water is really not an issue and the better coal is washed before it is bagged or delivered bulk. You don't have to season it and contains more btu per unit in using wood by the cord and coal by the ton. Toxins are microscopic and pretty much blown out of proportion by those selling alternate fuels as opposed to actual scientific studies and checks for them. To say it all the same is like saying all wood is the same and varies by type and what vein at what mine it came from. I am going to try it to get to 12 to 24 hours between dealing with the stove and will be switching over this week. If anyone is curious in the differences I experience will be glad to report back here. I have no plans of leaving this forum when I switch as have made plenty of online friends.



Welcome to the Dark Side.  But like you say, you can always go back and forth.  
I was just over at NEPA to check up on your CRANE 404 and what a great thread by Doug Crane, son of the owner.  He  posted amazing photos to go along with his amazing story about his Dad and the Crane Coal Stoves business. Those stoves are real tanks.   Real interesting stuff in case you haven't already.  Stay warm.


----------



## NYCPrincess (Dec 5, 2014)

I'm out o  Long Island. Just wondering where I can get them?


----------



## littlalex (Dec 5, 2014)

kennyp2339 said:


> That's the thing about these blocks, I can't find them either in my area.. I did find another brand that a lumber yard sells.. I should be the same concept if its a pressed hard wood product.. I'm in NW jersey .. I think the Eco blocks are more of a east New England / Long Island thing



Hi - Try Tractor Supply in Sussex. I use them for mixing and I use the larger (3 per pack) bricks for overnights some times, packed closely together.


----------



## cheechblu (Dec 5, 2014)

NYCPrincess said:


> I'm out o  Long Island. Just wondering where I can get them?




Google ENVI BLOCKS, Suffolk County.  There is an independent dealer out there. He has a website.


----------



## ddahlgren (Dec 5, 2014)

cheechblu said:


> Welcome to the Dark Side.  But like you say, you can always go back and forth.
> I was just over at NEPA to check up on your CRANE 404 and what a great thread by Doug Crane, son of the owner.  He  posted amazing photos to go along with his amazing story about his Dad and the Crane Coal Stoves business. Those stoves are real tanks.   Real interesting stuff in case you haven't already.  Stay warm.


 Doug Crane has been my coach in rebuilding this one. There is a thread on the Crane stoves page 'Restoring my new to me Crane 404' that is me.


----------



## cheechblu (Dec 6, 2014)

ddahlgren said:


> Doug Crane has been my coach in rebuilding this one. There is a thread on the Crane stoves page 'Restoring my new to me Crane 404' that is me.



Talk about going right to the source.  He seems to be really helpful and down to earth. His disappearing act for 2 months cracked me up.  Coal burners. Wood burners. Lotsa really nice people on these sites. 
People down south miss out on all this.  But man!!  Would I love to be playing golf in January!!


----------



## ddahlgren (Dec 6, 2014)

I think he has some family things to take care of but has made a couple of post. He is having a few shaker handles made up and waiting for one the vice grips work ok for the time being. Lost my first fire after 2 days but did get to sleep 8 hors without dealing with heat or burning fuel oil either. I have learned in the process is I should have been poking from the underside of grates and never did actually see burning embers in the ash pan or that much ash either. Making some up today and will relight this afternoon after bringing in some coal to dry. For me they both have there place wood is fast heat and if I had a hunting / fishing cabin that I used on weekends it is defiantly the fuel of choice or if I had a supply of wood younger and stronger to split and stack myself. Buying wood then paying someone to stack it is not much of a bargain in my situation. A bigger better stove would help to. I have under 300 in buying and repairing the stove not counting my time and sold the Pendleton Avalon for 375 so a net gain in my eyes. I will have to count up all the stuff for fun to see the actual amount.

You are right about the people and why I am not leaving here just enjoy the cyber friendships I have made.

The only other thing I might add is burning coal is a very patient man's game as nothing happens fast and any change made might take as much as 45 minutes to make a visible change other than the cardinal sin I committed in poking coal bed from the top. I also have to be persistent enough to shake and poke from the bottom until I see burning coal. Live and learn the first few wood firers were pretty much disasters and no claims to be a grand master at either but warm most of the time and no fires or smoke / CO monitors going off.


----------



## Babaganoosh (Dec 6, 2014)

I've got a Russo wood/coal stove myself. I'd like to try coal as well but I can't find the coal basket I need. Russo doesn't have it either. My search continues.


----------



## Winnermom2 (Dec 8, 2014)

Does anyone know where I can buy ANY type of compressed wood/bricks in the Northern Virginia area? The closest I've found is Tractor Supply in Manassas but they are kind of expensive and they are sold in small bundles.


----------



## BrotherBart (Dec 8, 2014)

Nope. Been looking for them in NOVA for years. And TSC is the only place I have seen them. Liberty Bricks are made down by Richmond but they don't send them up here for some reason. And I ain't gonna haul them a hundred miles.


----------



## spirilis (Dec 8, 2014)

Fwiw my local vendor is selling Liberty Bricks (although marketing them as WoodBrickFuel, which they sold a few years ago, thought this year's bricks looked different until I drove over there and saw their pallets) but I don't see any retailer mentions on the liberty bricks website.  It might be worth calling them up to ask about retailers.  They're pretty good (very tightly compressed, coal up nicely) IMO.


----------



## BrotherBart (Dec 8, 2014)

After five years of contacting them every year I just gave up on'em.


----------



## prezes13 (Dec 8, 2014)

Not to piss any body off but I just got one ton of Eco Bricks.  One skid 96 packs 6 bricks each $260.


----------



## The Cank (Dec 9, 2014)

ridemgis said:


> I've burned a couple tons of BioBricks and ENVI bricks.  If you want a ton of heat fast these will do it.  If you want a long, steady burn with decent heat output, they will do that too.  Much of how they burn is based on how you place them in the stove.  Put in a bunch, loosely packed and you'll have an overfire.  Stack them tightly and you'll have coals in the morning for an easy restart.  And in most all cases, a single brick or three will not impress from a cold start.
> 
> Many evenings on coming home to a cold stove and house, I loosely stack six 8" envi blocks in three layers alternating EW & NS.  I put one quarter of a super cedar on top, light it, and then leave the door cracked for five to ten minutes and I'm good for several hours of good heat.  When the flame is gone, I open up the primary and get another hour out the fast burning coals.
> 
> ...


Im going to try this right now


----------



## mass_burner (Dec 9, 2014)

fredarm said:


> I use the Eco Bricks from TSC.  I put 2 north-south (front to back) in the bottom of my stove, 2 or 3 small splits on top and some kindling and a quarter of a Supercedar on top of that.  The Eco Bricks fit nicely north-south, which my splits do not because of the small firebox.  They give a good base for the fire and make reloading easy because they are still burning when the splits are done.  They also help with less than perfectly seasoned wood.


I picked up a few packs at tsc and burn  this exact way. I put them diagonally so they don't block the air inlet. I was surprised they burned pretty well. Lit the fire at 7 am and still had a few red coals and a warm stove at 7pm. Put the last load of splits at 9:30.


----------



## NYCPrincess (Dec 9, 2014)

prezes13 said:


> Not to piss any body off but I just got one ton of Eco Bricks.  One skid 96 packs 6 bricks each $260.


Where? And did you pay for delivery? How much?


----------



## dyerkutn (Dec 10, 2014)

The Cank said:


> Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :
> 
> How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.




If you can't find EcoBricks, try BioBricks. They are quite good.  Look up on line to see if there is a dealer near you.


----------



## prezes13 (Dec 10, 2014)

BT enterprises in bristol on broad street.  No delivery charges I picked it up with my truck.  I believe they charge$20 for local delivery.


----------



## cheechblu (Dec 10, 2014)

Babaganoosh said:


> I've got a Russo wood/coal stove myself. I'd like to try coal as well but I can't find the coal basket I need. Russo doesn't have it either. My search continues.



Which model stove do you have?  
Wait till my family finds out that an Italian made a wood/coal stove.  They're gonna be squeezing my cheeks all nite.


----------

