Biobricks, the economics of them?

[EddieB]

For what it's worth, I've been using Envi Blocks and not so seasoned firewood together. This is my first season heating with wood. Not a drop of oil has been used to heat my 2400+ sq ft home. The Envi blocks were more expensive then the seasoned ( or not so seasoned) wood I was sold. Together, they are working out really well. On nicer days, I go out and gather up the days worth of wood and add it to 3 Envi blocks, when it's stormy out, I use mostly Envi blocks. The blocks last a long time and kick off a lot of heat. They have really saved me from a bad experience with so-so wood. I did however find a guy selling unseasoned wood (probably slightly wetter then the thief who said seasoned) for 120 per cord. And it was actually a cord, so I bought 4 cords for next year. In the spring I'm planning on buying 4 more from him. That will leave me in good shape for the following year. I will still buy a ton of Envi blocks next year, for the convince of not having to go out in a storm and hump wood in. I hope to scrounge more wood in the future. It's everywhere, if you slow down long enough to look for it.

So, for the economics, they are more costly then seasoned wood, but, you aren't likely to get screwed on the volume or the moisture content. Plus, no economics discussion would be complete without taking into account how much your time and sanity are worth. If you have more time then money, scrounge, if you have limited time and can afford it, the Envi blocks will heat well for you..

Ed

 

[pen]

Well said EdB

pen

 

[Jaugust124]

I've been thinking about trying some of these bricks for the 3:00 A.M. reloads. Takes me about a 1/2 hour to reload, wait for the wood to catch, and get the air shut down. Seems like it might be a bit easier to just throw a couple bricks in, let them catch, shut the air down to 1/4 and go back to bed. I only want the stove to run until about 7:00 A.M. during the week and I just haven't figured out yet how to get an "all night" burn with cord wood. Thinking these might make life a bit easier.

 

[bogydave]

Some very good factual info.
For those who really enjoy processing fire wood, have the time, equipment, source & storage space, we might never use them.
Knowing they're available & work OK is good knowledge to have. You never know. A "life is" moment may make them a viable solution.
Good points, good thread

 

[hockeypuck]

I was a doubter in the bricks.... but I ran out of seasoned wood last year and did a ton last February. They worked well. I am finding that they have their place. The are great in the shoulder season because they start quickly can come up to temperature quickly. You can burn them at lower temperature with less creosote build up because they are dry. They are easy to store and most importantly, they are easy for my wife to keep the fire going during the day. During the cold season, I use wood at night because I have a better bed of coals in the morning to use to get the stove going again.

This year I only had 1 chord of seasoned wood so I ordered 2 tons of Bio brick. I bought 15 packages of the TSC brand last fall when they had that sale. They are both comparable, just different in size. I should not have a problem making it out into April with this combination.

I have a 1900 sq foot ranch that was built in 1964. Half the windows have been replace, I am working on the other half. In a normal year (with no wood) I would use 800 gallons of heating oil. My previous owner used 1100 one year, but she was 85 and probably had the thermostat at 75. 250 gallons are for hot water the rest (550) would be fore oil. Now I kept my thermo at 60 at night and 64 to 68 during the day, by no means excessive. Last year we did 1 1/2 chords of wood and a ton of bricks. The wood was from my property but if I had to buy both, the cost would be around 800 bucks. I used 375 gallons of oil last year. The savings is about 700 bucks. If I had to by 3 ton of bricks that would have been about 600.

To me it is more than just the savings. We are toasty warm (72 to 75) while we are up and there is no replacing a point heat source on a cold day. Plus there is the fact that I am helping with our dependence on oil, even though most of our heating oil comes from canada, it still helps with over all demand. The bricks definitely have their place and if I did not have any seasoned wood, I would not hesitate to use all bricks. Fortunately I have 2 chords ready for next year, but will still buy two ton of bricks.

 

[hockeypuck]

I've been thinking about trying some of these bricks for the 3:00 A.M. reloads. Takes me about a 1/2 hour to reload, wait for the wood to catch, and get the air shut down. Seems like it might be a bit easier to just throw a couple bricks in, let them catch, shut the air down to 1/4 and go back to bed. I only want the stove to run until about 7:00 A.M. during the week and I just haven't figured out yet how to get an "all night" burn with cord wood. Thinking these might make life a bit easier.

This is an excellent use for the bricks. Once you understand how the run in your stove you can find the proper setting and walk away. You need to be careful, because they will burn hotter than normal wood, so you should try this out during the day so you can monitor how the react to your stove.

 

[nola mike]

Just tried some bio bricks in the CW2500, and I'm impressed. The great thing about them is that you can really pack them into a small firebox--I can probably get twice the weight of wood in there, at least. After 9 hours, I still had a strong bed of coals, and they burned hotter for longer than my (crappy pine) cord wood. I got them for $4/bundle at TS, and am still looking for something cheaper. I'm going to use these for overnight burns though, or when I need the stove to go longer. I'm looking forward to giving them a shot in the 602.

 

[cwill]

I'm using the Gren Blocks from Menards, to offset our low supply of split wood. 6 of those and three splits on top and I can go 10 hrs with enough coals to reload without kindling. Best burn time with regular wood was about 8hrs. For a little stove that really impresses me. The smaller square shape really helps get more usable fuel in the stove. At $260 a ton, I don't think I would burn them exclusively but they have their place.

 

[clemsonfor]

For what it's worth, I've been using Envi Blocks and not so seasoned firewood together. This is my first season heating with wood. Not a drop of oil has been used to heat my 2400+ sq ft home. The Envi blocks were more expensive then the seasoned ( or not so seasoned) wood I was sold. Together, they are working out really well. On nicer days, I go out and gather up the days worth of wood and add it to 3 Envi blocks, when it's stormy out, I use mostly Envi blocks. The blocks last a long time and kick off a lot of heat. They have really saved me from a bad experience with so-so wood. I did however find a guy selling unseasoned wood (probably slightly wetter then the thief who said seasoned) for 120 per cord. And it was actually a cord, so I bought 4 cords for next year. In the spring I'm planning on buying 4 more from him. That will leave me in good shape for the following year. I will still buy a ton of Envi blocks next year, for the convince of not having to go out in a storm and hump wood in. I hope to scrounge more wood in the future. It's everywhere, if you slow down long enough to look for it.

So, for the economics, they are more costly then seasoned wood, but, you aren't likely to get screwed on the volume or the moisture content. Plus, no economics discussion would be complete without taking into account how much your time and sanity are worth. If you have more time then money, scrounge, if you have limited time and can afford it, the Envi blocks will heat well for you..

Ed

You and the other folks abouve and below this post make sense. I do live in a rural area and my job as a forester in charge of logging operations allows me to find wood when ever i want to. I just get my saw and drive a truck to work, on the way home i cut a truck load of wood. I have a ranger shortbed with tool box that i drive so it fills fast.

 

[Treacherous]

I might have to try a few of the Northern Idaho Energy logs that BeGreen reviewed.

The local co-op carries them.

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(broken link removed to http://www.nwfuel.com/buy-north-idaho-energy-logs.html)

 

[bogydave]

Cool,
not sure about the energy rating comparison though.

1 unit of E-logs = 1.5 to 2 cords of "What kind of wood" cottonwood, birch, oak locust. (apples to oranges)
1980 lbs per unit/ cord of dry locust 4000 lbs. (apples to apples)

Still a good product, maybe to perfectly shaped
Never have to decide which piece will fit. May have to split a few for various sizes

 

[HotCoals]

To uniform for ya eh? lol

 

[begreen]

I might have to try a few of the Northern Idaho Energy logs that BeGreen reviewed.

The local co-op carries them.

(broken link removed to http://www.nwfuel.com/buy-north-idaho-energy-logs.html)

Burn them with respect and let us know what you think. There are a lot of btus in them thar logs.

 

[Treacherous]

I might have to try a few of the Northern Idaho Energy logs that BeGreen reviewed.

The local co-op carries them.

(broken link removed to http://www.nwfuel.com/buy-north-idaho-energy-logs.html)

Burn them with respect and let us know what you think. There are a lot of btus in them thar logs.

Will do. It sounds like I don't want to use more than two at a time as well.

 

[carlo]

We've been having some incredibly warm temps here in NJ and I'm not burning much so far. But as a supplement, instead of hassling with the wood (bugs, mess, etc) I was wondering about these bio bricks. The threads I've read have been very informative but there is one question I have.

What do these bricks smell like when burning ? Am I gonna have a funny smell permeating my home while burning these bricks ?

My bet is they also ignite easier than wood on those cold flue days which would be very nice for the occasional burner.

 

[SmokeyCity]

I would not use them as a primary source - I used them as a suppliment or additive to enhance a burn or help get it started.

 

[GAMMA RAY]

We've been having some incredibly warm temps here in NJ and I'm not burning much so far. But as a supplement, instead of hassling with the wood (bugs, mess, etc) I was wondering about these bio bricks. The threads I've read have been very informative but there is one question I have.

What do these bricks smell like when burning ? Am I gonna have a funny smell permeating my home while burning these bricks ?

My bet is they also ignite easier than wood on those cold flue days which would be very nice for the occasional burner.

I did not notice a smell from either the Bio bricks nor the Envis.

 

[carlo]

no smell ...... that's good. i'm gonna try me a few of these thingys

 

[spirilis]

If you pull them out of their package and stack 'em in a log rack or whatever, they do have a "sawdust" smell that gets in the room. I don't mind since our stove is in a downstairs room that we don't use often.

 

[fredarm]

I keep an open package in a old brass coal scuttle next to the fireplace. I don't notice any smell except maybe a faint sawdust smell when I first open the package.

 

[NWfuel]

I might have to try a few of the Northern Idaho Energy logs that BeGreen reviewed.

The local co-op carries them.

(broken link removed to http://www.nwfuel.com/buy-north-idaho-energy-logs.html)

Burn them with respect and let us know what you think. There are a lot of btus in them thar logs.

Will do. It sounds like I don't want to use more than two at a time as well.

Treacherous,
Come on by and I will give you some to try. The full unit of logs contain 16.5 million BTU's. Not 2 cords worth by east coast standards for BTU's but west coast Alder they compare to the 2 cords.
Thomas

 

[Treacherous]

Thomas,

Thanks for the offer! I'll try to stop by this week. I plan to be at my cabin next weekend so it will be a good test for me.

Regards,
Treacherous

I might have to try a few of the Northern Idaho Energy logs that BeGreen reviewed.

The local co-op carries them.

(broken link removed to http://www.nwfuel.com/buy-north-idaho-energy-logs.html)

Burn them with respect and let us know what you think. There are a lot of btus in them thar logs.

Will do. It sounds like I don't want to use more than two at a time as well.

Treacherous,
Come on by and I will give you some to try. The full unit of logs contain 16.5 million BTU's. Not 2 cords worth by east coast standards for BTU's but west coast Alder they compare to the 2 cords.
Thomas

 

[NWfuel]

Looking forward to hearing your results.
Thomas

 

[HotCoals]

I bought some bricks today at Country Max.

7 bucks for 23.4 lbs...I bought 2 of those packs.
Put 3 in a fairly warm stove and they worked good for 2 hours or so.
I would not buy them again..almost twice as much money has the eco bricks I bought at TSC before.
Theses things swelled up at least by 30-40% and after 3 hours were about done.
I only had flame o them for maybe 10 mins till they were going good then cut the air..the cat ate good for 2 hours is all.

(broken link removed to http://www.aeshearthplace.com/Buy_Wood_Bricks.php)

 

[spirilis]

Yeesh, that's highway robbery (more than the bricks already are compared to cordwood). $7/23.4lbs and they barely performed...

Woodbrickfuel is around $6/40lb for me, eco energy fuel blocks $3.50/24lb