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.
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.