Finally! (Envi-Block Review)

[Motor7]

Wow...I had no idea oil was that expensive!

 

[cheechblu]

Tonite it's 6 degrees, and the windchill is -6. My house is 73 degrees because I have a coal burning furnace in the basement. But as the temps moderate into the upper 30's and 40's and 50's, then I use my Jotul upstairs, and the Envi blocks heat our home real nice. At those temps, that ton should last us 4-6 weeks. Oil would rope us for a thousand bucks easy. So $310 a ton for coal or Envi's is a no brainier for me. And they give off a warm heat. Oil just never gives that relaxing warmth. At least at my house.

 

[Bagelboy]

Cheechblu, where did you get them and how much for them. I have plenty of wood, but would like to store some just in case. Thanks.

 

[cheechblu]

Hey Bagelboy,

Sorry for the slow response. I bought a ton at CT Pellets, located in Torrington, CT. Off of Rt.8. You're best bet is to go east on Rt. 44. Google them, then call to make sure they have some left. There was a bunch when I was there, but that was 10 days ago.
It's been so cold, so I've been heating with coal. But starting tomorrow, I'm back on the Envi blocks mixed with some wood.

Just a note: I got the Envi Blocks, which are big. If you have a smaller wood stove, definitely get the Envi-8's. My Jotul F600 is a large stove, and I'm looking to get a ton of the Envi-8's, and mix them with the blocks. Just an idea.

And they're $310 / ton. 105 bags of 3 each on the Blocks.

Good luck.

Cheech

 

[cheechblu]

Duh!! I just noticed on your thread, Bagelboy, that you do have a Jotul. I'm a little slower than the rest of the crowd.

Cheech

 

[Bagelboy]

Thanks for the info, Cheech

 

[cheechblu]

Update on Envi Block: Loaded 5 Blocks with 1 split of wood, left my home at 9:30am yesterday, returned at 12:30am this morning and still had hot embers in my stove. And stove temp was 280*. Put 3 pieces of kindling and poof! Started firing right up. 15 hour burn!! Never had that before. So far, I gotta say I'm impressed.

 

[chazcarr]

Since most of this thread is about the Envi's at CT pellet, I thought I should let you know that they are currently on sale for a much better price. I plan to stock up! If anyone was close to me I would share the delivery cost as well.
In fact I just found out that my neighbor ordered 2 tons of pellets from there so I plan to call and get on the shared delivery list with him.

 

[cheechblu]

Thanks for the info Chazz. I live all the way on the other side of the Hudson in NY, so I'm not able to share a delivery with you. But I will take advantage of the sale and make a trip over. They are still the closest distributors of Envis to me, so I gotta suck up the 90 minute ride, but they are good burning wood. Really will give us all time to replenish our wood piles. Use mostly Envis with some wood next year, so in 2 years, will have a nice supply of seasoned wood. At least that's the plan.

 

[stsmith]

Hi folks,

After all my problems this year (running out of wood, open window, etc...) I finally had an overnight burn!

The oil man came and filled my tank a week ago and charged $4 per gallon.
I was so mad I immediately came on this website and started reading to see what I could do.
I saw that a pellet dealer near me actually had tons of Envi blocks in stock and ready to ship.

So I bought 2 tons.
Here is the big truck delivering it in the snow (surprised he tried, we had three feet):
View attachment 94198
I then started a fire. Let me tell you these things are hard to light! Eventually I used some pallet scraps and got it going, but it took an hour or so and one whole super cedar to get it started up. I've learned these things need some coals to really work well. This is a picture with a whole supercedar trying to get it going in a cold stove:
View attachment 94199
Since there hasn't been a fire in a week or two, the house was really cold, and while it was warming up, I warmed up by moving one of the tons into my basement. These things come wrapped three to a bundle. Each bundle weighs over 20 pounds. Then these bundles are wrapped in piles of ten, and then all the piles are covered with a super thick tarp that I kept and plan to use to top cover my wood piles. Then that tarp is pallet wrapped as usual. Took a long time and I warmed up quickly getting that wood unwrapped and into the basement. And this was only one pallets worth:
View attachment 94200
The light in this pic is just under 4 feet tall.
Anyways, after messing around with these logs for a day I figured out there system and am burning 24/7 and it feels great. I found laying one block E-W and then three in front N-S gets the best results and longest burn. It looks like this after about 6 hours:
View attachment 94207
Once I got it started the first time, reloads have not been a problem at all. The bricks fire right up in seconds. There is hardly any ash as well, which means I can just keep on feeding this thing. I have and the heat hasn't come on in 5 days. Downstairs is staying in the 77 degree range and the upstairs around 68-69 depending on the burn cycle time.
One thing I learned from burning all the time like this is that it seems to actually be saving me wood, and I have a lot more control over the temperature of the house. Before I used to have to burn hard and fast to get the stove and house warm. Now that the house is already completely warmed up, It is easy to raise or lower the temps throughout the house or just cruise along like I am. My wife even loaded the stove today and said it was easy. She is usually afraid to do so because someone told her that improperly loading the stove can cause an explosion.

Of course it is not all roses. These things do cost a premium, and they do not burn as hot as some of the woods I have seasoning for next year. I also busted one of them open to make sure there was no weird stuff in there. I saw a few specs that seemed dyed red, but not much of anything bad. Compared to the price of oil, I am a happy camper.

Let me know if you have any questions about these things and I will try to answer them.
If you have any advice on using them more effectively, please share.

Thanks for letting me ramble on, I just had to share that

We have Dovre Sunburst (zero clearance) woodstove with glass door. Would I be able to safely burn Envi 8s in it? I know you can't stack them against the glass.

 

[chazcarr]

We have Dovre Sunburst (zero clearance) woodstove with glass door. Would I be able to safely burn Envi 8s in it? I know you can't stack them against the glass.

Never seen a stove like that before, looking at the specs it seems that it would work just fine. I would actually recommend starting with the Envi-8's rather than the Envi-blocks as it will give you the ability to see how these things perform with more control. They also expand much less so it is easier to avoid them touching the glass. I buy a mix of blocks and 8s now and it seems to be the best way to get optimized.

Side note, if you have any pics of that insert I'd like to see it.

 

[stsmith]

Never seen a stove like that before, looking at the specs it seems that it would work just fine. I would actually recommend starting with the Envi-8's rather than the Envi-blocks as it will give you the ability to see how these things perform with more control. They also expand much less so it is easier to avoid them touching the glass. I buy a mix of blocks and 8s now and it seems to be the best way to get optimized.

Side note, if you have any pics of that insert I'd like to see it.

Thanks for info -- photos attached

 

[chazcarr]

Thanks for info -- photos attachedView attachment 139051

Neat, that looks like a fun stove. The Envi's would definitely work i that. Just place them on their side. The good thing about them is they only expand one way so you can decide where to leave the extra space needed.

 

[stsmith]

We tried a six pack and they worked fine in our stove. When we tried to order a ton for $299 we were told delivery (20 miles) would cost $86.00! No one likes to be taken advantage of -- we ordered a cord of seasoned firewood, cut split and delivered, for $280. Delivery was $10 for 10 miles, $1.75 for each additional mile.

We'll look for a better distributor for Envi 8 bricks in the future.

 

[kennyp2339]

I need to find a distributer around here, I want to get (1) ton and give it to my parents for x-mas, I don't think there wood is up to par this year, hopefully it will help them out

 

[stsmith]

Possible alternative? Redstone Ecobrick - has anyone tried them?
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/redstonetrade;-ecobrick-pack-of-6?cm_vc=IOPDP

 

[JTRock]

This thread was awesome I will try the Envi's for my 1st year. I work a mile away from CT Pellet and talked to the owner, last month before i knew these things existed. Not the cheapest thing but swears by the quality of the brick content. I have dealt with them for pellets so haven't been disappointed.

I'm also fortunate to work over by CT Pellet, live 10 min from BT Pellet, Home Depot, Lowes and TSC. So being a 1st year wood burner I have my pellet stove to fall back on.

 

[stsmith]

This thread was awesome I will try the Envi's for my 1st year. I work a mile away from CT Pellet and talked to the owner, last month before i knew these things existed. Not the cheapest thing but swears by the quality of the brick content. I have dealt with them for pellets so haven't been disappointed.

I'm also fortunate to work over by CT Pellet, live 10 min from BT Pellet, Home Depot, Lowes and TSC. So being a 1st year wood burner I have my pellet stove to fall back on.

Bit the bullet, cancelled the firewood, ordered two tons of Envi 8 blocks, and paid for the delivery. It did cost more, but once we tried them the convenience made it worth the difference in price. We stacked them quickly and easily in the garage. No mess and no more going outside to get firewood. We're not young anymore and this made life so much easier. Thanks to everyone for the information provided here.

 

[Snap]

Chaz,
Are you getting any this fall?
I was going to try a ton but am balking at delivery cost, but we don't have a 1 ton vehicle.

Did you have the larger or the "8"s?
Seems like the 8's would burn down faster needing more tending.

 

[chazcarr]

Chaz,
Are you getting any this fall?
I was going to try a ton but am balking at delivery cost, but we don't have a 1 ton vehicle.

Did you have the larger or the "8"s?
Seems like the 8's would burn down faster needing more tending.

Yes, I already have them. I order during the spring sale and split the delivery charges with my neighbor who orders pellets.

I get the Blocks and the 8s. I find in my stove that two 8's placed north south with one block placed east west on top will burn quite well for many hours.

If it is really cold out, I will do 3 eights on the bottom with 2 blocks on top, but that is about what my stove can safely handle.


One year I just ordered the blocks and 3 of those in my stove would push it to the max and I wasn't that comfortable leaving it until it burnt down a bit. The 8s make that much more controllable.


If you are near CT Pellet in Torrington, I heard you can order up to 5 tons and pick them up as needed from the warehouse. I'm not sure if you can do half tons at a time though.

 

[Snap]

Yes, I already have them. I order during the spring sale and split the delivery charges with my neighbor who orders pellets.

I get the Blocks and the 8s. I find in my stove that two 8's placed north south with one block placed east west on top will burn quite well for many hours.

If it is really cold out, I will do 3 eights on the bottom with 2 blocks on top, but that is about what my stove can safely handle.


One year I just ordered the blocks and 3 of those in my stove would push it to the max and I wasn't that comfortable leaving it until it burnt down a bit. The 8s make that much more controllable.


If you are near CT Pellet in Torrington, I heard you can order up to 5 tons and pick them up as needed from the warehouse. I'm not sure if you can do half tons at a time though.

Thanks for the information,

I'm 2 towns, 20 minutes from CT Pellet, but the single ton delivery cost seems a bit high unless the truck is only coming here. It's better ordering more though.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, we have a bit of wood left from last year so a mult-ton purchase of Envis seems to be a luxury.

I also looked into the seconds logs that are made nearby from another thread but they are sold out so I guess those won't be tried soon.

 

[initech]

I realize this is likely a dead topic now but I just purchased a ton of envi 8's and use a Jotul F100 to heat my den and better part of my downstairs throughout the colder months. I previously used 1/2 kiln dried firewood that was getting too troublesome and expensive to acquire and found these.

First off the comments about the stoves running hot had me a bit worried, I figured no more than 3 blocks at a time and let it get down to nothing before reloading. Is my stove up to this task?

Secondly if I used approximately 1/2 cord a season (sometimes ended up having to get an extra 1/4 cord in late January/February) will a ton be sufficient?

Thanks, and I love this forum just don't post much, great information.

 

[kennyp2339]

(1) ton is equivalent to (1) cord, so you should be good to go with maybe some extra for next year. You are on the right track with only starting with three blocks, see how your stove reacts and what your comfort level is. You probabaly can load more as you get more comfortable, just figure out how your stove burns them in relation to your air control.
Get a stove top thermometer, shoot for a 600 deg stove top, that's pretty much par for the course, if you can hit 600 and keep it steady with adjusting your air control you will learn how to burn more blocks and get longer burn times with safety in mind, also low temp fires as you probabaly know from hanging around here should be avoided because a low temp fire causes low temp flu gases which will cause creosote build up, but if your only burning 1/2 to (1) ton a season you should really have any problems.
I ended up getting compressed wood blocks very similar to the envi brand, I gave a ton to my parents for x-mas and 5 packages for myself, I loved them, between my parents and myself after using them I would choose them over paying for cord wood any day of the week.

 

[chazcarr]

I realize this is likely a dead topic now but I just purchased a ton of envi 8's and use a Jotul F100 to heat my den and better part of my downstairs throughout the colder months. I previously used 1/2 kiln dried firewood that was getting too troublesome and expensive to acquire and found these.

First off the comments about the stoves running hot had me a bit worried, I figured no more than 3 blocks at a time and let it get down to nothing before reloading. Is my stove up to this task?

Secondly if I used approximately 1/2 cord a season (sometimes ended up having to get an extra 1/4 cord in late January/February) will a ton be sufficient?

Thanks, and I love this forum just don't post much, great information.

What is the size of your firebox? The Envi-8s are smaller than the Envi-Blocks. My Regency 2400 easily burns 3 envi blocks, but would need at least 6 Envi-8s to get a good fire going.
I actually found that 2 envi-8s placed north-south with 2 Envi-Blocks placed east west on top makes the best fire.

Although if you only use a cord a year then this may not really be an issue for you. I usually go between 4-5 cords a year.

 

[initech]

Thanks for the responses, and the info Kennyp. I'm going to start out with this and see where it goes. My stove is actually built into the pre-existing fireplace. The previous owners did it that way and it does a fairly good job at heating the better part of our house (it keeps my entire downstairs mostly at the low 70's - approximately 1,800 sf including upstairs and basement). Not going to lie though I'd love to invest in a larger stove with a blower to truly heat my house but I'm not sure it'd work because the stove is in the den (extension in back of the house) and not really in a centralized location.

Chazcarr - My stove's measurements are: 22.5"(H) x 20.75" (W) x 17.5" (D). Not sure if that answers your question but I never really put more than 3 pieces of wood in at a time, maybe 4 if the pieces are smaller. Based on the specs of the Regency you have (Chazcarr) I think it's approximately twice the size of my stove.