Wood Fuel Bricks In My EPA Stove?

[kennyp2339]

My take, until last year I never heard about compressed wood fuel, I always knew about the Dura Flame logs, I also know that dura flame logs don't go in wood stoves.
This website in particular is one of the only sites that will have postings on this type of product, so maybe 20% of all wood burners are aware of an alternative to cord wood.
I think that the members here are well above the "normal information curve" when it comes to woodstoves, pellet stoves, ect. I would think as these products are advertised more to the general public you will see more stove companies endorse these products in the future.
As far as running loads of these in an epa air tube stove, think of it this way - compare these bricks to 4" split pieces of 8% moisture pine that will burn as fierce as pine but as long as a load of red oak. _small loads of 2-3 bricks will be your friend.

 

[pixelated]

I tried some out last year in the old non-EPA stove and wasn't that impressed. They didn't heat as effectively as cordwood.
This year, the manual for the new stove explicitly says that burning fuel bricks will void the warranty, so we gave away the two packs of bio bricks we had bought as a stormy weather back up.
As they are just wood, I don't have any particular doubt that they could be burnt without harming the stove, if one were careful. But given the experience last year, and the statement from the Hearthstone, it didn't seem worthwhile.

YMMV.
Splitting, stacking and hauling in wood is too much fun anyway.

 

[blades]

Pure wood compressed blocks are fine, Stove MFG's convering Backside because of other products that contain various flammables as binder agents. Heck over the pond its about all they have in a lot of areas. Note: as with anything lot of less than adequately informed people as well as those that are not well mentally endowed to comprehend. ( a lot like a certain group in an Eastern city stateside)

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Alright so here's the lowdown:

I've burned some of the now EnviroBricks that are done by RedStone and distributed by Tractor Supply. The long and the short of it is that they burn like super dry locust in my EPA stove. They are best when introduced after a burn cycle with a good bed of coals. I put no more than two per load in along with other dry hardwood. They are a nice supplement to my normal supply of firewood. I do observe a bit of expansion during the burn cycle but, if the air supply is correctly controlled, they burn consistently and predictably hot.

Overall, I really like them and see them as a valuable tool with our wood stove. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and the advice!

 

[williaty]

Is there any way to figure out a cost comparison to bought cord wood? If I needed to buy wood, I could buy it green for $100/cord here. How does that compare to the cost of RedStone bricks. Actually, I can calculate the cost easily based on the website but I have no idea how many RedStone bricks have the same energy content as a cord of hardwood.

 

[drz1050]

If you have the space to stack and dry that, $100/ cord is far cheaper than the envi blocks. $100 per cord is also a steal, that's about what I pay for log length.

Energy content? Depends on what that cord is...

The BTU content of wood is fairly constant-ish per pound.. depends on species, pitch content, blah blah... but kinda close.

A cord of pine weighs somewhere around 1800 lbs.. a cord of oak is somewhere around 4000.

A ton of the bricks up here sells for around 280-300, the NIELs were almost 400.

So you can pay $300 for 2000 lbs, or $100 for 4000 lbs.

The envi blocks have other advantages over cord wood though: they take up much less space, and are guaranteed dry. If your cord wood moisture % is marginal, the blocks are a good way to help it along.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Like drz1050 said, I'm finding that mixing them with my cord wood is really the key. I don't think I would ever just burn them by themselves. The cost would definitely be way too high.

I'm also finding them useful to burn right now since the stoves are running very sluggishly. It is currently 49 degrees and 93% humidity here. We need some warmth but getting a draft started is really tough. Those blocks are such low moisture that they burn like my normal cord wood does in the dry cold winter.

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

It was a rhetorical question. I already gave it to the OP word-for-word from his manual in another thread. Rather than use it, he decided to open another thread without mentioning the most important thing: what does the manual say? That's pretty much all that matters.

If there are no binders, glue, wax, etc. etc. etc, it's just wood.

Composition changes how materials react in chemical processes. Flour is pretty inert, but if you suspend fine particles of it in the air, it can be devastatingly explosive.
Compressed wood doesn't have the same exact burning properties as natural wood.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Like drz1050 said, I'm finding that mixing them with my cord wood is really the key. I don't think I would ever just burn them by themselves. The cost would definitely be way too high.

Cost varies... I can get them for just over $200/ ton, so they are cheaper than pellets for my pellet stove and cheaper than what some folks pay for cordwood. I haven't had good luck at all buying cordwood... if I had to buy wood I'd just buy the Redstones.

 

[drz1050]

Cost varies... I can get them for just over $200/ ton, so they are cheaper than pellets for my pellet stove and cheaper than what some folks pay for cordwood. I haven't had good luck at all buying cordwood... if I had to buy wood I'd just buy the Redstones.

What's up with everything wood related in OH being super cheap?? I've seen other posts about people getting full truly seasoned cords there for $150.. I'm jealous.

The bricks are a good deal more expensive than pellets here at every place I called. If I could get them for 200/ ton, I'd definitely be snatching those up.

 

[ddahlgren]

I used the small bricks in the little Avalon Pendleton with a 1.3 cu/ft fire box. 5 ant a time and worked just fine. I did not pack them tight as the package said not to. They did not make as much heat as well seasoned cordwood. The real message is not to treat the stove like an incinerator.

 

[Dmitry]

BURN SOLID, NATURAL WOOD FUEL ONLY. DO NOT BURN ANY OTHER FUEL.

They just say this in manual so stupid people not gonna put any kind of s...t in their stoves. If it's high quality compessed wood and you know not to pack your stove over the top it is complitely safe to use.
If I were manufacturer I would do the same.

 

[OhioBurner©]

What's up with everything wood related in OH being super cheap?? I've seen other posts about people getting full truly seasoned cords there for $150.. I'm jealous.

The bricks are a good deal more expensive than pellets here at every place I called. If I could get them for 200/ ton, I'd definitely be snatching those up.

I've not come across any full or truly seasoned cords for $150, but the Redstones are made about an hour away from me near Millersburg Ohio if memory serves, so it would stand to reason the local places would have the best deals. That's up in Ohio's Amish country, and there are a lot of sawmills and furniture manufacturing places around.