I would prefer a wood stove since my husband seems to have a knack for coming across free firewood that he winds up giving to other people. However, there is a certain appeal in pellets since they would be free of pests, dirt, etc.
I have heard of manufactured logs and “Bio Bricks”, are they cost effective compared to pellets and cord wood? Also, has anyone heard of Wood Pellet baskets that supposedly allow you to burn pellets in regular wood stoves? If so, any theories --or better yet experience-- in how well they work. It would be nice to have your cake and eat it too ... that is to heat with whatever is cheapest or most convenient at any point.
There’s a Bio brick dealer on RT 1 Saugus. They are equivelent to pellet prices.
I would stay away from burning pellets in a basket though...... Pellets are designed to burn in a pellet stove. Bio bricks and others are the compressed sawdust designed to burn in a wood stove....
Burned in an efficiency stove, biologs of the various types can be similar to pellets in terms of cost. After all, it is the exact same material.
You should be able to find these in the greater Boston area - one actually manufacturer is in CT (biobrcks) and he is also a Forum member here - under the name Bio.
I think that pellet basket is a pretty cool idea. My wife likes the idea of no wood mess in the living room and is already looking for a brass bucket to store wood pellets on the fireplace hearth. I did try some pressed logs last year and they burned well, but were more expensive than pellets. I’d like to see one of these baskets in action. I may buy one.
I never clicked on the link till now..... Wow pretty bold claim..... The pellets would have to have 11,666 BTU’s per pound to have that 4 hour burn time, that’s a stretch.........
I hate to say it but I’m still slightly skeptical of these.
Pellet stoves work because of airflow around the pellets, unplug the combustion blower and the pellets will smolder more than burn.
In a wood stove after the initial smoldering they would probably create enough draft to have this airflow but in a fire place I doubt it..................
And the claim of them burning clean with no creosote is true........BUT only if you have enough airflow and draft otherwise we would be stuck in the same boat as the wood burners with the cooler fires creating the Creosote..
All this aside I’ll try to post a link for another pellet basket and maybe we can find a guinea pig to buy one and post the results in the WIKI
EDIT................
Here it is the Prometheus basket....
http://www.energex.com/Prometheus.htm
I’m making my own pellet basket and will give it a go in my fireplace this fall. I’ll put the basket right on top of the fire grate for max air circulation. If it works great, if not I can put bio logs in it.
I would prefer a wood stove since my husband seems to have a knack for coming across free firewood that he winds up giving to other people. However, there is a certain appeal in pellets since they would be free of pests, dirt, etc.
I have heard of manufactured logs and “Bio Bricks”, are they cost effective compared to pellets and cord wood? Also, has anyone heard of Wood Pellet baskets that supposedly allow you to burn pellets in regular wood stoves? If so, any theories --or better yet experience-- in how well they work. It would be nice to have your cake and eat it too ... that is to heat with whatever is cheapest or most convenient at any point.
BioPellet,
I am on the south shore. The closest location to me seems to be Saugus which is on the other side of Boston. I figure between the cost of gas and the wear and tear on the truck that will add about $20.00 to the cost of whatever I buy.
Will you have any retailers in the Quincy area any time soon?
Thanks,
~Cath
BioPellet,
I am on the south shore. The closest location to me seems to be Saugus which is on the other side of Boston. I figure between the cost of gas and the wear and tear on the truck that will add about $20.00 to the cost of whatever I buy.
Will you have any retailers in the Quincy area any time soon?
Thanks,
~Cath
Is there a stove shop or pellet dealer near you????
Yes there are several near me. Can you name a couple that carry your product? If so, do you know whether they would charge as much as your Saugus location?
~Cath
Thanks Cath, I have already contacted south shore wood pellets 6175901788 and south shore mulch 7818787000 plese contact them and tell them you want BioBricks(tm). We should probably take this offline - email me at
i suspect its a similar setup to pellets, they are extruded (but they may be molded as well come to thiink of it), i do not know at what the pressure , but im sure its up there , once extruded(if they are) they are probably cut to length and packaged soon after cooling to avoid moisture buildup.
I was thinking they were extruded too, but they have the name stamped in the top of them. If extruded then that would have to be routed out after then were extruded, kinda of a waste of time since it could really slow production down. Are you sure they’re heated? The pellet making machine video posted on here didnt show any heating of the aggregate. Hey if you put anything under 10 tons of pressure it will heat up pretty quickly. Back when I had my shop I had some experience with die cutting fabric. It’s very similar. Stack 20 layers of fabric and lay the die on it and hit with about 7 tons of pressure and presto it cuts all the way through.
The reason why I’m asking is that saw dust is free. Well around here anyway. The local lumber mill sells slab wood cut to length for 100 bucks a 3 ton dump truck load of it delivered. I see them burning saw dust in huge piles all the time. Anyway most all of us have splitters. Dies aren’t cheap but they aren’t awfully expensive either. A few hundred bucks to have a set made. Or just pour one out of concreted and buy a ram head that fits the whole. Then, fill it up with saw dust and pack it into a log. It might take a little longer than splitting a piece of wood, but you wouldn’t have to cut it down, buck it, or haul it home and the aggregate is either free or very cheap. I have a press in the garage. I might take a piece of fence post and make some sort of a ram head and see how hard it would be to make one.
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What about Boston pellet and sawdust over on D street in Boston?
As far as I can tell from their website they only sell pellets. But their website is pretty limited. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was anything missing there. I’m not curious enough or interested enough to pick up the phone to call and ask.
~Cath
Okay, so I wanted to give the BioBrick idea a try, and stopped by my local dealer to price out a ton. I figured what, 250 a ton… sure, no problem… maybe I’ll order a ton or two, or even three, and see how the winter goes.
Well, sorry to say, but I just about choked… 375 a ton. Yeah, look, I know that diesel is expensive, and biomass is getting expensive, etc., but 375 a ton, plus tax? Nope.
As much as I’d really like to try them, and as much as I’d like to justify using them, its just not feasible. Decent full cords of hardwood go for 160-175 around here, delivered.
BioMan, seriously, I don’t know what this guy’s overhead is, but its got to be negatively impacting sales when they are priced so high… he wanted 11.50 for a small bag of them too… come on.
FWIW, a quick trip to Pelletsales.com shows me that I can order 8 ton, delivered to here, for less than $2000… which is 250/ton to my door.
Maybe I’ll blow 11 bucks on a bag just for the novelty of it, but in the meantime… make way for the splits.
That’s unacceptable!, Make a day trip over to me and I’ll fill your car @ $4.75 per pack. We need competion in this area. Please help me find others willing to carry BioBricks(tm).
...
What about Boston pellet and sawdust over on D street in Boston?
As far as I can tell from their website they only sell pellets. But their website is pretty limited. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was anything missing there. I’m not curious enough or interested enough to pick up the phone to call and ask.
~Cath
