Biobricks good for grandmother?

I think a "trial period" for gram may be good. I have played around with some of those bricks. You never know. She may or may not like them. If she is anything like my gram was...she may say "shove them...up you know where"....my gram did not "change"....but your gram may love them..
good luck with it...it is nice that you are thinking of making things easier on her....good luck with it... Keep us posted...

BioBricks work great but they come in shrink-wrapped packs that are 40 pounds each. If you're expecting gram to haul those packs every night - wellll lets just say you may be going from hauling in cordwood to hauling in packs of bricks. At least with the bricks you can haul in 8 or 10 packs a week.

The Eco Bricks from Tractor Supply are larger in size but come in smaller packages--25 pounds. My back appreciates that.

We've bought and used the Ecobricks. We both like them-I think Dh prefers them to wood most of the time, except for the $$.

They are easier to stack and store, but are like pellets-need to be kept dry. About as messy as wood-once you open the bag, you'll get little "slivers" everywhere. I usually load my wood box with half bricks and half wood, then dust buster it. Our recyclable folks have been taking the bags, and they do have a symbol on them.

I don't recall times too well, but for example, we went to bed (10ish) with a hot stove cruising at about 550 and 4 ecobricks well envolved. I got up at 2, and there was still pieces of brick left, so I added two just to keep it going. It was around 300 when I added them. Still enough glowing this am at 6:30 to restart another fire.

They like to burn in pairs at least, and they do expand when they burn. I'd say give them a shot. They are like very dry hardwood as far as starting/running, so if her supply of wood is usually good, these shouldn't be a huge difference/learning curve.

They have a slightly different look when burning that logs, so if we really want the "wood fire log look", we'll pack the back with bricks and put a split e/w in front. Usually we burn wood when we're home/up and the bricks at night or when we're not home for the extended burn times they generally give.

joecool85 said:

Thanks for the review. I'll pick some up and try them this weekend to see how I like them. It looks like they match oil dollar for dollar as far as btus are concerned.

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I've heard that TS puts them on sale in later summer usually for 2.99/pack. If she likes them it's worth keeping an eye on.

I'm burning biobricks exclusively this year. As mentioned, they come in 40 lb packages of 20 bricks, each brick is about the size of a "regular" brick. The individual bricks are very easy to handle (light, etc.) and light very easy - I could see that being a key advantage for an older person. (less time bending over screwing with things).

Where I live, they are slightly more expensive than cord wood (about $50 more for an equivalent amount).
As mentioned, they light extremely easy - I use the method the company recommends of creating a teepee of about 5 of them and putting some newspaper in the middle. After about 20 minutes when they are burning well, I split the teepee up a bit and push them to the back of my stove. I then create a wall of 9 of them in front of the teepee. That wall lights up completely in about 5 - 10 minutes, after which I start to adjust the air flow down. I have a jotul 450 insert, and after about 20 minutes the stove gets up to around 500-550 (on the stove top therm.) and the fan is on.

On a reasonable day (35 degrees or warmer outside) I can get 6+ hours out of a load with the front damper down to 25% or lower.

On a colder day, say like the recent sub-20 degree days, I am getting 4-6 hours, but I'm also trying to heat a larger space than the stove is rated for. (it was the largest model that would fit in the somewhat odd dimensions of the fireplace)

I like the biobricks, and will likely buy another pallet or so next year to go along with the cord wood I've got seasoning now.

No problem - added info.

eclecticcottage said:

joecool85 said:

Thanks for the review. I'll pick some up and try them this weekend to see how I like them. It looks like they match oil dollar for dollar as far as btus are concerned.

Click to expand...

I've heard that TS puts them on sale in later summer usually for 2.99/pack. If she likes them it's worth keeping an eye on.

Click to expand...

Right, and at this time of year, when folks might be running low on good firewood, you can't find them at TS. They already are pushing their gardening stuff. I complained at my local store last year (when I could have used some to help with some questionable oak) and the person just looked at me.

Nancy

PopCrackleSnap said:

eclecticcottage said:

joecool85 said:

Thanks for the review. I'll pick some up and try them this weekend to see how I like them. It looks like they match oil dollar for dollar as far as btus are concerned.

Click to expand...

I've heard that TS puts them on sale in later summer usually for 2.99/pack. If she likes them it's worth keeping an eye on.

Click to expand...

Right, and at this time of year, when folks might be running low on good firewood, you can't find them at TS. They already are pushing their gardening stuff. I complained at my local store last year (when I could have used some to help with some questionable oak) and the person just looked at me.

Nancy

Click to expand...

It depends on the area. The one closest to us has been out of stock since November, but we've gotten about 100 or so packs from one about 30 miles from us and they still had more the last time we were there. There were two others even further with more than 100 packs on hand. It seems like the more "country" the area, the less they sell-at least here. Maybe they sell more to people with less space to store cordwood? I don't know...

We're stopping by a CountryMax to grab a pack or two of their "wood brick fuel" to try out tonight and see if it's comparable or better. I forgot to ask how much per pack, I know there's 12 bricks but I'm not sure of the weight.

I emailed Agway a while back and they told me biobricks were on backorder until at least after the first of the year (as in 1/1/12). Haven't looked since, the local "agway" nearest to me was a joke and I won't be going back there.