compressed wood bricks

Jdog said:

Yea Tractor Farm Supply is where i seen these think it was $4 for 6 of the blocks not 100% on prise but not much more then that. I have some really good wood mabe 2 cords of 2.5 year seasoned hickory oak ash and cherry some locast to but i also have two cords of stuff in mid 20s to mid 30s moisture with a meter i might try to use them with that wood then. 8 at one wow and only got 4-5hrs some one on another site said they would get 9-10 hrs with 5 of them

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The ones I am familiar with come in a 40 LB. 8 pack. Check around on CL or in the newspaper, often times there are "biobrick" dealers around that sell 'em for cheaper if ya buy a pallet of 'em, 2000 LBS, about a 4'x4'x4' stack. My brother sells 'em locally for $200-225 ton.
Edit: A pallet full takes up the room of 1/2 cord of wood, but the bricks supposedly have the burn time/heat output of a full cord of Oak.

begreen said:

They are the original Pres-to-logs and the among best I have used. I like them a lot. 3 will put out a surprising amount of heat and they will burn for a very long time with almost no ash.

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They are awesome! I've been picking up a pallet every year now with my Lopi. A great way to give almost any stove an extended overnight burn.

I burned wood last season but have switched to coal now. A large portion of our heating last winter was from ecobricks from Tractor Supply. We used the smaller ones with 6 per pack and the larger 3-to-a-pack ones.

In my experience, I loved them. As they are denser than all but my black locust, I could get more pounds of wood in the firebox. That made for considerably longer burn times. I seriously could get 8 hours at between 450 and 500 degrees stove temps. They were consistent and seemed to fit my rectangular firebox better than splits. For the record, I like the smaller bricks way better than the big ones. They stack better, are more dense, and are a small amount cleaner to handle as not as much dust is produced.

The big downside was the cost. 2.5 packs per load at $4 per pack. Burning 24 hours a day. My god, I could have burned pellets for the cost and would have put in way less work. Now I've gone, literally, to the dark side and love my lack of creosote and easy loooong burn times. Now if I could just figure out what to do with 3 cords of semi-seasoned wood...

voodoochylde said:

Now if I could just figure out what to do with 3 cords of semi-seasoned wood...

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Where you live? If you close by, I'll help you get rid of that worthless crap, and free for a fellow hearth.com member!

I'm in Greenbrier county, West Virginia. Most of it is a mix of I don't know what. I've got about half a cord of year-old pin oak but it's nowhere near ready. The only stuff I have that's useful right now is standing dead black locust. As much as I hate to sound wasteful, now that I have a fire pit, it'll go to good use entertaining the kids. I just won't be heating with it.

Just keep in mind that they're far more controllable when they are packed close to each other. Give them enough air space and they'll take off in a hurry.

Jdog said:

Yea tonight i think im going to try getting a fire going with some kindling then out 2 in the center togher and see what i get with no wood in with them. Have you tried that?

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I used two as well, but spaced them apart a little. I used top down fires, so mine went kind of on top with some kindling on top of that. It seemed to work for me.
If you are going to pick more up, get as many as you can, because they sell out fast and don't restock. Remember, you can keep them for years in the basement. They are like a gigantic pellet, as long as you don't get water on them they are fine.

I used the Eco bricks from TS and in my stove they give me a longer burn time but did not seem to put out as much heat as the dry water oak I normally use. I went from around 4 -4 1/2 hr burns to 6hr but with less overall heat with 5 bricks, never seemed to go above 300 deg compared with 500 deg or so with the oak. Maybe I need to get more air to the Eco bricks...will have to play with air control more as I used the same settings as oak.

$2.99 a pack....They happen to be a sale this week at TSC if anyone is interested...
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/eco-bricksreg;-fuel-blocks-pack-of-3

CenterTree said:

$2.99 a pack....They happen to be a sale this week at TSC if anyone is interested...
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/eco-bricksreg;-fuel-blocks-pack-of-3

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Thought that was a good deal, until I realized there were only 3 in a pack...yikes!

They're the new big ones.

I think the ones we used were 8/pack now that I think about it.

I just picked up 3 cases of the 6 packs and 3 cases of the 3 packs, im starting a fire now and will try them out, ill let you guys know how they work out. Got them at TS for 2.99

Depends on what kind of wood it is, and what quantity is a "truckload of wood"? With the bricks you know what you are getting as far as burn quality

If you have less than ideal wood, I would say go for it. What the heck, it won't rot

i don't know, maybe I gave the these big ass bricks the bum's rush. Migtht swing by TS tonight and grab a pack to try again.

I have tried both the big bricks and small bricks the last 2 days. First of all, do not put more than 3 or 4 of the small bricks in a time, and do not put more than 2 big bricks in at a time either. My stove got up to 700 in no time and i almost got worried, but it finally came down. I wouldnt say they are better than good seasoned wood, but i do say they are a good substitute. I got about 5 to 6 good hours of heat out of them but thats all you will get max. The convenience is nice. The way i feel they are best started is to get a real fire going with wood, maybe 2 pieces, i raked the coals forward when ready, and placed the bricks in a tight order 2 levels high. They started nicely and once my magnetic thermometer got in to the ideal range i turned the air all the way down. During that time the temp rises to about 650 or so, hovers, then gets to 500, stays there for a while, then bam, they go down. I am gonna call the store, ask for the manager and see if he will do a deal if i buy the rest of the pallet. They had a brand new unopened pallet in the back and took six cases out for me, so there are 94 left. If i can get them for 2.50 a case it might be worth it for me, let me see what he says.

I just stopped by my local Tractor Store today & bought a pallett of the large wood bricks on sale at $287 for 96 packages . They are pricey for sure but they have some advantages that I like . I definitely burn them in with regular firewood & having an E/W stove ,I put a couple of splits E/W & then put 2 wood bricks N/S , they are perfect for this in my stove & I get a nice long burn . As stated , they take up very little space to store them in , they are bone dry & no chance of bugs . Other than a little bit of sawdust from opening the package there isn't any bark , wood chips , etc to clean up . Seasoned wood up this way sells for about $240 .

5-6 hours from 2 bricks sounds pretty good. That's like saying 5-6 hours from 2 splits. As mentioned before, a brick or two added in with a load of splits that aren't quite dry, burns nice.

Edit: I snipped this lil bit o propaganda from a local "firewood brick" site...
Less smoke, ash, and creosote.
No insects, dirt, or mold.
1 ton of ECO-BLOCKS is equal in volume to 1 cord of wood.
It has 2 times the density of wood and has 1.5 times the BTU output of wood.
It burns up to 2-1/2 times longer than cord wood.

A ton of Eco Blocks is a 30”x45”x48” skid
a cord of split fire wood is 48”x48”x96”

It burns up to 2-1/2 times longer than a cord of split fire wood!
but takes up half the space.

The 3rd line volume statement has to be a typo, 'cuz, 1 ton = approx. 1/2 the space of a cord of wood...
Second edit: yup, typo, read the last line...

i do agree, now i dont know if i should get the big ones or small ones????

do these "accordian" ? if your going to buy pallet amounts, you should look to see if you can get NIELS delivered.

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/

I bought the large bricks because that's all that my local TS sells . My experience has been that they both can be a benefit & for me they both "swell" a bit so I leave a little space in between them ............