Firewood vs BioBricks

Dmitry said:

I'm about to put first insert in and start my adventure with wood burning. It's a first year of owning home so no firewood stored and dried by me. Need to buy it this year. First cord I bought was supposed to be "best around". It was not. Some wood was over 30% moisture, some rotten etc. I've read about this practice on forums and expected it. I paid $225 for it. I've stumbled over advertisement for BioBricks for $250 a ton .
May be I'll be better off using BioBricks for the first year? Any input?

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Howdy all. I have been a creeper on this site for a while and gotten a ton of great info. I figure it was time to put my 2 cents in. I burned through a couple tons I bio brick and they were great. Low ash high heat and much cleaner than the wood. You can also pin point how much it cost per day/month ect. That being said I did switch to a pellet stove which I am in love with. Def worth a try. Buy a few packs and take them for a spin before jumping into a ton but I think you will like them. No tarps,no going out in the snow for wood.

At this point I would go with bio bricks and if you can afford it, buy wood to get you started for next year. Do you have a chainsaw? Start the scrounging as well. Good luck.

If you don't have dry wood, Bio-Bricks (or similar) are about the next best option. They cost you about 40 to 50% more per BTU (when buying the firewood) but have several advantages (less mess, less ash, no bugs, easy storage inside etc.). Just be careful when doing your first burns with them. As they are really dry they can easily lead to an overfire. Pack them tight, stay with the stove, and keep adjusting the air control until the burn is stable. It helps to have stove thermometer so you can monitor the temps.

Dmitry said:

They say one ton is equal to one cord of dry firewood. If it costs $250 it's not much of a difference from $225-235-250 price per cord in CT. And you never know what you going to get with firewood.

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Their claim has a bit of a sales pitch in it: 1 ton of Bio-bricks has about 16 mBTU, 1 cord mixed hardwood about 22 to 23 mBTU. Still, the added convenience would make it worthwhile for me when I would purchase my wood.

Dmitry said:

They say one ton is equal to one cord of dry firewood. If it costs $250 it's not much of a difference from $225-235-250 price per cord in CT. And you never know what you going to get with firewood.

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Another plus to the bricks. Consitant size,moisture. I got my stove late in the year last year. Oct/nov. I got a cord of seasoned wood but it had ice on it. Icy wood is wet wood. From what I have learned from one year of burning is your late to the party and brick might be your best bet. They burn hot so you can supplement with not so dry wood and get decent results. Tsc had bricks in my area readily available most of the winter last year but they weren't as good as bio bricks.some bricks are better than others.

I concur with what Grisu says,40-50% more cost but there are some benefits.
The marketing and claims are out there a ways.

With wood I think there are like 8,800 btu's/pound.

Since the bricks are heavily pressed and because of their shape they only take up half the room that wood does..actually less then half.

But they still have the same btu/pound. That's the part you have to pay attention to when you do the math.

HotCoals said:

I concur with what Grisu says,40-50% more cost but there are some benefits.
The marketing and claims are out there a ways.

With wood I think there are like 8,800 btu's/pound.

Since the bricks are heavily pressed and because of their shape they only take up half the room that wood does..actually less then half.

But they still have the same btu/pound. That's the part you have to pay attention to when you do the math.

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The ton=cord debate is relative. The crappy wet cord will not heat as well as a ton. But will a ton heat as well as a good seasoned cord? No. It's about availability for me. Good wood,go wood. Not so great wood,get some bricks...

Lakeside21 said:

The ton=cord debate is relative. The crappy wet cord will not heat as well as a ton. But will a ton heat as well as a good seasoned cord? No. It's about availability for me. Good wood,go wood. Not so great wood,get some bricks...

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I agree 100%.

Your more than likely going to need the bio bricks unless you can get extremely lucky and stumble across some Truely seasoned wood.

I was just looking at the firewood adds in our local weekly trader. About half of the 40 or so adds were selling "seasoned oak". I would be surprised if ANY of it has been split more than six months. In fact, a couple of the adds for seasoned oak say they can cut and split to your request.

I get my biobrick equivalent at a higher price than that (lack of competition for those products IMO) so I'd jump on that. Some like to use them as a supplement with marginal wood to get the firebox hot faster and let the marginal wood burn better.

This seems like a good chart for wood.

http://forestry.usu.edu/htm/forest-products/wood-heating

Dmitry said:

I doubt my "seasoned" wood will get me all BTUs it's supposed to give . I'll get some biobricks. I know there is a learning curve with wood burning, may be it' 'be easier for me to start with biobricks .No guessing if it's smoldering or else.

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Well with bricks having a mc around 6-7% it really helps with heat and creosote .
I have a ton out in my garage to further experiment with this season. So far i have convinced myself they are to expensive to run in the shoulder and didn't really work all that well in my stove with just a few in there. Me thanks my stove is to big for that..shoulder season burning.

Dmitry said:

I doubt my "seasoned" wood will get me all BTUs it's supposed to give . I'll get some biobricks. I know there is a learning curve with wood burning, may be it' 'be easier for me to start with biobricks .No guessing if it's smoldering or else.

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Learning curve for sure. If anything it's good to have a supply of burning material stacked close to the stove. And it will help burn subpar logs more completely. Keep us posted. I have done extensive research on the wood/brick debate and would love to hear your opinion this site has been so valuable. Thank you everyone for the info I've obtained.

Grisu said:

Their claim has a bit of a sales pitch in it: 1 ton of Bio-bricks has about 16 mBTU, 1 cord mixed hardwood about 22 to 23 mBTU. Still, the added convenience would make it worthwhile for me when I would purchase my wood.

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But you can pack more bio bricks into a hot stove

That's gotta count for something right?

Being a new burner myself with a so, so seasoned supply, I've been sampling bricks

Envi's, Eco, TSC brand. All seam to burn really well for me. Like others say you can throw 1 or 2 almost seasoned splits in and they help burn pretty good because of low moisture and heat generated by the bricks

smokedragon said:

But you can pack more bio bricks into a hot stove

That's gotta count for something right?

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Yes, Probably twice the amount of weight by volume!
But I know you won't get twice the burn time.
It's like stacking more money in there to burn also..lol.

Dmitry said:

They say one ton is equal to one cord of dry firewood. If it costs $250 it's not much of a difference from $225-235-250 price per cord in CT. And you never know what you going to get with firewood.

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Might not be quite equal to a cord, but that sounds like a good price. TSC here has eco bricks for $332/ton. Plus our wood is cheaper, $150-200 cord avg I'd guess.

I pay $265 for a ton of eco bricks. My wood is free that's other than splitting it and stacking. If I had to pay $200 for wood which is a going price for a cord around here and wait for it to be ready in a year or two and wonder if I really got a cord I would just buy bricks.

begreen said:

Wood is averaging $300 a cord locally this year. And believe it or not, I've seen folks selling "seasoned" rounds for that price, you split. Crazy.

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I have never, ever seen wood sold by the cord in my area. It's all by the truck load. Of coarse this always brings up the questions. 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, 1 ton, dump truck, s-10? 6ft bed or 8, Stacked or thrown in? Bed level or grave yard hump? Etc.

Oil is dropping way down this year maybe use a little of both.