Cord Wood or Bio-Bricks

Is what you do have good and dry? If that's the case I might go the cord wood route and mix from the start. Tough call, if you buy cord wood and it's green, like just split green you'll be in a bad way. If it's marginal then mixing would probably get you by.

For the record I just have had zero luck with any of the bricks so take it for what it's worth.

Unless you can get properly seasoned wood, I would go with the bricks. They are serviceable for shoulder season burns at the beginning and end of the season.

This time of year, Bio-Bricks hands down.

Bricks. I just picked up a ton +7 today. Had to call around because all but one place had any left. The rest told me they were SOLD OUT already.

I think you would be better off with bio bricks. You can ration out the bricks by mixing them with the so-so cord wood. As long as you have the indoor space to store them. Of course there's the scroungers method of processing pallets (or construction debris) into firewood size and mixing that in with your so-so cord wood. This method is generally free, labor intensive and kind of annoying, but has worked well for many of us who have been broke and with less than optimal wood. Mixing construction debris wood with cord wood can really help stretch out your wood supply, and help bring down the moisture content in the firebox on any given load. That being said, if you can afford it, I'd go with bricks.

Without a decent supply of well seasoned wood you probably are best to get some bricks. If I could get those NEILS logs here I would like to try them. 1/4 cord or so kiln dried would work too.

Beer Belly try Eco-Bricks, from all the bricks I tried I liked them the most. They are a bit bigger in size and denser. I get them at BT Enterprises in Bristol.

jatoxico said:

Is what you do have good and dry? If that's the case I might go the cord wood route and mix from the start. Tough call, if you buy cord wood and it's green, like just split green you'll be in a bad way. If it's marginal then mixing would probably get you by.

For the record I just have had zero luck with any of the bricks so take it for what it's worth.

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It interesting to hear you've had bad experiences with bricks. What were your bad experiences with the bricks? Which bricks were they?

My buddy has burned enviblocks in his insert and said good things about them. I am planning on getting some bricks this year to mix in with my cord wood. I reached out to NEILS last year to try to get something delivered near us, but not with any success. It's just too expensive to ship.

Beer Belly said:

a buddy told me that I would have to use them on an established fire to get the best result

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That's true, they are kinda a bugger to get going by themselves from cold

How much wood do you need? 1 cord or more?

dafattkidd said:

It interesting to hear you've had bad experiences with bricks. What were your bad experiences with the bricks? Which bricks were they?

My buddy has burned enviblocks in his insert and said good things about them. I am planning on getting so bricks this year to mix in with my cord wood. I reached out to NEILS last year to try to get something delivered near us, but not with any success. It's just too expensive to ship.

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Hey DFK. Used Envi and I think, Bio bricks. They don't light easy and benefit from a coal bed. People comment how hot they burn, I haven't found that to be the case at least compared to cord wood. As a mix in (brick or two or three at a time) the I've found them to be marginal. Top of the box gets cold with crappy secondaries.

They're dense and pack tight so I guess if you fill your stove you'll have a lot of fuel loaded and I suppose you'd get a hot burn but at the price per load I'll burn oil especially at current prices.

Other people seem to like them so what do I know but I've been underwhelmed. Had much better experience buying kiln dried to use as mix in with semi seasoned wood.

The blocks I've found at home depot and Lowes were awful. Marginally better than freezing to death.

The brand name Envi Blocks worked well for me. A block or two plus a firebox of marginal firewood would start and burn nicely.

YMMV

I just called TSC over the weekend about getting a pallet of Eco Bricks from them, $315.00. Had to catch my breath after hearing that, I got ants and termites into my main stack so now I am scrounging for wood to makeup that loss.

mellow said:

I just called TSC over the weekend about getting a pallet of Eco Bricks from them, $315.00

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Get on the ECO brick website, look for other dealers in your area. My brother is a dealer for 'em, he sells a pallet for about $100 less than that, only a lil more delivered

brenndatomu said:

Get on the ECO brick website, look for other dealers in your area. My brother is a dealer for 'em, he sells a pallet for about $100 less than that, only a lil more delivered

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Thanks for the tip, however I already tried that, next closest dealer other than TSC is 50 miles away

Can I put a pallet of compressed logs out on my covered front porch? That is my other issue is space is tight inside the house.

mellow said:

Can I put a pallet of compressed logs out on my covered front porch?

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As long as it can't get rained on it should be fine. The pallets are shrink wrapped but that gets tore up during handling sometimes and can't be relied on to keep things dry. They are very hard to dry out once wet and they start to crumble too.

hoverwheel said:

The blocks I've found at home depot and Lowes were awful

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Were they stored outdoors at the store? (before they were put on display inside) A lot of stores do and it can make a difference. But in the long run, not all brands are created equal, some are 100% hardwood sawdust, some are not

brenndatomu said:

Were they stored outdoors at the store? (before they were put on display inside) A lot of stores do and it can make a difference. But in the long run, not all brands are created equal, some are 100% hardwood sawdust, some are not

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Don't know but they appeared to be in good condition. They were just not great at burning. They appeared to be the same as the local tsc. The Envi-Blocks worked well, but were pricey. However they got us past the brutal cold snap last winter, so well spent imo.

I paid $265 a pallet. From my experience you have to use at least four of them plus cord wood. Two or three on their own won't do anything at all at least in my expirience. When used with cord wood they did extend my burn times but I get my wood for free so I buy a skid a year just to supplement my wood. However if I had to buy iffy cord wood for $250 I think that is the going rate in ct I would rather buy those bricks at least I know what I am getting.

brenndatomu said:

That's true, they are kinda a bugger to get going by themselves from cold

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Bio Bricks are fairly easy to start cold, if you use the method they prescribe. I had great luck this year with them at the end of the season. You stand two on end and make an A-frame and put kindling or a fire starter in between them. Next you lean one up against the A-frame from the front and then lastly lay one flat on top of that. Then I would stack bricks around on both sides and light it up. You would start your stove the same way, leaving the door cracked for 10-15 mins and then it's off she goes. Worked very well for me and I burned them from mid-Feb to the first of April. Still somewhat expensive - if you were buying only a ton it was $300.

ekg0477 said:

I would love to know your problems with the bricks as I'm on the fence about buying a pallet to just have stored in my garage this winter

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Excluding times where I bought a couple packages for playing around I used bricks in a serious kind of way twice. Once as a way of stretching out my (dry) wood supply and once to help burn semi-seasoned wood. Most often I was adding 1-3 bricks along with the cord wood. Used that way I never had much luck. Considering the density of each brick I had a decent amount of fuel loaded. They burned, but I never had the feeling I had to worry about the temps. On the contrary it was a struggle to keep the secondaries firing unlike a full load of splits. Any "coals" they left were cold relative to wood so very little heat once active burning stopped.

It did work, I was able to keep burning but I just wasn't wowed. It's not like I wouldn't buy them again if I was in a pinch but the original question revolved around a short wood supply and the choice between buying cord wood and bricks. What I was trying to say was that if my current supply was good and dry, then I'd try to mix with cord wood. If my supply was marginal/semi-seasoned I'd mix with dry fuel. First choice would be with kiln dried if I could get it second would be use the bricks.

If you're on the fence buy several packs and check them out. Only tried using them alone for one maybe two fires so can't say much about that except that they are tough to light even with a Super Cedar.

Thanks for your reply. I have my dry wood supply all set for this winter but Im thinking of buying a pallet of bricks to store in the garage to mix in here and there. This is only my second season heating with wood so its hard to judge exactly how much ill need so these bricks will sort of be a insurance incase my wood supply starts to run slow. If it turns out to be a mild winter I can use the bricks more often and use my splits on the coldest days/weeks.