Bio bricks -- Please help me to like them!

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mbk2000

mbk2000

New Member
Nov 24, 2007
43
Coastal Maine
I'd wanted to love them, I really did. But, in all fairness, it may be user error so maybe someone here can straighten me out.

First day: 4 brick teepee to start, nice burn and fair bed of coals. Now I push them to the BACK of the stove (as in the directions) and carefully lay in 12 bricks. Alternating the direction and making them into a nice square in the middle with the rear bricks sort of half laying on the coals. Nothing happens. Start throwing some kindling back there and blowing. 30 minutes later they catch and I'm able to turn the draft down 3/4 after about 15 minutes. stack pipe temps hoovers around 275-300 and stove temps around 450. So, all in all, a good overnight burn. Steady and not too hot with ample coals in the morning but an amber glaze over my whole window which I never get from my wood. I burn that off with a wood fire in the morning.

OK, so I'm thinking I'll just use these for a nice, predictable overnight burn. Maybe a little more draft at bedtime will keep the window clear. Great.


Second night: I have some wood coals. Not a whole lot, but enough. I decide to split them between the back and the front this time because I know pushing anything to the back of my stove just doesn't seem to work and I don't feel like blowing on it for a half hour again. 12 bricks, same configuration. They catch in the front and are burning well in about 10 minutes. Temps are somewhat higher this time. Now I close the draft 3/4 and go watch TV in the next room for 30 minutes. Then I seems hot and I start to smell the stove cooking. I get up to check and there is an inferno in there. My stove top thermometer is pegged. 950 is the max measure but I'm sure it would have gone way past if it could. The stack pipe is, thankfully, hanging in there around 450-500. I shut the damper all the way, make sure the fire extinguisher is handy and wait. Comes down in about 20 minutes to a more reasonable 650. I left the damper just barely cracked and went to bed. At least I had some coals and clear glass in the morning.

So what am I doing wrong here?
 
May be just a learning curve?
I suspect they are completely different than cord wood and may also be more "likable" in certain stoves than others....my guess is that smaller fireboxes and cat stoves might like them, but it seems that a really dense brick in a large non-cat box might be more troublesome - at least in terms of small fires.
 
Webmaster said:
May be just a learning curve?
I suspect they are completely different than cord wood and may also be more "likable" in certain stoves than others....my guess is that smaller fireboxes and cat stoves might like them, but it seems that a really dense brick in a large non-cat box might be more troublesome - at least in terms of small fires.
Click to expand...

That could be true but I do know that the manufacturer has the very same stove as I do. I believe its the actual stove pictured in the online directions. I figure he would be the one to ask but I've tried calling and leaving messages and, so far, no response. Maybe there is some logic to pushing the coals back and not forward and maybe that makes some difference, but I'd like to know what it is. I do pretty well with the wood, even the semi-seasoned stuff--for a beginner. I would think the bio bricks would be more user friendly, not less so.
 
Definitely a learning curve. The long burn achieved by the BioBricks is achieved by their mass. By putting the coals under multiple locations of the mass of BBs, the entire mass went up at once. This is not the way they are intended to burn and risky business. Follow the instructions as was done on the first night and they should be fine.

But you are correct. Biopellet should have a very clear warnings not to put a large mass of bricks on a hot coal bed. This should be posted on the product and website.
 
You let them catch and left the draft at 3/4 too long. Standby your fire box as fire is catching. Trim air down as you hear the roar in the box. In some cases close and re open a crack as your temp drops. I am running these in a baby bear fisher stove around the clock. At least the method I explained works with that model. Depending on the outdoor temp is varying on how many go in on a load. Days in the 30's I put 4 on top the fire and keep topping it off every 3 or 4 hours with more bricks keeping the stove top 250 - 275.
 
RingOfFire said:
You let them catch and left the draft at 3/4 too long. Standby your fire box as fire is catching. Trim air down as you hear the roar in the box. In some cases close and re open a crack as your temp drops. I am running these in a baby bear fisher stove around the clock. At least the method I explained works with that model. Depending on the outdoor temp is varying on how many go in on a load. Days in the 30's I put 4 on top the fire and keep topping it off every 3 or 4 hours with more bricks keeping the stove top 250 - 275.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That is practical advice. Maybe 12 is too much then? Can I ask how many you use for an overnight burn and do you push all your coals to the back of the box or spread them evenly?
 
Here are the official burning instructions. The first set is for rear combution stoves. The second is for catalytic stoves or stoves with combustion air tubes.

http://www.biopellet.net/instructions.html

The most important thing is to not over fill it and not to stack them too high. I have no idea how big your firebox is but 12 bricks could be too much.

Regarding the placement of the BioBrick logo, that's an indirect way of saying that you are placing the bricks in such a way as to reduce the air spaces between the bricks.

ETA
Ooops. I see that you read the directions. How close does the mass of bricks get to the top?

~Cath
 
mbk2000 said:
RingOfFire said:
You let them catch and left the draft at 3/4 too long. Standby your fire box as fire is catching. Trim air down as you hear the roar in the box. In some cases close and re open a crack as your temp drops. I am running these in a baby bear fisher stove around the clock. At least the method I explained works with that model. Depending on the outdoor temp is varying on how many go in on a load. Days in the 30's I put 4 on top the fire and keep topping it off every 3 or 4 hours with more bricks keeping the stove top 250 - 275.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That is practical advice. Maybe 12 is too much then? Can I ask how many you use for an overnight burn and do you push all your coals to the back of the box or spread them evenly?
Click to expand...

12 bricks worked ok the first night yes? From the description, it seems like the only error made was allowing them to ignite at multiple points on the second night. It's ok to use less. Actually I would strongly urge less when putting them on a hot coal bed, but the burn time will be shorter.
 
I've used almost a ton this winter and they took a bit to get used to them. I don't use the tee-pee method if I am starting from scratch. I just get a little kindling going and push the wood/coals to the back when I load the bricks. I generally use the biobricks during the day when I am at work. (wife won't touch the stove). In the morning I shovel out the dust and push the good coals to the back of the stove and open up the air.. I then load 12 bricks. 2 rows, the long way across - 2 bricks deep - 3 high. I use a glove and shove the brick back against the coals. I don't put the bricks on the coals, i put them on the floor of the stove. Close the door and wait until I see flames creeping up the back. Then I can close the air down and leave for work. I leave at about 8:30 and return at about 5:30. There are usually enough bio coals left that I can just open up the air and throw on a couple of good splits and start tending wood fire for the evening.

I experimented with various stacking methods and the plain formation described above works best for me.

They are not available from the Bristol distributor I got them from in November. They say they can't get enough to fill all the orders. If anyone knows of a distributor in Eastern CT, let me know. I don't think I would burn them exclusivley (free wood burns best) but you can't beat the ease of use sometimes.
 
Maybe I have a draft problem. I don't really know how to diagnose that, though. Last night I pushed the coals to the back, stacked 6 bricks with the back bricks touching the coals, damper open, and waited....1 hour later my temps were staying put at 150 degrees and I had a stove FULL of black smoke. Lovely. The bricks were just smoldering in the back. So I open the door and - poof- they go into flames. Once that happened, it all went fine although 6 bricks is not enough to give me coals in the morning. But there is simply no way the bricks will catch from the rear of my stove. That, I suppose, is the real problem. Now that I think about it, even my wood doesn't burn so well in the rear of the box.
 
mbk2000 said:
So I open the door and - poof- they go into flames. .
Click to expand...

So you are just loading the bricks in and closing the door? Almost evey stove you have to keep the door open and inch or two when you reload to get the fire going again. Sometimes for 10 or 15 minutes. Especially with bio bricks as they are denser and much harder to ignite.
 
From Biopellet website.

"Stoke fire by leaving door cracked. Once fire is going well close damper to direct air flow through the mouth of the rear combustion chamber."
 
MBK -
I have run into the 'just smoking' problems a few times. If I think the coals are week I'll throw some splinters or tiny kindling on them before adding the bio bricks. Just enough to get a flame going instead of smoke. Sometimes the bricks start burning before I have them all loaded. If I don't see flames in a few minutes I try cracking the door and if that doesn't work (usually instant like it was for you) I'll throw a lit wooden match over the top of the bricks. Thats the last resort because once all the bricks are in its tough to add more wood to the coals in the back, its easier to do before the bricks.

Good luck
 
It's also should be posted on the insert that comes with the package. At least it was on mine. If not, let biopellet know.
 
BeGreen said:
It's also should be posted on the insert that comes with the package. At least it was on mine. If not, let biopellet know.
Click to expand...

Hi Guys, its me.

Do you burn a Vermont castings or harman or other rear combustion chamber type stove where the combustion gases are directed into a rear refractory through a port in the bottom rear of your firebox? - if so, you need to shove well burnt coals (from the teepee, for example) into that port. Then build a wall of bricks in front of this pire. The gases originating from this new charge of fuel have to pass through this charcoal and are thus reduced to extra amounts of co and H2. You need to get the new charge stoked. This usually means leaving the door cracked and might mean leaving a path for air to reach the teepee coals. Once the new charge is ripping (about 1/2 hour or less) you can close the door and shut the top damper, thus directing the gases thru the rear. You should hear a roaring sound coming out of the stove. Choke the air down to reach the desired temp and go to bed

This is a bitti bing bitty boom process for me each night, about the same time it takes to whip up a bowl of pasta with homemade sauce
 
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