How Practical Is Primary Heating with Manufactured Firelogs?

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Radiant123

New Member
Oct 4, 2009
8
Portland, Oregon
Is it practical, economical, and labor/time non-intensive to use firestarters (like Super Cedar) and manufactured firelogs (like North Idaho, Bear Bricks, Presto, or Duraflame) in tandem in a hearth appliance for use as the primary heater in a small (936 sf), well insulated home? Would the firestarter ignite the firelogs(s) reliably?

The attractive features over firewood appear to include no need for newspapers and kindling, quick and easy firestarting, bug freedom, high energy content, lower emissions, less ash to shovel, and less Creosote buildup in the flue.

One local Hearth retailer was saying that the North Idaho firelogs are the best and would work well in something like an Avalon Pendleton. Do folks concur with that?
 
+2.

Not practical because of cost. If you don't care about the cost, then they are very practical.

The best firestarter is scrap construction lumber cut up into small strips.

Heating a 936 sqft home with firewood as a primary heat source may be tricky because you'll need a fairly small stove or you'll bake yourself to death. The problem with a small stove is burn time - you become a slave and have to be tossing in splits every few hours. If you don't mind doing that, then you're fine. If you're heating 24/7 in the dead of winter then you don't need much for firestarters. You just toss in splits and keep the thing going.
 
I'm not an expert on fire logs, but I don't think they are intended to be used the way you want to use them. Wasn't there a thread here last year from someone that stuffed their firebox completely full of those wax logs? I think it burned dangerously hot (again, I could be mistaken). I would check into this before you attempt it. Other than that, it just comes down to cost. Wax logs are great, but real wood is 1/10 the cost (if not "free"). I second the suggestion that you just get a pellet stove.
 
Thanks for the post. I did take a close look at pellet stoves and inserts. One dealership had a nice display where customers could view pellet and NG appliances side by side. I liked the fire and the overall ambiance of the NG appliances a lot more. There were some other reasons too that tipped me away from pellet units for the time being. But I'll be interested in how they progress in the future.
 
These are not wax logs. We've never recommended burning a wax log product here. The Northern Idaho product is made from very highly compressed sawdust.

As for the economics, well it all depends on where you live, the price of the logs, convenience desired and what your alternatives cost. If the logs are at a good price and your alternative is expensive propane or unseasoned wood, then they should work fine. They burn cleaner than wood and for a long time, and they store compactly. That can be a plus for some folks that lack a wood lot and chainsaw. I plan on testing them again this winter in the T6.
 
This week a chimney specialist stopped by and inspected my existing ZC fireplace. He thinks it may be a Superior brand dating back to the 1980s. Its actually in good shape save for the rear refractory panel which has some cracking of the mortar. He suggested repairing the panel with some refractory paste and a 5-6 guage sheet metal panel.

I'm tempted to make the repair, and get a grate and some fireplace doors, so i can test out the NIELs and Bear Bricks before installing a gas insert. Who knows, maybe I'll like burning with these products so much that I'll stick with the existing ZC fireplace or replace it with a new high efficiency woodburning appliance. It would also provide an opportunity to estimate what the actual operating efficiency of the ZC is with new doors.


RAD 123
 
you really can't load up the stove to capacity w/ those things... you gotta choke it down to nothing, as they burn very outa control hot w/ any air at all... they are good for the shoulder season / quick hot SMALL fires, or to defrost some wet cordwood in mid winter.
 
Four bio-bricks in my 5 cubic foot stove is all I ever needed. Tiny little pile in the bottom of the stove. I got them for my wife when I had to work out of town for a while. Great heat, easy to store, clean, easy to light. Only good for about a four hour burn though. She ended up using them as firestarters, and I will not be buying them again, because they were just way too expensive compared to scrounged wood.
 
Compressed wood logs can burn really hot. No middle ground on temp control. IMO. I used them for part of a season when we had wood too green to burn. They were OK, but were expensive. They also didn't make nice coals for restarting in the morning like cord wood.

Pellets are expensive and the stoves have a lot of moving parts to go bad on you. They also require electricity unlike a gas stove. We had two pellet stoves in our home when we moved in and they were constant problems. We replaced them with one wood stove and one gas stove (as a backup) and have been very happy. Also if you lose power with a gas stove you are still OK but a pellet stove you are in trouble.

Re: Heating with a fireplace vs. wood stove.

There is no comparison. The wood stove is going to blow a fireplace out of the water in terms of heat production. I wouldn't spend a penny on repairing an open fireplace if you are serious about heating your home. Save the money and put it towards a proper stove unit.
 
Coastal Farm Supply (located in gresham and cornelius, oregon) has bear bricks on sale for $199 a ton. At that price, the bear bricks is competitive with natural gas. I picked up 2 tons earlier this year and am about to pick up another to have on hand.

I have a routine for starting and re-starting fires down for my stove. I use a lightnin' nugget (similar to supercedar) and some wood stove pellets to get things going. Pile a little wood stove pellets, put a firestarter in the middle of it - then build a teepee o three bear bricks over the pellets/firestarter. I place another brick on top of the three. This will burn and bring the stove up to temp. After this burns a while, I push the coals off the side and stack in 9 bricks tight across the back of the stove and 3 on each side in front of that for 15 total. The coals end up in the "pocket" in the middle. This ignites the front of the bricks and the fire burns very controllably through the bricks with long burntime and even heat.

I have a previous review of the bear bricks - do a search on "bear bricks" and you will find it.

jeff
 
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