BioBricks/Liberty Bricks Not "Approved" for use in Napoleon Wood Stove Insert 1402

There's two parts to this question. One, will use of wood bricks void the warranty? Check your warranty paperwork that came with the stove. If it does not explicitly state that use of such wood bricks will void the warranty, then careful use of wodd bricks will not create a warranty issue. They have to put it in writing in the warranty, not just send you an email after you already bought the stove. It's different to say something like "not recommended" vs. "do not use or you will void the warranty". If it will void the warranty, I wouldn't use them, at least during the warranty period. You should talk with the stove shop where you bought it to see if they would be willing to swap it for a stove that allows you to burn wood bricks.

Secondly, the practical issue, will use of wood bricks damage your stove? The bricks tend to burn hotter than cordwood, so you have to keep a closer eye on the stove termperature after reloading to avoid overfiring (you do have a stove thermometer, right?). Once the stove is up to temperature and the air turned down, I find they burn pretty much like regular wood. The don't coal like wood and leave a finer ash. But you don't need kindling to light them. I tend to mix them with cord wood, although right now I'm burning 100% bricks since my woodpile is buried in snow.

However, all wood bricks are not created equal. I've burned Bio Bricks, Wood Brick Fuel and I'm currently more than halfway through a ton of Geo Bricks from Canada. The Bio Bricks burned great, they are 100% oak, made by a company right there in Connecticut. Of the ones I've burned, I believe these to be the best quality. The Geo Bricks are almost as good, they are 100% maple and burn very well. I bought a ton of them because they were on sale at the place where I buy my bricks and they were out of Bio Bricks at the time. I tried Wood Brick Fuel a couple of years ago and found they were not as tightly compressed as Bio Bricks and fell apart into a mass of glowing sawdust. I've seen Liberty Bricks at a local store, but never burned them. They are an odd color and look they may not be 100% real wood. I recall reading on here a year or two ago that people who burned Liberty Bricks found some non-wood products in their ash, like nails and coins.

Unlike Bob, I'm not a certified wood anything (other than a certifed wood nut ). I've been burning off and on in stoves and fireplaces since I was a kid, but what I know about EPA stoves I've learned from this site and by some trial and error with my PE Vista over the last 3 years. My own opinion, and it's only that, is that if it will not void your stove's warranty, quality wood bricks can be used safely in an EPA stove with careful burning practices. Now, excuse me, I've got to put some more bricks on the fire.

"If it does not explicitly state that use of such wood bricks will void the warranty, then careful use of wodd bricks will not create a warranty issue."

I disagree. I can't imagine a stove mfr listing every possible thing you could burn in a woodstove that would void the warranty. My warranty merely says that "overfiring" will void the warranty and gives a few examples of things that might cause overfiring. My guess is that most warranties are similar. If you avoid overfiring by careful use of wood bricks or anything else, then you won't have a warranty issue.

DanCorcoran said:

"If it does not explicitly state that use of such wood bricks will void the warranty, then careful use of wodd bricks will not create a warranty issue."

I disagree. I can't imagine a stove mfr listing every possible thing you could burn in a woodstove that would void the warranty. My warranty merely says that "overfiring" will void the warranty and gives a few examples of things that might cause overfiring. My guess is that most warranties are similar. If you avoid overfiring by careful use of wood bricks or anything else, then you won't have a warranty issue.

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Good point. That's where I was going with my second point but wasn't very clear--overfiring with anything, even cordwood, will void the warranty of most stoves. I recall reading on here that Jotul's warranty expressly prohibits the use of Bio Bricks and the like. If the warranty doesn't, and you avoid overfiring, you should be fine. You just have to be a little more careful with wood bricks because they burn so well.

I use EcoBricks in my Napoleon 1402. No problems. Just use common sense.. Just monitor your temps as normal and you'll be fine.

Im LUVIN IT!

[quote author="DAKSY" date="1296936444"]It basically comes down to testing. Most stoves on the market are designed to burn cord wood.
They are tested for burning cord wood & certified for burning cord wood & warrantied against
defects resulting from burning cord wood.
The testing facilities charge money for testing & certification, & stove manufacturers do
not want to spend additional money to test an already certified product.
Another issue is probably that there are no governing bodies to regulate what actually
goes into Bio-bricks or Eco-bricks or Mega-pellets or whatever they're called.
It's YOUR stove, installed in YOUR home with YOUR money.
That means it's YOUR call as to what YOU want burn, knowing the facts.
My $.02 & YMMV...[/quote
- Put yourself in the shoes of the MFGR - should the mfgr spend money testing the wood stove on a "new" product that may not be around in a few years or should they simply state in the Manual to use Natural wood which all dense wood is Natural. As long as its made from wood, last time I checked all wood comes from a tree, must be natural. If the packaging sez wood no binders no glues - must be wood.

You can buy FLAX dense logs from Flax seeds and in Michigan you can find paper bricks but the majority of bio bricks aka firewoodbricks or dense wood is 100% wood. They can burn hotter for longer periods of time so maybe you could start out with less of them in your wood burning stove or maybe you should wait until your MFGR spends the money to test their stoves.