Bio-logs

[StoveMiser]

Has anyone burned these manufactured logs. I saw a show on Discovery (How Its Made) that showed the production of these logs and listed some serious advantages over cord wood. My Dad is burning wood and I wondered if he would be better off burning these? Curious...

 

[Donna]

Hi,

For an elderly person, they are clean and easy to handle.

I had my first experience with them this past weekend, when I did a test run with them. I found they burnt easily and very, very quickly. They calculations on how long they last in their advertized information, is greatly exaggerated in my opinion.

I can never see them replacing "real" wood, but for someone who makes an occasional fire, I think they are an option to be considered.

 

[begreen]

There is a huge difference in burn times between the run of the mill compressed logs that are basically large pellets and the highly compressed logs like Homefire's Prest-Logs or the Northern Idaho Energy Logs. The ordinary log will burn quickly, doubling it's size as it burns and leaving a fair amount of ash. A highly compressed log won't do this. It burns almost like coal. BioBricks also burn more compactly and are nice fuel. For some more info see the wiki tests:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Category:Fuels/

 

[whphel]

I have not used the bio logs but have used Northern Idaho logs heavy and dense 8lbs burn long and hot. I have also burned what the Co-op here cals a montana log 6lbs which is dark in color with a flat side that has a grove in it this log even tough it is smaller burns longer than the Idaho and is far denser and even after 10hrs of burning there is still a small log of it left which is a coal. I have also used another log I got from Ritches stove and spa on a whim I must say it sucked. Do you remember the fireworks that were called snakes! Well these logs behaved just like one of those and lasted for about 3hrs on low burn. I will find the name and let you know so you dont buy any of them a big waste of cash IMO.

If you can find the Idaho or the montana logs you will not be dissapointed.

 

[Heat Miser]

I've burned presto-logs out West where I live. From what I understand they are similar to the Bio Bricks/Logs on the East Coast. They work OK, but I find they want to burn really hot or really cold (smoldering) in my stove. They don't like in-between and the amount of smoke they made really worked my catalytic converter much too hard (glowed orange frequently for extended periods). They are also have a very low moisture content which means they are very condensed heat. You don't want to pack your stove full of them because you could easily over fire the appliance as they will tend to burn much hotter than cord wood. So be careful when burning them. With Presto-Logs I would never have more than three or so burning at any one time in my stove. When I used more than that I found the stove burned too hot and the temperature was hard to get back under control.

FWIW a lot of people love them. I personally don't. I found they burned much too fast compared to the comparable amount of cord wood I could have bought. Cord wood burns much better in my stove but each installation is different and I may be in the minority of opinion. It's best to just buy a couple dozen and try them out to see what you think.

 

[begreen]

Yes, Presto-Logs are the big cigar ash style. Try some Homefire Prest-Logs or the Idaho Energy logs and you'll find a major difference. You're right on about not burning too many at once. There's a lot of energy stored up in these logs.