BioBlocks? Anyone ever try these?

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ckdeuce

Feeling the Heat
Feb 11, 2008
264
Western, PA
A company in North East Ohio is selling these... Wonder if any of you have tried them. $290 for a 2200 pound pallet load. www.bioblockfuel.com is their website. Thanks - Chris
 
Looks similar to other products that have been discussed here. I like that type of fuel for the reasons they mention. I dont like the price.

I think the most amazing this is how little ash they produce. You could burn a whole pallet and never empty the ash.

Other than price, I think one of the biggest draw backs are how sensitive they are to moisture. Where you store them has to be REALLY dry or they fall apart and are ruined.
 
ckdeuce said:
A company in North East Ohio is selling these... Wonder if any of you have tried them. $290 for a 2200 pound pallet load. www.bioblockfuel.com is their website. Thanks - Chris

I forgot to mention there is a $30.00 delivery charge included in this price. $260 is the asking price for the product.
 
There have been numerous posts on BioBricks. Do a search of the forum and you'll find them. I use them as a supplement to cordwood but don't burn them exclusively due to cost. They burn well, but hot. This time of year you would probably be better off with BioBricks than trying to find dry wood for sale.
 
fredarm said:
There have been numerous posts on BioBricks. Do a search of the forum and you'll find them. I use them as a supplement to cordwood but don't burn them exclusively due to cost.

Yeah, I know. But this is a different company (BioBlocks) and I wanted to see if anyone has used these. They seem like a new, small company and I wanted to see if they are reliable. They are not a major company.
 
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.
 
ckdeuce said:
fredarm said:
There have been numerous posts on BioBricks. Do a search of the forum and you'll find them. I use them as a supplement to cordwood but don't burn them exclusively due to cost.

Yeah, I know. But this is a different company (BioBlocks) and I wanted to see if anyone has used these. They seem like a new, small company and I wanted to see if they are reliable. They are not a major company.

Sorry, missed the "Block" instead of "Brick".
 
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

Oh my friend..... You are to late..... I still have that child mind..... I ordered the samples on Thursday and then confirmed a delivery of a full pallet load for this coming Monday. I will probably get the pallet BEFORE I get the samples..... I'm such a tool! Oh well....
 
I've been burning a similar product (WoodBrickFuel, from Leola PA) and I like it, as I don't have any good place to store cordwood on the property. Same type of thing, probably built with the same machine (RUF Briquetting machine). Ultimately these products are only as good as the locally-sourced sawdust used to make them, so I suggest buying a couple bundles (if they sell them individually) and trying them out.

One thing I find curious about the website I just posted above, was this quote:
Wood is a natural product which when highly compacted as a briquette, almost take on the burning characteristics of coal.

Can anyone explain what they mean by that?
 
ckdeuce said:
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

Oh my friend..... You are to late..... I still have that child mind..... I ordered the samples on Thursday and then confirmed a delivery of a full pallet load for this coming Monday. I will probably get the pallet BEFORE I get the samples..... I'm such a tool! Oh well....
Haha, nice. Hopefully you won't be disappointed. If you need any tips on using them send me a PM.
 
Spirilis what kind of burn times with this product, also how many can you safley load.
 
jetmech said:
Spirilis what kind of burn times with this product, also how many can you safley load.

I'm a first year burner and I don't really go for long burn times much (have old stoves, don't like the idea of smoldering them, so I do quick hot fires and let the house cool down before burning again), but generally speaking a load of 6 bricks plus a slat of pallet wood gets me ~2-3 hours of sustained >400F stovetop temps.
16 bricks was almost double that (and roasted the house something terrible)... this is a gigantic old 1980 VC Defiant though.
 
Thanks, before i got my intrepid i used a 1980s era defiant encore, it was a great stove. Im from central PA and might try some of these in my intrepid for kicks. Mine is a older one also with a cat. its hard to get extended burn times cause the firebox isnt very large. My old encore would hold a fire for a long time.
 
jetmech said:
Thanks, before i got my intrepid i used a 1980s era defiant encore, it was a great stove. Im from central PA and might try some of these in my intrepid for kicks. Mine is a older one also with a cat. its hard to get extended burn times cause the firebox isnt very large. My old encore would hold a fire for a long time.
Yeah the one good thing about these is their compactness. My 6 brick+slat of pallet wood .... barely takes up the width of the firebox, and maybe 1/2 the height with plenty of open space around the sides (since they're stacked at an angle, as a teepee). It's incredible how cavernous that Defiant is. With 16 bricks I laid 10 of them flat out on the ashes with a few up front stacked on their side, then my typical 6-brick teepee on top of that with a firestarter underneath (so the firestarter was sitting on the mass of 10 bricks but beneath the teepee of 6 bricks). My IR thermometer measured something around 120-125F temps on the living room walls opposite the stove after a couple hours. Lol!
 
ckdeuce said:
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

Oh my friend..... You are to late..... I still have that child mind..... I ordered the samples on Thursday and then confirmed a delivery of a full pallet load for this coming Monday. I will probably get the pallet BEFORE I get the samples..... I'm such a tool! Oh well....

Hopefully you'll be ok with these. Not all "solid woodstove fuel" is created equal, I got a batch of "EcoBrix" back in october that were basically unusable. Fortunately the outfit I bought them from (woodpellets.com) worked with me to swap them out with a different lot from the same manufacturer and they're working out awesome.

They will take some finagling to figure out how to best stack and burn them in your stove. Some like to be packed tight, others like more air. You've just gotta experiment with it. Especially with a soapstone stove, you want to be very careful not to overfire so start with a small amount (3 to 4 tops!) and work your way up slowly.
 
agartner
I emailed woodpellets.com about my ecobrix. I never got any reply. I had to move mine to a storage shed which is now surrounded by snow. I'm using them but am disgusted with the mess and difficulty to light. They do produce a good amount of creosote too. If you
have to chance getting a good batch of fuel, why even bother buying it at all? This certainly the first and last time I'll use these. I'll only burn wood after this year.
 
s0055d said:
agartner
I emailed woodpellets.com about my ecobrix. I never got any reply. I had to move mine to a storage shed which is now surrounded by snow. I'm using them but am disgusted with the mess and difficulty to light. They do produce a good amount of creosote too. If you
have to chance getting a good batch of fuel, why even bother buying it at all? This certainly the first and last time I'll use these. I'll only burn wood after this year.

Wow... Not my experience at all. No mess, no problems lighting, little to no creosote, and real HEAT.
 
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

So many different purveyors

$7 @ http://www.bioblockfuel.com/

or Tractor Supply has ecobrick 8 pak for $5 - I bought a pak a week or two ago but haven't tried them

This thought about soaking up moisture is problem - Ohio is humidity central in summer
 
s0055d said:
agartner
I emailed woodpellets.com about my ecobrix. I never got any reply. I had to move mine to a storage shed which is now surrounded by snow. I'm using them but am disgusted with the mess and difficulty to light. They do produce a good amount of creosote too. If you
have to chance getting a good batch of fuel, why even bother buying it at all? This certainly the first and last time I'll use these. I'll only burn wood after this year.

Pick up the phone and call them. They didn't answer my email either.
 
carinya said:
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

So many different purveyors

$7 @ http://www.bioblockfuel.com/

or Tractor Supply has ecobrick 8 pak for $5 - I bought a pak a week or two ago but haven't tried them

This thought about soaking up moisture is problem - Ohio is humidity central in summer

I'm not sure humidity would be a big issue. Throwing them in a swimming pool - that would be a problem. Leaving them out in the rain and/or snow..that would be a problem. But my guess is that they would soak up a bit of the humidity over the summer but not so much that they expand out and fall apart, which is what they do when they get wet.
 
agartner said:
s0055d said:
agartner
I emailed woodpellets.com about my ecobrix. I never got any reply. I had to move mine to a storage shed which is now surrounded by snow. I'm using them but am disgusted with the mess and difficulty to light. They do produce a good amount of creosote too. If you
have to chance getting a good batch of fuel, why even bother buying it at all? This certainly the first and last time I'll use these. I'll only burn wood after this year.

Pick up the phone and call them. They didn't answer my email either.

So who makes ecobrix ?

woodpellets or gefabricator http://www.gefabricators.com/id4.html ?
 
agartner said:
carinya said:
BeGreen said:
Ask the company if you can get a trial box of them.

So many different purveyors

$7 @ http://www.bioblockfuel.com/

or Tractor Supply has ecobrick 8 pak for $5 - I bought a pak a week or two ago but haven't tried them

This thought about soaking up moisture is problem - Ohio is humidity central in summer

I'm not sure humidity would be a big issue. Throwing them in a swimming pool - that would be a problem. Leaving them out in the rain and/or snow..that would be a problem. But my guess is that they would soak up a bit of the humidity over the summer but not so much that they expand out and fall apart, which is what they do when they get wet.

Your right. It's a non issue. I store mine in my laundry room, and I vent my electric dryer in the room as oposed to otuside. I have not noticed any swelling. I have a couple blocks that came into contact with a little rain while I was unloading..... Well.... Just a few drops makes these things expand a seriouse amount.
 
carinya said:
agartner said:
s0055d said:
agartner
I emailed woodpellets.com about my ecobrix. I never got any reply. I had to move mine to a storage shed which is now surrounded by snow. I'm using them but am disgusted with the mess and difficulty to light. They do produce a good amount of creosote too. If you
have to chance getting a good batch of fuel, why even bother buying it at all? This certainly the first and last time I'll use these. I'll only burn wood after this year.

Pick up the phone and call them. They didn't answer my email either.

So who makes ecobrix ?

woodpellets or gefabricator http://www.gefabricators.com/id4.html ?

GE Fab makes the ecobrix. Woodpellets.com is just a distributor for the product.
 
I have tried these ecobrix and found that they dont burn as long as others. I spoke with the BioBlockfuel makers and they grind there sawdust up fine before it is compressed to get the best packing, no large visible chunks of wood. You can take a pocket knife and pick out the chunks in the ecobrix I had. I have lengthened my burn time by layering the bioblocks flat in the bottom of my stove and filling up the resty of the way with cord wood. I turn the air flow down almost to nothing and it will burn for up to 12 hours and hot. The Bioblocks seem to keep enough of a small flame to slowly burn up the cordwood for a consistent heat.
 
Where can I buy a pallet of the large bio bricks in southeastern ma ?
 
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