Biobricks Anyone?

[Don Ed]

I have read some about these "biobricks" but it looks like they are only available in the Northeast of the US. They may be way too expensive even if I could find them but they do sound like they would be worth trying. I'm in Missouri and I've never seen anything about the locally.

Anyone used them? Any thoughts?

 

[summit]

we had them for sale for a while, but stopped carrying them as they were very sensitive to humidity (like a pellet, they do not like moisture). many stove companies will tell you that you will void the wtty if you use them... the do burn hot and clean, easy to stack, but thats about it.. my biggest peeve was that after they caught fire pretty good, you could not mess w/ them, not even to add another on, without having the whole pile in the stove fall apart into a pile of glowing sawdust! it is nothing like the hard glowing chuncks of coals you get from burning wood.. the square shape made it hard to stack in the sove, also very dusty in the package and when you do go to reload the stove, the fluffy ash flies everywhere! There is a company that makes a product called cozy logs, which were formerly known as cedar logs. they are made of recycled cedar from building fencposts, closet linings, and swingsets... this stuff retained a hard charcoal, and was shaped long and rectangular, which facilitated easier loading in the stove. they had a long hole thru the middle which helped get them started easilly.

 

[madrone]

If you search biobricks here you'll find a number of threads on these. Some people love them, others not so much. I tried a few flats of "bear bricks", the local version in the northwest, and was not too impressed. They were fine once I got the knack, (a little different to use than cordwood), but not worth the cost for a scrounger. They're easy to move and store, don't take up much space, but also not as much heat and more frequent fires. I found them not to last as long or be as hot as claimed, but very clean to handle, and to burn. If they were the same price as cordwood, (and I were buying wood anyway), I'd probably buy some in addition to wood just to save space and for times when I wasn't after ambiance. If I ran out of wood, :bug: and couldn't stand not having a fire going, I'd buy some. Others here rave about them, so it seems to be yet another matter of preference.

 

[begreen]

Check the wiki section for compressed fuel reviews. The BioBricks did well, but then so did some others. What is available locally at a good price is a good determinant.

 

[VanLandry]

I burned bio-bricks all last year and was quite happy with them. They are indeed sensitive to moisture so unless you can keep them in a garage or basement I would think twice about getting them. In other words, If you think you can cover a pallet of them in the back yard with a tarp for a few months you will be sadly dissapointed. Trust me!

They burned hot and clean and my only gripe was they didnt seem to burn for very long. I only have about 2 cords of wood ready for this season so I'm planning on getting a couple of pallets of biobricks to supplement it. I'm going to try and find that perfect balance in enjoying the ease of bio-bricks and the longevity of seasoned Oak.

Good luck.

 

[fredarm]

I found that they make a nice supplement to cordwood but I'm not sure that I would rely on them as my only fuel. They are particularly useful if you have less than perfectly seasoned wood (a common problem with first year woodburners like me last year). A Supercedar, some kindling, and a couple of bio-bricks gets the fire going and gives you a nice coal bed for for the oak that ideally needed a few more months in the sun! Beware--not all "bricks" are equal. I had good luck with the Bio-Brick brand bricks, less so with some others. They key seems to be bricks made of tightly compressed sawdust. I tried another brand of bricks that were not as tightly compressed and contained wood chips and shavings in addtion to sawdust. They glowed rather than burned with flames and fell apart quickly.

 

[nhimack]

I used Envi blocks last year, they burned great lasted a long time and put out plenty of heat. only draw back if the moisture issue. I tried the other type such as biobricks and i wasnt impressed

 

[johnnywarm]

anyone else???? on the Bricks??

 

[afblue]

For me my pick on which one I might use this year will probably be based on location. So far its going to be a 80 mile drive for Wood Bricks, 150 for Envi blocks or 200+ for BioBricks. I am going to use them for first year supplement of my firewood becuase it wont be quite as seasoned as it should be so I am going to use them to supplement the moisture issue. They all seem to be right on par with the price of cord wood and they might even come out priced better because everyone is using the Ash Bore Beetle as a lame excuse to price gouge firewood in my area.

 

[johnnywarm]

For me my pick on which one I might use this year will probably be based on location. So far its going to be a 80 mile drive for Wood Bricks, 150 for Envi blocks or 200+ for BioBricks. I am going to use them for first year supplement of my firewood becuase it wont be quite as seasoned as it should be so I am going to use them to supplement the moisture issue. They all seem to be right on par with the price of cord wood and they might even come out priced better because everyone is using the Ash Bore Beetle as a lame excuse to price gouge firewood in my area.

Good luck! Let us know what you do.I would like to try a pallet this season.

 

[ControlFreak]

Late last winter I bought a pallet of the larger sized Envi blocks partly as an experiment and partly because I ran out of firewood. I found that they worked just fine, and they didn't create excessive heat in either of my stoves. The thing that nagged me though was that if I wanted to get the equivalent burn time as I get out of a load of cordwood, I had to toss in 5-6 of these things, at $1 each that's a painful cost for one load I might as well just heat with oil at this rate.

As others said earlier, they are also a pain when reloading because you don't have much to work with as far as coals go. If I were to choose between a ton of dry cordwood vs a ton of Envi blocks, I would definitely choose the wood.

They are much cleaner than firewood, no chips or crud coming off the bark, and for sure no bugs, but they do shed some sawdust, and you have to deal with this poly plastic that wraps them into bundles of 3, which I just threw into the stove along with them.

One huge advantage: No labor stacking them. They set the pallet right where I wanted it and I didn't have to do any stacking.

One thing that was nice, is that they are extremely consistent from load to load, unlike cordwood which can be like a box of chocolates.

And yes, they are very interesting to look at if they get wet. They grow to about 3x the size, then turn into sawdust.

 

[awoodman]

Hay Don Ed with all the free fire wood in K.C. why spend $ on those things. I live in Bates City and get free wood from a tree service in Independance.

 

[afblue]

For me my pick on which one I might use this year will probably be based on location. So far its going to be a 80 mile drive for Wood Bricks, 150 for Envi blocks or 200+ for BioBricks. I am going to use them for first year supplement of my firewood becuase it wont be quite as seasoned as it should be so I am going to use them to supplement the moisture issue. They all seem to be right on par with the price of cord wood and they might even come out priced better because everyone is using the Ash Bore Beetle as a lame excuse to price gouge firewood in my area.

Good luck! Let us know what you do.I would like to try a pallet this season.

Will be sure to post my results. Personally I have unlimited supply of wood from my dads land, but I am gone to Georgia till 12 Nov so I have no choice but to take what I can get when I get home from the dead standings and will have to supplement for the first year.

 

[CTburning]

I burned $60 worth of biobricks two winters ago in my old smoke dragon. I was using wet Red Oak but even with all the hissing and sizzling going on, the wood produced much more heat than the bricks. I had to load it up all the way to get close to a scorching heat with the bio bricks. The Red Oak would burn off it's water and then throw off some serious heat. I like to burn I would have to think that oil at $2 a gallon is more efficient than those bricks. A new more modern stove might produce different results.

 

[WidowMaker]

Check the wiki section for compressed fuel reviews. The BioBricks did well, but then so did some others. What is available locally at a good price is a good determinant.

===

Can someone tell, (link) what/where this is???

TIA

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I found it.

Thanks

 

[Defiant]

Send me the link please, thanks

 

[BrotherBart]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/

 

[bjkjoseph]

i have a cat stove and a non cat hampton...i use the bricks in the hampton when i go to bed...its the only way i can get an 8 hour burn..they have to be stacked tight together in a block.

 

[Defiant]

Thanks Bro