Compressed logs.

[Rickb]

I know there have been a bunch of different threads on this. My question is this.

Lehman's has 1 ton of what they call Bio Blocks with the imprint SWI on it. for $249. $0.12 a pound.Which seems like a great price but I don't live near OH.

TS has 1 - 6 pack or 20# of Redstone for $3.49. These have gotten good reviews but thats like $0.175 a pound.
They are close those.

Rural King has 1 - 20 pack or 40# of green heat for 4.49 which is $0.11 a pound. With free shipping over $100.

So first has anyone used Green Heat? And if so how did they burn?

Anyone else have any price points they have gotten there logs at? The rural king seems like a pretty good deal for some to store in the house for bad snow days and such.

 

[Rickb]

Just looked again RK is free shipping over 99 bucks as long as the weight is under 100lbs. So no free shipping, but I do pass one that stocks them once in a while.

 

[begreen]

There can be a large difference in how compressed blocks burn. If possible I would buy a small quantity first and test them before committing to a full ton.

 

[Burnmeister]

I have bought the Home Fire prest logs form Hearthwise. Not sure of the locality of where else you can get them, but Home Fire is based out of WA, so begreen may be familiar with them. They look like a 5 pound pellet. Thier web-site claims them to be the best, and having burned some, I can attest they are pretty darn good. They come down to .33 cents a pound, or $1.65 per pellet. Naturally you get a price drop on per on large orders.
They claim to burn for 12 hours, and yes, they do.
For night burns, when it really starts to get cold. I set one pellet to the back of the stove, and then load as normal. Gives me a good long burn for the night. They also put out a ton of BTUs. I have a Jotul Oslo, and would never burn more than 2 or 3 at one time.

 

[begreen]

Review of the Homefire Prest logs is on the wiki here.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Can you find pallets? They're free. They're dry wood.

 

[drstorm]

TS store runs occasional sales at 2.99 per pack.
I've burned the 6 pack and the larger 3 pack blocks.
I personally prefer the smaller ones.

 

[WriteNoob]

Don't know if you have access to a Menards, but they offer wood fuel blocks (6 brick/20# per pack) at $2.79 each. Free shipping to your nearest store. This is my third year using them. I'm happy with the results.

 

[Burnmeister]

Begreen, in your review of the Home fire prest; I'm wondering if there is a typo there? Under "Results", at 8:40 pm you took action and closed the air control, but it does not say what you closed it to.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for catching that, I will fix. The air was closed all the way to the stop. (which doesn't completely stop air flow in an EPA stove)

 

[Sprinter]

Review of the Homefire Prest logs is on the wiki here.

Are you still recommending North Idaho Energy Logs? I remember you were pretty sold on them. Don't know if they are available in the OP's area though.

 

[begreen]

Haven't burned them in a while but when I did they were very impressive. I need to get some rounded up for a test in the T6.

 

[Rickb]

North Idaho Energy Logs not available here.

Ended up calling the local Rural King and they actually did stock them. I got 1/2 pallet. So far I really like them. Nice to have as backup.

 

[prezes13]

Niels are mean. If you can get a hold of them they are hughly recommended but expensive they sell here in CT for $2-$3 a log. If you buy a whole skid I think the come like $1.8 still expensive.

 

[seabert]

I have been using Envi and I am very happy with them. Worth checking if there is an Envi dealer in your area.

 

[Mainewoodchucker]

I have tried all sorts of bricks/logs and the best ones I have found [ to me] are the Canawick fire logs . Come 12 to a pack . I use them to get my stove going and up to temp . Like them because they burn hot and a long time . They are also the only ones I found that leave actual coals vs breaking up . Not sure if they have them where you are at . Fairly common up here in the NE .

 

[dloudon]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum but wanted to chip in to the conversation. I have used both the NIEL's and the Home Fire Prest. The NIEL's fall apart into chunks (as you know if you use them). The Home Fire Prest do NOT fall apart. They remain whole and intact until they disappear into ashes. I have an old EPA stove (90's era), being replaced this week with a 30 NC Englander stove. In the old stove I have warm embers from the Home Fire logs overnight so I'm looking forward to what I get with the 30 NC. I'm getting the Home Fire in a pallet for less $1 per log but I'm in WA state where they're made about 300 miles away so shipping costs may be lower than in other areas.

 

[begreen]

I'm due for a trip up to see Thomas and get some NIELs for testing in the T6. They did well in the Castine, but that was many years ago and in a smaller stove. I tried some Home Prest logs recently. Unfortunately in our big stove the results weren't great. I burned a pack of 4 logs and had to reload the stove in 4 hrs. By hour 2 the heat was declining notably and by hour 4 I had to reload. This is quite different from when I tested in the Castine.

 

[Tegbert]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum but wanted to chip in to the conversation. I have used both the NIEL's and the Home Fire Prest. The NIEL's fall apart into chunks (as you know if you use them). The Home Fire Prest do NOT fall apart. They remain whole and intact until they disappear into ashes. I have an old EPA stove (90's era), being replaced this week with a 30 NC Englander stove. In the old stove I have warm embers from the Home Fire logs overnight so I'm looking forward to what I get with the 30 NC. I'm getting the Home Fire in a pallet for less $1 per log but I'm in WA state where they're made about 300 miles away so shipping costs may be lower than in other areas.

I prefer the Niels I used them exclusively all year last year 2 pallets worth except I also used a pallet of the home fire prest logs. The only advantage I give the prest logs is the flat bottom otherwise Niels were quite a bit better in my experience. Never had them fall apart into chunks unless I ran them on high or for a long period of time. Yeah when they got down to the last hour or so of usable heat they fall apart easily but I really enjoyed them. Also I only needed two per loading versus 4-5 of the home fires to get the same heat output so price wise it was cheaper for me to use the Niels but not by much.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[Rich L]

I have tried all sorts of bricks/logs and the best ones I have found [ to me] are the Canawick fire logs . Come 12 to a pack . I use them to get my stove going and up to temp . Like them because they burn hot and a long time . They are also the only ones I found that leave actual coals vs breaking up . Not sure if they have them where you are at . Fairly common up here in the NE .

I like these bricks better than bio bricks,hot bricks.and envi blocks.

 

[bcrtops]

I prefer the Niels I used them exclusively all year last year 2 pallets worth except I also used a pallet of the home fire prest logs. The only advantage I give the prest logs is the flat bottom otherwise Niels were quite a bit better in my experience. Never had them fall apart into chunks unless I ran them on high or for a long period of time. Yeah when they got down to the last hour or so of usable heat they fall apart easily but I really enjoyed them. Also I only needed two per loading versus 4-5 of the home fires to get the same heat output so price wise it was cheaper for me to use the Niels but not by much.
Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

NIEL's & the HomeFire's burned the same for me -- both good. The HomeFires just cost way more per ton. I bought a pallet of them (NIEL's) this year & we use them exclusively to keep the fire going overnight, or when we leave during the day. They will break apart when burning, but ONLY when they have absorbed moisture. They both have a long coaling stage -- & we haven't struck a match for a fire since Oct., which is unusual for us -- enough coals left from one NIEL, even after 10-12 hrs. to start the fire up again. 1 NIEL & 2 large splits or logs for a night fire, which loads the stove about 2/3 full. Otherwise, we burn almost exclusively fir with a little alder & maple in the mix. Ash & Cherry when we are lucky enough to get a bit of it, & save it for cold weather overnight fires.

 

[Sprinter]

I'm curious about the various uses for these kinds of compressed products. I'm familiar with some of the ones available, but I'm curious about how and why they are used in different situations.

For example, can you use them by themselves in place of cord wood, or better mixed in with split wood that is otherwise not dry enough? And if they are used alone, are they safe enough that way. I think I've read that stove manufacturers discourage that, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'm thinking of the waxed products like Duraflame.

I've not used any of them, but I did consider it my first year to help out the iffy wood I had at the time. I never did use them, but always wondered what to suggest for people with wood problems. I'm also a little hesitant to recommend them for new stove owners with nothing else to burn in case they burn too hot to be safe and controllable.

So what's the best use for this stuff?

 

[bcrtops]

I'm curious about the various uses for these kinds of compressed products. I'm familiar with some of the ones available, but I'm curious about how and why they are used in different situations.

For example, can you use them by themselves in place of cord wood, or better mixed in with split wood that is otherwise not dry enough? And if they are used alone, are they safe enough that way. I think I've read that stove manufacturers discourage that, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'm thinking of the waxed products like Duraflame.

I've not used any of them, but I did consider it my first year to help out the iffy wood I had at the time. I never did use them, but always wondered what to suggest for people with wood problems. I'm also a little hesitant to recommend them for new stove owners with nothing else to burn in case they burn too hot to be safe and controllable.

So what's the best use for this stuff?

All reasons you suggest.
Yes, can burn too hot. Follow manufacturer's recommendation if burning only compressed products. Start small!

--Will help if mixing with "iffy" moisture content wood
--Can burn solely by themselves if you have to, sometimes hard to start from scratch & rather expensive.
--Can use when no real, genuine hardwoods are available to have a long coaling stage, which is what we currently use them for....but/& they have to be the highly compressed products.

 

[Tegbert]

We used only compressed products last year since our wood was wet for our first year. I could use 3 Niels in the lopi but any more I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that. 2 was perfect.

Like bcr said they can be hard to start from scratch but a lot of kindling with the door cracked made quick work of it.

Best thing is the Niels pallet is small so it’s perfect for people who don’t have the space to store wood it just has to be in a dry place.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25

 

[ToltingColtAcres]

I tried some of those compressed logs years ago. Hated them. They uncurled like smoke snakes

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and burned incredibly fast, since as they uncurled, there was more surface area to burn.