Compressed wood bricks in furnance… advice?

[oldfurnace]

We live in a home with an older wood furnace (prob at least 25 years old). For the past two years, we used wood pretty efficiently although it smoked up quite a bit. This year, we decided to order some compressed wood bricks- SmartBricks.

We're still trying to figure out how to use them. It seems as if the furnace is overheating if we use more than 4 but we'd obviously love to stack it to get through the night. Does it seem like we are doing anything wrong?

Also, what is the best way to stack them? We are trying a few different configurations right now. The most successful is having two stacked on top of each other and then two leaning against it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Swedishchef]

Welcome to the forums!

Personally I use compressed wood bricks in my wood stove. I am certain they will work in a furnace but the same warning applies: don't use too many of them at once. Once the off-gassing begins they quickly turn into a mini nuclear bomb. Some stove manufacturers state to not use them in their stoves, others provide limits on how many to use at once.

Do you still have your furnace manual?

You won't ever get an overnight burn with the bricks as you would with real hardwood. That's my experience. I use them when I am burning in the day and mix 2-3 of them with real wood.

Andrew

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah they are super dry so you will have to cut the air back a lot more than normal (if you can) to keep things from going nuclear on ya. Another tip is to stack 'em in tight to each other, no air gaps between at all if you can help it.
In the end though, to be able to get an overnight load in the firebox you will probably have to use some regular firewood and then just add a few bricks. Still, they will help you stretch your wood supply if you are low and also if your wood is not optimally dry they help to "average" out the moisture content of a given load making things burn much better.