ECO Bricks, Do You use them ?

[The Cank]

Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :

How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.

 

[kennyp2339]

Look up eco bricks on youtube, I guy in Long Island NY did a nice 3 video series showing the difference of burning strait cord wood vs eco bricks, he showed the difference in burn times, ash levels, ease of use, and heat out puts...I've read a bunch of reviews on hear and the bricks seemed pretty good, I watched the u tube video's and I was sold on them if I ever get jammed up. Right now I have really good firewood (3) year plan but again if I get jammed up I will have an alternative.

 

[NJ_Burner08002]

Where can you buy them? I can't find them in my area

 

[Phoenix Hatchling]

While these do burn hot, they tend to smolder for a long time throughout their burn cycle, and therefore I would mix them in with splits. Flame of course burning off the smoke. Given the fact that they are so low in moisture, don't assume they can't produce copious amounts of smoke. From a cold start, they take quite a while to catch fully, and your stove temps will only rise slowly. Adding them in with not so ideal wood is best, but test the waters slowly as once they do catch and take off, and if there are lots of air voids around them your stove temp will shoot up quickly. Having too much in there without them being packed tightly can definitely cause an overfire condition.

 

[kennyp2339]

That's the thing about these blocks, I can't find them either in my area.. I did find another brand that a lumber yard sells.. I should be the same concept if its a pressed hard wood product.. I'm in NW jersey .. I think the Eco blocks are more of a east New England / Long Island thing

 

[HotCoals]

I have tried diff ones.
Some do well some not so well.
I bought a ton of these to experiment with and so far I am not impressed at all.
I bought them on sale for 3 bucks a package.
To buy a cord of wood it's about 210 for me..a ton of these bricks((300 bucks) is suppose to = a cord. Pricey.
The eco ones are much better imo.



http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/eco-bricksreg;-fuel-blocks-pack-of-3

 

[brad wilton]

up here they have quite a choice burnt with them one year ,burnt hot don't load like you do with wood pretty intense once burning,wife finds them to hot gives her headache .i'm going to buy some overniters see how they work let you guys know.

 

[Mainely Saws]

I use them & they have their place . In my area a cord of semi-seasoned wood sells for $250 & up . I have used Eco bricks & the large Tractor Store bricks at $287 per pallet ( slightly under a ton ) . As others have said , they are a nice combo to use with wood & possibly wood that is not totally dry . A fair amount of the heat given off is during the coaling stage & for me it tends to last a fairly long time . Not a lot of heat from one or two bricks but just the thing for the shoulder season . They also take up a lot less space to store compared to a cord of wood ........

 

[HotCoals]

They actually only take up about a 1/3 of the space of wood. I can put a ton of bricks in my 4x8 trailer with 16 " sides that will hold just a 1/3 of a cord if I stack the wood in.
With what I can but both for I'm thinking it will cost me about 40% more to burn the bricks compared to wood.

Now with the wood i'm always a year ahead. So I end up moving it twice. Way out back when I get it then the following year it goes into my basement.

The bricks could go straight into the back of my garage. No bugs..real low mc.

 

[JayD]

You should have a TSC store around there. I used these smaller one's to mix with firewood in the past when my wood was not up to par. http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/redstonetrade;-ecobrick-pack-of-6?cm_vc=IOPDP

 

[NJ_Burner08002]

Thanks for the link. The 3 closest stores say they are out of stock. Which probably means they don't stock them.

 

[prezes13]

I like Eco Bricks. They extent my burn times and if I had to buy wood $200 a cord "seasoned" I would rather buy bricks for $265 a skid. They are great to supplement not so dry wood or burn on their own but a bit pricey. I get wood free other than my time processing and stacking it. That's a six bricks after 3-3.5 hours of burning. House went from 65 to 72 and stove temp are in the mid 400s

 

[HotCoals]

You see if i put 40-50 lbs of great wood in my stove I can get 12 hours easy out of it in temps around 30-40
Now if I go by what they say 20lbs of wood bricks =40 lbs of wood i get about 8 hours of the same burn time.
That is with my cat stove choked down . The cat really likes the compressed bricks though..kinda like a special treat.lol

 

[JayD]

If there out of stock order them, If they don't stock them? You can still get them, Talk to the manager, They have trucks coming in from the warehouse all the time, All they have to do is put a pallet on the truck. If the manager give you the run around call corporate. My buddy just did that last year for some bagged chestnut coal they had on sale for a good price, He bought 1/2 ton to try out, The other 1/2 ton sold out in 2 days. They keep it in stock now and sell quite a bit of it,

 

[cheechblu]

I buy the big ENVI blocks. 3 to a 20lb. pack. Add 3 splits and I get a steady stove top 550* burn, secondaries with air shut down, and a 225* stove with plenty of hot coals after an 8hr. over nite burn. I pack them closely. Already hot coals underneath, shoveled to the front. Nice warm home.

 

[fredarm]

I use the Eco Bricks from TSC. I put 2 north-south (front to back) in the bottom of my stove, 2 or 3 small splits on top and some kindling and a quarter of a Supercedar on top of that. The Eco Bricks fit nicely north-south, which my splits do not because of the small firebox. They give a good base for the fire and make reloading easy because they are still burning when the splits are done. They also help with less than perfectly seasoned wood.

 

[Swedishchef]

Was checking these out because a member on the forum had told me to throw one in with my higher moisture wood that I have when I burn. My question :

How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ? an all night burn to keep the coals going ? maybe you use it like I will and add it to my" not so dry" dry wood. or maybe you simply use it exclusively. Was just wondering how everyone else uses it and if you like the product or not.

Howdy!

I purchased 18 boxes of pressed logs this year. I felt my wood would be a little wet and wanted to mix something that had low MC with it. I normally keep all my wood in a shed outside and I got caught this year; the wood had been rained on, it got cold, and I put it away. Long story short, I have 2 stacks of wood in my basement (2-3 weeks worth) and I am rotating stacks, it is drying quite well now. Down to 25%.

That being said, I actually break ONE log into pieces (fairly easy) and spread them in the stove while I load with wood. They take off FASTER than 1 big log. They help the temps climb quicker. I had tried 4 logs by themselves one. They don't light very well but once they take off, WATCH OUT, nuclear. I wouldn't put more than 4 in my stove.

Andrew

 

[sigepsb]

Where can you buy them? I can't find them in my area

Dealer Locator: http://ecobrick.net/dealerloc

Unfortunately, it says my nearest dealer is in Brunswick, TN. So, I guess I won't be giving those a try.

 

[The Cank]

This is awesome ! I am stoked to try them.. I have a Tractor Supply right down the road from me.. I'll have to go on Monday and pick up a decent amount. I'm going to toss them in with my splits with the ECO on the bottom as a base like someone stated .. I am really looking forward to the longer burn times and hotter temps.. I've split a lot of my wood down even smaller because it was a little to wet and now the splits burn quickly but I am happy to report that I no Longer have 7 inches of unburnt coals in my box in the morning

 

[Mainely Saws]

One other nice thing about any of the bricks that I have tried is that they burn completely & leave a very small amount of fine ash ............ I doubt that I would burn them exclusively without firewood over the heating season but I have gotten to the point where they are part of the plan .....................

 

[The Cank]

I just bought some today and I have one burning now with a full load of wood on top of it .. Temps stays nice and hot for a long time ..So far so good

 

[Treacherous]

If you have ever have the opportunity to try these you will be sold...

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/
http://www.homefirelogs.com/

 

[Cory S]

Posted a little review here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-eco-brick-review.135142/

Wasn't that impressed with burn time or cost.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

How many of you use it and what type of application do you use it for ?

I do not. But I would. If they were free.

 

[WriteNoob]

Just tried them last night. Probably could've gone 10 hours, but reloaded with pine at nine, because of time constraints. Will be using them in the morning, to get a full workdays burn, until my wife becomes proficient with the stove. Stove loves them, I like them, pocket book isn't as positive on the issue. Only have pine to burn, and at 6-7 hours, so far, it won't last the day.