Thinking of getting an Englander 17-VL wood stove. Wondering if burning the compressed wood blocks, (Ecobricks, Biobricks, Candlewicks ) can be used in these stoves. My understanding is they burn hotter. Had experience at a rental usingthem in a vermont castings stove, burn well, less ash. Thanks for any input
Ecobricks
- Thread starter Sooty
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
- Status
bobdog2o02
Minister of Fire
They can burn in there and they do burn well, i suggest buying about 100lbs of each and trying them out before buying a bulk load. They are kinda like pellets, some suck and others rock. My favorites are these.....(broken link removed)
Thank you for the input and link. I was using candlewick products and was quite impressed. Was not sure with all the "secondary burn" comments if the bricks/blocks were any different than gasses wood puts off
Hello Sooty and welcome to the forum!
There are some members here who use those products successfully although some care needs to be taken. Those manufactured wood "logs" have a very low moisture content compared even with "seasoned" firewood. Give them too much air during the burn and you run the risk of overfiring the stove. They are probably best used as a supplement with not so dry firewood but if you want to burn them exclusively make sure to pack them tight with very little airspace in between and to monitor the stovetop temperature closely. Here are some instructions: http://www.ecobrick.net/instructions
The 17-VL is a well-liked little stove. Its firebox is rather small so don't expect more than supplemental heat or burn times of more than 5 hours. If you want a stove that allows overnight burns a firebox of at least 2 cu ft is usually required. Also make sure to build a hearth with a r-value of 0.5.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
This year I ran out of wood at the end of February knowing that I couldn't get seasoned wood I bought one pallet of ecobricks and I loved them. I had longer and hoter burns. I nver fully loaded my stove with them the most I put at once was 8-10 bricks which would about 2/3 capacity of my firebox. My last burn with 8 ecobricks was over 13 hours. I started fire from scratch at 5:30 PM stove run all night when I was levying for work around 6:30 AM fan was still on and the was glowing ambers in the fire box. True temp were in the upper 40s outside but still impressive.
Thanks prezes13, appreciate the input. I know they can burn too hot so need to watch temp. Also learned today not to pack too tight because can expand initially
The expanding depends on the brick. Some are not as highly compressed as others. Densely packed bricks are much better. BioBrick didn't expand too badly when I tested them .You want to pack them tightly together and leave a bit of expansion room on the sides. Packing them tightly with no air gaps slows down the burn. Bobdog's suggestion of buying a smaller quantity at first to test them out is a good idea.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/biobricks/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/biobricks/
Last edited:
prezes13
Minister of Fire
I tried biobricks, hot bricks and eco bricks I liked eco the most. I think it's due to their size that's why they burn longer. The only draw back for me is the price local dealer charges $265 a ton. I don't think they expand a lot but they do expend so don't over pack your stove. Start with 5-6 get your feel of how they burn and try to put more. I found that minimum 8 was the good amount for me. I packed them kind a loose because it was towards the shoulder season so I had just one hot fire a day. I bet that if I packed more of them and packed them tight I would have a nice long burn.
Do you know if wood stove manufacturers approve of the EcoBricks when it comes to warranty?
prezes13
Minister of Fire
I think it does, but as far as I know if you over fire the stove it doesn't matter how you did. It will void the warranty no matter what you were burning. Just think of them as a premium well seasoned wood.
There was one report here, saying that Lopi (Travis) will void the warranty if artificial wood logs have been burned in their stoves. Not sure how they want to proof it, though. Osburn (SBI) mentions them as possible fuel in their manuals, so I assume they are ok with it.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
Too make it a bit interesting my dealer sold me some compressed fuel bricks cannot rember which once it could be hot bricks and he was burning them in his stoves on the showroom floor.
Last edited:
If you can get your hands on these they are highly compressed and work really well.
(broken link removed to http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/energylogs.php)
(broken image removed) (broken image removed) (broken image removed)
(broken link removed to http://www.homefirelogs.com/About-Our-Logs.html)
![[Hearth.com] Ecobricks](/talk/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homefirelogs.com%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2FGallery%2FMIsc-photos-from-plant%2FHFPL_4logs_A_revision.jpg&hash=4866e6dd8d7b7ebc48a83b1d48fa70a2 "[Hearth.com] Ecobricks")
![[Hearth.com] Ecobricks](/talk/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homefirelogs.com%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2FGallery%2FMIsc-photos-from-plant%2FIMG_9839_1.jpg&hash=c5b4f47f258e4e18743c768f58bc77f2 "[Hearth.com] Ecobricks")
(broken link removed to http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com/energylogs.php)
(broken image removed) (broken image removed) (broken image removed)
(broken link removed to http://www.homefirelogs.com/About-Our-Logs.html)
Be careful with those NIELs. They pack a punch with 68,000 BTUs per log and due to being round and not square cannot be stacked as tightly as the bricks. That may quickly lead to an overfire. I would recommend to only mix them in with some not so dry hardwood; maybe one or two in a load.
I have and will use the Ecobricks in my 17VL and have had good luck getting longer burns. It may add 45 minutes to 1 hour to the overnight burn. The only problem I have is the shape of the stove does not work the best with the shape of the bricks. Not the stoves fault, it's a great stove and I love it. The best luck I've have is to stack them vertical so they burn from the bottom up. This year I'm going to try and break off about 1/4 or so of a few bricks so I can lay them flat end to end and pack them together with less gaps.
They are fine to burn without mixing in wood, though you would never stack them like bricks. They burn on a different principal than the bricks. 3-4 NIELS are sufficient for a good overnight burn, where as one creates layers of Bio-bricks with no gaps for a slow burn. I have burned several loads of NIELs and HomeFires and found them very predictable when burned as directed. Their density stops them from flaring up quickly like cheap pressed logs do.
- Status
Similar threads
