Energy logs or Presto logs

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Doc C

Minister of Fire
Jul 26, 2017
730
Bonner County Idaho
Hello folks!! It’s been a crazy year. We sold our house....bought another house....started a new business that went from $0 to over $200k in gross sales in 5 months and had a little baby that came 5 weeks early!

With all this going on I only had time to get about 3 cords of wood that will be ready this year....and we have already started burning.

I can not find any truly seasoned wood for sale in my area and I don’t see the time coming up to get another cord of wood however we do have the lignetics plant and the NIEL plant right by us.

I was thinking about buying a pallet and mixing them in with my firewood through the winter. I think 4 cords will do us with a little left over in this house so I should only need 1 pallet.

North Idaho energy logs are $250 a pallet
Lignetics Preston logs are $224 a pallet

What would you guys do?
 
Hello folks!! It’s been a crazy year. We sold our house....bought another house....started a new business that went from $0 to over $200k in gross sales in 5 months and had a little baby that came 5 weeks early!

With all this going on I only had time to get about 3 cords of wood that will be ready this year....and we have already started burning.

I can not find any truly seasoned wood for sale in my area and I don’t see the time coming up to get another cord of wood however we do have the lignetics plant and the NIEL plant right by us.

I was thinking about buying a pallet and mixing them in with my firewood through the winter. I think 4 cords will do us with a little left over in this house so I should only need 1 pallet.

North Idaho energy logs are $250 a pallet
Lignetics Preston logs are $224 a pallet

What would you guys do?
Buy a small pkg. of each & test them out for yourself before buying a full pallet.

I believe the Lignetics are ~5 lbs./log & the NIEL's ~8 lbs./log
We like the NIELS for holding a fire overnight -- they hold coals like a hardwood. A good share of the alder/maple/fir/hemlock mix we get here does not hold coals overnight, unless it a heavy slow growing tree. The btu's/ton are there in even the Bear Bricks, but most don't like how they burn, as they are not compressed as tight as these logs you mention. Even though we have lots of firewood ahead, we buy a pallet of the NIEL's /year just for their long coaling stage. the Lignetics cost too much locally & being lighter logs, don't last quite as long.
 
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I’d say Niels. I burned two and a half pallets of them my first year as I didn’t have any seasoned wood and they worked awesome. They can be a pain to get going but once they did it was good. I used three at a time. Two usually on reloads. They definitely put out some heat I only wish I had some left to try in the bk since it can run lower cause the lopi would overheat the house in milder weather.

No clue on the other ones.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25
 
I've tested both and prefer the NIELs. They really pack a wallop and are super dense. I got less ash with them.
 
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For retail locations near you call the North Idaho Logs in Moyie Springs, ID.

My Experience:
The owner asked me to try out his product. I ran them in my King wood stove for a about 4 years. They are a superb product. Keep them dry and stored where there is limited exposure to moisture. I found it easiest to get a small kindling fire started, then drop a broken up NIEL onto the fire. Once you have a nice coal bed, you won't need any more kindling. (Except if you allow fire to go out)

The logs are heavy, they come on 1/3 pallets. So that means when you buy a tone, they are three small pallets and the strap across all three hold them together. Once you cut that band, all bets are off if you try to move them. I re-stacked them from the back of my F350 into our back room of the house. My wife loved them. No bugs, going outside to get wood etc.

They don;t have much flame...and because they are ULTRA low in M.C., you want to limit the amount you put into any wood stove. With stoves, we test with dimensional lumber that is 18-23% M.C. So stoves are tuned for the fuel we test with.

I found the best way to use them is a mix of NIELS with cordwood. By doing so, they load has a more balanced M.C. and seems to run superbly.

Lastly, in a BK you want to make small, incremental changes to the thermostat setting. With NIELS, you will find the incremental changes may need to be smaller yet and more duration between adjustments.

You will like their product!
 
where can you get these
I just spoke to the owner at NIEL and they do not sell in Michigan. They do have a distributor in NE.
 
Can't believe you can't find wood in Bonner Co Idaho. I life in Pend Oreille County. Lots of Craiglist. You can find Pin for 100-125 cord. Seasoned and Split. (broken link removed to https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/d/fire-wood-4-cords-dry-split/6704154575.html)
 
I've been debating to get those, how do you like them?

I add a few here and there. I have a hard time filling my firebox so i usually get two nice splits over the coals and then dont have the right sized splits to put over them to fit. I typically use them on a reload before bed. Two nice splits going east west and then two of these bricks going N/S on top. They burn well, increase secondary combustion but do not coal the best. I have probably half a pallet of them in the basement that i use every now and then. It helps me gain about an hour or so for overnight burns. I wouldnt burn with them solely and i only use them to supplement my wood due to my firebox/split issues. I have dry wood so not mixing subpar cord wood with this super dry stuff.

It's worth it to me for the extra flame show, burn time and ease of getting an over night burn if you plan on sleeping in.
 
Can't believe you can't find wood in Bonner Co Idaho. I life in Pend Oreille County. Lots of Craiglist. You can find Pin for 100-125 cord. Seasoned and Split. (broken link removed to https://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/d/fire-wood-4-cords-dry-split/6704154575.html)

I didn’t say I could not find wood. I said I could not find wood that is dry enough. There is a lot of wood for sale and all of it that I look at has a MC that is to high to burn very well in my Princess. I found that the wood needs to be good and dry for this stove where as my old non cat stove I could burn wood that was a little less dry.

There are a decent amount of people selling wood right now in the area that claim to have been seasoned for the summer but when you look at it it’s obvious it was just cut.

I found a couple pick up trucks in the last couple days that have wood that looks to be seasoned but I didnt have my meter with me for sale but they are wanting $200-$220 and it’s maybe 2/3 of a cord at best.