Envi blocks

[heffergm]

So I'm out of dry wood... (I have an excuse). I'll have a couple cords seasoned for next year, bit I've decided that rather than burn any more marginal wood I'll either leave the stove cold or get some envi blocks.

So the question is, are they worth the trouble? Basically, I won't be able to build up a coal bed to light them off (if I could I'd just burn wood and not screw around with them). So if they won't light off with some fatwood and a bit of kindling, I won't bother.

Second consideration is how they burn... I like to look at pretty flames. If they turn into a smoldering mass of sawdust, not for me.

So what's the verdict?

 

[ControlFreak]

I bought a pallet of the larger ones late last winter when I ran out of wood, to extend my wood heat, and as an experiment. They burned nicely and produce a lot of heat. The fire you get between loads is very consistent, and they are very nice and dry. But I question whether they are really worth bothering with given their cost. They cost me about $1 per block, and at that price I wonder if it's cost effective. I would need to put about 5 of them into my stove to get the equivalent of a full load of firewood, which is what's needed to make it through the night. So at $5 per night, that's some pretty pricey heat in my opinion. I'd rather go scrounging through the woods looking for some standing dead trees, or just let the oil furnace do its thing.

 

[ww&hk]

Because of a back problem, my days of splitting and stacking are over. I purchased 4 tons of Envi8's in the fall and placed them all in my garage. Nice and dry, never frozen and best of all, no bugs.
The heat is consistent, they are easy to light and create very little ash when they burn.
It is very easy to overfire your stove with these bricks. I start my cold stove with four and only add two or three every couple of hours.
In the morning there is usually enough coals to relight on its own, but I am not heating 24/7, except on weekends.
I also tried BioBricks and would not buy them again.
I liked the Envi bricks so much I bought 2 tons of Barefoot pellets to burn also.

 

[WoodNewbie]

warmwife&happykids;, thanks for sharing. May i ask you why you don't want to biobricks again? so far i like them...so i'm curious.

 

[ww&hk]

WoodNewbie, My experience with BioBricks was limited to 8 bundles that I picked up to try in my stove. I found that when they got hot, they would expand and fall apart, turning into a mass of sawdust and wood chips that wanted to smolder, not burn with any sort of flame. I eventually gave the last 4 bundles to a buddy who was going camping with his son. They were happy not to have to scrounge for all their firewood.

 

[WoodNewbie]

Thanks. Do the EnviBlocks behave differently? I somehow agree that the biobricks expand and not burn with any sort of flame at the end. But I assume they are still very hot (they usually glow red).

 

[hyperion]

We just gave them a try last weekend, and the results were mostly positive. See this thread:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/48693/