Firelogs vs. wood fires

[Randar]

Every time I get my fireplace cleaned, they say the same thing. That “real wood” is better than the firelogs. That real wood leaves less creosote that needs to be cleaned from the flue. But I cannot see how that makes any sense.

• When I use firelogs, I will use 2, maybe 3. When I use real wood, I am always refilling it with more wood to burn. Probably a dozen pieces of wood.
• While trying to research it, I found this link. http://www.science20.com/science_mo...ood_fires_whats_right_choice_cozy_winter_fire. Assuming Total Particles (PM) is what is leftover in the flue, you can clearly see it is significantly lower for firelogs than cordwood.

Can somebody explain to me how real wood could be cleaner? Is this just a scam and they hope you will need to clean it more often?

 

[zig]

I've never used them so it's just a guess. Maybe the wax in the fire log coats the flue and attracts soot and smoke creating a cresote substance? A good sweep will be honest with you but there are many who only look at making a buck.

 

[Woody5506]

How hot do firelogs typically burn?

 

[Randar]

How hot do firelogs typically burn?

If you look at the link, there are numbers at the bottom. They say firelogs burn at 145 to 160 F. I'm not sure how that compares to normal wood, but I assume it's a broad range from smoulder to roaring fire.

One other interesting point I forgot to mention. The very first time I got it cleaned, the sweep was going on how he could tell we only used "real wood" because it was pretty clean. The funny thing is that we had been exclusively using firelogs for a while. So clearly, he didn't know what he was talking about. The decorative pile of logs we keep next to the fireplace probably threw him off. That was actually what got me thinking about the question.

 

[nola mike]

• While trying to research it, I found this link. http://www.science20.com/science_mo...ood_fires_whats_right_choice_cozy_winter_fire. Assuming Total Particles (PM) is what is leftover in the flue, you can clearly see it is significantly lower for firelogs than cordwood.

Is is significantly lower? Unless I missed it, they don't list how much cord wood they're comparing it to, or emissions/BTU (which would be the relevant number I think).
Of course, most of us here are burning in stoves for heat rather than ambiance. A fireplace is going to produce significantly more creosote, emissions, etc than a stove with much less actual heat output. I'd be surprised if the firelogs were worse than cord wood in terms of creosote at least in an open fireplace.

 

[Randar]

Is is significantly lower? Unless I missed it, they don't list how much cord wood they're comparing it to, or emissions/BTU (which would be the relevant number I think).

So there would be two scenarios. Assume they used equal amounts, in which case 11.4 PM g/hr for the worst firelog is significantly less than 60 PM g/hr. But that isn't a realistic scenario. So let's assume it is realistic scenario and they used a bunch of cordwood compared to a few firelogs. In that case, 60 > 11.4. I guess my point is, the only way cordwood isn't worse is if you took the realistic scenario number and then compared them equally. But that isn't relevant. I am interested in whether, under realistic conditions, which one requires less cleaning. I'm just surprised it's this hard to figure out. Maybe I need to contact a firelog company and ask them, but I had hoped to find less biased sources first.

 

[BrotherBart]

Gonna be hard to find out. In a really long time here and burning cord wood I haven't ever seen anybody just burning firelogs. Interesting to see how that does. And if it is the Home Depot variety of wax/wood logs or the compressed wood logs AKA bigass pellets.

 

[Manly]

The very first time I got it cleaned, the sweep was going on how he could tell we only used "real wood" because it was pretty clean. The funny thing is that we had been exclusively using firelogs for a while. So clearly, he didn't know what he was talking about. The decorative pile of logs we keep next to the fireplace probably threw him off.

Your sweep sounds a little "funny". Not to question his integrity, but if it were me, I would keep a close eye on his activities.