Help with using Biobricks

[rphurley]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for the abundance of advice that will be sent my way. This is my first year burning a Regency insert and I am very pleased with it as my oil use has been minimal. I bought a ton of Biobricks to supplement my wood supply because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough wood to get through the season and I havn't been able to figure out the optimal way to stack them so they don't burn to quickly. I don't use them often because I have enough wood to get me through, but I was wondering if I could have some suggestions to get the most of the Biobricks that I bought. Even when I stack them tight and damp down the intake I find the mound burns for a good 1-2 hours and then just glows as a massive pile of embers. Is this the best I can do?
Thanks for your suggestions,
Rich

 

[SteveT]

I am about to finish my 3rd ton of BioBricks (all this year) so I am far from expert. But I have had pretty favorable experience with them. If you go to their website they recommend a close stack, the purpose of which is to extend the burn. When I tried this I was able to get longer burns but I did not get a satisfying amount of heat. So I went to a loose fill with plenty of air gaps and have found that works well. I now always use somewhere between 6 and 8 bricks -- fewer doesn't give adequate heat and the one time I went to 10 on a hot bed of coals I got pretty close to an overfire.

For the first fire each morning I go with the 6 or 8 bricks, a piece of a Super Cedar and a small amount of kindling. For refills I just toss them on the coals, let them catch (3 or 4 minutes) and then damper all the way down. I usually have to refill every 3 or 4 hours although there is still some decent heat after burning down overnight for 7 or 8 hours.

I'm guessing that you are not using enough of the bricks, therefore the short burns. Remember they are only 2 pounds each so you can't expect too much out of just using a few. During the real cold weather I have been using at least 2 packages (40 bricks or 80 pounds) every day. I think that is pretty consistent with what the pellet burners use (and there is no reason it should be much different).

 

[begreen]

I had good behavior and heat with the mass of biobricks. It may not work the same in your stove, but I would try that method first.

Here's a bit more info on my tests with the biobricks:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/

 

[rphurley]

Great advice guys, I was hoping to get better burn times from them so I will try the really tight stack, but with about 10 bricks or so. Sometimes if you wait too long, you have a pile of embers with no structure and when you put real wood on them they just evaporate away and you can't get ignition of the wood that you just applied.

 

[rphurley]

I had good behavior and heat with the mass of biobricks. It may not work the same in your stove, but I would try that method first.

Here's a bit more info on my tests with the biobricks:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/

Thanks, Begreen, I reference your list to get some expectations.
R

 

[JAmuso]

I bought 1/2 ton to supplement my wood supply. What I like to do - i load the back of the stove as much as I can. In the front of the stove (nearest to glass) - I stack 6 bio bricks across the front (1 row of 3 stacked 2 high). What this does for me - creates lots of heat...,keeps the glass clean, gets the wood in the back of the stove burning so well i can shut the stove down and get a good 8 hours of heat. This works will for me - all about trial and error.

 

[rphurley]

I had good behavior and heat with the mass of biobricks. It may not work the same in your stove, but I would try that method first.

Here's a bit more info on my tests with the biobricks:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/

Thanks, Begreen, I reference your list to get some expectations.
R

What the heck was I trying to say? I. :red: was a little distracted while typing