Manufactured logs or bricks Please let me know your experience with them.

[kinsmanstoves]

Has anyone burned manufactured logs or bricks for a long period of time? I know there are a lot of makers of the logs out there. Please let me know your experience with them. I am thinking of stocking them for my customers and also wholesaling them as I do with wood pellets.

I have been burning them in my Pacific Energy and they seem to do ok. I would like to know the following info, please help

1.) How many tons have you burned?
2.) How did they compare to cord wood?
3.) Was it cost effective for you?
4.) Will you burn them again?

Thanks
Eric

 

[Dune]

For me, they burn great, do not overheat the stove(as one stove shop owner claimed), are very easy to light, store, handle, do not last for an overnight burn, and are not cost effective. If I ever use them again, I would just use one at a time, for a great easy firestarter for my wife when I am out of town, unless I could get them for half of what I paid last winter. Burned just one ton, and had to suplement with oak for overnight burn.

 

[chachdave]

I burned 1/2 ton last winter due to not enough wood. They light great and heat up stove fast. I wish the price was cheaper. I got 6 cords for next winter so wont need any bricks. If I could get a ton for $175 I would buy them but not worth $270 $300 a ton. I used mostly Envi 8s I also tried Bio Bricks. The 8s seem better. Over all they are a great product but for saw dust waist should be cheaper. But I guest some people pay 250 for a cord of wood, why I dont know. They must have lots of exta money around. Maybee they should just burn dollar bills in there stove.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Thanks.

Anyone else?

Eric

 

[Slow1]

I burned about a ton total, combination of Envi and Bio products. Overall I think they are an acceptable product, could be used in place of real wood with my experience being that a ton is roughly equal to a cord of wood. So, cost wise they were not a reasonable option for me - I paid almost $300/ton delivered and my wood was $270/cord. This year I'm doing better and my average cost for wood is closer to $130/cord (lots of good CL searching and some scrounging worked in there). Thus unless I could get these products for close to the same price - i.e. say less than $150/ton delivered I won't even be looking at these compressed sawdust products. Although it is nice to store them inside and they did make a more consistent, predictable mess to clean up.

 

[Wet1]

Eric,

Here's a bump for you...

BTW, I have not tried these, but I would be interested in trying a few next season. I love the idea of them being neatly packaged and can be stored (cleanly) in the basement or garage with minimal space issues. OTOH, I just can't see ever paying over $150 for a ton of these in today's market. It seems to me the target market for these products is folks who temporarily need a quick 'wood' supply due to local cord wood supply issues, or folks who don't want to deal with cord wood. Unfortunately, the former won't buy many of these and the later is a much better candidate for a pellet stove than a wood stove.

Just my 2 cents.