My ECO-Brick review

[Cory S]

A friend gave me a 6 pack (21lbs) of ECO bricks he picked up for $3.50 @ Tractor supply. He wanted me to test them before he purchased a pallet of them. He was too late on wood this year, because he just bought a new home last month.

I am burning with a Drolet EPA stove with a 1.9cu ft firebox, and a very air tight 2 floor home.

With air just about completely off, I got about a 3 hour burn using 3 bricks. The good is that the heat was hot (cruised at 550-625* for about 1.5 hours), the burn was clean, and they are easy to load symmetrically in the firebox.

The bad...(not really bad, but negative) COST... By gathering data, and doing the math, it would take about 18 bricks to heat my home (1900sq ft) in 24 hours @ an outside temp average of 20*F. This equates to a cost of about $11.50/day. (About $345.00/month)

My wood is costing me about $160/month for the same BTU's. I bought my wood CSD for $180/cord.

Everyone's mileage may vary, but for emergencies, or an alternative fuel source with less work, yet a significant cost increase, they could be the answer.

 

[NinjaTech]

I tried those this weekend too. Put about 100lbs (4 1/2 packages) of them in the stove friday night, and didn't add any more till sunday night. Got a hair over 49 hours out of them. Not terribly cost effective, but fun experiment. If they were half their price i would probably stop using cord wood.

 

[Cory S]

I tried those this weekend too. Put about 100lbs (4 1/2 packages) of them in the stove friday night, and didn't add any more till sunday night. Got a hair over 49 hours out of them. Not terribly cost effective, but fun experiment. If they were half their price i would probably stop using cord wood.

100lbs? WOW.... That's nuts. How big is the firebox? 3.5cu ft? I agree totally on the cost. If they were $2.00/6-pack, I'd probably do the same, and purchase 3-4 pallets of them lol...

 

[Rickb]

I tried those this weekend too. Put about 100lbs (4 1/2 packages) of them in the stove friday night, and didn't add any more till sunday night. Got a hair over 49 hours out of them. Not terribly cost effective, but fun experiment. If they were half their price i would probably stop using cord wood.

Where did you find them? The only thing I have found in the STL area is GrenHeat which work great and I got them on sale last spring at Manards.

 

[NinjaTech]

100lbs? WOW.... That's nuts. How big is the firebox? 3.5cu ft? I agree totally on the cost. If they were $2.00/6-pack, I'd probably do the same, and purchase 3-4 pallets of them lol...

2.85 cu ft. It was like playing tetris getting them in there. Not really how I normally run it at all, I was just going for an experimental 'longest burn time' thing.

Where did you find them? The only thing I have found in the STL area is GrenHeat which work great and I got them on sale last spring at Manards.

Menards in Saint Peters (the big new one they just opened this year) has the "eco" brand bricks. I heard rural king has the grenheat bricks for less $ per lbs, or at least SOME of the rural king stores carry them. I have not made it out to the one in Wentzville to see if they do or not, but I would like to at some point to compare those with the "eco" ones.