Red Stone Eco Bricks vs Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks

[BlueMavWood]

Red Stone Eco Bricks (a very fine product in my opinion) are no longer being sold in Tractor Supply Company (TSC) stores in the Northeast according to Eco Brick national sales manager, Brad Smith.

TSC replaced Eco Bricks in the Northeast with Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks (a very poor product in my opinion). They smolder (for me) rather than burn (clouding glass door) and create very little heat.

Fuel Blocks now sold at TSC are also significantly more expensive to use than the Eco Bricks they replaced. Fuel Blocks are less dense and contain less product per package than the Eco Bricks sold last season. Eco Bricks last season were rated at around 12,000 btu's per pound (may have changed) while Fuel Blocks are rated at only 8,800 btu's per pound. And, Eco Bricks were sold in 25 pound packs last season and Fuel Blocks this season are sold in 21 pound packs. So, even though the price per pack may be the same as last season ($2.99 - $3.49) Fuel Blocks are significantly more expensive to use than the Eco Bricks they replaced. Just saying. Eco Bricks in my opinion burn better and cost less. And.... Shame on TSC for their slippery marketing system.

 

[mfglickman]

I have 6 packs of red stone that I bought this week? In the northeast.

Last year they had some that were IMO total crap - they were 3 enormous blocks to a pack, very loose and cheap feeling. They didn't burn nearly as well as the ECO and BIO bricks that I got elsewhere.

 

[BrotherBart]

I bought eight packages of the Red Stones at TSC two weeks ago here. Not thrilled with only six bricks in the pack instead of eight like they used to be. Just 21 pounds a pack.

 

[TTigano]

I just recently purchased a pallet of canawick bricks were are essentially the same thing. There are 20 bricks in a pack though. Throw some serious heat and last a good long time. Great in my opinion for overnight burns. $6/package though.... Came to $285 for the pallet.

 

[nola mike]

I just recently purchased a pallet of canawick bricks were are essentially the same thing. There are 20 bricks in a pack though. Throw some serious heat and last a good long time. Great in my opinion for overnight burns. $6/package though.... Came to $285 for the pallet.

BB,
Have you checked out liberty bricks? I bought a pallet for $170, and find they compare favorably with the eco bricks.

 

[ddahlgren]

The blocks from Tractor supply in the northeast are not worth the effort in my opinion. A bunch of cold starts and no coals little heat to add insult to injury..

 

[wkpoor]

My local TSC told me late last yr they would be switching and gave me a deal on the remaining eco bricks. But when comparing brands and prices its the price per lb that matters. In the 3 brands I have tried I see performance pretty close but I'm not trying to pack a stove full and compare to a load of hardwood. I use them for relights and to help get up to temp quickly. They all do that well. I get blue flames quickly and secondary light off between 200-300 stove top.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We still have left over ecos from last year. We figured we'd always keep a few packs on hand going forward, just in case we both got the flu or something and didn't want to go out to bring in wood. They are nice to mix with less than ideally seasoned wood, but hopefully we won't have that problem to deal with again. I did notice the new packs, with the fewer pounds per pack, but the TSC we were in had both. Now I wonder if we shouldn't just grab some more ecos while we can...hm.

 

[ddahlgren]

Do not grab the six pack version as it is like the ones I got are useless, no better than rolled up newspaper..sigh.. or at least what I imagine that to be..

 

[BlueMavWood]

I have 6 packs of red stone that I bought this week? In the northeast.

Last year they had some that were IMO total crap - they were 3 enormous blocks to a pack, very loose and cheap feeling. They didn't burn nearly as well as the ECO and BIO bricks that I got elsewhere.

That 3-pack of "crap" sounds like those Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks. Glad you could get the Red Stone Eco Bricks.

 

[BlueMavWood]

I bought eight packages of the Red Stones at TSC two weeks ago here. Not thrilled with only six bricks in the pack instead of eight like they used to be. Just 21 pounds a pack.

Yeah, I liked the 8-pack too. More slick marketing I guess. Instead of just raising the price they try to fool people with smaller packaging.

 

[BlueMavWood]

I just recently purchased a pallet of canawick bricks were are essentially the same thing. There are 20 bricks in a pack though. Throw some serious heat and last a good long time. Great in my opinion for overnight burns. $6/package though.... Came to $285 for the pallet.

Hey, that's great to know. I haven't heard of that brand but will be sure to try them if I ever see them for sale around here.

 

[BlueMavWood]

BB,
Have you checked out liberty bricks? I bought a pallet for $170, and find they compare favorably with the eco bricks.

That seems like a great price. Is there one-ton of product per pallet?

 

[BlueMavWood]

The blocks from Tractor supply in the northeast are not worth the effort in my opinion. A bunch of cold starts and no coals little heat to add insult to injury..

YUP!

 

[nola mike]

That seems like a great price. Is there one-ton of product per pallet?

yes.

 

[BrotherBart]

BB,
Have you checked out liberty bricks? I bought a pallet for $170, and find they compare favorably with the eco bricks.

That price is only if you pick them up at the plant. My concern about Liberty Bricks is back when they started out people were finding all sorts of crap in them that wasn't wood. Hope they fixed that. Up here they cost just as much as the other brands since only one place sells them that I know of and it is a snooty stove shop up around Leesburg. Tried to buy a Jotul casting from them in 2006 and they acted like I was trying to mooch a meal and sleep in their basement.

The shop I send everybody to after that sure enjoys the business they don't get. A forum member had the casting drop shipped to me in four days.

 

[nola mike]

That price is only if you pick them up at the plant. My concern about Liberty Bricks is back when they started out people were finding all sorts of crap in them that wasn't wood. Hope they fixed that. Up here they cost just as much as the other brands since only one place sells them that I know of and it is a snooty stove shop up around Leesburg.

Yup. That's why I singled you out--didn't know how far from the plant you were (and they are in Doswell now, not Petersburg), might be worth the drive. I bought a pallet and haven't had any quality issues. I'm about 1/4 through it so far. I posted a brief review of them v. the eco bricks here.

 

[BlueMavWood]

My local TSC told me late last yr they would be switching and gave me a deal on the remaining eco bricks. But when comparing brands and prices its the price per lb that matters. In the 3 brands I have tried I see performance pretty close but I'm not trying to pack a stove full and compare to a load of hardwood. I use them for relights and to help get up to temp quickly. They all do that well. I get blue flames quickly and secondary light off between 200-300 stove top.

I wish I'd bought the remaining Eco Bricks that TSC had last season too (never thought they would discontinue such a nice product). Oh well. That's corporate america for you.

Price per pound however is not the whole story. Wood bricks can contain significantly different amounts of heat (btu's) per pound depending upon their density. Eco Bricks last year were rated at around 12,000 btu's per pound (9,000 - 14,000 is what I believe they stated on ther website). The Fuel Blocks that replaced them this season in many TSC stores are only rated at 8,800 btu's per pound. So you will have to burn more bricks (hence spend more money) to produce the same amount of heat.

It seems to me that any of these compressed wood fuel bricks that contain the same number of btu's per pound as say, pellet fuel, should also be priced the same as pellets (to be competitive). And, in my area the going price for pellets is around $210 per ton. So any price higher than that for wood bricks is over priced as far as I'm concerened (at least if using them as a primary heating fuel).

 

[BrotherBart]

In a lab you can get 8660 BTUs from a pound of 0% moisture content wood in pure oxygen inside a "bomb" calorimeter. No way does Eco Bricks produce 12,000.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yup. That's why I singled you out--didn't know how far from the plant you were (and they are in Doswell now, not Petersburg), might be worth the drive. I bought a pallet and haven't had any quality issues. I'm about 1/4 through it so far. I posted a brief review of them v. the eco bricks here.

Thanks. If I knew of somebody making a delivery in that area I would see about getting them to backhaul five ton for me.

 

[wkpoor]

Price per pound however is not the whole story. Wood bricks can contain significantly different amounts of heat (btu's) per pound depending upon their density. Eco Bricks last year were rated at around 12,000 btu's per pound (9,000 - 14,000 is what I believe they stated on ther website). The Fuel Blocks that replaced them this season in many TSC stores are only rated at 8,800 btu's per pound. So you will have to burn more bricks (hence spend more money) to produce the same amount of heat.​

Whatever the number is I subscribe to the theory that all wood, soft , hard, or compressed can produce the same BTU per/lb. or something close. If that is the case then no matter who makes them you are simply burning good dry wood. And no matter what the pack cost is price per pound is all that matters.

 

[BlueMavWood]

In a lab you can get 8660 BTUs from a pound of 0% moisture content wood in pure oxygen inside a "bomb" calorimeter. No way does Eco Bricks produce 12,000.

That makes sense, but I'm no expert. I tend to think that the different numbers put out by various manufactures and retailers are almost always more about generating sales than adhering to truth or reality (not sure why that's tolerated). That's why I like this forum. It helps to sort through all that deceptive corporate crap. I just know that Eco Bricks for me have worked best (everyones stove and installation could react differently of course). I'm also trying Envi Blocks and so far they don't seem to bad either. I also liked another product but I can't remember its name. However, Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks sold at TSC were by far the worst for me.

 

[BlueMavWood]

Whatever the number is I subscribe to the theory that all wood, soft , hard, or compressed can produce the same BTU per/lb. or something close. If that is the case then no matter who makes them you are simply burning good dry wood. And no matter what the pack cost is price per pound is all that matters.

Although I don't disagree with what you're saying I'm thinking that just like different wood species have different burning characteristics in any given stove installation based on both wood species and wood density, so too do different manufactured wood blocks have different burning characteristics based on those things as well. So, in that respect, although price per pound may be a quick and easy way to evaluate different wood products, it just doesn't seem to tell the whole story.

If you are correct, that all wood products contain about the same number of btu's per pound, then even if Red Stone Eco Bricks were to only contain the same energy per pound as Eco-Energy Fuel Blocks, my experience, and that of others here, has shown that Eco Bricks actually burn and perform at a much higher level than Fuel Blocks. So, even if those two products were priced the same per pound, they are in no way equal in either quality or performance. Eco Bricks just burn way better and create more heat for me than Fuel Blocks. So, price per pound may get me to try a product, but the bottom line for me is how they perform.

 

[nola mike]

I'm guessing that, just like with different wood species, the burning characteristics of the blocks are probably mostly dependent on the density of the blocks. BTUs/lb should remain fairly constant, and determined primarily by water content. Again, I would think that this would be fairly consistent among manufacturers. I'm not sure if size of the wood chips/sawdust would be an important variable or not. Based on my experience with eco bricks (larger pieces) and liberty bricks (finer), they burn comparably.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

you guys may have read the CANWICK BRICK stuff earlier on the this topic. well today i had a continuing success with this product. today so.east massachusetts finally got back to 32*, and today was one of my longest days in some time. loaded at 4:30 am and arrived home at 4:00pm to find my load of 8 bricks still alive and stove @ 200*. i burn a jotul f100 and splits would have been long gone just after noon. still happy mother nature helped out with a normal winter day. if you have access to canawick give them a try. no spam here ,they work great.