Sawdust brick quality - fyi (warning) for cat stove owners

[stoveliker]

Over the years, and when available (not much where I am), I have ordered some sawdust bricks, just to try them out.
Only "100% sawdust, no additives" - given my cat stove.

The Redstone ones available at Tractor supply here were nice.

Recently I ordered some bricks from https://www.ecoheatfirelogs.com/
They claim 100% hardwood sawdust, no additives on their website.

I open my box and find white melamine pieces pressed into the bricks. And a green piece, i.e. some paint or stain.

So their feedstock is not just sawdust but is contaminated with crap (particleboard etc.)

I'm asking for a full refund as I don't want to run stuff thru my cat that is not wood - will see what they say. Will update when I know how they respond.


Given their apparent lack of feedstock quality control, I would advise every cat stove owner to avoid ecoheatfirelogs .
If they respond reasonably, I'll note that here too.


Pics: (in the order I see them here)
- 3 bricks in a box (and another 3 the layer below). White piece visible.
- Zoom in on white piece (and a smaller one to the left.
- Dug the white piece out, top
- and bottom. Looks like melamine particle board. That's plastic on top and glue in it.
- Another white piece at the edge of a brick.
- A green piece, seems like some stained wood.
- White piece next to the hole it came out of.

 

[begreen]

The bricks are said to be composed of "a bi-product of the furniture, flooring and woodworking industry. " Looks like some floor-sweepings got in there too.

BKVP has warned against burning some compressed fuels in a cat stove due to contamination. Waiting for a summary of BK testing. So far I do know that Northern Idaho Energy Logs pass muster, but they are not widely sold.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes. The Redstone ones claimed to be clean, looked clean, and burned well. I hope they were clean... Cat behaves well though, still. (I burned those other ones last year.)

But this experience makes me hesitant to trust what is advertised (and when I write this, I see how "duh" that sounds...)
NIELS are not available here.

 

[stoveliker]

bi-product should of course be by-product. I'm okay with some spelling mistakes in family-business material.
I'm not okay with claiming something, and not abiding by those claims.

 

[bigealta]

You are shopping in the middle of the grocery store, bringing home the chips and cookies.
Stay on the perimeter for the healthy stuff.

 

[Rearscreen]

That could be Jimmy Hoffa parts - ya's never know.

 

[stoveliker]

You are shopping in the middle of the grocery store, bringing home the chips and cookies.
Stay on the perimeter for the healthy stuff.

I'm not sure what you mean.
I thought it good to explore what options there may be (and how they work in my set up) if for some reason at some point i run out of seasoned wood.
We also suggest this to new stove owners that are not yet in possession of dry enough wood. Suggesting that and not knowing what they are is not ideal behavior (imHo).

So testing some bricks is not a bad thing to do, I think. I like experimentation. Within the boundary conditions dictated by my set up.

Turns out that testing *these* bricks is not happening, as initial data show they're full of crap. Literally.

 

[bigealta]

I'm not sure what you mean.
I thought it good to explore what options there may be (and how they work in my set up) if for some reason at some point i run out of seasoned wood.
We also suggest this to new stove owners that are not yet in possession of dry enough wood. Suggesting that and not knowing what they are is not ideal behavior (imHo).

So testing some bricks is not a bad thing to do, I think. I like experimentation. Within the boundary conditions dictated by my set up.

Turns out that testing *these* bricks is not happening, as initial data show they're full of crap. Literally.

Ha just messing around, Pitting man made "full of crap" stuff against "All natural" from nature stuff.
Bio engineering vs naturally grown.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I burn some of the tractor supply stuff every year. I’ve never seen anything but sawdust in them., I’ve split some too. I believe they’re clean.

Maybe the other guy had the cutoffs from a counter shop. Are they USA made?

 

[stoveliker]

Ha just messing around, Pitting man made "full of crap" stuff against "All natural" from nature stuff.
Bio engineering vs naturally grown.

Okay, all good.

 

[stoveliker]

I burn some of the tractor supply stuff every year. I’ve never seen anything but sawdust in them., I’ve split some too. I believe they’re clean.

Maybe the other guy had the cutoffs from a counter shop. Are they USA made?

Family furniture mfg business in VA.

 

[brenndatomu]

I've burnt some locally made ECO bricks...looked like 100% clean sawdust...those look like extruded pulp...or something?

 

[stoveliker]

Surely larger than dust. But that's fine I think.

 

[EbS-P]

Those are diff Looking than the restores I got several years ago.

 

[stoveliker]

Yes, these polluted ones were from ecoheatfirelogs
The redstones I mentioned were less elongated (and iirc had more fine sawdust).