Sawdust Bricks - Price Vs. cordwood in my area?

[NWTstove]

Hello there,

I posted a few years ago and got a great response from this community, so I thought I'd post again with another question that google can't solve, but maybe you guys can.

A pallet of sawdust bricks, which are kiln dried oak, is $582 Canadian dollars. That's 81 x 4 bricks equals 324 bricks. This has been called half a cord of wood, all that way up to 1.5 cords of wood.

The wood option for me, from about the only reliable guy here, is $600/cord. All his wood is spruce, compared to the oak sawdust, and the moisture on that spruce is most likely higher than on the kiln-dried oak sawdust bricks. Some other suppliers may be able to get me a cord for 550, but they flake all the time.

Are the sawdust bricks A) a no brainer, B) difficult to judge which is a better deal, C) something else - any thoughts or ideas?

My thought is that the oak bricks win. Even if they are more expensive on a BTU level, they're packed better, cleaner to transport into my house, and take up less space. But what I really need more than anything is to be able to burn something like 8 cords a winter. I burned about 5 cords this last winter and needed to compensate with propane for the rest (heated garage and a basement room, and the propane for my hot water as well). I was burning the stove on just above the active zone (low), to medium, most of the winter. It's a blazeking Ashford 30. I've figured I can burn it at full the whole winter and still save more in propane than added cost in either wood or sawdust bricks.

So far, I've used both the spruce and the sawdust bricks. I've put in as many as 6-7 bricks and not overfired the stove. If you lay them right next to each other, they don't expand, so they can burn for even longer. I put 4 like that as the base layer - on top, I put two or three more spaced apart for a quicker temp recovery. I could actually probably put 10 or 12 bricks in there if I wanted to - as long as the airflow is low enough to compensate, they can't all burn as once, in my experience.

For background I'm in the NWT, northern Canada. We get a few months that average -25 to -35, with some days as low as -50 Celsius once in a while. The house is 2700 square feet, two floors and house layout is compartmentalized, but with good flow around the main floor for the wood stove due to wide openings.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

What is the brand of the brick? The energy content varies with the density of the brick. Do you know the brick size and how much each brick weighs?

 

[NWTstove]

They are Vermont Castings. Each 4 brick pack weighs 25lbs. The wood type is actually maple, not oak. The BTUs per four bricks is 7650 BTUs.

If the stated BTUs is correct, a pallet of 81 of these would be 620k BTUs.

The BTUs in a cord of spruce is 13-16 million BTUs.

So the math is not yet making sense.

 

[begreen]

I don't think Vermont Castings makes wood sawdust bricks, but maybe they have started? Can you provide a link or a good picture of the product?

The BTU rating also sounds off. Normally a densified brick will be around at least 8,000 BTUs per pound of brick.

 

[NWTstove]

Maybe they mean 7650 BTUs per brick, not per four-pack.

Vermont castings bricks:

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca

I suppose a full winter of only sawdust bricks will tell me, based on total cost, how it compares to cordwood.

 

[Nordicbynature]

They are Vermont Castings. Each 4 brick pack weighs 25lbs. The wood type is actually maple, not oak. The BTUs per four bricks is 7650 BTUs.

If the stated BTUs is correct, a pallet of 81 of these would be 620k BTUs.

The BTUs in a cord of spruce is 13-16 million BTUs.

So the math is not yet making sense.

This pallet of 81 packs of 25lbs is about 16.6 Mio BTUs.

 

[begreen]

I'd proceed with caution and just by a 4 pack. Try them out. They may be not very densely packed and flakey. A good brick will have about 8,000 BTUs/pound. BioBricks come in at 17,000 BTUs per 2lb. brick.

Resource icon

BioBricks

Aug 4, 2022

BioBricks

• webfish
• Fuel Facts

On Canadian Tire's website, some people seem disappointed with them as compared to the Canawick bricks they used to carry.

This pallet of 81 packs of 25lbs is about 16.6 Mio BTUs.

The math doesn't square or am I missing something? 81 packs of 4 = 324 bricks, right? 16.6 MBTU div by 324 = 51,235 BTUs per brick. That sounds wildly optimistic.

 

[stovelark]

Hey all- I believe its each brick is is rated 7650 Btus per pound. The bricks are approx 25Lbs for pkg of four, x 81 x 191250 BTUs per pkg
equals roughly 15.5 million BTUs per pallet of 81 pkgs.

I was wondering if you had to be careful of burning too hot, they are supposedly 6% MC, that is dry dry. I've always thought they can be added to regular cordwood to assist in heating, or maybe added to cordwood not being dry enough to help prop up the wetter wood, but I am curious if the long term effect would be detrimental to a stove, espec if you cannot keep STT down to normal (400-650 Deg). I like the convenience idea, or in a have to case, but if able to, cordwood is still my preference.

 

[NWTstove]

Hey all- I believe its each brick is is rated 7650 Btus per pound. The bricks are approx 25Lbs for pkg of four, x 81 x 191250 BTUs per pkg
equals roughly 15.5 million BTUs per pallet of 81 pkgs.

I was wondering if you had to be careful of burning too hot, they are supposedly 6% MC, that is dry dry. I've always thought they can be added to regular cordwood to assist in heating, or maybe added to cordwood not being dry enough to help prop up the wetter wood, but I am curious if the long term effect would be detrimental to a stove, espec if you cannot keep STT down to normal (400-650 Deg). I like the convenience idea, or in a have to case, but if able to, cordwood is still my preference.

I'd proceed with caution and just by a 4 pack. Try them out. They may be not very densely packed and flakey. A good brick will have about 8,000 BTUs/pound. BioBricks come in at 17,000 BTUs per 2lb. brick.

Resource icon

BioBricks

Aug 4, 2022

BioBricks

• webfish
• Fuel Facts

On Canadian Tire's website, some people seem disappointed with them as compared to the Canawick bricks they used to carry.


The math doesn't square or am I missing something? 81 packs of 4 = 324 bricks, right? 16.6 MBTU div by 324 = 51,235 BTUs per brick. That sounds wildly optimistic.

To both: I have already burned maybe 300 of these bricks. I haven't tried biobricks, but these vermont castings ones are at least as good at the same weight in cordwood, but I suspect something like 20% better (depending on comparing volume to volume, vs. weight to weight).

They also pack more tightly into the stove, and for one trip to the wood pile, I can haul back more BTUs. That's valuable as I did something like 200 trips to the wood pile last winter. So maybe if the price per BTU isn't notably better or worse than with cordwood, at least there is an efficiency on trips to the wood pile. For example, I can carry probably 12 bricks in one shot in a big heavy box. That's at most one trip a day, or, one trip every two days, vs. at least 2 trips a day for what feels like the same weight of wood (75lbs would be 12 bricks).

Anyway - thanks for the help on the math. I prefer cordwood too, 100%. For the sound, look, nostalgia, etc. But I feel like I'm at almost industrial level burning coming this winter if I'm going to burn the equivalent of 8 cords worth of bricks, whatever that turns out to be.

How do you guys manage the wood - do you keep it close to the fire but outside? Garage? Do you do all your prep (stacking/moving etc.) in one shot, or over the winter? I have these bricks stacked in my garage like lego, plastic wrap already removed. But it's still two storeys up to the main floor.

 

[begreen]

Stovelark, the instructions for the BioBricks said that it is ok to burn several at a time, but they need to be stacked in the stove to create a solid mass with not a lot of air gaps. Burned properly, they were quite well behaved in spite of being very dry. I liked the BioBricks when I tried them out, but at the time cordwood was a lot less expensive, especially if scrounged. Now, they may be more attractive, though they really need dry storage. I think our shed would provide this, but it is open on the sides. I could close the sides in with plastic.

NWTStove. We have a 6 cord capacity woodshed by the garage, but have a wood box that will take a full cartload of about 3+ days of wood on our porch that is right outside the living room where the stove resides.

 

[stovelark]

Hey BG- understand, just don't have the "partial load" thing down, I'm always trying to load fully for longest burn time. When you were burning them, was it a full load to the top of your stove? I know some MFRs used to say not to burn them and load up fully- I too agree with you, think it is still better to burn cordwood and scrounge it, I've always been lucky enough to find wood, I haven't bought much over the years, mostly because I never thought it was seasoned enough... I do like the wood brick idea for the occasional burner, or someone wanting to help out their wet wood to burn.
I too have a wood holder right outside the door in back for keeping my firewood, years ago I used to keep it out in the yard exclusively, I've gotten smarter or less able over the years to go out and get it, probably the latter. Keep cool everybody, warm here in CT.

 

[begreen]

This was in the Castine. It's been years since I tested, but the method I used was:

Method: Build a starter fire teepee with 4 bricks. I used paper and pistachio nut shells as starter in one test and a SuperCedar in the second test. Once the bricks are going well, they get moved to the back of the stove and the remaining 9 bricks are stacked around the burning bricks. They are laid as flat and close as possible for a total of 13 bricks = 26 lbs. Like pressed logs, you want to be careful not to overfill the stove. There is a lot of energy in this product and using too much fuel risks overfiring the stove.
If there is an ongoing fire that has burned down, one should only add 4 - 8 bricks to refresh the fire depending on the stove size. Treated with respect, pressed wood products are safe and convenient way to heat.