edthedawg
Minister of Fire
I just picked up a 40 lb (12 log) box of SmartLogs to test the Heritage using "known dry material". $12 for the box at Aubuchon's. Great flame - I'd say the stove got hotter faster - as compared to my "seasoned?" oak. And that was from dead cold, using a couple tiny splits and kindling w/ a plain wax firestarter (sorry - Woodstove Wife did the kindling/start before I got home - I haven't tried the SuperCedars yet!) to get a coal bed, then putting 2 SmartLogs on, followed about 15m later by a 3rd one. Stovetop, door glass, and liner pipe surface temps all got to about the same points i usually max out at w/ plain oak (350 / 550 / 290), but generally that's after i've burned about twice as much wood and for twice as long. So i'll agree there's "more heat" here per log. But within 2 hours, i was already riding down the temp curves and the remnant piles of mushy "log" were unmanageable inside the firebox. I could push around the piles a little. I could think about plopping more logs on at a buck apiece and expect to be flamed out by midnight. Or I could drop 3 or 4 oak splits in there and ride those til 6am in all likelihood.
I will try again when it's below freezing out and see what happens, but i think I'm on the "not really worth it" wagon - and i want to compare against real BioBricks when I get the chance...
I will try again when it's below freezing out and see what happens, but i think I'm on the "not really worth it" wagon - and i want to compare against real BioBricks when I get the chance...