Tips on pressed-wood bricks_North Eastern Mass

[MrsD]

Hey everybody,
I'm about to go buy some pressed wood bricks from my local guy. We always supplement--it's nice to keep a ton in the house. But they're expensive...

Just curious if anyone knew of some good deals in my area. Willing to go 20 miles out from 01902.

Would this question be good for the Pellet Mill board? Never posted there...

Thanks!!

 

[Adabiviak]

Are these things that he makes? If so, I'm curious to see what they look like.

 

[MrsD]

No, he doesn't make them. They are Canawicks (sp?). He keeps them in stock, but doesn't sell any other bricks, pellets or wood, so I pay a premium for them. Thu are good, I was just looking for cheaper alternatives.

 

[Longstreet]

First we need to know what you are paying per ton.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

BioBricks are pretty available in the area. I bought some from a place in Wilmington. They may be cheaper bc they didn't do delivery if that's important to you.

http://originalbiobricks.com/buy

 

[MrsD]

BioBricks are pretty available in the area. I bought some from a place in Wilmington. They may be cheaper bc they didn't do delivery if that's important to you.

http://originalbiobricks.com/buy

Thanks.

We can pick them up. What do they mean by "bio bricks"? Is that a brand? The place we buy from was on the list! But they aren't called bio bricks. What was the brand in Wilmington? Also, how much was it without delivery? Was it this year?

I pay $325/ton.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Thanks.

We can pick them up. What do they mean by "bio bricks"? Is that a brand? The place we buy from was on the list! But they aren't called bio bricks. What was the brand in Wilmington? Also, how much was it without delivery? Was it this year?

I pay $325/ton.

Yes "BioBricks" is the brand name. They are compressed hardwood saw dust like a lot of other products out there. They seem to get decent reviews around here from what I've seen. I generally liked them considering my alternatives at the time.

I didn't buy them this year. I used them to supplement my cordwood when I wasn't sure I'd have enough dry wood to get through the season. I don't remember the exact cost but $325 for pickup seems around the same. I remember wondering why people would buy a cord of "seasoned" for $400 retail around here when the bricks are cheaper and burn easier.

 

[MrsD]

Yes "BioBricks" is the brand name. They are compressed hardwood saw dust like a lot of other products out there. They seem to get decent reviews around here from what I've seen. I generally liked them considering my alternatives at the time.

I didn't buy them this year. I used them to supplement my cordwood when I wasn't sure I'd have enough dry wood to get through the season. I don't remember the exact cost but $325 for pickup seems around the same. I remember wondering why people would buy a cord of "seasoned" for $400 retail around here when the bricks are cheaper and burn easier.

That's actually why we got the bricks last year too--recommended by hearth.com for our first burning season with wet wood. It worked like a charm. We had our fireplace swept in the spring and it was just dust.

We went through most of the wood we had, so we are starting with <1 season-dry wood this year, so I'd like to buy another ton of bricks. We have a bunch of cords drying now (all free wood!), but I love having the nice clean, neat, bug-free bricks, so I may just supplement every season. I *hate* paying $325 for them, though, when we have so much free wood, so I'm looking for a discounted ton. Hopefully there will be someone who chimes in with a better number. Thanks again!

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

I suspect you won't find anyone discounting them too much at this time of the year. Maybe mid-season if it's warm or especially in the spring assuming you can find them somewhere. But that doesn't help you much now.

Good luck.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Yes "BioBricks" is the brand name. They are compressed hardwood saw dust like a lot of other products out there. They seem to get decent reviews around here from what I've seen. I generally liked them considering my alternatives at the time.

I didn't buy them this year. I used them to supplement my cordwood when I wasn't sure I'd have enough dry wood to get through the season. I don't remember the exact cost but $325 for pickup seems around the same. I remember wondering why people would buy a cord of "seasoned" for $400 retail around here when the bricks are cheaper and burn easier.

Wow-is $400 a cord the going rate for wood by you? Might as well burn propane at that price.

 

[MrsD]

I suspect you won't find anyone discounting them too much at this time of the year. Maybe mid-season if it's warm or especially in the spring assuming you can find them somewhere. But that doesn't help you much now.

Good luck.

Thanks. I did call around on that biobrick site, and they're going for $350, so I'm going with the $325 from Northeast Fence Co. It's the same every year, they're easy to deal with, and the product is good.

I guess I was just hoping that the prices would go down with this glutt of wood around me. Guess not! Lol.

 

[MrsD]

Wow-is $400 a cord the going rate for wood by you? Might as well burn propane at that price.

I do have gas, and it's really not that expensive compared to some other things people were saying last year, but we enjoy burning so much! We have more C/S/S than we will use, but I like having a ton of bricks to keep in the house. I know it's a price to pay, but I've spent exactly $0 on the wood, and it cuts my heating bill so much, that I'm still saving money after buying the bricks. They really make life easy when I don't want to go outside, as well as starting the fire.

I wouldn't mind finding quality hardwood bricks for $200, though. If you have a connection, send the number my way!!

 

[mwhitnee]

http://www.pelletsdirect.com/

They deliver but would charge for bringing it there.

 

[MrsD]

http://www.pelletsdirect.com/

They deliver but would charge for bringing it there.

This is great! I'll look into it to see if it would be less $$ with delivery, or to see how far it is for pick up. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Longstreet]

I wouldn't mind finding quality hardwood bricks for $200, though. If you have a connection, send the number my way!!

When you are buying compressed wood products which are sold by weight, you get more btus from softwoods. That's why many pellet heads prefer softwood pellets.
While all wood contains about the same btus per lb, trees are made up of more than just pure cellulose.

 

[MrsD]

When you are buying compressed wood products which are sold by weight, you get more btus from softwoods. That's why many pellet heads prefer softwood pellets.
While all wood contains about the same btus per lb, trees are made up of more than just pure cellulose.

Yes, I remember someone telling me that once. Fast n hot. Thanks for the tip.

 

[U.P.Boiler]

Whats the mix ratio on less than one season split hardwood ( maple, beech, ironwood) ?? I have a source. I have 3 cord s,s,s, ready to rock and 20 pulpwood cords its been on the ground for 2 months and is being cut split and stacked as the rain will let me. The 3 will get me until mid January but was looking for something other than dried slab wood to mix in there with the unseasoned wood.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

A rule of thumb the salesman from the stove shop told me was that each brick (Bio Bricks for me) was about 1 normal sized split. From a purely math point of view, just figure the average moisture content of everything you put in. The bricks are pretty low moisture content, lets say 10%. One brick with one 30% piece of cordwood = 20%.

That being said, my experience was that the bricks work best alone. That 30% split still have a hard time catching. For a while all that happens is the bricks performance gets hurt by the moisture from the cordwood getting dry. For best performance I would burn bricks 100% until your wood is down to about 20%. If you must mix, do it with smaller splits that will be drier / release their excess moisture earlier in the burn when you've got the air wide open.

Other people here have mixed with good results. Just experiment and work down from 100% bricks until you find what works well for your setup.

Good luck.

 

[MrsD]

Nogood has great, well explained advice. I can also tell you my experience last year (first full time burning season).

We have pretty much all red & white oak that was < 1 year css. Knowing it would be too green, we got the bricks to mix with. I cant give you a moisture percentage because I am using the splits regardless, so I stopped checking them, lol. Anyway, I started the fires with the bricks alone (well, with pine sap kindling), and maintained with approx 50/50--bricks/splits, maybe less bricks than splits when it got really hot.

It worked well for us, as evidenced by a stovetop meter (tells us optimal burning temp range to reduce creosote--highly recommend one!), and our chimney sweep at the end of the season earlier this year (said the soot was powder and to keep doing what we're doing).

Hope that helps some!

 

[fibels]

I do have gas, and it's really not that expensive compared to some other things people were saying last year, but we enjoy burning so much! We have more C/S/S than we will use, but I like having a ton of bricks to keep in the house. I know it's a price to pay, but I've spent exactly $0 on the wood, and it cuts my heating bill so much, that I'm still saving money after buying the bricks. They really make life easy when I don't want to go outside, as well as starting the fire.

I wouldn't mind finding quality hardwood bricks for $200, though. If you have a connection, send the number my way!!

I'm about to go with a ton from them myself.I've tried bio-bricks,envi bricks,and hot bricks but the canawicks burn the best.I was getting the hot bricks for 279.00 a ton from the south shore last year.This year they're out of business.If there were still around I would still go with the Canawick bricks because they are so much better.

 

[MrsD]

I'm about to go with a ton from them myself.I've tried bio-bricks,envi bricks,and hot bricks but the canawicks burn the best.I was getting the hot bricks for 279.00 a ton from the south shore last year.This year they're out of business.If there were still around I would still go with the Canawick bricks because they are so much better.

I'm so glad you think so because I have no frame of reference since I've only used the Canawicks. I hope you can catch a good deal! I paid $325 for my ton. Have a great day!

 

[fibels]

I'm so glad you think so because I have no frame of reference since I've only used the Canawicks. I hope you can catch a good deal! I paid $325 for my ton. Have a great day!

I think they're charging a couple of bucks more at present.I live in Medford.They'll charge me $75.00 more to ship to my home.I'll just clean out the pick-up and have them load it and save on the shipping fee.

 

[MrsD]

I think they're charging a couple of bucks more at present.I live in Medford.They'll charge me $75.00 more to ship to my home.I'll just clean out the pick-up and have them load it and save on the shipping fee.

Definitely worth $75 to do it yourself. Good choice.