Wood Fuel Bricks In My EPA Stove?

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Hi everyone. This topic seems to appear on some threads so I wanted to start a thread specifically for it. I hear a lot of folks say they use wood fuel bricks in their wood stove. I've heard mention of RedStone and Bio Brick which both claim to be totally additive free and just comprised of compressed wood shavings.

I just called and spoke to my stove dealer who is huge in our region and very well regarded. They said absolutely NOT to use fuel bricks in my Jotul Stove. Thoughts? Is this just something they say to not void a warranty? Any information would be helpful because tossing in some of the bricks on occasion looks very cost effective and attractive.

 

[kennyp2339]

Don't quite understand the methodology of the dealer, but listen to your dealer especially if you still have a warranty on the stove. That said, I'm a believer of compressed wood fuel, except for myself (cat stove) my other 3 friends and father who have air tube stoves never had any problems with the blocks, they loaded 4 blocks at a time and had great experiences.
Look up video's on youtube, plenty of good video's.

I really enjoyed this guy's video, check it out

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Dobish]

I know that my owners manual for the VC Encore says to never burn anything but wood. I was wondering about the CLEANFLAME logs? they say that they are safe for a wood stove, but I am a bit hesitant. I have burned them in my fireplace previously, and outside, but didn't want to ruin something.

 

[begreen]

The dealer should have said don't misuse these products in your Jotul. My testing in the Castine went well by following the product instructions. If you try them I would stick to premium quality, high-density bricks or logs. The low density stuff is poor fuel. It burns up quickly, expands like crazy and leaves a lot of ash.

Several years ago I posted my test results for BioBricks, NIELs and HomeFire Prest Logs in the wiki section:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/fuels/

 

[mellow]

Don't stuff your stove full of them, start out small and figure out how many you can put in at a time and not have a nuclear meltdown. I mix in some underseasoned wood in with mine and that seems to help.

 

[begreen]

For sure with high-density pressed logs you want to start off with a small amount, 2-3 will provide a lot of heat. BioBricks are supposed to be used in quantity as a stacked wall with minimal air space between them. That slows combustion and provides a long burn. There's no harm in using 2 or 3, especially if you are trying to help poorly seasoned wood burn better, but the advantages of a long burn will be missed.
http://originalbiobricks.com/howtoburn

This shot is with 13 bricks loaded in a F400. Max stove temp was 650F. Fire results are here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/biobricks/
https://www.hearth.com/images/uploads/index-2.jpeg

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Thanks for all the great replies! I can't find anywhere online that sells these products. Any guidance? How about the RedStone variety from Tractor Supply?

 

[begreen]

I haven't made it to a Tractor Supply store yet to try them out. No idea. Maybe try a 6 pack and tell us what you think.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I just ordered seven bags of six of the RedStone Bricks. They have no additives and are compressed hardwood.

Our stove dealer has several locations throughout the region and I thought, 'what the heck, I'll call another location and see what they say'. The guy I talked to said you absolutely CAN burn additive free, solid wood blocks. He said, of course, just monitor the air supply and start with only one.

I'm going for it. Thanks for converting me!

 

[BrotherBart]

Stick to the small ones that come in the six pack. A few weeks ago I tried the large ones that come in a three pack. Terrible. Crumbly and fell apart soon after they started burning. I thought maybe I just got some that had been mis-handled but looked at the online reviews and found similar results. The small ones I tried before burned great.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

The ones I got are in a six pack. Looking forward to trying them.

 

[DAKSY]

According to the local Jotul rep, their stoves have not been tested to burn anything but cordwood.
If you burn BioBricks, or something similar, & your stove develops cracks or warpage (for WHATEVER reason),
you WILL void your warranty. If your stove is OUT of the warranty period, burn what you want.

 

[spirilis]

The redstone blocks worked fine for me on a reload. They are dusty, maybe a little crumbly, but my Madison didn't have any trouble burning them and it got good burn times out of it.

My advice: Burn wood briquettes (the generic term for all these products) all you want, but NEVER stack them up close to the burn tubes. Anything within 3 inches of the burn tubes, we'll say, should be something like kindling (softwoods or poplar or whatever) that coals poorly and only serves to quickly heat the baffle+burntube region up fast... then goes away. My experience with the Madison last month (hardly burned any wood this month) indicated that problems only occur when well-coaling fuel is close to the burntubes/baffle, that's when overfiring becomes all too easy.

 

[Fastdonzi]

I have used 6 of 6 packs from Tractor supply. I just used one or two at a time as filler during the not so cold Oct/Nov/Now December. Ive never burned any other type so I have nothing to compare them to. They seemed to do everything at the same rate as the wood I was burning at the time, maybe a touch faster. at about 3/4 of the burn I could reach in with the poker and it would fall apart. But before that it wouldnt flame any more or any less than the Oak or Hickory. I'm hoping to go get more this week. I'm off for 16 days so I'll have time

 

[FTG-05]

According to the local Jotul rep, their stoves have not been tested to burn anything but cordwood.
If you burn BioBricks, or something similar, & your stove develops cracks or warpage (for WHATEVER reason),
you WILL void your warranty. If your stove is OUT of the warranty period, burn what you want.

What does the OP's manual say?

 

[Dmitry]

I've used 3 tons of biobricks last winter. Superb product. My cat never had to be cleaned, very little creosote at the end of the season. I never ever gonna buy "seasoned " wood again.
Just don't stuff your stove full. One pack of biobricks at reload worked good for me .

 

[DAKSY]

What does the OP's manual say?

BURN SOLID, NATURAL WOOD FUEL ONLY. DO NOT BURN ANY OTHER FUEL.

 

[warbonnet]

Wood is wood. Burn them. The chicken littles here telling you not to burn them have no business giving advice on a forum. You can just as easy over fire a stove with cord wood. Also bricks are by far a better choice than wood thats too wet.

 

[Dmitry]

Wood is wood. Burn them. The chicken littles here telling you not to burn them have no business giving advice on a forum. You can just as easy over fire a stove with cord wood. Also bricks are by far a better choice than wood thats too wet.

I second that.
And by the end of the season with biobricks you gonna know what is clean efficient fire is , so next season you'd know what to expect from properly seasoned wood vs mediocre wood

 

[OhioBurner©]

Wood is wood. Burn them. The chicken littles here telling you not to burn them have no business giving advice on a forum. You can just as easy over fire a stove with cord wood. Also bricks are by far a better choice than wood thats too wet.

+2

Just start cautiously with a mix and just a few of them as you learn how they burn you can add some more.

My Jotul Rockland burned them fine, but with a full load you certainly had to pay attention and get the stove closed off on time. Not a whole lot different than stuffing it to the gills with good dry black locust though.



12 Redstone bricks in the Jotul C550

They increased my burn time compared to ash (not perfectly seasoned) by a good amount. Peaked out similar to BL but the last half of the cycle they didn't throw as much heat.

 

[begreen]

Problem with the internet is that no one knows who will be reading this thread in the future for information. In this case, the stove dealer was correct. Stove manufacturers see all kinds of fools running their stoves. They set strict rules so that the performance of the stove is predictable and safe. There is nothing chicken-little about advising people to follow the rules, especially if one is new to burning in a stove. Too many fools will half-read a thread like this here or on another site and then go out and buy a box of DuraFlames and torch their stoves. That will certainly void the warranty and could compromise their entire system. It is imprudent to advise a new burner to use compressed fuel. They need to learn how to burn properly first. Even then, one should proceed with care, especially if the stove is under warranty and one should never burn anything but a pure wood product.

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I really appreciate everyone's opinion on this matter. I totally understand the dealer because they are afraid someone inexperienced will over fire their stove with these blocks. It also makes sense to get a reputable compressed wood product and start off with one and monitor closely too see the results. I'm assuming I can't overfire my stove with just one mixed in with cordwood under close monitoring. There's clearly a lot of valuable experience on this forum and it's really good to hear what everyone has to say.

 

[mellow]

Are you guys getting ash buildup with yours? Seems I have to rake forward a mound of the "sawdust" left behind in the morning to burn it down before adding more.

 

[OhioBurner©]

It's been since last year since I burned them (Redstone) but I think they produced less ash then than the ash (wood) I was burning... but I can't recall with certainty. I plan on trying them out soon but I'm trying to learn my new stove a little better before I try them in it.

 

[FTG-05]

BURN SOLID, NATURAL WOOD FUEL ONLY. DO NOT BURN ANY OTHER FUEL.

It was a rhetorical question. I already gave it to the OP word-for-word from his manual in another thread. Rather than use it, he decided to open another thread without mentioning the most important thing: what does the manual say? That's pretty much all that matters.

If there are no binders, glue, wax, etc. etc. etc, it's just wood.