EcoBricks - my small testing of them

[mooseracing]

http://ecobrick.net/

Eco Bricks are environmentally friendly, additive free pressed kiln dried hardwood sawdust bricks used for home heating fuel in wood burning stoves, wood burning fireplaces, outdoor fire pits, etc.
Clean storage, cost effective
Burns longer than cordwood
BTUs and retail cost of 1- 42"x42"x48" skid Eco Bricks =
1-48"x48"x96" cord of well seasoned fire wood.

I seen the advertisement for them in TSC, new product and $2.99 for a stack of 8 of their bricks. Price is back up to $3.99.

I went into this looking for a supplement to my wood and also to improve my overnight burning. I am using a Napoleon wood burner designed for heating 1800-2000 sq ft. My house is a 120 yr old house, not sure on wall insulation but I know the attics are the old cellulose ground up paper looking. The house is only around 1700 sqft, but because of insulation the wood stove has it's work cut out. Last winter I got real tired of waiting until as late as I could to feed the fire, then presented with little ambers in the morning. Usually fed around 9-10pm and woke up at 6am.

I tried 2 bricks with some logs during the day, I just wanted to see how they burned in comparision. Everything looked good and they lasted longer than the pieces of wood in there.

So I stuffed the 6 remaining Ecobricks in at night, along with about 3-4 pieces of wood to fille the remaining space. Again this is my plan in the long run, except I will probably only want to use 2 or 3. So I fed the stove at 10pm woke up a few times at night because I was sweating and had to turn on the fan higher, never had that issue with our fireplace before. Finally got up at 8am and was pleasently suprised. Very nice glowing coals left, about what a small log would look like after 4 hours or so. So I stuck in 4 logs and away I went to doing my things this morning.

So far so good. Ash wise I would say the difference is small but the ashes are alot finer. Also one of these little logs are definately heavier than that of a dry piece of oak or cherry of the same size or mildy larger.


Cliffs - burns longer, less ash, also more BTU's in the house, will purchase and use again.

edit: Yes I hate the stupid green name.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Oh, that's painful! The idea of paying for wood to burn....



Look into top-down burning. I get a few more hours of burn time this way. You might find you don't need to shell out the bucks for those eco bricks.

 

[USMC0802]

Interesting. I saw these or something similar and was curious how they'd burn.

 

[Blowncrewcab]

(just asking) how do you start a top down fire when there's already coals in the bed? I'd like to do top down but only see it working when the fire goes out.

 

[USMC0802]

(just asking) how do you start a top down fire when there's already coals in the bed? I'd like to do top down but only see it working when the fire goes out.

Top down reload? Rake all the coals to the front, reload starting in the rear of the firebox, shovel coals on top of reload. Just a guess as I'm new to the top down burn.

 

[Rudedog]

Oh, that's painful! The idea of paying for wood to burn....

I am dumbfounded.

 

[laynes69]

Top down reload? Rake all the coals to the front, reload starting in the rear of the firebox, shovel coals on top of reload. Just a guess as I'm new to the top down burn.

You don't want to do this. The ideal reload is to pull your coals to the front of the stove where the primary air hits them. Then you load your wood either N/S, or E/W depending on the stove. The splits will then catch from the hot coals in front. As the fire then burns, it should burn from the front to back. This will give you the longest burns, while producing alot of heat. I always wake to a good bed of coals in the rear of the furnace, with ash in the front of the firebox where primary air hits. I shovel out a couple times, rake the coals forward and reload and away I go. Works every time.

 

[USMC0802]

I am dumbfounded.

Not even paying for wood, pressed wood chips and saw dust.

You don't want to do this. The ideal reload is to pull your coals to the front of the stove where the primary air hits them. Then you load your wood either N/S, or E/W depending on the stove. The splits will then catch from the hot coals in front. As the fire then burns, it should burn from the front to back. This will give you the longest burns, while producing alot of heat. I always wake to a good bed of coals in the rear of the furnace, with ash in the front of the firebox where primary air hits. I shovel out a couple times, rake the coals forward and reload and away I go. Works every time.

I've seen that method as well, but I've been trying to figure out how to continue the use of the top down burn other than just starting the fire. It seems most of the time you would have your fire already started before going to bed and the question is how to maintain the fire. I read about the top down burn suggestion, but have not seen how that benefits an overnight burn.

 

[laynes69]

Top down refers to starting a fire only. Not for a reload.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

We move the good embers to one side, take out a dust-pan full of ash (one of those standard size steel shop pans), and then load from the other side. We pack the wood fairly tightly, and when we get over to where the embers are, they get shoveled up to the top of the pile on the other side, where we started loading. Then finish loading. (This is a front loader. No ash tray.)


No worry about kindling, etc., unless you let it burn down too far. Gets the fire going just fine.

I guess I get more burn time because I can load more wood this way. I don't have to leave room for kindling and I stack it a bit higher. Or maybe because I actually have a smaller fire burning hotter. Chimney is cleaner, too. The smaller fire works better for me, as I have a Grandpa Bear Fisher which is oversize for my house. I used to run it pretty well damped down, but this way I can open it up and get a cleaner burn.

Works for me!

 

[Rudedog]

You don't want to do this. The ideal reload is to pull your coals to the front of the stove where the primary air hits them. Then you load your wood either N/S, or E/W depending on the stove. The splits will then catch from the hot coals in front. As the fire then burns, it should burn from the front to back. This will give you the longest burns, while producing alot of heat. I always wake to a good bed of coals in the rear of the furnace, with ash in the front of the firebox where primary air hits. I shovel out a couple times, rake the coals forward and reload and away I go. Works every time.

Thanks for the information. This is very helpful as was BlueRidgeMarks post..

 

[USMC0802]

We move the good embers to one side, take out a dust-pan full of ash (one of those standard size steel shop pans), and then load from the other side. We pack the wood fairly tightly, and when we get over to where the embers are, they get shoveled up to the top of the pile on the other side, where we started loading. Then finish loading. (This is a front loader. No ash tray.)


No worry about kindling, etc., unless you let it burn down too far. Gets the fire going just fine.

I guess I get more burn time because I can load more wood this way. I don't have to leave room for kindling and I stack it a bit higher. Or maybe because I actually have a smaller fire burning hotter. Chimney is cleaner, too. The smaller fire works better for me, as I have a Grandpa Bear Fisher which is oversize for my house. I used to run it pretty well damped down, but this way I can open it up and get a cleaner burn.

Works for me!

So you can use the coals piled on top of freshly loaded wood to continue the top down burn process. I'm wondering how similar the burns would be (mainly burn time) doing the "traditional" coals to the front, wood to the rear vs top down with coals on top.

 

[mooseracing]

Oh, that's painful! The idea of paying for wood to burn....

I am dumbfounded.

Not even paying for wood, pressed wood chips and saw dust.

Wheres the damn flip off smiley

I try not to think about all the gas that goes into my saws, tractor, borrowing a splitter, vehicle, and such. And worst case if I purchase them and used them as planned, we are talking at most 24wks of $4 per week for a bundle of them. So $50 a burning season isn't much for the added convenience and extra BTU they provide.


I really don't like my stove as I think it is too small, but I was used to my parents Lopi that can fit 24" logs and stack a little higher inside. I can only fit 16's in mine and barely 2 rows high. I also am trying to get used to a EPA stove after growing up with that Lopi. But it's going to be a long while before I get a new one, hopefully I will have some bigger saws before that

 

[rick2752]

Are you splitting all your wood? What I usually do to get a good overnight burn is throw a couple of logs that arent split in, and are as big around as the stove will hold. You said it will hold 2 rows high, put one log in that is unsplit and will barely fit in the door, put 2 big rounds in if you can. After that fill the gaps in with splits or smaller pieces. Give it a try.

 

[goanin]

Are you splitting all your wood? What I usually do to get a good overnight burn is throw a couple of logs that arent split in, and are as big around as the stove will hold. You said it will hold 2 rows high, put one log in that is unsplit and will barely fit in the door, put 2 big rounds in if you can. After that fill the gaps in with splits or smaller pieces. Give it a try.

wouldn't that create too much smoke at first?

 

[mooseracing]

Are you splitting all your wood?

Don't have a choice if I want to fill it. I'm thinking it is 8-10" tall at the most in the back. Everything is split unless it is under 4". And most of that stuff is used as filler in the gaps if it is that small.

 

[Rudedog]

Wheres the damn flip off smiley

Sorry, it was meant with love. But it did kind of remind me of my wife "Going deer hunting" and coming up from the basement freezer with a packaged 5lbs roast in hand. No sport.

 

[electiccottage]

I figured I'd just revive this thread rather than create a new one. We just bought our house and have to reply on bought wood this year, since we didn't have a season here yet for splitting and seasoning. We tried three suppliers and while one isn't bad (splits are good size, price is reasonable), none of the wood is really dry. One was really bad, we set it up with the lot we split this year to season for next year! Since our winter DD can't haul more than maybe 1/2 face cord at best, we are limited to who we can get wood from, and there's not a lot of options in our area. AND we have no wood shed, so we only have an extra addition to store the wood in (no garage yet either) so even if we found a good seller, we couldn't "stock up" too much.

SO....enter ecobricks.

We had to get them at full price. Bummer. BUT they burn hotter and longer than the wood we've got. We stopped using them at night for now because it gets too hot to sleep, lol (680 sq ft house, wood only heat for now, built as a summer cottage with some attic insulation, Lopi Republic 1750 FS stove). We will use them for day long burns on colder days when we want to be sure to have a good hot coal bed when we get home. We are gone about 10-11 hours, and there's no way with our current wood source to do that-plus they seem to smoke less dampered all the way down than the wood. And they do stack nice since they are in wrapped rectangles, so it's easier when you're space is limited. I would hate to use them exclusively though, pretty $$$. Especially since we've got several cords of free stuff seasoning right now....but we'll probably buy some more for next year to keep on hand when they go on sale regardless. Can't hurt, especially if we get an extended cold snap that runs through more wood than we estimated we would need,

I would say these are a great option for someone without access to well seasoned dry wood, or to suppliment a scare supply.

 

[grandnational]

I've used them before just to experiment...

they do last 8-10 hours and do throw exceptional heat...

however, they cost some serious $, considering I heat w/ wood to save on $3.50/gal heating oil.

The bummer is that the brand we get here "BIOBricks" are made in my hometown (Berlin, CT), and you can't buy direct from the manufacturer. I would gladly take the "seconds" or broken ones for a discount...

You really pay for the convenience

 

[Dalmatian90]

AND we have no wood shed, so we only have an extra addition to store the wood in

Pallets stacked two high on the ground and a tarp over the very top of the wood stores it darn well. Don't want the tarp to go down the sides much if at all in order to let the sides breath and keep humidity from being trapped under it.