Anybody ever try 'em? Those compressed sawdust blocks. A dealer near me has a few. The big 10x4 ones are 85 cents loose, a pallet of the 3 pack big ones are $280, and a 6 pack of the small ones 6x2 are 4.00. I was going to get a few just to see what they're like. JS
I've read where several have used them and have heard nothing bad about them. They can help some folks get through if their wood is not too good. btw, welcome to the forum Joe.
A friend of mine burns only those. He doesnt want to deal with looking for wood, splitting, cutting, and the mess. They love them and they burn really good.
I picked up a package of those kind of blocks at the Tractor supply store last year, just to try them out. They burned hot and clean but they don't coal like wood splits do. I didn't have enough of them to really run The stove long enough to get more of a feel for them.
About equal to paying $420 for a cord of wood. I guess it'd be ok for a "romantic fire" but as for actually heating the house to save money, may as well turn on the oil burner!
I bought a few packages of whatever variety Menards carries a couple seasons ago. They weren't Envi brand but the same concept. They burned good and my wife didn't mind throwing a couple extra in the stove now and then.
Over the last 2 years I have burned 4 different brands and I kinda like them. I always used almost a full load of wood, then replaced one stick of wood, with 2 of these. Because the Moisture level is lower than firewood can get? It allows me to shut the air down sooner and close it further than with standard wood. The Secondaries go off like crazy (secret confession: Most of my crazy secondary vidoes, have 2 or 3 of these in the stove) And give me slightly better burn times because the air is closed a little more. A win-win.. I am actually thinking about purchasing a ton when I buy my pellets this year. Just because of how it makes my NC-30 react. And because it doesn't coal up like wood, that space where the 2 were, normally burn down to nothing. Which lowers the cooling level when running it hard. How do you figure that it's $420 a cord? A skid is equal to a cord of wood, IIRC (BTU value). You are probably gonna ask how can a skid equal a 4'x4'x8' cord of wood? Moisture content. The lower the MC, the more BTU you get out of a load. And a skid is about $175 around here. And even at $420 a cord? Some people still spend more in oil/LP/electric to heat? To go through an average of 3-4 cord @ $420 a cord? Still cheaper than the $3,600-$3,800 a year in LP I was using.
This isn't a personal argument. The OP asked about a product and I gave my thoughts. That's all. The OP said the pallet was $280. A pallet is 2000lbs. The company website says the blocks are 8000btu a lb. So 16,000,000btu on a pallet. Figure a cord of wood (at least here) at 23,600,000. That's roughly 1.5 more. Therefore at $280 it would cost $420 to equal the BTUs in a cord of wood. I never said it would be more than another fuel source. I just said the thermostat is looking alot nicer. I looked into a press setup off my little splitter to make the blocks but it seemed that I wouldn't be able to put enough pressure for the block to hold up. I end up with a bunch of sawdust! The bin off my processor is 4x8ft, 4ft tall, around 4.5 yards, and it will fill up in 2-3 days of cutting.
Yeah I never head anything bad either. Just a little pricey so I can't see me going to them full time. Besides I have 3 cords drying out that is much cheaper. Thanks for the welcome.
Joe, it sounds like this might work out very well for you along with those 3 cord of wood. Mix some blocks in with the wood and one may very well help the other. Good luck.
That's what I was wondering. Even if I spend $40 I could get 10 packs of big ones which would give me 30 blocks. If they turn out to work really well I may get 1/2 a pallet or so
Joe, it just came to me and I think Pallet Pete burned some of those and he too liked them. I don't think he used any alone but always with some wood. I do remember him saying the cost was not bad. Hopefully he'll find this thread and comment but I know he has some health issues right now so his time on the board might be short.
Calling @Pallet Pete I only used wood as well and as I said above, I loved them. Instead of 8 splits, I would use 7 splits and 2 blocks in one of the split place. The most I ever used was 4? But Whoa! Did that get the secondaries going! ! ! I mainly stuck with just 2. A trail pack was like 25 packs (8 to a pack). So if you only used 2 per load (2 loads a day), that's 50 days worth. I honestly think I am gonna get a skid. Due to my Sciatica last Summer (I didn't know how to deal with it) I didn't cut any. I fell behind. I gave away a lot of wood to the Boy Scouts and my family. Now I am only 2 years ahead. But the wood I have for this year is 4 year old Oak (saved from the very 1st year I started to burn) 3 year old Hickory and ash. Next year it will only be 2 year old ash, maple, and black Walnut.. I need to get to cuttin...
JS I used a big pile of them few years back. We walked into TSC and they had them for $1.25 a 3 pack. We ended up with almost a full skid for less than that even. It was around $120 if I remember right. Any whoo. They are not bad if you mix one or two in the fireplace for a longer burn. Or Jotul with 2 blocks and 4 or 5 splits would hit around 15hrs and still have a major coal bed left... That said the bigger blocks are not all that good in my experience the smaller are the better of the two. There is a LOT of ash produced that needs to be kept up with from the blocks as well. All in all they are good but unless its a big steal I wouldn't buy them again. One big issue is the heat output from the blocks.... If you load only blocks you WILL have warped something at the end of the season as they are super dry the heat involved in making them. With wood its not an issue you will never have too dry of wood due to relative humidity however blocks are not subject to that so you will easily overload and not realize it. Mixing them with wood solves that problem nicely....
To put the burn time in perspective we can load our stove at 4:30 AM then go to work and when we get home at 6PM it still has enough coal to relight it again. The blocks extended that so it was still producing usable heat around 200F after 15 hrs of burn time. This was with some pretty dry wood too around 14% MC mixed with the blocks which where 4% MC on the label.
Thanks PP, that wold be awesome for me to keep the stove going overnight so I wouldn't have to get up at 3 AM to reload. I knew there was also an issue of possible overfiring, I just wasn't aware how much it took. I still just might try a few
