Would you spend $350 for a pallet of 240 logs? They are supposed to equate to 1.5 -2 cord of "seasoned wood", but the retail cost seems off-putting to me. And, that's what I'd have to retail them at, 'cause the shipping is a killer right now. I will say the three samples I burned were great, 10 hrs. of good heat off of 3 logs, and a pallet will store in a far smaller space than cord wood, would. I know you burners will say "Meh..", but what about the people you know that don't hoard? Do you think they'd go for this?
(A cord of wood goes for about $120-140 here.) That's sounds a little high, but if you need it... you know for sure it's dry enough.... How much are pellets by the ton/or cord equivalent?
Local pellet plant sells a ton of pellets for $185 for locals, retails them for a bit more. Cord wood goes for $150- $175 delivered within 30 miles usually.
I see a cord of birch advertised for $350 But then, shipping to here , a killer. For those who need seasoned wood & have limited storage Might be a reasonable price. Do they have a BTU spec? Weight for pellets , BTU is near 7600 / pound Weight of the log?
I ran the numbers out of curiosity. I know with pellets it's about 1.5 tons to a cord, so one would expect about the same with these logs. Pellets are about 8000 BTU a lb. From the pressed log site, each log is about 68,000 BTU and weighs about 8lbs, or about 8500 BTU a lb. A pallet is 240 logs. 240x68k is only about 16,230,000 BTUs.... close to the same as pellets. Firewood would need to be about $500/cord for the pressed logs to be a better buy. I'm sure some folks would buy those logs, but I don't know about buying it by the ton as a replacement for firewood. Would be better off to get a pellet stove.
Yeah, they're not cost effective compared to cord wood but if you're in a bind with so-so wood rather than mix in eco logs or bio bricks I'd prefer to mix in these NEIL's, I think they're more cost effective compared to other compressed products. Then again they're more cost affective compared to oil.
Most people that don't have a good supply of seasoned wood probably don't know or care about the benefits of seasoned wood. They will just buy whatever is cheaper. The people that know the difference will crunch numbers and do a cost benefit analysis on what they should do.
Last fall I took a load of wood up to the future in-laws. They don't want to buy propane because of the cost and the wood that I delivered might not be enough for all winter. A load of bio bricks might be the answer compared to a load of unseasoned wood from the local yahoo dealer or their idiot son that would drop off freshly cut maple and charge them money for it.
One important thing is they meet the seasoned & dry requirement. That has value ! If you buy them in the summer, is the price reduced ? $$ FIRE LOG SALE $$
No summer reduction here, in fact once they're out of them, whenever that may be April or so they don't reorder until Fall. I usually buy 30-35 logs a year, they're nice to put a couple in the stove on the frigid nights to keep the temp up longer, I do notice a difference just burning two with a regular load.
Sorry it's taken this long for a reply...- I'm not looking to buy these, I'm looking at selling them. Sure, I'd love to have a pallet or two on hand, but that's not what this is about. I'm looking to retail these to the Vacation home owners, the folks with a 2nd or 3rd home in the Mtn.'s. The Condo owners who rent out to out-of-state visitors. These store in a relatively small area, produce good heat and a decent flame show. But... For the cost?... I just don't know if it's worth pursuing.
I think there's market for them Beetle, I don't think the folks here are typical, we most all love cutting and splitting our own wood. The place near me that retails the NEIL's sells a ton of them. I personally have been to homes where people burn these in their fireplace as they burn a long time and there's no mess.
weatherguy, thanks. I agree, the folks here aren't typical. I think most of us are in the "abby- normal" category. (loved Abby, great girl) I like these things, just going to have to figure out a way to create a demand.
It looks like this thread is a bit old, but I have some experience with the North Idaho Energy Logs that I'd like to share. This is my first winter in a new place in central Mass and I decided to give the energy logs a try. The house I have was built in 1850 and it is made of brick. It is also huge; around 4,500 sq. ft. The heating systems are: Two steam boilers, one wood and the other is oil, connected via a "Hartford Loop". A cast iron Waterford wood stove A fireplace A propane heater The former owner told me that they consumed 14 cords of wood each winter, as well as using oil and propane. Being new to the area and not wanting to take a chance on sourcing firewood without having some references, the energy logs seemed like a good alternative. The site indicates a pallet of energy logs has the heating capacity of 1.5 - 2.0 cords of wood. I decided to go with 11 pallets which would supposedly give me the heating capacity of at least 16.5 cords of wood. Everything on the North Idaho Energy Logs - Energy Logs site may be true with respect to heat output, however there is no indication of burn time. My experience burning them has not been good. The logs do burn fine and they do produce quite a lot of heat. The problem is they do not last very long at all. I have read where some folks are saying they have had two logs burn for 10 hours. I have tried burning two logs in my wood boiler, in my wood stove, and in my fireplace. In no case have I had two logs last more than 3.5 hours. I have tried burning more than 2 logs in my wood boiler, but adding more logs does nothing to increase the burn time. It only increases the amount of heat produced for the same amount of time. I considered that it might be that the logs need to be stacked more tightly, so I tried putting 10 into my wood boiler. They were still gone in around 3 hours. In order for my wood boiler to operate where I need it, I burn at least 3 logs at a time. At the rate these logs burn my 11 pallets of energy logs will be completely gone by the end of January and, to add insult to injury, will have cost me far more than 14 cords of firewood. If someone has the secret to making these energy logs burn longer besides mixing them with seasoned firewood (which I doubt would change anything), I'd sure appreciate knowing it!!
My first guess is getting more burn time takes better air control. Can you cut the air back? Damp the flue down? If you can close the flue it should hold the heat in the firebox longer
Thanks Tim. I am limited with what I am able to do with my wood boiler, but I will look more closely. With my wood burning stove I do have the ability to dampen and it seems to be the only way I can get closer to 3.5 hours for two logs. If I do not dampen the woodstove, the logs are closer to 2 or 2.5 hours.
This is probably the biggest problem with fireplaces. You can get a rip roaring fire and the heat goes straight up the flue and sucks cold air into the rest of the house.
Indeed, that is the likely case with my fireplace. I think the best case senario is in my cast iron Waterford wood stove. Even with the flue dampened and the air vent closed I am lucky to get 3.5 hours for a pair of energy logs. Due to the age and draftiness of my house, I expect it to take a lot to heat it, but consuming 50-60 of these logs per day is not really cost effective.
jeffery7 welcome to the land of BTU's. Hope you can get ahead on some all natural cord wood to get some better burn times.
This would be where my first improvement would be. An efficient insert in the fireplace would save you a lot of time, money and sanity The ROI here would be well worth it Better control more heat less wood = less work. sourcing wood, processing, c/s/s and carrying
