So a guy saw me stacking some logs earlier and pulled over and gave me a sample bag of these things – he seems legit, marked truck and biz card – now wondering what to do with them.

We have a multifuel stove, do I just use these things (they’re about 2 inch long cylinders – bag is mega heavy) in place of regular wood then? Anything to watch out for?

Will be off to Google shortly to find out more but thought I’d ask here first given the forum’s form on such matters 🙂

do they taste of horse?

Nay.

Think the ones we used were Durham heat logs… They were a swine to get lit but burned hot and reasonably long once they were going. Not as good as the real thing but a reasonable substitute.

maccruiskeen – Member

do they taste of horse?

You don’t mix wood with horse- you put lamb in it.

What make / brand are they? I’ve used some UK Heat Logs LINK THING before to start the stove before putting oak on for the long burn. The ones I used were good. Decent amount of heat and burned reasonable slowly.

Just burn them, if you don’t want them.

What make / brand are they?

Hard to say, I could post the link to their (unfinished, by the looks of it) website but don’t want to be accused of spamming!

From your link they look similar to these ones to be honest, cylindrical maybe 10cm diameter, couple of inches long.

Edit: yes, burning them might be a good idea I quite agree 😯

Do they have lego-ish dents on the end? That was my favourite bit, you could built wobbly fire-structures.

Ive been using sawdust briquettes for the last month. I have found a local carpenter/joiner source who sells them arguably too cheaply.

Mine are around 3% moisture which equates (before efficiency losses) to over 5kWh/Kg. I pay £50 for around 400Kg in a builder’s bag. That works out at around 2.5p/kWh before losses. I cant get any other fuel that cheaply. It’s a bargin even if I have to fetch them myself in the trailer and then re-bag them into Ikea bags when I get home.

However, if you buy branded “Heatlogs” then they can cost over 20p/kWh for a 10Kg bag, down to 12p/kWh for half a ton on a pallet.

Mine are made from joinery waste. The sawdust/chippings are fed into a hopper from which they fall into an automated hydraulic press. The lignin in wood will act as a binder at high pressure so there’s no additives. The logs are highly hydrophilic and will suck moisture out of the air so MUST NOT be kept in the garage. Mine live in the boiler room – warm and dry. When damp they “blow” and fragment into soggy dust again. They light fairly easily with just paper and cardboard, but need a draw to get going. Once properly lit they swell so dont over fill. I use mine in the furnace, but I have also tried them successfully in the wood burner, but you MUST shut down all the air once they are lit otherwise they disappear in a burst of heat. They can go from “glowing” to cold ash while your back is turned so dont let them go down too far before adding more fuel – they dont linger like a log that can be got going again.

Always calculate the net energy cost of any fuel before going for it. You’d be surprised at the range of difference from coal to smokeless fuel to wet logs to dry logs to pellets etc etc. Prices for nets, bags, buckets, pallets and trailer loads vary enormously. You can get stung or get a bargin.

Cheers Stoner that is great info: “Like”

One thing…

but you MUST shut down all the air once they are lit

…do you mean ALL the air? We have four dials, two at the top and two at the bottom, the bottom ones get shut off once roaring away, the top ones never fully shut once going, surely they need air from somewhere?

Thanks again.

The heatlogs I posted are available from a local pound market warehouse place. They are priced at £3.99 for 10kg. Just before Xmas they were on offer for 3 packs for £10. Still not as cheap as other sourced wood, but I only used them to start the stove. They are good for instant intense heat.

Air will still get in unless you have an amazing wood burner that’s airtight like a space station. It doesnt take much oxygen to maintain a steady full burn. If you shut it down watch the flames become more laminar, less trubulent, and more flowy. You get much better efficiency IMO like that and far less ash.

10Kg = say, 50kWh, which at £4 = 12.5p/kWh.

leaving the kettle on is probably cheaper 😉

just found a pic of a burn of those briquettes

Best floor sweepings I ever used were from the generator shed of a previous house. Well soaked in oil and diesel, chuck a shovel load of them on a stack of wood in the burner, then simultaneously, flick lit match in and shut the doors quick. Very intense heat.

Your floor sweepings are probably less hazardous.

Excellent info, thanks all. Will evaluate at some stage!

Always calculate the net energy cost of any fuel before going for it. You’d be surprised at the range of difference from coal to smokeless fuel to wet logs to dry logs to pellets etc etc. Prices for nets, bags, buckets, pallets and trailer loads vary enormously. You can get stung or get a bargin.

What is this crazy talk, Stoner? You’ll be suggesting that people look at through ife cost and other mad long term factors next! 😀 Consume consume!