Wood Briquettes vs Logs


 
wood briquettes vs logs

Are you trying to decide between wood briquettes vs logs?

Here we explain the difference between wood briquettes vs logs. Sourcing dry wood fuel at an affordable price can be hard – and getting good advice can be even more difficult. We’ve been burning wood fuel for many years and are dedicated to helping you find the best product for your stove.

As an indication of our preference, we have seven members of staff working at the Wood Fuel Co-op. We all have a choice between wood briquettes and logs and none of us would ever go back to burning logs!

Wood briquettes are much hotter, cleaner, longer burning and more economical than traditional logs. This isn’t a subjective opinion; the impressiveness of briquettes comes down to pure physics. A dry, dense briquette has better burning properties than a traditional log, and the choice available means there’s something for everyone. Briquettes also recycle a pure wood waste product, which means less going to landfill. It also means that trees are not having to be felled specifically to make firewood.

Now that Ready To Burn legislation prevents wet wood from being sold, briquettes are more convenient than ever. That’s because they’re dry and consistent.

Briquettes

  • Compact, dense, dry and clean
  • Consistent in size, weight, moisture content and burn time
  • Easy to handle, stack and store
  • Made from recycled waste wood
  • Available in a variety of types with different burning characteristics
  • Guaranteed to produce more heat for less money than logs

Traditional Logs

  • Widely available as new-felled, semi-seasoned, seasoned or kiln-dried
  • Variable sizes, moisture content, density and burning characteristics
  • Damaging to biodiversity if felled specifically for burning
  • Becoming more difficult and expensive to source dry logs
  • Lower calorific value (c.4,000kWh/t) than briquettes (c.5,000kWh/t)
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Quick guide to choosing the best Wood Fuel for your stove and lifestyle.

Wood Fuel Co-operative
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*Break - We strongly recommend you break these briquettes in half (or less for very small stoves) because they do expand whilst burning and you don't want them to overfill the fire.
*Easy to light - We always use a Firelighter and Kindling Sticks to start our fires. Most briquettes are graded four stars to light because they are quite dense and require kindling.

Notes:

  • All stove and flue combinations tend to have different burning characteristics. Fuel that works well in my stove may not work so well in your stove, and vice-versa.
  • Most modern stoves are more efficient than most older stoves, meaning a modern quality stove will burn fuel more economically and generate more heat over a longer period.
  • Always try to burn fuel with a 'lick of flame'. Smouldering fuel to try to extend burn time is bad for your stove, flue and the environment due to unburned particulate matter in the smoke.
  • Be prepared to break briquettes into smaller sections to fit into your stove comfortably. Many briquettes do expand whilst burning and you don't want them to expand onto the glass.
  • The chart above indicates which briquettes are easy to break. Some are small enough so they don't need breaking. This makes for a cleaner environment around your stove.
  • All briquettes, except Everyday Value and Hotmax, benefit hugely from using kindling to light them. I suggest five kindling sticks will be sufficient, meaning a net should last 30 days.