Briquettes for the furnace: composition, types, pros and cons

It is not only possible to use pellets and eurowood as fuel in ordinary stoves (stove stoves, bulleryan, Russian, etc.) and boilers, but, on the contrary, is only welcome. Still, the characteristics of Eurowood are much superior to those of ordinary firewood.

It is imperative to remember that the calorific value of euro wood is 4-5 times higher than that of ordinary firewood (natural moisture) and 2-3 times than that of kiln-dried firewood. Therefore, you need to lay briquettes following the above. If, for example, you used to heat your stove with ordinary wood, then it is advisable to put 2-3 times less briquettes in the firebox. So you will avoid quick burnout of firewood and accelerated (forced) heating and overheating of the oven walls.

The temperature of the walls of a Russian stove after the furnace is usually no more than 70C. In very rare cases, they heat up to 900C. With this in mind, the furnace is designed. But, if you often overheat the walls of the stove, then cracks will begin to form on them and you may have to completely sort out the stove masonry. Therefore, it is worth not shifting the firewood and, it is better to add fuel once again than to use a forced furnace, which can lead to the complete destruction of the furnace or even to a fire hazard. Before the firebox itself, it is imperative to clean the stove from old ash. If there is a blower, be sure to clean it too. After cleaning, you need to put some paper, wood chips, bark, cones - any material on the grate for a better ignition. Briquettes are already stacked on top. They should be laid neatly, but not tightly, so that there is room for air.

If the stove does not have space for lining additional fuel, be sure to leave a little space at the beginning, placing the briquettes at a distance of about 15-20 cm from the door. After that, we simply open the blower door, fix it, and set fire to the paper or other material that we put. The firebox needs to be closed, but the fire needs to be monitored from time to time. After the briquettes are burned out, you can put new ones. You should not stir up the wood during the combustion process, they themselves burn evenly and burn completely.

Recently, the trend of returning to old traditions has become more and more clear, at least in the household sphere. Every owner wants to have a stove or fireplace in his home, which he identifies with the hearth. The warmth, coziness and comfort that stoves and fireplaces can give us are incomparable with anything. In addition, in private houses, a heating system is often already established, therefore, a stove or fireplace is more of a decorative tool designed to bring peace, peace and joy.

To light a stove or fireplace, we can use ordinary firewood, or we can resort to the help of innovative fuels. In this article, we would like to talk about how to heat the stove with fuel briquettes, a modern alternative to classic firewood.

General information

Fuel briquettes, or as they are also called eurowood, are made from pressed natural materials, most often sawdust, sometimes peat or straw, rarely from seeds or nut shells. During the pressing process, most of the moisture comes out of the wood, which allows obtaining high calorific characteristics. Unlike firewood, whose maximum dryness is determined by 20% moisture, the same parameter for fuel briquettes is 8-9%.

The version of the briquettes can be different:

Eurobriquettes RUF - made exclusively by pressing without additional processing.
Eurobriquettes Nestro are compressed briquettes with a cylindrical shape, sometimes with a hole in the middle.
Pini-Cay Eurobriquettes are compressed sawdust fired with a gas-air mixture to create a more durable shape, which increases storage time and protection from moisture.

Kindling a bath

Euro briquettes are a universal fuel, they can be used to heat all types of furnaces and boilers. They can be used in outdoor grills and home fireplaces. At the same time, the consumption of fuel briquettes is always significantly less than that of ordinary firewood.

Many people are interested in whether it is possible to heat the stove with fuel briquettes if it is made of steel, an ordinary stove? This question is quite logical, since such stoves have restrictions on the calorific value of the fuel, you cannot heat a steel bath stove with black coal, which emits 4900 kcal / kg of heat. But in the case of Euro briquettes, less heat is released, which means that you can heat the stove in the bath with them.

For the bath, it is important not only the heat generated, but also the duration of the burning of wood or alternative fuel. The longer the wood burns with maximum heat release, the better for the sauna stove and the sauna itself.

It is not very easy to light fuel briquettes, the fire does not catch immediately, but after they catch fire, they will burn and smolder for a couple of hours, which is much longer than the combustion of ordinary firewood. Such a long combustion time of fuel briquettes is due to their high density and low moisture content.

A large amount of heat generated and a long burning time suggests that the consumption of fuel briquettes for heating a house is much less than that required for ordinary firewood.

Note that, according to the reviews of people, it is not necessary to completely fill the furnace of a sauna stove with euro-wood, so as not to quickly reach the maximum values of heat transfer.

An interesting point with Euro briquettes is the residues after their combustion. Possessing increased density characteristics, this fuel burns out almost completely, it does not leave a large amount of ash, only a small pile of ash. Ash from fuel blocks smells unpleasant, but is an excellent fertilizer.

When burning Euro briquettes, practically no smoke is emitted, which is very valuable for maintaining the cleanliness of furnaces, boilers, and chimneys. According to experts, the least amount of tar is in briquettes of linden fuel, therefore, when using such fuel, chimneys and boiler nozzles are the least affected.

Fuel briquettes are an excellent option for lighting a sauna in a black way. As we have already said, this fuel is environmentally friendly, it does not emit smoke, it gives enough heat, and phytoncides appear in the heated air, which have a beneficial effect on the human body and improve immunity. Using the same linden euro briquettes, you will feel how your body heals, inhaling the pleasant aromas of flowers, honey and trees.

Firewood or fuel briquettes

In order to fully appreciate the possibility of choice, in order to find out which option is better, it is necessary to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of fuel briquettes, since everything is approximately clear with wood.

So, the better than the usual Eurowood forest:

First of all, compressed sawdust has a higher density than wood, which means that the time of their burning is much longer, approximately 3-4 times. Since fuel briquettes burn for so long, direct fuel savings are evident.
At the same time, studying how fuel briquettes burn, I would certainly like to note that the heat transfer from their combustion is an order of magnitude higher, approximately 2 times. This is despite the fact that the intensity of the flame in the stove is mediocre.
Heat is released throughout the entire burning of the briquette in equal amounts, which is strikingly different from burning wood. Ordinary firewood flares up for a while, then gives out the maximum heat and dies out. The remaining coals are extinguished within 15-20 minutes, gradually reducing heat transfer.Euroblocks burn equally intensively throughout their service, while the coals burn for about an hour, giving off the same heat as a briquette just put into the furnace. For lovers of barbecue outdoors, this property of an alternative fuel is just a godsend. It is worth thinking about what to take for the barbecue as a flint: classic coals or a couple of briquettes of compressed sawdust.

Characteristic burning of coal from fuel briquettes

It is gratifying that after the combustion there is practically nothing left of the Euro briquettes. The amount of ash after combustion is equal to 1% of the total mass of the fuel block. Of course, such a residue cannot be compared with firewood, because 15-20% of coal and ash always remains after them.
Ash from fuel briquettes is not only natural, but also considered a good fertilizer, since it contains a large amount of potassium.
Like the best firewood, fuel briquettes practically do not emit smoke, pungent smell, and the fire from them is smooth, without sparks and splashes. You can calmly look at such a fire, control it, which is very good for security purposes. No soot is released, which means that the chimney does not require constant cleaning.
Naturally, the combustion of Euro briquettes does not emit any harmful substances for humans or the environment, since they are made from natural materials. Note that not all ordinary firewood is so safe, since damp wood may well have mold or mildew, which, when burned, form toxic smoke.
Having a small size and a long burning period, fuel briquettes are stored in smaller quantities than firewood. At the same time, they all have the same shape and size, which allows them to be folded nicely and neatly in one place. Of course, you can also make a beautiful woodpile out of ordinary firewood, but this is not so easy. But, on the contrary, it is easy to procure briquettes, not like fully chopping, sawing and chopping wood.
Let's add the fact that fuel briquettes for the stove do not exude as much garbage as ordinary firewood, from which there are chips, pieces of bark, crumbs and dust throughout the house.

Excerpt from the label of Euro briquettes

Fuel briquettes are created to save money, save everything from money to the space occupied by raw materials packages. The above criteria clearly show the better Euro briquettes, however, firewood also has its trump cards, which clearly indicate the shortcomings of this type of raw material:

Euro wood for a fireplace in most cases will be an excellent solution, but not always for a stove. The fact is that they emit less heat than ordinary firewood, which means that you cannot quickly warm up the room, you cannot heat the bath. It takes some time to heat a house with fuel briquettes to grapple with the fire properly.
Fuel briquettes are designed to be just fuel, and not to create a unique atmosphere of comfort and warmth. When burned, they do not emit crackling sounds characteristic of firewood. This crack is heard due to the fact that there is still moisture in ordinary firewood, while there is no moisture in Euro briquettes. (The moisture content of dried firewood is 20%, fuel briquettes 8-9%.) Therefore, to create a suitable environment, you will have to load ordinary firewood into the fireplace, which burns normally, and does not smolder intensely.
By the way, it is the low moisture content of fuel briquettes that can become a problem during their storage, since they crumble under poor storage conditions.
It is worth noting that the ash from the firewood has practically no smell, while the ash from the burnt briquettes, on the contrary, smells extremely unpleasant.
Depending on the quality of production, fuel briquettes can be both strong and very fragile, crumbling in the hands. Whereas from ordinary wood you always know what to expect.

Good to know: How the production of fuel briquettes is organized, the subtleties of business

Of course, these shortcomings cannot be called critical, but they should be taken into account when choosing a type of solid fuel for heating a house and kindling a bath.

House heating

For heating a house, fuel briquettes are perhaps ideal. The ability to light the stove once and maintain the fire and heat for a long time without additional throwing, allows us to speak about the good characteristics of Euro briquettes. Consider how to heat a brick stove with fuel briquettes within the house.

Of course, the pressed bricks will not immediately burn, so we will figure out how to ignite the fuel briquettes. It is quite simple to do this, the first thing to do is to put tree bark, wood chips, some dry newspapers into the oven, and on top of it, install alternative firewood. During kindling, while the chips are actively lighting up, adjust the blowing. As soon as the fire on the first briquettes started playing, the rest can be reported.

Another option is to heat the stove with fuel briquettes after the first batch of firewood has burned and decent coals have appeared. In such a furnace, quickly grab the fire on Euro briquettes.

Depending on the needs, we choose the tactics of filling the furnace with fuel:

If you fold the fuel briquettes loosely, at a short distance from each other, then the fire in the stove will be quite intense, there will be a lot of heat, which will allow you to quickly heat the house.
If you fold the alternative firewood tightly to each other, and cover the blowing, then the firewood will smolder for a longer time, which is perfect for heating a house at night. At the same time, the consumption of fuel briquettes per day will be several times less firewood.

To roughly understand how many Euro briquettes will be required for heating a house, several experiments should be carried out, each time figuring out this parameter in practice. There are too many nuances in this matter.

It is worth noting that fuel briquettes have a specific purpose - to create warmth, while firewood can be viewed in order to create a comfortable and cozy environment. For example, is it possible to heat the fireplace with fuel briquettes - well, of course, yes, but they will not create such an atmosphere as firewood with its pleasant crackling and uneven fire. By the way, the smell from burning wood is stronger and more pleasant.

In conclusion, I would like to say a little about the storage of Euro briquettes and compare it with the preparation and storage of firewood. Fuel briquettes are sold in separate packages wrapped in cellophane. In this state, they are not afraid of moisture, which means they can be put in a utility room, in an attic, in a basement or a shed. Euro briquettes look like bricks or tubes, all of the same shape, which is very convenient for storage. In addition, they take up much less space, since they will need several times less than firewood for the winter.

If we remember what difficulties await us when preparing firewood, there is room for thought when choosing the right fuel. Euro briquettes do not need to be sawed, chopped, stored and dried throughout the year, they are already ready for use.

Solid fuel stoves are used to heat a bathhouse or a summer residence in a private house. The most common fuels have long been wood and coal. But now more and more people are using their alternative - briquettes.

Briquettes are made from various wastes of wood production (sawdust), straw, peat, husk of seeds of cereal plants. With the help of a press and high pressure, small homogeneous particles are held together, then cut into rectangles or cylinders. The heat transfer of this type of fuel is much higher than that of conventional firewood.

Types of briquettes

Depending on the shape of the finished product, consumable raw materials and the technological process of production, there are several main types of pressed firewood:

Standard cylindrical and round briquettes

The simplest type of fuel extruded Euro wood in the form of compact cylinders with a length of 4 to 35 cm, a diameter of 5 to 10 cm. They are produced from sawdust and shavings using hydraulic or impact-mechanical pressing equipment at a pressure of over 450 bar.

Round products look no different from traditional firewood. The main advantages of such a material are the low cost and availability of raw materials, and the disadvantage is susceptibility to increased moisture and crumbling.

RUF briquettes (RUF)

Rectangular briquettes outwardly resemble compact bricks 7 × 9 × 15 cm of a light wood shade of low density - from 0.76 to 0.8 g / cubic meter. cm. RUF fuel material is produced using a hydraulic press at a pressure of 300 bar. The finished product has a special double-sided RUF marking and is intended for use in various types of solid fuel furnaces.

Distinctive characteristics of the material are high thermal conductivity, compactness, resistance to increased moisture, ease of storage and storage in the fuel chamber.

Briquettes PINI KAY

Pressed euro briquettes PINI KAY are made in the shape of a polyhedron with an inner cavity, therefore, they look like pencils without a rod. The inner hole contributes to the accumulation of a huge amount of heat during the combustion process.

Eurowood production is carried out from small sawdust using a screw press under a pressure of 1000 bar, which provides a high density of material in the range from 1.07 to 1.4 g / cc. see Additional heat treatment increases heat capacity and moisture resistance.

This material is ideal for kindling fireplaces, stoves and barbecues.

Briquettes Nestro (Nestro)

Fuel briquettes from Nestro sawdust are made in the form of cylinders, the length of which is 26 cm, diameter - 9 cm, density - from 1 to 1.16 g / cu. see They are made from wood chips or oak sawdust using a high-pressure impact mechanical press. Exposure to a high pressing temperature leads to melting of the raw material, as a result of which the finished product acquires the necessary strength and resistance to deformation.

Peat and coal briquettes

Fuel briquettes for the furnace are produced on the basis of coal and peat. They are made in the form of compact cylinders, designed for use in industrial solid fuel furnaces and boilers.

Peat and coal fuel material provides high temperature modes of combustion and increased ash content.

How to properly heat with briquettes?

To achieve maximum results, the stove should be properly heated with fuel briquettes.

Sauna oven

Heating a sauna room requires fuel, which not only generates a large amount of heat, but also burns out longer. This will ensure a stable temperature for a long time. These are the properties that briquettes have.

When firing up the stove and its firebox, you should adhere to the following tips:

thoroughly clean the furnace from ash and other fuel residues from the previous furnace;
put some wood chips, paper, bark or other flammable materials on the grate;
then put a small amount of Euro wood and light the firebox.

This type of fuel is very good for use in saunas. The smell of essential oils from environmentally friendly wood materials fills the entire room and has a beneficial effect on the health of visitors.

Furnace for home heating

It is convenient to use fuel briquettes for the stove in the house. They can be ignited and nothing else can be thrown over for a long time. There are two ways to ignite eurowood in a home oven:

The first one is similar to the ignition of fuel in a bath: briquetted fuel is placed on dry chips or paper. The fire is regulated by blowing.

Ignition with firewood

Ash from burning wood briquettes can be used as fertilizer in any garden plot.

After several fireboxes with briquettes, you will be able to assess their efficiency and find out the consumption. In the future, you can compare the number of required briquettes and the amount of firewood for heating your particular house.

What kind of stoves can be fired with briquettes?

Briquettes are distinguished by their versatility. They can be used in all types of ovens, including brick ovens. They emit about four and a half kcal per kg, which is quite acceptable for a heating device with refractory bricks. The main advantage of briquettes in comparison with ordinary logs is that they burn out several times slower.

Such fuel is economical and cheap. Regular logs need to be sawed, chopped, trimmed and dried. And Eurowood does not require long-term procurement: it is enough to purchase and store them in a dry room in a film or original packaging.

The fact that the fuel burns slowly is a disadvantage in some rooms. It will take several hours to warm up the house in winter. The heat from such fuel is much less. And after the briquettes are burned, the ash has a characteristic pungent smell.

Advantages and disadvantages of using for heating

Positive properties of Euro wood in comparison with ordinary wood:

The scheme of pressing fuel briquettes from soaked paper pulp
High combustion temperature, almost 2 times more. Heat transfer from wood is about 2500-2700 kcal / kg, and eurowood gives about 4500-4900 kcal / kg.
Low degree of humidity. The smaller it is, the greater the heat transfer rate. For firewood, subject to proper storage, it is within 15-20%, and for briquettes - 4-8%.
High density - 0.95-1 g / cm3. For example, oak logs with a density of 0.81 g / cm3 burn much hotter than poplar with a density of 0.4 g / cm3.

The positive qualities of Eurodrops include:

Doesn't take up much space.
They do not harm the environment as they are produced from waste.
They smolder much longer, and most importantly they burn out evenly.
Low soot count and less polluted smoke passage due to the dryness of the material.

The disadvantages include:

Price. Initially, it seems that the cost of briquettes is much higher than firewood. But if you calculate the price per unit of heat, which is obtained, the difference will not be so big.
Moisture instability. Briquettes need a closed storage area with good ventilation, as the damp material quickly disintegrates.
Marriage. Unfortunately, there are bad briquettes that are made from soft, rotten, very old, low-quality, and chemically treated wood species. They significantly affect the quality of the material.

Output

Thanks to modern technologies, we can use an alternative fuel - briquettes. These are compressed particles of various materials. The most common are sawdust briquettes, but a similar product can be purchased from straw, peat or coal.

With the help of fuel briquettes, you can heat a bathhouse, a summer cottage and a private house. Their main advantages are environmental friendliness and high heat transfer at an affordable price. The disadvantages include the long time it takes to ignite the fuel, and uncharacteristic firewood, a pungent smell of ash.

Which briquettes are better to use?

Different types of briquettes have different calorific value. This feature should be taken into account when choosing a product, because it is the most important. Sawdust briquettes are considered the best option.

These fuel briquettes are better for a stove in a house, bathhouse, cottage or other room. They have high heat transfer, burn for a long time, leave little ash, are convenient to use and transport, and do not pollute the air.

Seed and softwood husk briquettes also have good performance, but due to the presence of oils, they pollute the chimney.As a result, the heating device will require frequent cleaning.

Please pay attention to the structure and moisture content of the product before purchasing. If it deforms or crumbles when pressed, it is better to refuse such a purchase. And high humidity reduces the thermal efficiency of the product. Give preference to Pini-kay fuel. It has maximum density, burns smoother and longer.