As posted on January 21, 2009, we’ve been using bear bricks as our sole source of wood fuel since that same day. In 22 days we have used 30 individual trays of bear bricks. that’s 360 total bricks, or approximately 1.3 trays per day.

martin wood storm windows

This is actually far less consumption than I would have guessed as we burn our catalytic wood stove for probably 8 to 10 hours per day, seven days per week. True, Portland did go through a warm period recently, so we didn’t burn the stove as early –or as late– during those days, but overall we’ve kept the furnace thermostat turned down to a very conservative level. We typically set the thermostat at 57 degrees when we go to bed, and it rarely cycles at this level. Thank goodness for our storm windows –they truly do a fantastic job of holding in the heat.

Nevertheless, the bricks perform as expected, enabling a high degree of control over heat and very high heat output at that. They are definitely clean-burning and don’t display the unpredictability of cordwood. All the claimed benefits ring true. If there is a criticism to be foisted upon the bricks, it has to be their penchant for flaking off a good deal of ‘cruft’. Simply put, they’re a bit messy! This being said, if you handle them carefully and keep a dustpan nearby, the flaking isn’t an issue. I consider it a small price to pay for a fantastic wood fuel made of a waste byproduct.