Cheers,
Jeremy

thanks,
Dale

1) The low moisture and high heat output of the Bear Bricks is what makes them so darned easy to work with –and easy to keep your stove and flue clean. The stove manufacturers’ concern with heat is due to over-firing, which many people can do if they’re not careful. If you load up your stove with a dozen Bear Bricks and leave the air intake damper wide open, you’ll definitely get tremendous heat output. I question whether you’ll get too much (over-firing) though.

The fact is, Bear Bricks simply don’t have as high BTU output as a well-seasoned madrone or oak cordwood. For reference, each two-pound Bear Brick –produced using a mixture of douglas fir, cedar and hardwood sawdust– can produce 16,000 BTU’s of heat. A pallet of Bear Bricks (972 bricks) will thereby offer 15,552,000 BTUs. Comparatively, a cord of well-seasoned firewood will typically offer anywhere from 12 million BTU (cottonwood) to 28 million BTU (hickory and madrone). Because the bricks’ heat output is more in-line with a mixed cordwood, you’re less likely to encounter over-firing. Plus, due to their precise predictability (they always burn the same), you gain tremendous control over heat output –much more than any cordwood– and you never have to season a Bear Brick.

I would not be too concerned about over-firing your stove (using Bear Bricks) as long as you start out with a small kindling fire, then add in three or four bricks. Lately –on the recommendation of my wife, a master fire-starter– I’ve been adding one or two bricks on top of the kindling right before I light the fire –to help kick-start the process– and it works excellent. The stove manufacturers are keen on helping people to not hurt themselves, which is both responsible and admirable, but a thoughtful approach to burning any fuel is all that is required to do so in a safe manner.

Regarding moisture, the more moisture you have in your fuel, the greater your likelihood for particulate build-up on the heat exchangers/firebox (and combustor if you have one). The Bear Bricks’ low moisture content is one of their single biggest benefits. As i’ve said in some form or another in other articles, with Bear Bricks you are paying for predictability as much as convenience and ecological consciousness. The low-moisture of Bear Bricks helps you maintain extreme control over your stove’s heat output without sacrificing emissions.

At the end of the day –and as I eluded to earlier– this topic all boils down to air control. As long as the stove has an air control damper (some sort of level that regulates air intake) you’re golden! With cordwood, if you choke off the fire (with the damper) you increase the emissions quite a bit –and because of the lower temperature of the fire, you increase the percentage of moisture, ash, soot and creosote going up into the flue. With Bear Bricks, the moisture is dramatically lower than seasoned cordwood —-and the content so much cleaner– that your stove’s emissions do not dramatically increase and neither does your stove’s build-up of soot, ash and creosote.

2) Regarding the issue of catalytic vs. non-catalytic stoves, there are now more low-emission, non-catalytic stoves available then ever before and this is great! Combustors require careful attention and maintenance, and aren’t necessarily inexpensive to replace, so having a low-emissions stove without a combustor is a great concept! I can’t comment on how well these stoves draft, though I imagine they draft a little slower at start-up than a traditional flue. Once you have a hot enough fire, their draft is likely just like any other stove, as long as the fuel is well-seasoned.

However, as you stated, a low-emissions non-combustor stove may require extremely high temperatures to maintain the same low emissions levels as a combustor-equipped stove, thereby negating some of the stove’s flexibility. All this being said, if you only burn Bear Bricks (aside from your starter fire), a combustor simply won’t encounter all the gummy particulates that typically cripple the combuster, demanding its replacement –another reason to burn Bear Bricks. Unseasoned, high-creosote cordwood will kill a cumbustor in no time (trust me, this is from experience).

Lastly, for those with combustor-equipped stoves, please review the excellent combustor maintenance page setup by North Carolina-based Condar Company. Condar makes replacement ceramic and steel combustors for most any stove, which are very reasonably priced and built in the United States.

3) Regarding pictures, it’s funny you should ask… I was just watching my fire Sunday evening and though, “I need to share some photos!”. I will certainly capture some shots and post them as soon as possible. Bear Bricks produce an excellent flame and beautiful fire. As they burn, the bricks start to separate, creating a beautiful, rich, glowing coal bed. It definitely does not hurt the look that contributes so well to the overall experience of a fire. If anything, they make a more robust, rolling flame than cordwood. What’s more, they burn so much more completely than cordwood that you end up emptying your ash-pan far less often.

Lastly, yes indeed, if you’re able to garner some sort of pricing discount for multiple pallets of Bear Bricks, consider me an active participant!

Check back for updates and thank you again for reading!

I am in the finishing stages of committing to a stove. We will likely go with free-standing soapstone using bear bricks (per your recommendation).

I have gotten warnings from stove manufacturers about using compressed products, due to their low moisture and high heat potential. Can you talk about how this works for you?

Are there any other last minute considerations you might add that might help make the best decision on any/all of this?

I have found one soapstone manufacturer who is using only non-catalytic systems. The cleanest model they make, shows a 1.9 g/hour particle rate, which is equal to the catalytic model I’m close to buying.

Non-catalytic stoves appear to have less maintenance and don’t require buying a new combuster every 6 years. But, what I’m finding is that to gain this particulate rate, they must first reach 1000 degrees. I’m not sure if we’ll burn this hot, every day. Thoughts on the advantages/disadvantages to the two systems?

Lastly, do you have any pictures of your bear bricks burning in your stove? Do they make a nice looking fire?

Thanks again. Your posts have been invaluable.

Next I’ll be inquiring whether anyone would like to do a group order of Bear Bricks, to negotiate a better deal on pallets….

Gretchan J.