Thursday, December 27, 2007

Briquette Maker

briquette makerHeather T of Make A Bag asked "could you find a link for the fuel bricks so we can find out more about them?"

It came from the Centre for Alternative Technology. You tear up paper (I'm sure you could also use card) and soak it with water in a bucket for a few hours. Then you slop it into the brickmaker and press on the levers which squeeze most of the water out. It's sturdily made, and I stood on it for maximum squeeze. It felt very solid. I wasn't at all worried it would bend or break.

The "logs" that you make seem to hold together very well. It's amazing how a soggy mass of papiermache turns into something that's definitely a brick. They do come out somewhat wet though , and need to be dried before burning. I don't know yet how long that takes, but it probably depends on the conditions you store them in. And I don't know how you can be sure when they are dry all the way through.

The leaflet that comes with the machine says that one broadsheet newspaper makes a briquette that burns for about an hour. I haven't tried it yet - my briquettes are still drying. I also don't know how easy they are to set alight in the first place.

One thing I can say is that they're easy to make, although tearing up all that paper can be a bit tedious. I'll probably use my shredder next time I do it, but the family were watching Boxing Day TV and I didn't want to run a noisy device. Making the actual bricks is dead easy and quick. I've made three already, and I've only got through about half of all the Christmas wrapping paper, and I haven't even started on all the cardboard boxes.

I'll let you know when I've tested them out, and tell you how well they burned. It seems like a good thing - a human-powered gadget to turn waste paper and card into home-heating fuel. Maybe one day we'll own half an acre of coppiced woodland, and we'll chop our own wood for heating. But until then recycled briquettes may be a good option.

13 comments:

earthwoman said...

I'm looking forward to seeing how these burn. It's a fantastic idea but they are a little expensive.

Anonymous said...

Back in the 70s, the thing to do was to make paper logs. Using as many newspapers as necessary, you would roll them as tightly as possible, adding more sections as needed to make a 3-4" diameter log. This would be tied tightly and then put in a container (wastebasket, garbage can)of water, making sure the entire log was covered. After soaking completely, usually a couple of days, the log was removed, dryed and then burned in the woodstove. Same idea and probably just as much work. Bricks, however, would be neater, easier to store, could easily have children help and would use up all kinds of waste paper. Bellen

Anonymous said...

try drying them in a greenhouse in winter (if you have one) - this is what we do.. making use of the spare heat. they take a long long time to dry though. and a lot less than an hour to burn!

Anonymous said...

These are soo cool!!
I googled on down but they aren't for sale in New Zealand sob!

Hay & I enjoy your blog, pop in often but pretty bad at leaving a comment.

Love Leanne NZ

heather t said...

Thanks! Here's a tip - kids LOVE to shred paper! At least mine do.

I like the anonymous tip on the paper logs. Seems like you could put in sheets of junk mail in between newspaper sections to use those up as well.

AlecMuffett said...

I remember this on Blue Peter or Tomorrows World when I was growing up. Definitely a summer activity, drying them out though, else the economics are all wrong.

Katie said...

I'm so intrigued by this. Do let us know how it turns out!

Jay Dedman said...

as others have said, I'd love to know how these actually burn. We could have a whole new heat source for ourselves since we're drowning in paper.

piscesgrrl said...

I like this idea. I'm assuming we have the buy the brick-presser thingie? I might've missed that information. We use a woodstove as our primary heat source, so this may come in handy for us. We do use fire starter bricks that we purchase. They're huge, and we hunk one into about a dozen pieces as one small piece burns long enough for our needs. Another trick is to just not ever let the fire go out! Ours burned for a solid couple of weeks until this current warm spell.

Thanks for the inspiration to reuse our newspaper!

(Came over from the MIFS carnival!)

Anonymous said...

Hi
How did you find the bricks work - have you had a chance to burn any???

I just brought one so really interested to see how you found it.
Love Leanne NZ

Anonymous said...

I found them on ebay UK for 18 pounds. Can't find one in North America, so I will have to import one. Makes sense to use it, especially if I can put in dried leaves and wood shavings.

Anonymous said...

Curious if anyone has used one after a year and what their results were?

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