£6.99 paper brick maker for fires/chimeneras Argos

surfsister

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3450688/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CGarden+and+DIY%7C14418702/c_2/2%7C14418702%7CClearance+Garden+and+DIY%7C14519703.htm


These have been spoken about on here before and now they are only £6.99 instead of £24 then £10.

I use them myself and it's quite easy if fiddly. Fill abucket with water and throw in strips of newspaper leave for a day then put into the brick-maker and squeeze. Leave to dry (best in summer!!!!) and burn when needed. If you do one a day you'll ave a good supply come the winter - good for fire lighters too.

ukjoel

How long and with how much heat does an argos catalogue burn for?

Macadamia

Thank you surfsister. I have been wanting one of these for a while but couldn't justify it at the original price. I'm going to get my newspapers soaking.... Would you mind telling me how long the briquettes last? (Argos catalogue or otherwise)

DaftyDuck

My experience with one of those was not good. It wasn't the Argos one, which may be better in some ways. However, mine was covered in sharp corners and edges which tended to find my wet fingers very tasty. It wasn't really butch enough to compress the blocks enough. Blocks when burnt didn't really burn well. The whole process made an incredible ink-stained mess of everything, and took ages.

May not be everyones experience, but it might be worth reading around to see who found it worked, and who didn't.

Beetlemama

I have to say we were so excited when we got our one of these a few years ago, we set about making loads of bricks and then found that they NEVER dry! lol seriously, we left them out for weeks, but with the merest hint of moisture, they absorbed every bit they could find. We now think of it as a long term venture, we make all our bricks about November and put them on the radiators over the winter so they dry in the house, we burn them early next winter when it's not quite cold enough to have the heating on but nice to have a fire.

I don't think it's saved us anything, though we loved the idea of it, but in practice it's pretty difficult to make and dry enough to be of use, and good luck this year drying anything anywhere

I think if you have a greenhouse on hard-standing and a good summer, they would dry in there ok, but in our one out on the bare ground it just turns in to a sauna.

If anyone else has any more ideas we're completely open to trying them too, we'd love this to work out.

vax2002

A new use for private parking ticket letters ?

officeguru

Hi, I have made the paper briquettes before and it is a good way to use up newspapers.. However, like the previous posts, the problem is to get them to dry out. I use one of my cheapo plastic greenhouses that I use in the spring.. During the summer (What summer??? lol) I make the briquettes and lay them on the shelving of the greenhouse.. I try not to stack them on top of each other but give them a chance to dry a bit and the following week, I make some more.. I then stack the ones that have been drying all week to make room for the new ones.. and so on.. I then take the dry ones out of the greenhouse and put them in a big basket in my shed (which is very dry) and carry on throughout sept.. I find that after that time, there is not enough heat to dry the briquettes. As to the burning of them, I have a coal fire in which I burn a mixture of coal and logs.. I never start a fire with the briquettes but put one or two on the fire once it has been established... and it saves me on logs and coal.. I usually burn a couple of large baskets of the briquettes over the winter, which would usually be the same equivalent in logs.. I would make more, but I don't have anywhere else to dry and store them...

I hope this helps

Cheers...

I also read on the internet, that some people mix coal dross with the paper, but I have never managed to do that and just ended up with a filthy mess or a briquette that falls apart ... I would be interested if anyone managed to mix this successfully...

SailorSam

I wonder would the briquettes work on a gas fire ?

poppysarah

I dried some in a greenhouse once...
Made them in late summer so could make room in greenhouse.

They don't last massively long - but if you get a big wheely bin to shred and soak paper in (the kids could be convinced it was a game perhaps) then your work is most done. Just scoop it out the next day.

POPPYOSCAR

I thought about getting one of these but was concerned as you are effectively burning paper and I always understood that paper should not be burnt on open fires/stoves as this leads to creosote build up.

Even the Argos description says suitable for firepits/chimneas. Does not say anything about stoves etc.

suisidevw

avoid these at all costs!