heat logs

michaelgordon

i have read and received advice on heat logs and have decided to get some. i dont have a lot of space so need to get individual bags and was going to get 10 packs of the fuel express heat logs from tesco. They come in a pack of 12 and it says on the label crated from hardwood by products of managed forests and recycled timber.

They are £5 per pack. i tried a couple last night and they gave off a good heat gettng upto 450f but the temp steadily decreased over about two to three hours they were still glowing, they didnt expand but did crumble after about an hour after the flames died down.

My question is would hotties be a better option. i can get the locally for 5.25 a pack for a pack t 10 and i think it was greenfires who said hotties were the best (correct me if im wrong). i dont mind spending the extra if the will povide more / better heat

SG27

I'm thinking about getting a few as my log aupply is dwindling quicker than I envisaged. I don't my stove that efficient really being a second hand cheaper model.

Skulls

Tesco heatlogs showing as £3.75 for me on click and collect

michaelgordon

im not sure if they are the same online or not as pics looks like a paper bag like you would get charcoal in but instore the are in shrink wrap plastic

alleycat`

Hotties behaviour isn't vastly different to what you describe although it is very easy to get them hotter than 450F if you aren't careful.

2 hours is about right.

Just a warning, from my experience.

I put two in together the first time i had them, as per the destructions, and before i knew it the stove was up to 650F and i had a sod of a job getting them to "calm down" as my "approved for smoke control areas" stove doesn't let you shut the vents down fully.

One at a time with maybe the odd piece of wood works much better.

michaelgordon

i did start to worry a little when it got to the top as i read a lot about the firefox tops cracking from overheating ill never put more than two on a dwindling fire tho prob only one when its fully going. i contacted the shop and the have pack of hotties there so will get a pack try them then decide

No4_Winder

I got some of the Tesco ones earlier this year.
Same shape as the Hotties and you get 12 in a pack.

Loads of heat and they don't crumble or stretch.
I was getting about 2 hrs heat from them.
Very impressive, but not sure where they were born.

Greenfires

I generally assume that if if the country of manufacture isn't mentioned, then they're usually imported - companies making them in the UK tend to make a point of saying so - Hotties certainly do.

Quite why Tesco with their caring nature would need to source briquettes from abroad when we have some good manufacturers here is beyond me. Oh hang on - it's profits they care about isn't it - silly me! Though if I can manage to insist on only dealing with UK briquettes, I'm sure they could!

michaelgordon

so i got the hotties and put one on top of a well established log fire which was dwindling temp at 280f, it caught straight away and withing 15 mins got to 380 when the flames started to die down and were nearly gone after half an hour temp started dropping then and was down to 300f after another half hour another 20 mins and just glowing with temp at 220f put another on at 630 and this took about 10 mins to catch after having to open the bottom vent it caught got good flames so closed vent an it burnt for about 45 mins and flames went out after an hour temp only got to 300f its now 8 and still glowing little heat and temp at 160f.

will try two together tomorrow but if the burn the same i think im going to get the tesco logs as same price but two extra per pack and im prob buying 20 or 25 packs thats an extra 40 or 50 logs.

Greenfires

Yes you'll get more logs, but they are smaller and lighter, so there's no more actual "material" You'll also usually find that smaller briquettes are shorter lived, as they have more surface area per unit of volume. We generally break ours in half, and will only refuel with one at a time once the fire is established. It's often down to the way people manage the stove to be honest - we often find there's enough life left in ours in the morning to start again without remaking the fire, and that's without stoking up or closing the stove down at bedtime.

michaelgordon

how do you manage to keep it going all night, ive never had anything even remotly like an ember in the morning and stove is cold. I have wondered about this overnight thing but never really asked