Shredded paper briquettes smoke & smell

Aquarian72

Hi all,

I’ve made some shredded paper briquettes for my chimnea thing, I cut out all the plastic windows from envelopes, I soaked the shredded paper, I used a briquette maker, I dried them in my airing cupboard for 3 weeks (I haven’t had the heating on so they didn’t dry as quickly) and they are absolutely perfect, I could probably knock someone out they are that solid.

When it came to burning one the other night black smoke would occasionally puff out and a heavy smoke smell was consistent, I would imagine it’s how a room would smell after being on fire. I ended up putting the chimnea out just in case my neighbours complained, which isn’t the result I was aiming for!

I didn’t use newspaper, I just shred letters with sensitive info, envelopes with my address on, there are things that have colour such as those small Waitrose coupon booklets or the Tesco coupon envelopes. Otherwise everything is pretty much bland.

I tried looking online for help but I just find ‘how to make briquettes’ there’s nothing on black smoke and a smell. Can anyone on here help pls?

Best wishes,

Lisa

colinf70

Have a look on YouTube plenty of videos on there

FreeBear

Three weeks in the airing cupboard - They are probably still damp in the middle.

I made a few briquettes from paper & wood chips/sawdust and left them in a baking hot shed for the summer. Just about dry after ~three months.

Cardew

At best they can be used sparingly in a glowing hot fire.

owen_money

Is it worth the effort to make them? From what I understand they either go mouldy or produce a lot of smoke and don't burn very well. Isnt easier to just buy a bag of logs?

matelodave

owen_money wrote: »

Is it worth the effort to make them? From what I understand they either go mouldy or produce a lot of smoke and don't burn very well. Isnt easier to just buy a bag of logs?

but not as much fun

owen_money

matelodave wrote: »

but not as much fun

Depends on your definition of fun...............................

Gloomendoom

You are probably best making them out of the lowest quality paper you can find. The smoother the paper, the more filler has been added to it during manufacture. The filler is basically talcum powder that does not burn.

Ectophile

owen_money wrote: »

Is it worth the effort to make them? From what I understand they either go mouldy or produce a lot of smoke and don't burn very well. Isnt easier to just buy a bag of logs?

But if you buy a bag of logs, you can almost guarantee that they will be:

• Unseasoned and almost impossible to burn, or
• Damp all the way through and almost impossible to burn, or
• Both of the above.

FreeBear

owen_money wrote: »

Is it worth the effort to make them? From what I understand they either go mouldy

If they are going moldy, they haven't been dried properly. When making briquettes from paper, they need to be put somewhere with a good circulation of air and somewhere warm. Make them during the summer, spread them out on open racking in a well ventilated shed, and they should be dry come the winter.

owen_money

Ectophile wrote: »

But if you buy a bag of logs, you can almost guarantee that they will be:

• Unseasoned and almost impossible to burn, or
• Damp all the way through and almost impossible to burn, or
• Both of the above.

They do kiln dried logs in Tesco now!!! :'0 please buy those


Make sure the logs either kilned dried or season them yourself. Its idiots who buy bag of logs from garages are the one who have issues with poor burning, tar build up in chimneys, and smoking fires.

If you've had good success making paper bricks carry on if they are just for a chimnea in the garden you dont need many.

I'm used to a bigger scale, a few paper logs would be of no use to me