Heat logs are a cleaner, more efficient, and often more sustainable, way to heat your home or cook your food. What do you know about these compact little wonders? Join us as we dissect a new-ish comer to log burners as well as the log burning pantheon in general.
What Are Heat Logs?
Ah yes it always pays to go back to the very particles of the matter. Compressed heat logs are ‘manufactured’ logs made wood chips, sawdust, wax and other types of biomass materials.
How Are Heat Logs Made?
The next step in the chain of logic. Heat logs are made by taking a finely grained mixture of singular or multiple biomass materials, placing it in a specialised mould and then compressing the mixture at extremely high pressures. The compression is where the magic is at. You see the process extracts an extremely high amount of moisture from the biomass material, meaning the final log has an extremely low internal moisture level. Say hello to higher temperatures, cleaner burns and more efficiency.
What are the Benefits of Compressed Heat Logs?
- Due to their sub 8% internal moisture levels, compressed heat logs deliver a cleaner burn. This means that they produce less smoke than traditional seasoned firewood or kiln dried logs, making these nifty logs ideal for homes and enclosed spaces. Lower carbon emissions are also better for the environment as we all know. Plus you won’t have to worry about soot or ash build up in your chimney, flue or fireplace. More specifically, the risk of creosote residue gumming up your chimney or flue is reduced. And this lowers the chance of potential fires kicking off.
- Longevity as standard. Did you know that compressed heat logs actually burn longer than regular firewood or wood pellets. This is again down to the marvels of compression. Essentially the compression process creates extremely ‘compact’ logs. And by compact we mean extremely dense. In a nutshell there is more combustible material per log – giving you longer burn times. Who doesn’t want an epic heat massage at the end of the day?
- Excellent efficiency. In a world of woeful waste, it’s important to get the most out of what we have. Compressed heat logs offer cost efficiency, as they’re usually made from lower-cost wood waste and other recycled materials. As previously mentioned, they also require less energy to burn, which equates to a higher heat efficiency.
- Carefree convenience. Heat logs are so simple to use. No kindling. No faff. No having to channel your inner architect to construct your wooden cathedral of warmth. Just light your logs and away you go!
- Super sustainability. Yes we’ve touched on this already but just to add even more clarity: compressed heat logs are made from recycled materials, so they don’t require deforestation or additional resources in the production process. Also consider this; when you burn regular wood, you are releasing a certain amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Now, compressed heat logs come from other sources like sawdust, paper pulp and agricultural waste products like corn stalks or sugar cane husks (which are also renewable). This means heat logs emit up to 80% less carbon emissions than conventional firewood.
Will A Log Burner Heat The Whole House?
Right, so you’re sold on compressed heat logs. And you may or may not have a log burner, so the next line of musing leads us to wonder if a log burner (filled with heat logs) will heat your home. Well not exactly. Your log burner will heat up the room where the wood burner is situated, then (in theory) the residual heat should gradually spread to the other rooms in your house. This process will also be affected by the natural draughts in your house. Age and design are the two biggest determining factors here. Ultimately a log burner won’t consistently heat every room in the home like a series of radiators for example.
Is A Log Burner Cheaper Than Gas Central Heating?
It is very hard to give concrete set-in-stone answers here. There are so many variant factors at play. Given the current energy crisis, a log burner could reduce your heating bills by up to 10% – so say the boffins at the Energy Saving Trust. If we take into account the current price cap, a woodburning stove costs around 13% less than gas central heating, and one-third of the price of electric heating. However you also have to factor in the initial cost of the log burner or multiple log burners, the installation costs as well as the ongoing maintenance expenses. Loosely looking at prices, a wood burner can cost anything from £500 to more than £5,000 for more sophisticated designs. For installation you’re looking at about £2,000 on average – and it can be even more expensive if you need to add a fireplace or a flue.