Eco Briquette Maker

loniy

I bought a briquette maker the other day & i made 5 briquettes today (yay) Anyway i was wondering if anyone knows how long it will take the briquettes to dry?
At the moment i have them sitting under the radiator in the en-suite because its the smallest warmest room....is this a good idea?

Gareth2011

loniy wrote: »

I bought a briquette maker the other day & i made 5 briquettes today (yay) Anyway i was wondering if anyone knows how long it will take the briquettes to dry?
At the moment i have them sitting under the radiator in the en-suite because its the smallest warmest room....is this a good idea?

Are they the briquettes made from shreadded paper? If they are you will need to leave them somewhetre warm and dry. un-suite might not be the best bet if you shower in there cause the damp wont help them. Leave them out in the sun to dry but take them in at night. they can take if drying naturally about 2 or 3 months. i dry mine on top of my stove on a crate so they are sitting just above it and they dry in bout 2 or 3 weeks but they still dont burn great even at that. maybe need more drying time.

loniy

i dry them the same way you do,on top of the stove & they usually dry in about 3days,then i just store them in the hot press to make sure they stay dry,as yet i havnt burned any of them,im going to leave them over the summer just to make sure they are not damp in the centre.

niallers1

What they need to invent now is someway for a machine to squeeze the water out instead of pushing down..It becomes hard work after about 5 or 6

loniy

i know,you'd be knackered doing them..lol at least they'll dry outside in this weather.

progcollector

watch utube
there is a few devices that lads have made to easily squeeze the water of of the paper,

desolate sun

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was thinking of getting one of these and have a few questions to ask.

Can you use material like the flyers that come in the door - supermarket ones, Harvey Norman, etc. Be a great way to get rid of that stuff

Do you need to use an awful lot of paper to make one brick. For e.g. If I used a Sunday Times paper + all the supplements, would that make one brick, half a brick or several bricks?

Thank you

Gareth2011

desolate sun wrote: »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was thinking of getting one of these and have a few questions to ask.

Can you use material like the flyers that come in the door - supermarket ones, Harvey Norman, etc. Be a great way to get rid of that stuff

Do you need to use an awful lot of paper to make one brick. For e.g. If I used a Sunday Times paper + all the supplements, would that make one brick, half a brick or several bricks?

Thank you

Hey,

You can use any paper once it can get soggy wet over 24 hours or so. I have used one full black bag of shredded paper and all ive gotten from the maker was 4 or 5 bricks. Its because it condences the paper so much you need a fair bit to make the briquette. Bear in mind you have to tear or shread up the paper so you can make it compress if you put in lets say 3 or 4 full sheets they wont compress properly when it comes to making the briquettes I think shredder is the best.

They need to be left alone to dry out then some people get them dry a bit outside in wind or sun, some people leave them in green houses to dry out. I let mine dry on top of stove on a grate but if at all possible let them dry out naturally (not forced heat like on top of stove) over 3 or 4 months and yu should be good too go. Good source of heat but unless they have been left alone to dry out for months when it comes to the middle it might still be damp so drying is the importnant part.:)

desolate sun

Hi
Thanks a million for answering post.
Wow that's a lot of paper. But I suppose it's a way to get rid of all that paper that gets accumulated.

Stained Class

niallers1 wrote: »

What they need to invent now is someway for a machine to squeeze the water out instead of pushing down..It becomes hard work after about 5 or 6

Gareth2011 wrote: »

Hey,

You can use any paper once it can get soggy wet over 24 hours or so. I have used one full black bag of shredded paper and all ive gotten from the maker was 4 or 5 bricks. Its because it condences the paper so much you need a fair bit to make the briquette. Bear in mind you have to tear or shread up the paper so you can make it compress if you put in lets say 3 or 4 full sheets they wont compress properly when it comes to making the briquettes I think shredder is the best.

They need to be left alone to dry out then some people get them dry a bit outside in wind or sun, some people leave them in green houses to dry out. I let mine dry on top of stove on a grate but if at all possible let them dry out naturally (not forced heat like on top of stove) over 3 or 4 months and yu should be good too go. Good source of heat but unless they have been left alone to dry out for months when it comes to the middle it might still be damp so drying is the importnant part.:)

I made about 50 of them earlier this year as a bit of an experement.

Left them to dry in the attic over the summer.

They worked out really well & I plan to make a good few next year.

A few things I learned;

Put the machine on an upturned breeze block. It gives about the right height/leverage if you're of average height. If the handles are digging into your hands, slip on a set of oven gloves before 'compression'.

I ripped up the paper 'manually', but next time round, I'm thinking of just soaking the paper overnight & using some sort of paint/plaster mixer attached to a cordless drill to mix it up.

I mixed some sawdust with the paper for some added 'burnability'. This worked out really well.

I'm planning to make around 800 of them next year over 2 weekends, so speed is the key.

I reckon you'd need to make at least that amount to make it worthwhile.

The 50 I had didn't last long!

Hope this helps.:)

tom1ie

hi Stained Class how long do the briquettes last? I read that a single briquette can last up to 2 hours is this correct or would that depend on what paper is used. Roughly how long would you leave them to dry out and how do they burn compared to peat briquettes, with regards to heat value. Sorry for all the questions but could be a staple fuel source for me

Stained Class

tom1ie wrote: »

hi Stained Class how long do the briquettes last? I read that a single briquette can last up to 2 hours is this correct or would that depend on what paper is used. Roughly how long would you leave them to dry out and how do they burn compared to peat briquettes, with regards to heat value. Sorry for all the questions but could be a staple fuel source for me

Well,I left mine in the attic over the summer, so they were well seasoned by the time I used them. I would say a couple of months really.

They burned really well & I would compare them favourably with turf. I used mine in an open fire with wood, turf, coal etc,so it would be difficult for me to rate their calorific value.

Next time round, I'll give some to someone with a wood burning stove, or better yet, someone with a solid fuel heating system. That way I'd get a better fix on their effectiveness.

All in all, I'm happy enough with the experiment so far & will definately be giving them a good try out next year.

People say there's a lot of work with them, but I'd say there's less work in them than say harvesting turf of cutting up your own timber.

tom1ie

thanks stained class.
Where did you get your log maker and how much was it if you dont mind me asking?

Stained Class

tom1ie wrote: »

thanks stained class.
Where did you get your log maker and how much was it if you dont mind me asking?

I got it off one of them 'Reader's Offers' things, I think.

You'll see them in the Indo of Farmer's Journal every so often.

Otherwise just do a search online.

I've never seen them in normal retail outlets.

Mine cost something like 30 to 35 euro.

They're not that dear really.:)