We spend literally hours, toasting our feet and frying our brains, rigorously testing the products we sell. Its hard work, but we feel it's our responsibility!
On this page we will be noting down what we think of the various things we burn. As no two stoves, chimneys or fireplaces fire in the same way we'd also love to hear your experiences of different fuels, any fuels really! We will be please to put your thoughts on the best brabbag fuels up here for all to see: please email your thoughts. We started this business because we wanted better fuel for our stove, and we believe the fuels we sell are the best available, but if you think there is something else we should be stocking please let us know. We're constantly trying briquettes from different sources, and there are a lot of poor quality examples available, but if we find any more we like rest assured they'll be on sale here soon.
We are currently awaiting test reports from several combustion experts - if they haven't fallen asleep in front of the fire that is - who are utilising a variety of open fires and stoves from the small Morso to the large Charnwood to test our stuff.
Here at Brabbag HQ we have a recently fitted new Arrow Stratford SEB 20kw Boiler stove, with a 12kw back boiler hooked up in the old fashioned manner to the domestic hot water and central heating, running 6 good sized radiators. Other than the immersion element in the tank we don't have any other form of heating. Hardcore Stovies! With the throttle fully opening this stove can really scorch through a woodpile fast. But from a cold standing start it can turn the whole house tropical and have you in your underwear in less than an hour on good fuel! We love it! With the thermostat halfway open we get a nice background heat in the rads, and a reasonable full consumption.
So, our thoughts on...
We found Blazers quite difficult to light, even after breaking them up, which we put down to the shape. However after speaking to other burners it is more likely due to the fact that we are very economical, or some would say down right stingy, with the firelighters and kindling. We normally only use half a regular firelighter, which we then split again, and a small handful of kindling, which is probably why we're struggling! We have for a long time been burning small bits of dry scrap wood, so I guess we're a bit spoiled when it comes to lighting. As they're so dense they do need to be burned hard to get them underway. However once they're going, boy do they go. Very good quick heat build up from cold in our stove. If we keep the draft under control once they're going they will last for a good few hours if burned in pairs on as we do. Can confirm very little ash left over. They do expand as it says on the bag, so don't squeeze them in or get them pointed the wrong way in an open fire!
We really like these little briqs, very handy size and shape and good to start from minimal kindling and lighters - we're cheap, we know! We found them very easy to light if you follow the well thought out instructions provided. The manufacturer recommends them for stoves, but this is because he's an engineer at heart, and he knows they're more efficient in a hot stove, where the high surrounding temp helps them burn more efficiently. However this is true of most fuels and it's why stoves are better! They will burn on open fires, but as with coal most briquettes do need a good strong draft and hard burning to get them established, because they're so dense. Once they're going we found the burn is very different to the Blazers. More like coal than a log, with no noticeable expansion, they will burn with a flame and then get a layer of ash and burn with a glow for a very long time. Not fierce fast heat, but the longest burners we've tried. Because of the raw material there is slightly more ash, they claim 3%. We'd say certainly no more than that left over after coal fires in our stove.
The real deal. Once you've had kiln dried you'll never go back! These logs put the joy back into fire lighting for us! A few crumbs of firelighter, a couple of little sticks, 3 or 4 of these logs, light the blue touch paper and, woof, you're toasting baby! When we light our stove with most fuels it takes over half an hour to get up to mid thermostat range water temp so the pump will kick in. With less than half a net of these logs the stove was cooking and the rads were warming up in less than half an hour, quite simply fantastic! We love them! The ease of lighting and the hit of big, fast heat are unbeatable for us.
On an average weekday we're regular evening burners, lighting up from 6pm onwards usually. We're currently trying a mixed system where we start with just under half a net of kiln dried logs, for an easy start, a big hit of instant heat and that nice log burning smell. Then we throw on a few Eco Briqs to build up a good slow burning base to the fire, and top that off with occasional blazers for good strong hits of heat. The fire is usually dying down by midnight, but the house stays warm so long as we burn every day.
We have tried to establish the fairest pricing we can, but if you feel you could get the same product to your door cheaper please let us know. We realise you will be able to find the same products in the UK for less, such is the beauty of the internet, however our prices include the cost of that very expensive bit of water and a dedicated delivery service, not a drop it and run! We do not believe in the mantra of free delivery, it does not exist. We believe in fair delivery. If you purchase a whole pallet, we only have to make one trip and unload it. If you purchase the same pallet two bags at a time, this obviously costs a lot more in terms of delivery and our prices reflect this. We feel this is the fairest way.