Ultimate Guide to Wood Fuel Types: Firewood, Wood Pellets, & Fire Blocks

If you've ever come in from working outside on a chilly day and warmed yourself by a crackling wood fire, you know it's one of the best feelings in the world!  

But that feeling comes at a price. To keep your wood stove running, you need to cut, split, stack, and season wood, or at the very least, buy and store it. 

That's a lot of work! 

At Ebyland, we believe you should be able to warm yourself with your wood stove without all that backbreaking work. After all, if you spend all your time maintaining your stove, you never get to relax and enjoy it, and if you are elderly or injured, it may be impossible for you. 

Fortunately, we've found some alternative options for fuel for your stove that aren't so time-consuming. 

We've put together an article for you so you can learn about the pros and cons of these alternatives. 

Let's dive in!  

3 Types of Wood Fuel

Although everyone loves relaxing by a toasty fire, wood stoves require much maintenance! 

Let's look at some solutions for heating your home without all that work. We'll go over the following:

  • Traditional firewood
  • Wood pellets
  • Bio Block Briquettes

Each one has its own unique set of pros and cons; this article will help you make an informed decision about which is best for you.

Let's look at the pros and cons of traditional firewood as a starting point.

Traditional Firewood

PROS of traditional firewood 

  • Traditional firewood looks nicer in a fireplace  

Imagine the perfect, crackling fire. 

You probably aren't imagining a pellet or gas stove with artificial logs. You're probably picturing a roaring fire, flames licking up around big logs in a real stone fireplace. 

You can't beat real logs if you want a beautiful fire! 

If you have a fireplace mainly for aesthetics, real wood may be the way to go for you. 

real wood logs make the most beautiful fire
  • You might enjoy cutting firewood 

For some, cutting wood may be a chore or even a physical impossibility. But for others, it can be rejuvenating and therapeutic. 

If you work at a computer all day, you may like going home and getting your hands dirty for the evening. Or you may just like a chance to use your chainsaw. 

If you are the type who likes to unleash your inner homesteader or get some exercise while also getting stuff done, traditional wood might be a good choice.  

  • Firewood is cheap 

If you can cut your own wood, it's free (except for your time), and it can even be good for your property to clear out some trees. Wood is generally pretty cheap, even if you buy it pre-cut and dried. Wood may be a good choice if you want to save money and don't mind some extra work. 

  • Firewood is dependable 

What would happen if you depended on electricity for your heating system and the power went out due to a snowstorm? 

You would no longer have a way to heat your home. 

Fortunately, you can always heat your home if you burn real wood! Real wood stoves don't require any electricity to burn, so they are reliable in any disaster. 

wood stoves don't require electricity to burn

CONS of traditional firewood

 

  •  Firewood is a lot of work 

Some people like cutting wood. But for others, it's a chore, and it's definitely hard, backbreaking work. For some people, it's not even an option. 

Real wood takes cutting, splitting, stacking, and seasoning, which is a lot of physically demanding work. 

After that, you still have to feed your stove once it's burning, and depending on how fast your wood burns, that can be a never-ending job. 

If you don't have the time, ability, or energy to do that work, wood may not be for you. 

However, if you would like to save yourself some work and buy conveniently pre-cut and dried wood, contact us here at Ebyland! 

  • Firewood is challenging to store 

Wood is not a space-efficient fuel. A little bit of wood takes up a lot of space, and you need plenty of wood to maintain the heat in your home. 

Plus, you often have to store your wood for a long time. You have to store it while it dries and seasons and then keep it in a dry place until you need it. 

If you keep your wood outside in the elements, it will get wet and rot, so all that storage requires a large storage shed or lean-to. 

Thankfully, at Ebyland, our firewood comes in moveable totes for easy storage. 

  • Firewood is messy 

If you own a wood fireplace or stove, you know what we mean when we say messy: Bits of bark around your stove, ashes on the hearth, a stack of wood in your home, not to mention the trail of bark and dirty footprints from carrying the wood inside. 

Who wants to keep on top of all that mess? 

In addition to that, wood makes a lot of ash, so if you burn wood, you'll have to clean out your stove regularly. 

ash from wood stoves is messy
  • Firewood is difficult to handle 

Wood is not light or easy to handle. For an older person or someone with back issues, carrying wood from the shed to the house and getting it into the stove could be a nightmare! 

Also, getting the logs fitted into your stove is sometimes like a wrestling match; logs that are oddly shaped or too long may not fit in. That can be frustrating!   

Now that we have traditional wood as our reference point, let’s see how wood pellets stack up against it.

Wood Pellets

How do wood pellets compare to real logs? 

Let’s start with the pros.  

PROS of wood pellets

  • Wood pellets are easy to store 

Wood pellets come in convenient plastic bags stacked on pallets. Bags of pellets are relatively easy to transport and carry, and the pallets are covered in plastic wrap so you can store them outside.  

And unlike firewood, pellets don’t require cutting, stacking, splitting, or seasoning. 

At Ebyland, we deliver wood pellets right to your front door in neat, practical bags, ready to use. 

wood pellets come in plastic bags that are easy to stack and store
  • Wood pellets are less messy 

Who wants to constantly sweep up bits of bark, wood, and ash from around their fireplace? 

With pellets, you don't have to deal with any of that mess on your hearth, and since pellets leave less than 1% ash, you won't have to clean out your stove as often. You also won't have trails of water, dirt, and leaves tracked throughout your house from carrying wood inside. 

  • Wood pellets are low soot 

Wood pellets burn without creating much soot or ashes. That means you won't have to clean your stove out very often. It also reduces the risk of a chimney fire. 

  • Wood pellets are efficient 

Wood pellets are denser and dryer than cordwood. 

Because the wood in pellets is dried and compacted, wood pellet combustion is more efficient than firewood combustion. 

So given the same amount of wood and wood pellets, the wood pellets will produce more heat. 

wood pellets are more efficient than firewood
  • Wood pellets are easy to keep going 

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just feed your stove once a day and then go your way and forget about it?  

A pellet stove offers just that! 

Pellet stoves have self-feeding mechanisms, so you only have to feed the fire once or twice a day. 

That's much nicer than constantly wrestling wood into your wood stove! Plus, learning how to use a pellet stove is relatively easy.

Pellet stoves are often programmable, so you can set them to start at certain times or keep a room at a set temperature. That is something you cannot do with a wood stove. 

CONS of wood pellets

 

  • Wood pellets are less attractive 

Pellet stoves simply aren't as attractive as real wood stoves. Most pellet stoves have a visible fire in their grate, but the flames can look fake and don't create the same ambiance as natural wood. 

Also, they lack that real, smoky, burning wood smell and the crackly sound of logs!  

  • Pellets are inconvenient if spilled 

They may spill if you keep an opened bag of pellets behind your stove. Or, if you have children, your toddler might decide to play in them and spread them all over the place. Or a pet may decide they are fun to romp and burrow in. You can't spill logs like that! 

  • Wood pellets require a pellet stove 

You can't burn pellets in a regular stove. You must have a pellet stove to burn them, making them less versatile than wood. 

Also, pellet stoves require electricity, so if the power goes out, you are out of a heat source. It also means you will pay a higher electricity bill every month. 

Would you like to know more about heating your home with a stove or fireplace? Check out our blog on stoves and fireplaces and how to make them more efficient.

pros and cons of wood pellets

Bio Block Briquettes

You may have never heard of the last one on our list.

What exactly are fire blocks, specifically Bio Block briquettes? 

Bio Block sawdust bricks are a wood replacement made by compressing kiln-dried sawdust and wood shavings into dense brick-like cubes. These briquettes are like very large wood pellets. 

PROS of Bio Block fire bricks

  • Fire bricks are easy to store 

Wouldn't it be perfect if all your firewood logs were the same size and fit conveniently into your stove without any wrestling? 

That's what you get with Bio Block briquettes! 

Bio Block fire bricks are conveniently square and stackable. And they take up less room than traditional firewood since they are so dense and compressed. And they stack right into your stove without any struggles! 

Bio Block fire bricks often come in small packs packaged in shrink wrap, and they are delivered stacked on pallets, with 80 small packs of bricks on each pallet. The pallets are wrapped in plastic to protect the bricks from rain and snow and make for easy storage.  

You can store an unopened pallet of Bio Blocks anywhere outside if the plastic is still intact. No need for a huge woodshed! Just park it out back somewhere out of sight. 

  • Fire bricks are less work 

Bio Block comes ready to use, so they're much less work. No cutting, splitting, or stacking! Segregating the bricks is unnecessary, as they are already dried. 

With Bi Block, you can put away your chainsaw and sit back to enjoy your fireplace without all the work of traditional firewood

  • Fire bricks are clean 

Say goodbye to bark, dirt, splinters, and pellets all over your floor! 

Bio Block sawdust bricks eliminate all these messes and burn clean and leave very little ash, so you won't have to clean your stove often. 

Bio blocks make a mess only if they get wet and disintegrate on your floor.

  • Fire bricks are efficient 

Bio Block produces more heat with less material than regular firewood. One skid of Bio Block has the same amount of heat as 1.5 cords of firewood. 

When burned, the bricks turn into glowing hot coals, producing an even, consistent heat. 

  • Fire bricks are easy to light 

Have you ever tried to get an uncooperative wood fire to light? 

It's very frustrating. Sometimes even a week's worth of newspapers won't do the trick! 

Fortunately, this won't be the case with kiln-dried Bio Blocks. You can easily light them since they are dry and ready to burn. Multiple boxes of matches are not needed. 

  • You can burn fire bricks in a regular wood stove

Unlike pellets, you can burn Bio Block bricks anywhere, in any kind of stove. No need for a particular type of stove. 

You can even burn them outdoors in a fire ring for an easy campfire, although it won't be as attractive as regular firewood. 

fireblox can burn in any kind of stove
  • Fire bricks are easy to handle 

Have you ever thought about how much easier stacking wood would be if the logs were all the same size and shape? 

And wouldn't it be nice if they were lighter, too? All that carrying can be exhausting! 

Good news! Bio Block bricks are just light, square logs that burn really well.  

Because they are so light and easy to handle, they would be a good choice for an older person or someone with back issues who owns a wood stove but cannot handle real logs. 

If you dislike carrying large logs and wrestling them into your stove, these wood briquettes are for you! Feeding your wood stove couldn't be easier. 

Also, picture this: 

When you go camping, there's no need to haul along a lot of firewood. Just throw a few packs of Bio Block on the back of your truck, and you are ready to go! They will work for campfires and cooking, so you won't have to take charcoal. 

  • Fire bricks are cheap 

Bio Block bricks are cheaper than wood pellets and more convenient than real logs. They make a great choice if you are looking for something in the middle ground!  

CONS of Bio Block

  • Fire bricks are unattractive 

Unfortunately, Bio Block fire bricks are not very attractive. They don't look like natural logs. They look like mineral blocks (not so pretty). Your campfire will burn, but it will not be the same as it would be with real wood. This could be particularly distressing when you are camping and want an attractive fire. 

When creating a nice-looking fire, you can't beat real logs with any substitute! 

Fire bricks disintegrate when wet 

If your Bio Blocks get wet, they will swell up and fall apart into sawdust. It's imperative to keep the bricks dry when storing them. And don't let them get near the sink, or you'll have a mess on your hands!  

Thankfully, at Ebyland, our Bio Block product comes in small packs covered in shrink wrap. They shouldn't get wet if you don't open them until you are ready to use them.  

pros and cons of fireblox
Conclusion

We have looked at three types of wood fuel for your stove. 

Which one is best for you? 

Ultimately, it's your decision, and it all depends on your situation. We hope this article helps you make an informed decision about which method you should use. 

  • If you care about ambiance and aesthetics and don’t mind a little extra work, real wood logs are for you! 
  • If you just want a low-stress way to heat your home, maybe you should try wood pellets.
  • And if you are elderly, injured, or want a real wood stove without the stress of real logs, maybe Bio Block would suit you best. 

Whichever type you are, Ebyland could be your next stop for wood fuel to heat your home. We carry all three of these wood fuel options. 

We will do our best to make getting fuel for your home easy:

Give us a call
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We also carry more hearth and outdoor living supplies: 

And even more when you visit our store! 

If you want to learn more and become an expert in creating a beautiful property, check out some of our other articles: 

A Beginner’s Guide to Outdoor Playsets: 4 Tips For Any First-time Owner

Lava Rock: What it is, and How to Use it in Your Landscaping

The Ultimate Guide To Choosing Landscaping Materials For a Beautiful Backyard

10 Things to Plant for a Beautiful Yard All Year Long

Contact us today! We look forward to your call.

heat your home with wood pellets or fireblox from Ebyland