Free Heat for Your Home: Homemade Briquettes and Logs


Many people don’t have easy access to firewood or the tools and ability to cut, split, haul and stack it. Buying firewood may be out of your budget. Here we’ll present some virtually free ways of making fuel briquettes and logs at home with simple devices. To make briquettes/pellets/bricks/logs, you can use free materials such as newspapers, junk mail, cardboard, wood chips, wood shavings, sawdust, leaves, pine needles, manure, rice hulls, straw, corn stover and other biomass fibers. The basic process usually involves soaking the materials and then compacting them with a press into blocks.


Actually, there are quite a few different techniques as you’ll see in these selected videos. For instance, some people roll newspapers into logs, thus eliminating the soaking, pressing and drying process. Logs like this can be used right away. Not everyone agrees, however. Some say the logs burn best when rolled tightly, soaked and then dried. Apparently the soaking/wetting process melds the log into a coherent mass. (The log roller shown below wets the newspapers as they’re rolled together.)
How to make newspaper logs
Making newspaper fire logs another method

It’s fun to watch numerous videos to see what’s most practical. Making briquettes and logs is a great family project that everyone can help with. In some countries, making briquettes is a small home-based business.

Newspaper log roller
Newspaper log roller

Sample briquettes from around the world (note the center hole to improve combustion)
Sample briquettes from around the world (note the center hole to improve combustion)

Image credit: Boing Boing.net
Image credit: Joyce Stanley, Legacy Found.org

Homemade briquette press
Burning manure and paper logs for home heat
How to make paper bricks
Briquette maker extraordinaire 2
Homemade briquettes
Leaf log maker
Free heat for your home
Biomass briquette maker

13 thoughts on “Free Heat for Your Home: Homemade Briquettes and Logs”

  1. Add a 1kg bag of sugar to the septic tank every so often and the left over mix from the sourdough starter gone off.. the contents of the sealed septic tank turn not unlie peat mud but a slightly lighter colour… Add a bucket of dog feaces to the mix and it will be better when you make your dried processed briquettes….

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  2. Thanks for the sharing this post i like it very much. Briquette Machine is used to make briquette out of any agricultural and forest waste. First, briquetting means reducing the size of bulk density raw material into compact form, which makes it easy for transportation, burning and increase its calorific value as well. EcoStan® Briquetting Machine produces quality briquettes without any need of binder or chemical.

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  3. If you want to turn the biomass waste into wood pellets or briquette. pellet mill and biomass briquette machine is a must. find more on [link deleted because I only saw giant machines not small scale machines for homesteaders, etc.]

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  4. The Irishman is fabulous, wonderful to produce 9 at a time so easily. Many, many thanks. Here in Mexico they will dry VERY quickly

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  5. I volunteer at an animal sanctuary north of Toronto. They have several ,hundred animals, including about a hundred cats. Both litter disposal and heating are expensive. Is there a way to make briquettes from cat litter? The ones used are walnut, grass, also shredded beat pulp and chicken feed, so they’re all organic. As you can imagine, they don’t have time to experiment, but if someone wld create a successful method fir making briquettes I’m sure they wld invest in a few wood stoves

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    • Manure with litter should make very good briquettes. There are lots of free plans on the Internet for making briquettes. The biggest issue may be labor. Briquettes are mostly used in developing countries where labor is cheap. So instead of making labor intensive briquettes, consider getting an auger to feed the manure and litter into a furnace. Maybe get a small tractor to dump it into a hopper.

      Reply
  6. Make something from nothing is the best slogan for biomass briquettes because they are made from nothing value waste material. Briquettes made from biomass waste material can easily produce heat and energy at a cheaper rate than other traditional fuels. These briquettes are made from biomass briquetting press which is the best recycling machinery.

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  7. The biomass briquettes are the only fuel which burn without causing environmental damage and without releasing ash and smoke, so the briquettes are renewable, cheaper and eco-friendly and more suitable for home as well as industrial heat and power applications.

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  8. Saw your site and just wanted to let you know that the picture of the wreath of briquettes from around the world should be credited to Legacy Foundation http://www.legacyfound.org
    I was actually the person who took that picture, and though we are good friends with Vuthisa, they are not the source of that picture. Please check out our website about the work we are doing in briquette production. Thanks for making the correction.

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  9. Due to the rise in demand of the source of energy for manufacturing and production as well as or residential, The availability of the resources are such to manufacture the Briquette is that it can be easily get manufactured at home with proper processing.

    Reply

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