If you have a fireplace in your home and are looking for the most cost-effective fuel, then you may be wondering whether briquettes are cheaper than logs. Wooden briquettes are known to be higher quality than traditional logs, and you probably expect that they will be more expensive.

In fact, you will be surprised to note that you can save money by choosing high quality wooden briquettes over traditional firewood.

Which Are Cheaper?

Of course you want to keep your home warm this winter without a huge expense. So let’s answer your question first. Are briquettes cheaper than logs? If you were to purchase a bag of traditional firewood, approximately 250 kilograms of wood, you can expect your cost to be in the region of £150, including delivery.

A pallet of high quality wooden briquettes can provide you with over 400kg of briquettes at a cost of around £686. Yes they are more expensive than the firewood, but you get a lot more weight for the money you spend.

You also have to keep value for money in mind. Logs have a 15% less calorific value, which means they produce less heat energy. As a result, you will be more inclined to use more logs to heat your home. This means having to re-order numerous times during winter. This means you will end up paying considerably more in the long run.

In addition to this, wood briquettes cause less pollution, are cleaner, and you will use less briquettes to heat your home, offering you a good return on your investment.

What Makes Wood Briquettes Better Than Traditional Logs?

Wood briquettes will provide you with numerous excellent benefits, compared to traditional logs. These benefits include:

  • They are very convenient to use. They stay hotter for longer and are cleaner to burn
  • They are compacted with very low moisture levels, offering a higher performance. Briquettes will burn longer and cleaner
  • They meet air quality regulations
  • They cause less ash and smoke, meeting the Governments 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan. Areas where the plan is already in place allows log burners to emit three grams of smoke per hour. Briquettes achieve this goal, reducing the risk of you facing any fines
  • They create more energy, so you need less briquettes to warm your home

Briquettes vs Traditional Logs

When choosing between wooden briquettes and logs, you need to take numerous factors into consideration.

Moisture

Traditional logs are often cut down and delivered. It is recommended you store your logs in a dry place for up to twelve months to reduce the moisture content. Dry wood is much better than wet wood when it comes to heating your home. Your log burner is not going to perform at its best when you use logs with a high moisture content. This is because the flames take thermal energy to evaporate the moisture, taking considerably longer for your home to start feeling warm.

In addition to this, using logs with a high moisture content can cause your chimney to build up resins and block. This can result in a chimney fire. For the best heat output, you want the lowest moisture content. This is where briquettes come to the table. They offer a drier solution that provides fast heat with excellent burning abilities, helping to keep you and your family warm in winter.

Storage

Traditional logs are considerably heavier than wooden briquettes. They also require careful storage, so that they have time to dry. You cannot store wood easily, as they cannot be compacted due to each piece having a unique shape. Wooden briquettes are made from sawdust. They are exceptionally lightweight and can be stored easily.

You can buy your briquettes as a single 10kg box or a pallet, that you can store in your shed or garage. They are much easier to store and move into the home when you want to burn them.

Calorific Values

Calorific values are important when it comes to measuring the heating power of the fuel you have selected. It equates to the amount of heat produced when burning. Once again, briquettes stand out in this regard. Wooden briquettes have proven to burn longer and cleaner than traditional logs.

Final Thoughts

Are briquettes cheaper than logs? With the above statistics, it is easy to determine that wooden briquettes far outweigh traditional logs. They have higher calorific values, low moisture content, and they can burn longer and cleaner than other fuels.