About Hotmax Briquettes
What do they look like?The briquettes are large "pellets" made of compressed pine bark and filtered wood chips. They are about the same diameter as a drink can and vary in length from an inch to about 6 inches. What are they for?They are a great source of heat for open fires, wood or dual-fuel stoves. They do release quite a lot of heat, though, so it's best to use them sparingly until you are familiar with the way they perform. The fine ash produced when they burn can be spread directly on the garden to enrich the soil or mixed with compost. They can also be used in outdoor cooking fires, such as barbecues, fire pits and chimeneas. If you take a look in the NEWS section you'll see a photo of them warming up the runners at one of the Longparish runs. I can confirm that it was a cold morning, and the briquettes do warm you up nicely. Where are they from?They are produced in Harewood Forest, in Hampshire. The trees used come from all over the South of England and are grown in sustainably-managed pine forests (they don't all come from Harewood Forest!). The trees used are the "leftovers" from timber harvested for general construction. The tops of the trunks, and trees that are too small to yield timber for building are used to produce wood shavings for horse bedding and, as an ecologically sustainable by-product, Hotmax wood briquettes |
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How are they Supplied?
The briquettes are supplied in 20KG bags, each of which contains a variety of different sized "logs". The bags are made from thick PVC but are easily holed, so you must keep them somewhere dry to keep them in good condition. They really are very dry (<7% moisture) and quickly absorb moisture.
How are they produced?
The briquettes are a by-product of the process used to produce horse bedding. The dry bark dust and wood chips discarded during the process are tightly compressed to make the dried out wood "cakes" or briquettes. When they're compressed the lignin in the wood liquifies and helps bind the particles together. Nothing's added during the process, so you get a totally dry and 100% natural briquette ready for the fire.
How hot do they burn?
HOTMAX really is...HOT!
HOTMAX is a high energy fuel, which means that it burns at very high temperatures.
So please use it carefully to begin with.
HOTMAX is a great way to generate warmth in your home very quickly, but if you are using it for the first time we recommend that you start by using just a few briquettes until you are familiar with its performance.
If you add too much to your fire initially, it may generate enough heat to damage your fire, woodburner or stove, or their surroundings!
Are they easy to light?
HOTMAX briquettes come in a 'log' shape, and each bag contains a variety of random sizes.
We recommend that you use a few of the smallest sized briquettes to light a fire. You can easily break the larger logs into smaller sizes if you need to.
Because they are dry and burn so well, you can normally create a good fire very quickly by placing a few small briquettes onto three or four twists of old newspaper. However, if you are using HOTMAX for the first time we recommend that you add more briquettes cautiously, because even a small HOTMAX fire can generate a significant amount of high heat.
How should they be stored?
HOTMAX is a very dry fuel, but it may absorb moisture unless kept in a completely dry environment. Even though it is supplied in stout plastic bags these can be damaged in transit, so it's best to keep them in a shed or garage.
Why use Hotmax Briquettes?
Compared to coal and logs, HOTMAX briquettes are cleaner and easier to handle, store and burn.
Unlike coal, they can be used in woodburners - as well as in multi-fuel stoves and open fires.
They release their energy faster, so they generate high heat very quickly.
They burn cleanly and, unlike some logs, they won't spit or spark.
They create low emissions and very little residue or ash, and because they are made from the dust we capture in the manufacture of our horse bedding shavings, we think they have the edge in terms of environmental sustainability.
How do they compare to Coal and wood?
In terms of energy potential - the calorific value that is the normal measurement of heat output - the three main types of fuel compare as follows:
- Coal. Good quality anthracite offers about 25 - 26 KJ/kg (Kilojoules per Kilogram)
- HOTMAX briquettes offer about 17 - 18 KJ/kg (about 2/3 of the energy of coal)
- Logs offer about 9 - 13 KJ/kg depending on the type of wood and how dry it is (less than half the energy of coal)
In terms of our recommended price, HOTMAX also fits squarely between coal and logs, so that our briquettes give you competitive value for money.
Do they contain a lot of resin?
No! Although the briquettes are made from pine and other softwood dust, they will not cause any problems with resin build-up in your woodburner flue, or an open fire chimney. This is a problem associated with burning softwood logs, but it does not occur with HOTMAX. Here's why:
Softwood logs have a low calorific content, and they tend to burn at low temperatures. A pine log, for example, will give you far less heat than ash or oak. Under those conditions, the resin in the softwood logs will not burn off, but will evaporate, and then condense and solidify in the colder environment of the flue or chimney. HOTMAX briquettes, conversely, generate high levels of heat very quickly, and this burns off any resins or other natural residues.
In other words, when you burn HOTMAX briquettes, any resin present will contribute to the heat you gain, and not to the build up of tars in the flue or chimney.
Product specification
| Bag Weight | 20kg |
| Dry Matter: |
93% |
| Ash content: |
3.5% |
| Energy: |
4.7 MWh/t |
| Net Calorific Value: | 17 kJ/kg |