Ecoblaze Kiln Dried Logs Review: Sold by Litre, Not Kilo

Any Ecoblaze kiln dried logs review has to start with the thing the packaging does not make obvious: most of the range is sold by volume, in 20 litre bags and 50 litre sacks, not by weight. That is legal, normal in the trade, and the single biggest reason people feel short-changed when the delivery arrives. A 20 litre net is a couple of evenings’ burning, not a week’s.

The wood itself is legitimate. It is Woodsure Ready to Burn certified, kiln dried below 20% moisture, and it lights and burns as kiln dried hardwood should. The questions worth asking are about pack size, species and what you are paying per kilo.

What Ecoblaze actually sells

The range on Ecoblaze’s own site breaks down into:

• Premium kiln dried hardwood in 20 litre plastic bags, sold in ones, threes and nines
• Premium kiln dried hardwood hessian sacks, the 50 litre sack that B&Q lists at 20kg, sold in ones, twos and threes
• Boxed logs, which turn up on Amazon in 9kg and 27kg cardboard boxes
• Alongside those, natural firelighters, lumpwood and briquette charcoal, Nestro heat logs and Pini-Kay briquettes

Stove retailers also sell the 20 litre bags by the pallet, in quarter, half and full pallet loads, which is where the price per litre becomes sane if you have somewhere dry to put it.

That spread matters because the same brand name covers products with very different value. The single net from a supermarket or an online marketplace listing is a convenience purchase. The pallet is a fuel purchase.

The Ready to Burn claim, and one thing retailers get wrong

Ecoblaze carries the Woodsure Ready to Burn certification, which is not marketing. Since May 2021 it has been a legal requirement in England that firewood sold in volumes under 2 cubic metres is certified Ready to Burn, with a moisture content below 20% and a valid logo on the pack, under the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020.

So the certification tells you two useful things: the wood left the kiln at or below 20% moisture, and the supplier is inside the scheme rather than selling unregulated wet wood.

One caution. At least one UK stove retailer’s Ecoblaze page states the Ready to Burn logo guarantees moisture “below 25%”. That is wrong. The threshold for firewood is 20%, and the Ready to Burn scheme is clear about it. If a seller has the headline number wrong, treat the rest of their description carefully too. Our own explainer on the Ready to Burn firewood rules sets out what the law actually requires of the seller and of you.

The species question

This is where Ecoblaze is harder to pin down than a single-species supplier, and it is worth knowing before you order.

Ecoblaze’s own site describes the range as premium kiln dried hardwood and names birch on one line. A stove retailer selling the 20 litre bags describes them as premium birch, cut, split and kiln dried. Meanwhile at least one marketplace listing for Ecoblaze hardwood describes the contents as a mix including eucalyptus and alder, debarked.

Those are not the same fuel. Birch lights beautifully and burns bright but fast. Eucalyptus is dense and hot but can spit and burns quickly once going. Alder is at the softer end of what gets called hardwood and gives less heat per log than ash, oak or beech.

None of that makes the product bad. It does mean you should not assume you are getting an ash or oak equivalent, and it means the burn you get from one pack may not match the next. If consistent species matters to you, buy from a supplier that states the species on the pack and sticks to it.

Volume, weight and what you are really paying

Kiln dried logs get sold three ways in Britain: by the litre, by the kilo, and by the cubic metre. Only one of those tells you how much heat you bought.

Dry hardwood holds roughly the same energy per kilo regardless of species. Per litre it does not, because dense wood packs more mass into the same box. So a 20 litre bag of alder and a 20 litre bag of ash are the same volume and meaningfully different amounts of fuel.

Practical rules:

• Compare on price per kilo wherever a weight is stated. The Amazon boxes at 9kg and 27kg let you do this; the 20 litre bags mostly do not.
• Loose-filled kiln dried hardwood runs somewhere around 350 to 400 kg per cubic metre, which is how a 50 litre sack ends up at about 20kg.
• Small nets are the most expensive fuel in the shop, per kilo, by a wide margin. They exist for pizza ovens, fire pits and the occasional fire, not for heating a room all winter.

If you burn regularly, the pallet of 20 litre bags or a bulk crate from a local supplier will beat the net price several times over. Our best kiln dried logs UK roundup covers the alternatives at each pack size.

What to check when it arrives

Certification tells you the moisture at the point of sale. It does not tell you what happened in the warehouse, the van, or the two weeks the pallet sat outside under a tarpaulin.

Split a log and check the fresh face with a moisture meter, pins across the grain, in the middle of the split face rather than the end. You want a reading below 20%, ideally in the mid teens. Our guides on how to use a moisture meter on firewood and what moisture firewood should be cover the technique, and the best firewood moisture meters covers what to buy if you do not have one.

If it reads high, that is worth raising with the seller. Certified wood arriving wet is a legitimate complaint, not bad luck.

Store it properly or you undo the kiln. Kiln dried wood re-absorbs moisture from the air. Keep it off the ground, under cover, with airflow through the stack, and bring a day or two’s worth inside before burning. Plastic bags left sealed in a damp garage are the classic way to end up with 25% wood you paid a premium for.

Who it suits

Good fit: occasional fires, pizza ovens, fire pits, chimineas, and anyone who needs a bag from a shop today. Also reasonable as a bulk buy if you can get the pallet price and have dry storage.

Poor fit: heating a room every evening from October to March on 20 litre nets. The economics are bad and you will be shopping constantly. Look at bulk crates from a local supplier, or at wood briquettes, which are sold by weight, stack tighter and burn longer per kilo.

Check current price before ordering, and compare it against the same weight in a bulk crate rather than against another net.

The verdict

Ecoblaze is a competent, properly certified kiln dried hardwood, sold mostly in small volume packs at convenience-pack economics. Buy it in nets when you want a fire this evening. Buy it by the pallet if the per-litre price works out. Do not buy nets as your winter fuel, and do not assume the species in the bag will be the same one you got last time.

Frequently asked questions

Are Ecoblaze kiln dried logs Ready to Burn certified? Yes. Ecoblaze carries the Woodsure Ready to Burn certification, which requires a moisture content below 20% and is a legal requirement in England for firewood sold in volumes under 2 cubic metres.

What wood are Ecoblaze logs made from? It varies by pack. Ecoblaze’s own site and some stove retailers describe premium birch, while at least one marketplace listing describes a debarked hardwood mix including eucalyptus and alder. If species matters to you, ask the seller before ordering.

How long does a 20 litre bag of logs last? On a typical stove, a 20 litre bag is roughly an evening or two of burning. It is a convenience pack rather than a heating fuel, which is why the price per kilo is so much higher than a bulk crate.

Is a 50 litre hessian sack better value than the 20 litre bags? Usually yes per litre, and B&Q lists the 50 litre sack at around 20kg, which at least lets you work out a price per kilo. The best value in the range is generally the pallet of 20 litre bags from a stove retailer, if you have dry storage.

Do I still need a moisture meter if the logs are certified? It is worth it. Certification reflects moisture at the point of sale, and kiln dried wood re-absorbs moisture in damp storage. Splitting a log and checking the fresh face takes ten seconds and tells you what you are actually burning.

How should I store kiln dried logs? Off the ground, under cover, with air moving through the stack, and not sealed in plastic in a damp garage. Bring a day or two’s worth indoors before burning. Poor storage is the main reason certified wood ends up burning badly.

Are briquettes a better buy than Ecoblaze logs? For sustained heat per pound, often yes, because briquettes are sold by weight, are dried to a lower moisture content and stack far more densely. Logs still win on the look and behaviour of the fire, which for a lot of people is the point.