It’s no secret that fuel to heat your home can be expensive, but there’s a nifty do-it-yourself method to create your own fuel that’s brilliant in its simplicity. It might take you a while to create, but it’s virtually free and you can easily make it in very large amounts.
Tiny House Listings posted a video on YouTube that shows you the entire process. It turns out you can use just paper and water to create your own efficient firebricks, and the whole thing is simpler than you’d expect.
If there’s one thing we all have lots of, it’s paper.
Whether it’s junk mail, old newspaper, thin cardboard boxes, egg cartons or something else – everybody has it and we usually end up throwing it away. If you’re in need of firebricks, you can just use some paper instead. Some devices on the market also promise to create so-called ‘newspaper logs’, but this DIY-solution works a lot better and also doesn’t cost anything.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the process works and what you need.
First, gather two five gallon buckets. If you don’t have these at home, you can easily purchase them for a few bucks at a local Walmart or Home Depot.
Drill a number of small holes at the bottom and around of one of the buckets so that water can escape later on.
Next, you want to place the bucket with holes inside of the untouched one. Here, you can dispose of all your papers, biomaterial such as leaves, and small cardboard. When the bucket starts to fill with waste, add water to fill it up almost completely. Make sure everything is immersed and don’t be afraid to use too much water.
Leave the bucket filled with water overnight, so that the whole mixture will be a little bit pulpy. Next, we’re going to shred the entire mixture. It’s best to use a custom drill just like in the video, by using a saw blade and some steel. Drill for around twenty seconds and the paper mixture will be a muddy mess, which is exactly what we need.
Remove the first bucket and place it on top of a few planks to let it drain. You can even reuse most of the water many times, although you will have to add a little bit every time. In order to drain the water completely, saw a circular wooden piece that fits perfectly into the bucket. Next, apply pressure firmly. You can even sit or step on the two buckets to make sure all of the water is pressed out.
The result is a rather hard substance, but it’ll still be moist. Let it dry in some sunlight for a few hours. If it takes too long, feel free to cut the paper block into multiple smaller pieces.
Once they’re fully dry, one of these paper fuel blocks will burn for quite a long time!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
