Need some advice on replacing fire brick.

Going to attempt to change these in the back upper on my stove the ones on the sides and bottom dont look to bad to change. Thanks.

 

I ordered mine from manufacturer on last stove. Came with instructions and complete set delivered for about 20 dollars.

 

Check menards as they do have that 11% off this week.

 

Are there different grades of firebrick?

 

There are, but most stoves get along fine with the cheapos from TSC or Menards, wherever. You run into the specialty stuff more so in some wood furnaces and boilers...

 

Am I wrong in thinking that they only need replaced if crumbling, cracks or ok?

 

Even cracked is OK as long as the whole brick is still in place. I only replace any of them when a piece breaks out, and then only a couple that are badly deteriorated / spalled / broken.

On a side note: when I got my Ideal Steel, all of the soapstone inside the stove (used instead of firebrick but the exact same way and for the same use) was all in a heap in the bottom of the stove. It looked like the folks on my end tipped the stove well forward when they took delivery. There was no chance of putting any back as it was so I had to remove all of them, sort them by size and then re-install them. Sounds easy but it was not- had to call Woodstone once, get the block azz'y diagram and chart and then it was like an evil, twisted game of Tetris. The way they stack, they lock into place but of course they have to be put in in the right order and that is not intuitive, at least it was not to us. That was the bad news; the good news is that the steel of the firebox is extremely well covered with soapstone (or firebrick if you order it that way) so the firebox should last a very long time.

Brian

 

Correct me if I am wrong but , It looks like you have Bricks in the top of your stove for your Baffle , If so Those are not OK to run when they are cracked , Replace immediately

 

Good advice IMO. Though those look more like rigid insulation plates. I do not think any Mfg. uses firebrick on the top of a stove. (??) Also looks like a small section is just missing in the middle- all of that should be corrected, as you pointed out.

My earlier comments only apply to firebrick on the sides of the stove, and <possibly> the bottom, again if the firebrick is still complete but just cracked.

Brian

 

Oh yes , Lopi and Avalon stoves do have firebrick on the top of the stove , I'm not sure about others

 

Yes. Some stoves are particular.

The following snipped from an eBay add, but I seem to remember it in my Quadrafire manual.

"Quadrafire requires Insulating Pumice firebrick for their stoves in order to maintain their high efficiency burn. All Quadrafire Woodstoves. Insulating Pumice Firebrick to replace your burned..."

 

So those are fire brick in the back upper going to replace 1st thing tomorrow when I get home just have little fire in there now. Hope that is Ok. It seems to be fine the forensic are just cracked they r not crumbling and the middle section is just a piece of metal between the brick.

 

As long as you have control of your stove and your pipe or stove is not getting really hot You should be OK but, You can lose Heat Through those cracks That is supposed to be retained in the stove To burn your wood efficiently , You are probably Losing more heat up the chimney than you should be.
If a chunk of the brick were to fall out when your not around , The draft might increase enough to Get your stove too hot.

Gravity And The way bricks are set in a stove in the sides and bottom Help keep them together If cracked.
With the bricks in the top for the baffle Gravity is not on your side