I have to replace a few bricks in my stove and it look like my stove recommend normal refractory brick but i see that I can get high density one too (not sure if it's recommended for my stove) what are the difference between the two? does it matter which one i pick? is there a way for me to tell what brick i currently have? the stove was installed by previous owner so maybe i already have high density?
The only way I know of to tell the difference is to compare the weight...HD is much heavier than standard...I think they will generally take higher temps for longer. Some sizes are much more expensive though too...not sure if it would pay off in the long run or not? I guess my personal opinion is to just buy whatever you can buy from the hardware or local stove store...probably cheapest/best in the long run...don't know that there would be any real performance difference between the different brick (heat wise) unless maybe if your stove is meant to use the insulative type bricks (those are very light)
I only know of 2 kinds. 1) Dense refractory 2) Insulating refractory Could just be a wording thing, Spirch.
picture worth a thousand words I removed all the brick to inspect them and i have 6 broken brick and the whole "floor" are using wrong sized brick, previous owner really did something here... floor one (#40) are 4 x 8 instead of 4 x 9 and small one(#41) are 4 x 4 instead of 4 x 5.25
At the temps in a typical wood stove, high density firebricks aren’t really necessary. High density bricks are indicated in places like high temp forge linings and some high temp rocket stove heater applications, but not for wood stoves. Save your money and get normal refractory brick. Insulating fire brick won’t hold up to the abuse inside a wood stove but isn’t necessary anyhow. If you need to cut some of them, a diamond wheel on an angle grinder works fine. It doesn’t hurt to keep some water on the cut to keep down dust and temps. And use a big masonry bit for that one hole.
When you really dig into it, there are a metric chiton of different types of firebrick...but really don't need anything fancy for a wood stove. The specialty bricks are I can't remember now what the exact number was, this was 20 years ago, but even back then, the mill I worked at said it was something like several hundred thousand dollars to reline one of the huge ladles that they poured molten steel into for transport to the next part of the process. (and that was even with doing it in house!)
For sure... on the industrial level- of course. I was speaking to the use of RF brick for wood stoves.
I went to my local store they had only one kind (no idea if they are high density or not but they are "heavy") / size (4.5 x 9 x 1.25), 4$ per brick now it's time to cut and replace the one that need to be replaced and fix the way the floor was installed. thanks to everyone for your feedback!
Sounds like standard dense refractory brick to me... aka fire brick. Glad you got your hands on some.
Food for thought, when i spoke with BlazeKing about this topic the said the catalyst efficiency and proper thermostat operation really depend on the insulating type brick.
yeah, he recently “announced” that firebrick type makes no difference. Use whatever you like in the BK. The real heat is up in the cat surrounded by steel. I was kind of surprised since all of the safety police had me scared too. Take a read for your take on that other site.
