When I first start up my stove, all of the firebricks turn really black. they do go back to their normal color, but this is only after acheiving a hot fire. Is this normal
black fire bricks
- Thread starter jotul 36
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Yep, pretty much. The bricks are cold, so they condense smoke/soot and turn black. Once you get the fire up to temp and the bricks warm up, the carbon burns off and they turn white again. I suspect in a couple of additional replies, someone will chime in and say to light the fire with the top down method which is rumored to be practically smokeless.
Top-down, bottom-up, I dunno. I do it either way depending on my mood. When the splits start to get hot and burn, they're gonna be spewing stuff into a relatively cool firebox (especially where the ends are) regardless of how the fire was started. Yes, there will be soot/creosote buildup on the firebrick early on. As everything comes up to operating temperature in there, it should all burn off through a good burn cycle. Rick
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