Yup, you heard that right. The last several years have been quite hectic; I've spent approximately 20% of that time out of the country; another 20% in the country but away from home, and when I'm "at home" a significant portion is spent at work.
So finally, this winter while burning I noticed my firebrick starting to "heave" a little bit on the bottom; I knew it needed some attention. I have a KozyHeat Z42. The other day I set about cleaning things up. The ash was packed so tightly in the gaps in the bottom bricks that I broke a couple getting them out, but all-in-all everything appeared to be in good condition. The top refractory panel is showing some wear but I think it will be fine for a while longer. It had 2 small holes in it, and some flame erosion from where the front stainless shield had warped and directed flames from the secondaries directly into the panel. I will be replacing the warped shield in the front, and I have a couple glass gaskets that need replaced, but other than that everything else is still serviceable.
All combined, between the ash on top of the refractory panel above the secondaries and the ash in/under/around the firebrick I remove about 1/2 gallon of ash above and beyond what I could get in a normal ash scoop-out.
So finally, this winter while burning I noticed my firebrick starting to "heave" a little bit on the bottom; I knew it needed some attention. I have a KozyHeat Z42. The other day I set about cleaning things up. The ash was packed so tightly in the gaps in the bottom bricks that I broke a couple getting them out, but all-in-all everything appeared to be in good condition. The top refractory panel is showing some wear but I think it will be fine for a while longer. It had 2 small holes in it, and some flame erosion from where the front stainless shield had warped and directed flames from the secondaries directly into the panel. I will be replacing the warped shield in the front, and I have a couple glass gaskets that need replaced, but other than that everything else is still serviceable.
All combined, between the ash on top of the refractory panel above the secondaries and the ash in/under/around the firebrick I remove about 1/2 gallon of ash above and beyond what I could get in a normal ash scoop-out.
