Napoleon NZ26 firebrick repair?

[MountainCraft]

After about 4 years of use, I think I am being forced to take all this stuff out and clean the flue and what not...

The thing just isn't keeping wood burning, and the spark arrestor is clear... I have in the past, taken my ash shovel and bounced the upper firebricks up and down a few times which seemed to allow ash to drop down and the stove would vent properly..

So I did that this morning, and some pieces of the firebrick broke off.. and fell into the fireplace.. One of the reasons I've been avoiding taking the firebrick out and cleaning everything, is that that firebrick was broken into two pieces during install (the installers left 'me' to put all that stuff in)...

It's getting cold, and I need to get this thing working.. So before I take the fire bricks and baffles out, Is there something I can use to 'cement' the smaller pieces of firebrick onto the large piece? I have been hit especially hard by the economy, and must do everything myself, making due without buying any parts or materials whenever possible...

And seeing as it's $40 with shipping to get a new firebrick, plus waiting a week or whatever for it to arrive, I'm hoping I can just make repairs or use whatever to get through this winter... Or if forced to buy the new firebrick, that there's something I can use in the short term while I wait for it to arrive...

Having a chimney sweep come and take everything apart is 'completely' out of the question...

Thanks,
Hoping for an economical solution,
Mark in the mountains of NorCal

 

[n3pro]

Surprised no responses yet. I'd be concerned there is more of a problem then the firebrick and cleaning given the inability to keep the fire going. IMO I would at least get on top with a flashlight to make sure there is no blockage.

As far as the brick you might try furnace cement.

 

[MountainCraft]

Surprised no responses yet. I'd be concerned there is more of a problem then the firebrick and cleaning given the inability to keep the fire going. IMO I would at least get on top with a flashlight to make sure there is no blockage.

As far as the brick you might try furnace cement.

Gonna take the top bricks and baffles out tomorrow, and then maybe put a piece of expanded steel (that I bought a couple years back to make BBQ grills out of) in underneath it all when I reinstall to hold it all in place... There's a chimney sweep brush around here somewhere, and if I can find it, I'll strap a piece of emt to the handle to make it long enough to sweep out the chimney while I'm at it.. And I guess I ought to go under the house and make sure no critter has decided to make a home out of the fresh air inlet...

Furnace cement? That is something made especially for furnaces? Is it something that a mom and pop hardware store should carry? How about the big box lumber/hardware stores? Or do I have to go to a specialty store for it...

will it hurt the baffle if the fire hits any of it directly? Currently there is about 3/4" by 4" that is exposed now, where the fire brick fell apart... I see that in normal operation, there is a 2" lip that is exposed to direct fire all along the front of the baffle, and it appears fine other than being blackened/gray by fire always running across it...

It makes no sense that anything could be blocking from above.. There's a spark arrestor on the chimney, and it's clear, and I took it off this morning and looked down in there, and there wasn't really even that much buildup on the inside of the pipe... I fluffed out the door seal rope the other day, and it was after that that I had trouble keeping the fire going, which makes me think that it's a 'flow' problem... I'm really starting to wonder about that air inlet too.... because the only way the fire would keep going id if I left the door slightly cracked, which means it was starving for air.. But it acts like that when the spark arrestor is clogged too, so I dunno...

Thanks,
Mark

 

[HeatsTwice]

As for the clean out brush, I use a 20 foot section of schedule 40 pvc connected to a sprinkler riser whose threads match that of the brush. Its flexable, light and will not rust/corrode. So I just leave it on the roof where it can not be seen from the ground.

When it comes to replacing fire brick, I just buy some from home depo and, with a tile saw cut them to match the origonal.

Then for the slow burn problem, you've already hit the obviouse but perhaps the adjustable air intake path should be cleaned. On my Napoleon 1900, I access it from the underside after I pull out the ash drop bin.