soapstones in my summit

[summit]

Okay, so as the firebrick in the summit have been needing replacing, i have been installing some old 1 1/4" thick soapstone panels from rebuilt Hearthstones in the firebox (two big ones in the rear, so far, one on each side).. I posted about wanting to do this a few months back, and after running the stove for a while, here is what I have found:

The blower takes a little longer to start coming on with the auto start snap switch. However, it stays on way longer, and the little "on then off" cycles it does as the fire cools down have become far fewer; thus i don't need to use the manual setting on the blower much at all, anymore.
The stove's performance has been exactly the same as far as burn time, 2ndry burns, clean glass etc.
The soapstone holds up way better than the firebrick.

 

[REF1]

I can't quite tell from the picture what's on the bottom of the firebox. It looks like a solid piece. Does the summit not have an ash pan/drawer? I thought all PEs had that.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm still wondering if this is an April Fool's Day thing . . . or the real deal.

 

[oldspark]

I would hate to tell you how old my fire brick is in my wood burner, what happens to your fire brick that it has to be replaced?

 

[summit]

I can't quite tell from the picture what's on the bottom of the firebox. It looks like a solid piece. Does the summit not have an ash pan/drawer? I thought all PEs had that.

all the enamel PE stoves and Alderlea series have it: on my plain black version, it was an option that I decided to do without.

 

[summit]

I would hate to tell you how old my fire brick is in my wood burner, what happens to your fire brick that it has to be replaced?

they were cracked from repeatedly getting smashed w/ logs (especially the rear ones). The cracks didn't bother me, untill they started getting loose and flopping around all willy nilly.

 

[summit]

I'm still wondering if this is an April Fool's Day thing . . . or the real deal.

Its real, i promise... I woulda had something better for april fools than replacing firebricks...

 

[madison]

Do you think the soapstone will be more robust than firebrick, resistant to log loading bumps? Are the firebrick 1 1/4" thick? And if the soapstone is less thick than the firebrick, does it wobble back in forth in the steel retainer tabs? Thanks.

 

[iceman]

is it handling high heat? thought soapstone was only good to 550 stove top .....
fill me in please this is interesting

 

[BrowningBAR]

is it handling high heat? thought soapstone was only good to 550 stove top .....
fill me in please this is interesting

600 is the claimed limit for Hearthstone, and Woodstock does not put a temp limit on their soapstone. Several on this forum have hit 800 degrees on their fireview. Also, Hearthstone has soapstone panels that line the inside of the fireboxes on both of their insert models.

 

[Slow1]

is it handling high heat? thought soapstone was only good to 550 stove top .....
fill me in please this is interesting

I wouldn't expect the stone to have trouble with the heat. I think the 550 number comes from certain mfgr recommendations - not all have the same limits. Woodstock is happy enough with a 650 surface temp, but even that is somewhat immaterial for what is going on inside the stove.

Woodstock stoves (and I'm sure others) are soapstone all the way through (with cast pieces holding it all together). Thus the stone inside is subjected to the high heat of combustion - no cracks here. I'm told the limits on the surface temp for the FV is not concern about the stone, but rather the implied internal temps required to get it up that high and what that means for the cast pieces around the cat and other areas as they could fail.

 

[Todd]

Interesting, so are you going to replace all the bricks with soapstone and see what happens?

 

[Todd]

is it handling high heat? thought soapstone was only good to 550 stove top .....
fill me in please this is interesting

I wouldn't expect the stone to have trouble with the heat. I think the 550 number comes from certain mfgr recommendations - not all have the same limits. Woodstock is happy enough with a 650 surface temp, but even that is somewhat immaterial for what is going on inside the stove.

Woodstock stoves (and I'm sure others) are soapstone all the way through (with cast pieces holding it all together). Thus the stone inside is subjected to the high heat of combustion - no cracks here. I'm told the limits on the surface temp for the FV is not concern about the stone, but rather the implied internal temps required to get it up that high and what that means for the cast pieces around the cat and other areas as they could fail.

Agreed, the soapstone can take the high heat, it's the cast iron parts that are in trouble at temps up over 1400, that's why Woodstock's stove top over fire temp is 700.

 

[NH_Wood]

Interesting. My Mansfield manual states that temps of up to 600 can occur on high air setting. I've easily got the stove to 550 and once to 600. I need to learn how to dial down the air in order to not allow the temps to soar - I think I let the fire rip for too long, but sometimes the fire wants to smolder if I dial down air and damper too early. Learning curve I guess. I think my stove would easily cruise right past 600, so I need to figure this out early next year! Cheers!

 

[summit]

Do you think the soapstone will be more robust than firebrick, resistant to log loading bumps? Are the firebrick 1 1/4" thick? And if the soapstone is less thick than the firebrick, does it wobble back in forth in the steel retainer tabs? Thanks.

its all 1 1/4" thick, doesn't wobble any more than to original firebricks did. they've taken the whacking from the firewood so far, they are more sturdy than the pumice bricks that came with the stove.

 

[summit]

is it handling high heat? thought soapstone was only good to 550 stove top .....
fill me in please this is interesting

for a stove that is soapstone all the way thru, then I guess overfiring could be a concern.. these are just in there in place of the bricks as a buffer to the steel walls, so its not gonna bother me a bit to get them too hot and have them crack... I don't think I'll replace all the bricks w/ soapstone, just the rest of the side bricks when they finally crap out. The bricks in the bottom can stay, as i don't want to mess with the EBT's timing...

 

[Jimbob]

Are the soapstone bricks still holding up?