Coalbrookdale Severn non-boiler - fire brick issue

[macker76]

Hi, all

Recent lurker, and there's been some great advice that I've read about how to operate a wood stove that I have found invaluable. Here is my story: moved into a raised ranch 4 years ago that had a big Coalbrookdale Severn multifuel stove in the den/ground floor. Didn't use it for the first three years, but the electric baseboard heat bills got to be too much. So we decided to start using the stove. Had a sweep come in, everything clean and ship shape, recommended the bio bricks, off we went. Did loads of reading about how to operate it, especially here.

Recently though, I noticed that the bricks in the back were cracked. So I got some refractory mortar to patch the cracks up. I might have got the wrong stuff though, because last week one of the bricks started tilting forward, at the crack. So I let the stove cool down over 2 days, and remove the bricks, which literally crumble in my hands. It was the bricks, so I thought "I'll just get three from store or Amazon. Got a pack of 6 Rutland bricks. The problem? The widths of the original bricks aren't consistent. It's two standard 9x4.5x1.25 inch bricks, and then a central 9x3.75x1.25 brick. I tried to trim I've of the Rutland bricks down using the chisel, but they kept breaking in half. I managed to find a 9x4x1.25 brick set, so I got two, and filled and sanded 1/4 of an inch off over side of the clay brick. Hurrah! All three now fit.

Except.

They keep tipping forward.

I hoped they would expand with the heat and clamp each other in. But they haven't.

So my question.

How do I solve this? Are there clips/brackets I can use? Or should I just go ahead and mortar the sides and the bricks to reach other?

It's such a good stove to use, even with only 44000btu output, for our small house. But that bricks thing is annoying me. And Lord knows what I'll do if the irregular-shaped side bricks ever go

Thanks in advance!

Here is a picture of it in all it's glory!

 

[begreen]

That is a good stove, built like a tank and good-looking too. Is it possible that the rear bricks had a retaining clip that has since rotted away? Perhaps one could be made from stainless bent into a Z shape so that it overlapped the top of the bricks by an inch and attached to the rear wall of the stove.

 

[macker76]

Thank you for replying. I thought about that, but there's no connection spots on the back of the stove. i would have to modify it to do that, and I'm clumsy enough to do permanent damage to an otherwise excellent stove. I DID happen to get hold of a schematic for assembling the stove, and it shows what I suspected - the original back brick was one large piece, 18"Wx12-14"H, pinned in by the two side bricks. A previous owner of our house did a lot of MacGuyver DIY to the place, and it looks like at one point the original brick was removed, and replaced by 5 bricks, which seem to be 2x4.5" bricks, a central 3.75-ish central brick, and two corner bricks that look like they were originally one brick cut in half, but unevenly. Hence the anomaly of the central brick. So the standard 9x4.5" bricks will, of course, just fall over. The reason the ones that were in it up until recently didn't, was because they were mortared in at the sides, and also, the large and heavy iron throat plate frame was resting against them (it has a back flue inlet option, so the center of the throat plate frame back lip has a "letterbox" area cut out for smoke/air draw). When I reset the throat plate back to where it is SUPPOSED to rest, that removed the "brace" from the bricks that were there (hence, I suspect, the subsequent crumbling), and also meant the new bricks I inserted had nothing to rest against, so the usual expansion of things in the heat caused them to fall over.

So I "back-engineered"so to speak. I replaced the throat plate to where the previous owner had it, so it is now pinning the new bricks in. I lose a tiny bit of firebox space, and probably a bit of efficiency, but it will do for now. Over the summer, I think I might try to remove the corner bricks (which probably need removing anyway), and then use 6 bricks like the diagram attached, with some refractory cement to hold them in place to each other. I don't know if that will work out perfectly though, so I'll have to measure, remeasure, and measure again to make sure I don't mess things up. Unless I hear of a better idea.

Old stuff seems to just last better, lol. Too bad we can't always replace the parts :D

 

[begreen]

The throat plate is important. It's good that it was put back in. Search around for large firebrick. You may find something that is a close fit. Or consider making a basic mold and make your own with castable refractory. If you do this, make a few to have some spares.

Firebrick Tiles and Large Sizes

Castable Refractory