Fire Brick for old stove. Is it worth it?

[Trevor M]

Hey guys Im new to wood burning and this forum. We have an old Ashley stove that we think is from the 1970's. There are no bricks in this stove. It has a double wall, steel inside and lighter steel case outside. Is it worth it to put bricks inside? What are the advantages? What type of brick would I use? Its a fairly spacious stove meaning we can fit pretty fair size logs in it and dont think we would lose too much space with the bricks lining the walls.

Thoughts?

 

[Stinkpickle]

Even though the stove may be designed not to use firebricks, I would want to use them to at least protect the floor.

 

[coaly]

They reflect heat back into the firebox creating a cleaner burn from higher firebox temperatures. They prevent intense heat from sides staying warmer longer as fire dies. The first fire will be drying any moisture they contain, so the btu used goes up the stack in the form of steam until dry. Then you will notice a big difference. They are 1 1/4” thick. If you have a masonry supply store nearby, that is the cheapest place to find them for as low as 1.50 each. Some call them “splits” being half the thickness of a full size brick. They cut easily by scoring with a masonry blade or cut off wheel and snap. Always burn on an inch of ash as well over brick. You can also protect the bottom with sand instead of brick. You should be allowing plenty of ash to remain in your stove without any bottom protection.

 

[Trevor M]

Some great info there guys! Thanks so much. googling masonry supply store nearby

 

[Turbo_B]

My local Tractor Supply also has them

 

[jmartinez]

Don't mean to high jack this thread. But how do you keep the bricks on the side walls from falling over? I have an older Country Flame BBF. It only has bricks on the bottom.

 

[coaly]

Fisher used 1 1/2 angle iron welded to stove sides and back. The brick slips up under the angle iron and the bottom is put in last holding them from moving. Older stoves had what are called "clips" which are short pieces of angle about 2 inches long at each brick joint, so each clip holds two bricks, and later stoves used one piece the entire length.
Retainer clips.

One piece brick retainers.

 

[coaly]

Here's the inside of a brand new 13-NC from England's Stove Works that has never been fired. They use a combination of clips and full length retainers;


I have a new Haugh's stove here from Canada, their first certified model from 1989 that only has retainers on the back, none on the sides. The side bricks are only held in place by the bottom put in last. Don't think much of that. I guess they figure they only needed to be held in place where wood is going to hit it when loading?

 

[jmartinez]

Thank you guys! I'm going to have to look into this idea.