This past Wednesday when cleaning the stove firebox I found all but 1 of the 4 1/2’’ x 9’’ pumice firebricks covering the firebox floor were cracked, most in 2 pieces and a few in 3 or 4 pieces. ( I am getting weaker with old age and dropping them in I guess breaking the bricks ). The bricks had been covering the bottom steel floor for 4 and perhaps even 5 years, every year the bricks are examined during the cleaning phase and if any are found broken they are replaced with new ones in order to protect the steel firebox.
So off I go to a dealer to purchase new gray pumice firebricks, to my astonishment none to be found at stove dealers and hardware stores in my area, ( supply chain problems I am told ) the stock they did receive has already been sold. One more place to stop a building material supplier, what he had were not pumice firebricks but yellow refractory cement or clay firebricks but of the same 4.5’’ x 9’’ x 1 1/4’’ thick. Not what I really wanted but of the same dimensions, not able to get anything else these will have to do I whisper to myself.
Go home, I install these on the firebox floor and re-install the wall firebricks which are all gray pumice and in excellent condition which is fine by me as these gray pumice bricks are a better insulators than refractory bricks and will protect the sides and back walls better. I need to burn the stove we are getting -27° -28° cold and it is wicked out there.
Is this a mistake?
Can I damage the stove using refractory firebricks that insulate less and transmit more heat to the steel firebox?
What say you?
So off I go to a dealer to purchase new gray pumice firebricks, to my astonishment none to be found at stove dealers and hardware stores in my area, ( supply chain problems I am told ) the stock they did receive has already been sold. One more place to stop a building material supplier, what he had were not pumice firebricks but yellow refractory cement or clay firebricks but of the same 4.5’’ x 9’’ x 1 1/4’’ thick. Not what I really wanted but of the same dimensions, not able to get anything else these will have to do I whisper to myself.
Go home, I install these on the firebox floor and re-install the wall firebricks which are all gray pumice and in excellent condition which is fine by me as these gray pumice bricks are a better insulators than refractory bricks and will protect the sides and back walls better. I need to burn the stove we are getting -27° -28° cold and it is wicked out there.
Is this a mistake?
Can I damage the stove using refractory firebricks that insulate less and transmit more heat to the steel firebox?
What say you?
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