I developed some cracks in the floor and back of my fire box, which is a small one in my second floor apartment. I did some research and the company has gone out of business in 1988 leaving no information or replacement parts behind so only patch repairs can be done. Found one manual but was different model.
I cleaned, vacuumed, washed, vacuumed areas, filled and patched most obvious cracks or chipping with regular body high heat furnace cement and left it to dry overnight so I could make a small fire to cure it to safely use my fireplace again. However it snowed and was very windy and snow must have run down the flue during the night and dirty wet the cement on the floor and it dried and I was afraid it wouldn't be right so I took water and washed just the dirty stuff off and re patched it. Now I'm not sure if that messed it up.
And please , just a few more questions..How small a fire to cure the cement, small is a bit vague ? Is it dangerous if it gets to hot to fast ? There's no information on the furnace cement itself. How long after you patch it { as you're told to dampen/clean the surface } do you begin to cure it ? And how do you make this small fire to cure it without getting any hot ashes or hot wood dropping through the grate onto the filled cracks curing on the firebox floor ? And do I fill the lines running the cross where the squares meet or they needed for air flow ? I'm aware some of these questions may be silly to the more experienced, but this is the first time I've done this sort of thing, I've had an awful time finding any forums about it until here, and I just want to do a safe and correct repair. Thank you ahead of time to anyone who can give me any advice.
![[Hearth.com] Repairing firebox of preway "85" built in fireplace](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/173/173088-7ae6b4b70ef5caa4aee4799a7440a580.jpg?hash=BNlLcRMG_q "[Hearth.com] Repairing firebox of preway \"85\" built in fireplace")
I cleaned, vacuumed, washed, vacuumed areas, filled and patched most obvious cracks or chipping with regular body high heat furnace cement and left it to dry overnight so I could make a small fire to cure it to safely use my fireplace again. However it snowed and was very windy and snow must have run down the flue during the night and dirty wet the cement on the floor and it dried and I was afraid it wouldn't be right so I took water and washed just the dirty stuff off and re patched it. Now I'm not sure if that messed it up.
And please , just a few more questions..How small a fire to cure the cement, small is a bit vague ? Is it dangerous if it gets to hot to fast ? There's no information on the furnace cement itself. How long after you patch it { as you're told to dampen/clean the surface } do you begin to cure it ? And how do you make this small fire to cure it without getting any hot ashes or hot wood dropping through the grate onto the filled cracks curing on the firebox floor ? And do I fill the lines running the cross where the squares meet or they needed for air flow ? I'm aware some of these questions may be silly to the more experienced, but this is the first time I've done this sort of thing, I've had an awful time finding any forums about it until here, and I just want to do a safe and correct repair. Thank you ahead of time to anyone who can give me any advice.
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![[Hearth.com] Repairing firebox of preway "85" built in fireplace](/talk/data/attachments/173/173089-867450a507668b40f1cc608b36a286c0.jpg?hash=idmI9xMZhr)
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