replacing fire brick in century stove.....

[tlhfirelion]

I need to change the bricks in my little century stove. Half of them are cracked which begs the question of why. Are they just that cheap or am I not using my stove correctly or getting it too hot? But thats for another thread.

My question here is if changing from the light weight porus bricks that came with the stove to a standard fire brick, if that will hurt my stove at all? I've done a search and read the debate about using soapstone and if a better brick will help with heating and warmth retention, etc. I'm gonna get it cheap as my nieghbor is a masonry supplier so $16 can replace all of my bricks but I don't want to waste $16 if it's not at all worth it.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mmaul]

After three years of use I replaced mine this summer some cracked, so I replaced them all with the heavier stuff. If there is a problem I will let you know. My thinking was heavier weight better heat retention.

 

[fossil]

My originals lasted two seasons. The back wall took the most abuse, and a couple of them had broken in two. I did temp repairs with furnace cement. This past spring I rebricked the stove with Rutland firebrick splits I got through Ace Hardware. They are more dense. Used a masonry blade on a chop saw to cut the ones that needed cutting. I put the original two baffle bricks back in place, because they were pristine. Rick

 

[Mmaul]

Thats what I did Rutland bricks cut with a miter saw and masonary blade. I did have to replace three bricks in the back mid way thru last year didnt notice a bit of difference with the heavyier brick.