Replacing fire bricks with soapstone

[clark77]

I was just thinking this morning and for some reason i was wondering if you can replace the firebricks in your stove with soapstone? I figure that the soapstone is stronger, won't crack, retains more heat and should outright last longer than fire bricks.
is there a standard size for firebricks or do they come in all different thicknesses and sizes? also, how available are soapstone bricks?
if you could find soapstone bricks that fit your particular stove, would there be any negative effect of using them since your stove wasn't exactly made for it?

 

[Fsappo]

been discussed a bunch of times on here. Im gonna use the search feature and see if any threads ring a bell

 

[Fsappo]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/re-soapstone-top-for-jotul-oslo.41121/

Here is one that discusses the properties as recorded by an almost respected forum dude

 

[clark77]

I had found a couple threads but they are 10 years old.

 

[hamsey]

Any luck with the soapstone replacement? Thinking about doing this with an Oslo. Order pieces from Hearthstone and cut them to size with a diamond tip blade.

 

[mstoelton]

You should be able to get scrap pieces from Alberene Soapstone in Virginia http://www.alberenesoapstone.com/. They are the sole remaining soapstone quarry in the US. I got my hearth stone from them in December of 2012. Great people to work with. Standard 11/4 inch thick soapstone as cut for counter tops and such should be fine for this use.

The soapstone should be fine to replace firebrick, but it will change the heating nature of the stove. The stove will take a little longer to heat-up and will tend to hold and release the heat for a longer period of time. The soapstones do not seem to deteriorate.

 

[clark77]

i've got a jotul f55 waiting for me at the dealer and will pick it up and install on friday. i'm not going to go the soapstone route. let me learn how this stove burns and performs first and go from there.

 

[DougA]

You can try getting scrap from a place that sells soapstone counter tops. There are lots of them in our area. Some might be from Quebec but most is from Brazil, so I am told. Scrap should be very cheap but it may have a fiberglass backing on it that will have to be removed. You will need a good wet saw and lots of patience. BTW, soapstone does crack, not sure where you heard it doesn't - that's why they put the fiberglass backing on it for countertops.

 

[BrotherBart]

I only recall one member that was doing the brick thing. He was in the stove business and was going to use scrap pieces he had accumulated. Unfortunately he went away before reporting back how it worked out. I have thought about trying it over the years but shipping for the soapstone firebrick was prohibitive.

They can be used since we know that the Hearthstone Clydesdale and the Woodstock Ideal Steel use them from the factory.

 

[begreen]

Also used in Hearthstone freestanding stoves, the Manchester, Shelburne and Craftsbury.

 

[jeff_t]

webby lined his fireplace with soapstone.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-new-soapstone-lined-fireplace.111822/

 

[rideau]

It does not matter if soapstone cracks, if it is only being used as a liner, as long as it stays in place and continues to serve as a liner. Just like having two smaller pieces there. It is not going to deteriorate just from cracking. Now, if you repeatedly hit it in the same place, then you will wear away at the edge of the crack. Soapstone can crack both from impact and from raising the temperature of the stone from cold very quickly, because of the resultant rapid water loss. Need to slowly burn the water out of cold stone. So, first burn after the stove has not been used for a good period of time should be a slow burn for the first half hour to dry the stone.

Just read Jake's post. Don't know if he is still using the soapstone top. It would retain heat and radiate it longer if it were sitting directly on the stove top, without that insulating air space. That space is allowing air to get at the stone from all sides, which prevents the stone from getting as hot as it could in the first place, thus reducing the heat it is able to store; provides much more surface area for cooling, to say nothing of providing an area for a draft to develop which will only speed the loss of heat from the stone. I would remove the feet and gasket the edge of the stove, if there is any edge at all on the top. A gasket should raise the stone enough to have it sit solid despite a slight elevation in the middle of the stove. If not, I'd be gently sanding the underside in the area where the stovetop is elevated, so the stone would sit flat on the cast, and once I had succeeded in sanding down enough (soapstone is easy to sand with fine steel wool), would remove the feet and sit the stone on the stove. The stone will retain heat better, look great, cook better. And it won't hurt the stove to have the soapstone sit on the cast. It sits directly on a cast cooktop in the PH.

The stone does get very hot...hot enough to burn for sure. But, it radiates it's heat so slowly that there is time to register "This is hot", and react/ remove your hand before you get a burn.

Soapstone stoves are usually lined with soapstone much thinner than firebricks. I have a couple of pieces about as thick as a brick, from an old hearth install.
If you line a stove with soapstone as thick as firebricks you will add a fair amount of mass, and have, I believe, a significant change in the way your stove heats. Probably a nice change. Would be interesting to see someone do this. Soapstone that thick won't be inexpensive.

 

[begreen]

At $6/brick soapstone firebrick prices are not too bad. They are close to pumice bricks in cost. It's the shipping that's expensive.
(broken link removed to http://vermontsoapstone.com/fireplace-hearths/)

 

[DougA]

The soapstone counter top scraps I got from thislittlefishy and were 1 1/4" thick. Very cheap. He paid $200 Cdn and there was enough to line a dozen stoves. We both used them for making the top of the hearth. I've still got 30 sq ft left over.

You would have to research the properties of soapstone vs. firebrick and you probably will find that thinner soapstone will be equal to thicker firebrick. That would allow a bit more room inside for wood however, not sure if 1 1/4" thick pieces would stay stacked. Some of the pieces I rec'd were actually quite large as they were the cutouts from kitchen sinks, so maybe you could put one piece per side.

You need to remember that a soapstone stove (at least mine) is basically a cast iron grid that holds the soapstone pieces. I'm thinking that if you add soapstone inside of cast iron, the stove may take a long time to reach temps. so if you are running 24/7 like a soapstone stove wants to, that would not matter but burning evenings only would be a problem IMHO.

 

[begreen]

If using soapstone only as firebrick I don't think the warmup would be hugely slower. Most of the heat in the early stages of the fire are in the upper half of the stove, above the firebrick. At least I haven't heard that complaint from Hearthstone cast iron stove owners.

 

[BrotherBart]

Several years ago the Clydesdale owners here did talk about them being slow to come up to temp. But I have no idea what their experience level with other stoves had been.

 

[begreen]

Yes, it is somewhat subjective. Comparing the F400 to the T6 I can say that our cast iron jacketed stove is slower to warm up, but not dramatically. The T6 is starting to warm the room about 30-45 minutes from a cold start. The benefit comes in the cool down phase which is much more gradual.

 

[mstoelton]

It takes about 1/2 hour of a good fire for the ventilation fan to kick on with the Clydesdale. The vent fan is tied to a thermostat that activates when the insert gets warm enough to throw heat. I'm not sure what that temperature is.