Hello all, I had a question I hope someone could help me with. I want to replace the firebrick in my Avalon Rainier with soapstone. Is this something anyone else has done or tried. Is it possible and would it be alright to do. I want to do this to increase the effeciency of my wood stove. When the fire goes out the soapstone can take over until I get my butt outta bed and geter going again. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. I'm a rookie to the forum so greetings to all and I look forward to exchanging words with all of you. Take care.
Replacing Firebrick in Avalon Rainier freestanding wood stove
- Thread starter fishinbuddy782000
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thats not a bad idea, i would call avalon to make shure you dont void the listing. I cant think of any reason soapstone would be a bad choice, but definalty call avalon.
fishinbuddy782000 said:
I don't think the result of this would be worth your while. We are talking about the heat storage capability of perhaps 40 lbs of soapstone vs. 40 lbs of firebrick. In fact, we are not even talking about fully that, because this being a liner, a lot of the heat released will go up the flue unless you are around to close the draft 100% after the fire goes out.
My vote is that it is not worthwhile and you will not notice a difference. The thin slabs of soapstone may also be easier to break than soapstone, which is cememted into place.
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I agree that the cost probably arent worthwile, but part of the question was if it was possible. I agree with craig on the economics of it.
I have a different suggestion. I'm not sure what the firebrick looks like in your Avalon, but the stuff in my Osburn looked like cinderblock. the replacement stuff I bought looked more like a peice of cement or sandstone sort of stuff, and was easliy twice the weight. I figured it would cost me something like 35 bucks to replace all the firebrick with this new stuff (I haven't decided to do that yet) and I'm sure that would add to the overall mass of the stove. On the otherhand, I agree with Craig here, the additional mass your adding probably isn't worth that much. I'd bet I get as much out of my hearth getting warm as anything inside the stove.
Well, fishinbuddy, I'm very interested in how this goes for you. I've thought about doing this myself someday. My Quadrafire insert is just over one year old and I have one firebrick with about 4 sq. inches missing and now just in the last couple days one of my rear bricks with the air entries in them has cracked straight across.
Would replacing firebrick with soapstone add efficiency? I don't know. How much to have soapstone cut to the right size and shipped to you? Would there be any added efficiency? A couple posters suggest no, but isn't this what Hearthstone claims with its inserts? A longer heat with the soapstone, right? How about durability? Would love to know this. If soapstone kept my insert warmer overnight so in the morning it was one hundred degrees warmer than with standard firebrick I might consider the added cost (depending on how much added cost).
Please keep us informed.
MarkG
Would replacing firebrick with soapstone add efficiency? I don't know. How much to have soapstone cut to the right size and shipped to you? Would there be any added efficiency? A couple posters suggest no, but isn't this what Hearthstone claims with its inserts? A longer heat with the soapstone, right? How about durability? Would love to know this. If soapstone kept my insert warmer overnight so in the morning it was one hundred degrees warmer than with standard firebrick I might consider the added cost (depending on how much added cost).
Please keep us informed.
MarkG
Howdy all, I appreciate everyones insight so far, I hope to come across someone who has already done this. I know that their is a soapstone distrubutor I found Googling around called Rumford. They sell soapstone billets that are the same dimension of the standard firebrick something like 9x4 1/2x1 1/2. Of course the ultimate questions were could it be done and would it actually increase the effecience of my stove. I haven't done it yet, just bought the stove, but am considering when I do have to replace the firebrick if I did it with soapstone would I have unlocked a new secret tool. It doesn't have damper like traditional stoves but being an airtight model it should at least increase the overall effeciency of my fireboxes ability to store some really hot coals up until morning when I restoke the fire. Just one of those I wonder if ideas. Again I appreciate all of your replies and look forward to talking with you all again some time soon, I mean I live in the North Country so winter is always just around the corner. Take care.
You'll actually harm your heat transfer efficiency. It will take longer for the fire to heat the soapstone and then the metal thus less heat actually transferred to your home. The only way that I can think of that it might increase combustion efficiency is since the soapstone retains heat and releases it more evenly the firebox temp will probably stay higher when as the fire burns down which I think would result in a longer secondary burn.
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