Steel instead of upper fire bricks?

[Groo]

I have an old Earth Stove purchased by the 2and previous home owner.

It uses a layer of upper brick, in part or entirety to route the combustion gasses. These bricks rest on air inlet cross tubes.

I imagine if thin steel was used, it would warp. My though would be to use 1/4" plate and 1"spacers to put the top of the steel where the top of the bricks would be, su the upper baffles would still work.

My worry is the extra weight might cause the air inlet tubes to collapse under high heat. Is that a reasonable concern? Would steel vs. Fore bricks cause any other problems I had not considered l?

 

[bholler]

I have an old Earth Stove purchased by the 2and previous home owner.

It uses a layer of upper brick, in part or entirety to route the combustion gasses. These bricks rest on air inlet cross tubes.

I imagine if thin steel was used, it would warp. My though would be to use 1/4" plate and 1"spacers to put the top of the steel where the top of the bricks would be, su the upper baffles would still work.

My worry is the extra weight might cause the air inlet tubes to collapse under high heat. Is that a reasonable concern? Would steel vs. Fore bricks cause any other problems I had not considered l?

Why not just use firebrick?

 

[Groo]

Why not just use firebrick?

I don't get much over a season and a half on them before the are scorched and cracked. I just swapped 4 broken bricks with bricks off the floor.

 

[bholler]

I don't get much over a season and a half on them before the are scorched and cracked. I just swapped 4 broken bricks with bricks off the floor.

Get higher quality brick and be careful not to bump them while loading. Brick baffles usually last 5 years minimum. What is the temperature rating of the firebrick you are using

 

[Groo]

They came with the house, but they look like 2000f pumice bricks.

 

[bholler]

They came with the house, but they look like 2000f pumice bricks.

Good pumice brick should last years. Are they sitting flat?

 

[Groo]

Supported from the edges. Looks like earth stove used som notched bricks. I don't have notched bricks. I'm not sure what the notch would do save let the ack to sit a bit lower.

 

[Groo]

Supported from the edges. Looks like earth stove used som notched bricks. I don't have notched bricks. I'm not sure what the notch would do save let the ack to sit a bit lower.

Looks like the notches go up, and I am missing a pile of bricks

 

[Groo]

What seems to happen is that the baffle bricks gap, then they get scorched as the hottest flames go between the gaps. Once that happens for a bit, the bricks crumble as the corners and the whole brick gets weaker. It doesn't help that everything is so tight, to the point that you just cant get that last full length brick in place, and instead end up using a shortened brick, even more prone to burning and falling. Once a brick goes missing, heat output drops dramatically from the stove.
I'm thinking maybe getting thinner ceramic bricks, but then the upper baffles wouldn't work quite right. Maybe steel on top of thinner bricks? The steel would fill the gap to the baffles and eliminate flames licking around the edges of the bricks.