Wear and tear on a 2-year-old stove

[drewmo]

In getting ready for the inevitable, I checked on the condition the firebox in my PE Summit insert. I noticed one brick in the back is cracked and on both sides about in the middle, the bricks have started to crumble some. They seem pretty brittle. (I tried to take photos, but the images really don't show much.)

I've always thought that my stove burns HOT, much hotter than I'm used to in any other stove I've used. We ask the stove to heat a large part of our house, so I'm thankful it cranks. But I'm wondering if the intense heat is out of the ordinary. It drafts well.

I've also noticed the baffle is slightly warped and last year the door gasket started to fall out. When I cemented it back in place, it looked as if the original cement baked away. This stuff is good to 600 degrees or so, but I suspect we're seeing 700+ frequently.

Hopeful someone here can say this is normal/not normal for a two year old stove and suggest what I should do about the bricks.

One final question ... insulated pipe was installed through the chimney, which runs through the center of the house and some of it is exposed. Is it normal for the brick to warm up to the touch? Using my instant read thermometer, it hits 100-120 degrees in places. Good radiant heat, but again, normal?

 

[Grisu]

If you are worried about your stove getting too hot I would recommend using the IR thermometer to measure the actual temperatures. I have the Super insert and found the hottest spot in the front is in the center above the door. There the temp is 50 to 100 F lower than on the stove top. Thus, I keep it under 700 F there. When it reaches 650 F I usually turn up the blower.

The cracked firebrick could also be from pushing in the wood or using a poker. I would replace the cracked one; for the others you can try just turning them around and give them another 2 to 3 years. Not sure about the door gasket though. I changed mine after 4 seasons and some cement was loose but in other places still very good. I am pretty sure a slight warp in the baffle is normal.

 

[weatherguy]

My stone warms up nicely and emits heat for hours after the fire is out, nice feature to have.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

My VC back brick cracked, I called my dealer and got a new one in less than two weeks, if it is a hairline crack it may not mean anything.....

 

[branchburner]

I suspect we're seeing 700+ frequently.

Nothing wrong with 700f, but really depends on what "plus" means and what "frequently" means. As Grisu suggests, keeping track of actual temps is in order.

I know other owners of the Oakwood, who were running the stove very hot (as is easy to do with higher primary air settings, dry wood and strong draft), experienced premature damage to the brick/refractory due excessive and continuous high temps. One fellow was simply trying to heat too much house with too little stove, and when outside temps were really low he had a tendency to run his stove in the overfire range (the rear combustion chamber of my downdraft stove can run 800+ with ease). In general, a stove should cruise in the 550-650f range, and if it can't keep a big/drafty house nice and toasty in sub-zero temps... well, what it heats is what it heats.

I'm guessing that my exposed upstairs chimney block also runs about 100f to the touch. It seems okay to me.

 

[begreen]

I can only surmise that the bricks are breaking down due to rough treatment. Our bricks in the same firebox are going on season 7 with no signs of cracks. They are starting to show a little rounding on the corners, but that is is. When loading N/S I try to never slam in logs against the back of the stove. That's like taking a hammer to them.

Our door gasket was poorly cemented from the factory. There were a couple stretches (~6") with little cement. By year two I had to re-cement those areas. Last winter I replaced the gasket. It's pretty normal for these stoves to cruise about 650F with an occasional spike up to 700F with a fresh charge of wood.

 

[skinanbones]

The door gasket even in my own stove tend to get loose about 2/3 of the way thru the season and i've chalked that up to pushing the stove hard 24/7. Just a quick line of cement and shut the door and keep burning. Most stove company's recomend that gaskets be change once a year.
As for the brick the two spots you mentioned are common spots for brick to have damage from wood being loaded roughly. Take the broken brick and put it in the bottem and put one of the good brick from the bottem up on the side, until you have a bunch of broken bricks. Then buy a brick kit from P.E. more than likely it will be cheaper than buy indvidual bricks.
The baffle itself will belly about 3/8 of a inch in the first year, and then not change after that if your burning right.
Edit missed the last one, not sure if i would call 120 normal but the brick will definately be warm to the touch

 

[drewmo]

Thanks for the comments, truly appreciated. I'm guilty of perhaps being a little rough loading the stove (18" rounds can be pretty heavy) and can see how the back bricks take the punishment. Still not sure about the side bricks, though. Loading N to S, I can see logs rolling to either side but not to the extent that it really pits the bricks in the same spot on both sides. The right side seems a bit more worn, if that makes a difference. My thought is that with the stove loading and cranking away, the middle is probably the hottest part of the stove??

Figured the bowing of the baffle would be pretty normal given its thickness, but good to keep an eye on it.

I like the fact that the chimney offers some radiant heats once warmed. At what point would one be alarmed at the external temp of a chimney?

 

[BruceNorEast]

Drewmo, I'd suggest that you get a cheap laser pointer non-contact thermometer.

I have one from a big-box store, it's a Ryobi and it cost $29. I can point it at different parts of the stove, and nearby combustibles and instantly know the temperature. Or borrow one (if money is too tight, maybe you can figure this out with a stove thermometer that you have access to, just get something you can use to check your temps with some confidence).

With that, suggestions from this forum, and the stoves owners manual, you should have a pretty good handle on knowing if the stove is getting too hot. My knee jerk reaction to your description of the fire bricks was that is has been.

Maybe yours has overheated too often, or maybe the temps are fine and there was just a batch of lower quality fire bricks used in yours. Knowing the temps the stove hits under your normal operating should help you figure this out.

Good luck to you!