Attaching Refractory Board for temporary repair - how should I do it?

[Vermonter2011]

I have a Vermont Castings 2550 Encore, c. 2010, and the refractory has some pieces missing.

My son has some high temperature board that was in the scrap bin at his work - he works on high temperature industrial furnaces.

I'm going to use that material to patch the refractory temporarily, and in the off season will decide whether to replace the refractory or get a new stove.

The two pieces will be 10" by 3-5/8" wide by 1" thick and 14" by 3-5/8" wide by 1" thick, so they will cover the entire missing sections easily. My initial intention is to use sheet rock screws, which is how the refractory you order from Vermont Castings is bound together.

Are sheetrock screws the best way?

If the rest of the refractory is too crumbly and the screws don't hold, is there another way to hold that in place? Will gasket cement work on this stuff, or will that not hold at all (I can use gasket cement if that'll work better). Is there anything else that I can use other than a sheetrock screw??

 

[begreen]

I'd use refractory cement if needed or furnace cement if hard to find.

 

[Vermonter2011]

To follow up: I used sheetrock screws, which is what a new refractory would have had holding it together.

This material is extremely soft (it feels like styrofoam), although my son said that it is very costly. He pulled some pieces out of the scrap bin that they were going to throw away at work, and that was enough for this band-aid repair, at least on the first attempt.

The new Vermont Castings Encore stoves have a hard refractory that looks like plaster or cement - I saw one at a dealer this week. That looks like a much more durable and sturdy material to work with.

The stove is burning better in the first burn since I installed this. However, the catalytic combuster is damaged, so I won't get the stove to be fully-functional this season or be able to test it fully unless I install a new refractory and combuster (combined cost ($600+), and I'll make that decision in the off-season.