After about 4 years of use, I think I am being forced to take all this stuff out and clean the flue and what not...
The thing just isn't keeping wood burning, and the spark arrestor is clear... I have in the past, taken my ash shovel and bounced the upper firebricks up and down a few times which seemed to allow ash to drop down and the stove would vent properly..
So I did that this morning, and some pieces of the firebrick broke off.. and fell into the fireplace.. One of the reasons I've been avoiding taking the firebrick out and cleaning everything, is that that firebrick was broken into two pieces during install (the installers left 'me' to put all that stuff in)...
It's getting cold, and I need to get this thing working.. So before I take the fire bricks and baffles out, Is there something I can use to 'cement' the smaller pieces of firebrick onto the large piece? I have been hit especially hard by the economy, and must do everything myself, making due without buying any parts or materials whenever possible...
And seeing as it's $40 with shipping to get a new firebrick, plus waiting a week or whatever for it to arrive, I'm hoping I can just make repairs or use whatever to get through this winter... Or if forced to buy the new firebrick, that there's something I can use in the short term while I wait for it to arrive...
Having a chimney sweep come and take everything apart is 'completely' out of the question...
Thanks,
Hoping for an economical solution,
Mark in the mountains of NorCal
The thing just isn't keeping wood burning, and the spark arrestor is clear... I have in the past, taken my ash shovel and bounced the upper firebricks up and down a few times which seemed to allow ash to drop down and the stove would vent properly..
So I did that this morning, and some pieces of the firebrick broke off.. and fell into the fireplace.. One of the reasons I've been avoiding taking the firebrick out and cleaning everything, is that that firebrick was broken into two pieces during install (the installers left 'me' to put all that stuff in)...
It's getting cold, and I need to get this thing working.. So before I take the fire bricks and baffles out, Is there something I can use to 'cement' the smaller pieces of firebrick onto the large piece? I have been hit especially hard by the economy, and must do everything myself, making due without buying any parts or materials whenever possible...
And seeing as it's $40 with shipping to get a new firebrick, plus waiting a week or whatever for it to arrive, I'm hoping I can just make repairs or use whatever to get through this winter... Or if forced to buy the new firebrick, that there's something I can use in the short term while I wait for it to arrive...
Having a chimney sweep come and take everything apart is 'completely' out of the question...
Thanks,
Hoping for an economical solution,
Mark in the mountains of NorCal