Papa bear fire bricks are glued/cemented in?

[bacato]

I bought a papa bear last winter and stored it for later use. The outside had been refinished, included new knobs, but the firebrick needed some work. I got some 5/16 plate to make a baffle plate, bought some firebricks thought I'd get it ready pretty quickly - until I went to removing the old broken bricks. They are somehow cemented to the inside of the stove. I'm guessing this is not right?

 

[coaly]

Not normally. Ash packs between them, making the first one difficult to remove, but the rest should pull out easily.

Cracked bricks are not a problem. Are pieces missing? Always burn on an inch of ash, so bottoms stay covered anyway.

 

[Itslay90]

I bought a papa bear last winter and stored it for later use. The outside had been refinished, included new knobs, but the firebrick needed some work. I got some 5/16 plate to make a baffle plate, bought some firebricks thought I'd get it ready pretty quickly - until I went to removing the old broken bricks. They are somehow cemented to the inside of the stove. I'm guessing this is not right?

My timberline wood burning stove was just like that. They removed the brick and cement the whole inside

 

[bacato]

The bottom bricks all look pretty good, a number of bricks on the sides are cracked/crumbling so I'm working on getting those pieces out. not sure how I'll handle the ends that are standing up in the bottom and broken off level with the floor. I would have preferred that they not be cemented in. Being a papa bear, it will be tough to reach the bad one on the back wall.

I have a Kozy Heat fireplace in my home that the bricks are just loose, those are easy to replace.

 

[coaly]

The bottom bricks all look pretty good, a number of bricks on the sides are cracked/crumbling so I'm working on getting those pieces out. not sure how I'll handle the ends that are standing up in the bottom and broken off level with the floor. I would have preferred that they not be cemented in. Being a papa bear, it will be tough to reach the bad one on the back wall.

I have a Kozy Heat fireplace in my home that the bricks are just loose, those are easy to replace.

You can’t remove side bricks without removing bottoms first.

There should be angle iron retainers at top. The rear wall is installed first by sliding the brick up under retainers. Then sides from rear to front. Then bottom bricks hold the rear and sides tight to walls.

 

[bacato]

Yep, the angle iron retainers are welded in there on the sides as you describe. Not a full length of angle, just a short section where the standing firebrick joints will be. I think I'm hosed in this situation, will have to chisel out the bottom too. I might rather do that anyway and fix this once and for all. Wont be fun working on that back wall through the front door.

 

[bholler]

Yep, the angle iron retainers are welded in there on the sides as you describe. Not a full length of angle, just a short section where the standing firebrick joints will be. I think I'm hosed in this situation, will have to chisel out the bottom too. I might rather do that anyway and fix this once and for all. Wont be fun working on that back wall through the front door.

Once you get the floor out of the way the back will be easy

 

[bacato]

Luckily the floor was only packed in tight with ash as Coaly mentioned (no cement there), once I got that out I was able to chip the broken off standing ends all of the way around. All of the standing bricks were glued/cemented. Then the back wall wasn't too challenging, although it was cemented as well - I'm guessing lighter cement there simply because it is so hard to reach through the front door. I used a 36" pry bar to do most of the demolition. Chipped/scraped most all of the residual cement from the inside steel walls. The toughest part was the front corners - easiest to get to so I think the cement was really put on thick. Used a cold chisel on that. So after a bit of brick cutting, I'll have it done.