Octagon Fire Box...Hmmm

Now that the Vigilant is in the living room has taken over the heating duties, the box stove sits in the basement in waiting. It may find use under extreme conditions but for the most part it may as well fill out an organ donor card.
I and many others with a box stove eventually will have a problem with ash in the corners, sides, front and back, but mostly in the corners which in reality spread to the four sides.
Looking at a certain Warm Morning model has given me a thought and I present to all for critique whether a box with 8 sides would help with ash build up by cutting fire brick with 45's and standing them in the corners with the necessary adhesive

Below is a bird's eye view, the top of the stove is removed and the new corner bricks are in place. The pink in the corners is insulation to stop air from passing the smaller coal bed.

I think it would be better and would give better air circulation also. Looks like you would have to cut some of the grate fingers to get clearance. I think the bricks would have to be supported from the bottom and not trust to any adhesive.

Nice sketch.

franco b wrote:I think it would be better and would give better air circulation also. Looks like you would have to cut some of the grate fingers to get clearance. I think the bricks would have to be supported from the bottom and not trust to any adhesive.

Nice sketch.

After further review of my drawing I will place them in the empty stove first and cut the edge of the fire bricks that are cemented to the flat wall surface and they also sit in a shallow groove around the perimeter of the fire box. The corner blocks won't sit in the groove but will be held in place by those on each side.

No cutting of the grates needed as the bricks are an inch or more above the grates. pic's of the empty stove tomorrow.

michaelanthony wrote:No cutting of the grates needed as the bricks are an inch or more above the grates. pic's of the empty stove tomorrow.

If a piece of coal gets lodged in that space under the brick, wont it press against the brick when shaking?

franco b wrote:

michaelanthony wrote:No cutting of the grates needed as the bricks are an inch or more above the grates. pic's of the empty stove tomorrow.

If a piece of coal gets lodged in that space under the brick, wont it press against the brick when shaking?

If properly done my thought is that piece will get burned.

This is close to scale when it comes to the space between the grates and the bottom of the fire brick.

It looks if nothing is caught now as it is the new set up should work.

Nice idea, and looks good too.

Could you use refractory mortar behind the corner bricks?

Or, seal off the bottom of them and somehow use those four passages to preheat secondary air?

scalabro wrote:Nice idea, and looks good too.

Could you use refractory mortar behind the corner bricks?

Or, seal off the bottom of them and somehow use those four passages to preheat secondary air?

I like the idea of the four passages for secondary air...must start somewhere. Could be a Monday project as temp's should be in the 40's so I can drag out the table saw with the masonry blade.

this is a great idea. I have been thinking of a variety of ways to leave the square fire pot behind, this was actually one of them.

good work, please be sure to keep posting with the progress, good or not so.

steve

looks like Monday won't be boring after all!

Interesting subject. This factored into my decision to go see Larry Trainer and buy a Chubby. The round fire pot, with ring, and no bricks would seem a very efficient way to make heat and get it out to the stove surfaces, with no cold zones. I think adding bricks to square stoves making a more circular burn would greatly help get a complete burn, and possibly longer burn, as you'll need less 02 as your not trying to burn the corners anymore. Can fire bricks be cut with a Tile saw?

Get your camera fixed to take pics of things as you go as this should be interesting.

warminmn wrote:Get your camera fixed to take pics of things as you go as this should be interesting.

You got it bro, in a couple hours I will clean the stove out and take pic's of what I'm starting with.

The stove is a nice old unit that can put out but it ashes up pretty bad after 4 or 5 days and can take an hour or so to clean out and get back up to temp. Unfortunately it's nowhere near the efficiency of the Vigilant, one reason is the ashing and bridging of the fire.