Make Firebrick Higher?

I just bought 4 fire bricks to place on top of the bricks already in my Harman TLC-2000. Even with the added bricks there is still plenty of height between the bricks & the top/back of the stove. I did this for two reasons:

1. When I load the stove I occasionaly got a few lumps of coal lodged on top of the firebrick (up against the steel back of the stove) & am afraid it may damage the steel. (there already is a discolored area on the steel, above the brick that was probably from coal burning against it)

2. I figure that with the added height in back now I can fix this problem & be able to get more coal in there by banking it towards the back.

Any else try this?

Photo of my hanywork. (if it works I'll figure a better way to secure the bricks & cut a thin slice to fill it in)

Not on a Harman, but on my boiler 'Big Bertha' I made a firebrick back wall and a stack of bricks for the loading door opening, so I could increase the depth of the fire from about 8" to over 18" at the front

If you want to cut firebrick, they are pretty soft and will cut very easily with a 4" or 4-1/2" hand held grinder with a 'masonry' disc installed. Lots of dust, but cuts the brick easily..

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Not on a Harman, but on my boiler 'Big Bertha' I made a firebrick back wall and a stack of bricks for the loading door opening, so I could increase the depth of the fire from about 8" to over 18" at the front

If you want to cut firebrick, they are pretty soft and will cut very easily with a 4" or 4-1/2" hand held grinder with a 'masonry' disc installed. Lots of dust, but cuts the brick easily..

Greg L

firebox1.jpg

firebrickwall.jpg

Nice job! What are those metal support tabs attached to?

I made what looked like a big 'book-end' that rested on the floor of the firebox, actually on the side rails just above the grates... So the grates could still slide fore and aft for 'shaking' The framework behind the brick was some SS 'T' stock that I had,, it could have been channel, or angle iron, didn't matter,, I jsut needed to make something to holod the brick vertical.
the Tabs you see are SS. they held up pretty well, I had to replace the lower ones after about 5 tons of coal was burnt,, but this took only an hour to clean the firebox, dissassemble the wall, repair/replace the tabs, and reassemble.

Greg L

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I'd like to install a row of half-thickness firebrick on my Harman Mk I, to shield the bottom of the baffle because I often bank coal up against it. But how would I get them to stay there? Since the baffle slopes forward from back to front it would be like sticking bricks to the underside of my roof.

LsFarm wrote:I made what looked like a big 'book-end' that rested on the floor of the firebox, actually on the side rails just above the grates... So the grates could still slide fore and aft for 'shaking' The framework behind the brick was some SS 'T' stock that I had,, it could have been channel, or angle iron, didn't matter,, I jsut needed to make something to holod the brick vertical.
the Tabs you see are SS. they held up pretty well, I had to replace the lower ones after about 5 tons of coal was burnt,, but this took only an hour to clean the firebox, dissassemble the wall, repair/replace the tabs, and reassemble.

Greg L

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I think what I'll do is buy some heavy guage angle iron, cut it to the width of the inside of the firebox, then place it on top of the new (back) firebrick & hold it in place by wedging the side bricks against it.

What a difference!! I added a layer of firebrick the other day & now I can get alot more coal in the stove & loading is much easier. (I know longer have to scrape coal off the top of the original firebrick that was in contact with the steel back of the stove) I can even top load without worry. (but I still find through the door loading more accurate) I think the TLC-2000 needs an extra layer of firebrick to run better & Harman should ship them that way.

I added another course of brick to my Keystoker HFH,and made a baffle to keep ash from building up against the door.Works like a charm now,I can run it very low and still have good draft.

After running my stove for a few days now with the added brick, I would say it makes loading so much easier (& allows about 15%-20% more coal to be added to the stove) that I would recommend adding firebrick to anyone who can fit it in their stove. Unless I'm missing something, for the small price of a few extra bricks, I just dont see a down side to it.

The only trouble I see, with my stove, is that adding more firebrick on the sides would shield the steel that radiates a lot of heat, and reduce the total heat output. But I guess I should check the side temperatures below and above the top edge of the brick, and see if that's really true....

rberq wrote:The only trouble I see, with my stove, is that adding more firebrick on the sides would shield the steel that radiates a lot of heat, and reduce the total heat output. But I guess I should check the side temperatures below and above the top edge of the brick, and see if that's really true....

I thought of that too but there is still plenty of steel showing above the brick & I dont think it could amount to a noticeable reduction of heat output. Feels the same anyway

I just had a storm in my brain.........How about someone with one of those standoff, pointable, remote thermometers (whatver they are called) taking readings of the back or side his stove, at levels below & above the forebrick, & let us know the difference?
(My guess is the firebrick protected steel will be a little cooler but not so much that the additional coal you can get in the stove would offset the heat loss)

Thought I would share a photo of how I made my firebox effectively deeper. I built my own stove somewhat patterned off the Mark III. I did the same as Harman, laying the front firebrick on their side, but that only lets the coal bed be 4-1/2" deep in the front.

Seemed like I was always fighting a shallow coal bed by the load door, or having coal roll out when I opened the door.

So, since I added a piece of channel iron 5" above the front brick retainer, and layed another layer of firebrick splits on their sides, to give me a full 9" bed, front to back. I had the luxury of having some angle iron baffle supports near the stove ceiling that were exactly 18" apart, so I could get creative with some bolts and angle iron to "reach" down and hold the channel iron in the right spot to retain the bricks.

Works great, except that after this season, my original, lower firebrick retainer at the 4-1/2" level is looking pretty bad. This summer I plan to stand the front firebrick up on end to avoid that. Or I may be building a stoker out of the stove body, so it won't matter. A top load like the TLC2000 would make loading easier too. Maybe I should scrap the firebrick and design some steel/cast bars like the TLC2000?

It's a little harder to load coal with only the upper half of the load door available, but with practice, it works OK.

Here's to a deep bed and a long happy burn.

Steinke

steinkebunch wrote:Thought I would share a photo of how I made my firebox effectively deeper. I built my own stove somewhat patterned off the Mark III. I did the same as Harman, laying the front firebrick on their side, but that only lets the coal bed be 4-1/2" deep in the front.


Works great, except that after this season, my original, lower firebrick retainer at the 4-1/2" level is looking pretty bad. This summer I plan to stand the front firebrick up on end to avoid that. Or I may be building a stoker out of the stove body, so it won't matter. A top load like the TLC2000 would make loading easier too. Maybe I should scrap the firebrick and design some steel/cast bars like the TLC2000?

It's a little harder to load coal with only the upper half of the load door available, but with practice, it works OK.

Here's to a deep bed and a long happy burn.

Steinke

If you can do it, the steel bars work great on my stove. (If you notice they are angled up to create an air "wash" over the glass to help keep it cleaner) I'm also surprised how well those bars hold up to the heat. Only one has a slight bend in it now & I already got a replacement bar from Harman for when I decide to replace it. 3rd winter running it.