Replacing Broken Fire Back - Bricks

[Sandrine]

Hi

I need some advise. I have an old cast iron range cooker c1940/50
View media item 51887 its working fine and the chimney has been swept but the fire bricks at the back were cracked.

I was going to clean the soot and dust of and use a fire cement to patch them up but cleaning revealed the extent of the damage.
The heat has not only cracked the fire bricks but turned the motor behind them to dust and also the cement/lime mortor that was covering the bricks was also cracked and loose so it too just turned to dust.
Picture shows all the cememt removed from the bricks and the broken fire brick. View media item 51886 The black at the top of the picture is the cast iron throat and I have a flat iron plate that fits just on top of the fire bricks and meets the bottom of the throat.

View media item 51888
The fire brick is 42mm thick and 420mm wide and I think it is full size going down to the floor 320mm. To remove it I would have to remove the fire front and take grate out. I don't think either will come out without it breaking.

Could I use some kind of heat resistant air drying cement to fill the deep gaps between the bricks and fininsh with something like mouldable fire brick?
Anyone got a solution.

Thanks[/img]

 

[calorific]

Have a look here or it's link to the cooker pages. If you cannot get a direct replacement that you should be able to make something yourself close enough and use fire cement to pack into the gaps

 

[Sandrine]

Thanks for that.
I have looked at several fire bricks and I need it 42mm thick then 20mm of cement behind it, more if the fire brick is thinner.
I am going to have such a depth of fire cement on the other bricks-up to 80mm in the middle- I can't see it holding in or if it can be used that thick and it needs heating to cure it.
Thats why I wondered about air dried heat resistant cement first. I am not sure how any of these handle, it could end up a mess and me taking the whole range out and going for something new but thats a bit drastic.

 

[calorific]

Could you not build it up from a few layers of 25mm board, packed out and sandwiched using fire-cement?

 

[Sandrine]

Hi yes thanks thats possible and bit less cement behind but I would have to try to cut the broken brick level and its tucks in each side 28mm so it is not going to be easy. Either way I need some solid gunck to glue it all together.
Do you know ought about these cements, ie how skicky and how long you can work with them or how effective they are.

Thanks so much for you input...I am raising lots of questions because I'd like to save the range. Although it is c1940s it fits well with the house that is an old railway cottage and almost in its unrestored original condition of 1880.

I don't think I can stretch to a reconditioned late victorian range like this house had originally

 

[calorific]

Sorry - I don't know enough about the cement to help you, but a pot from a local building supplier or here or indeed a phone call to the original weblink company might be a starting point.

Is there nothing on that last website linking to the cooker firebricks that was of help? I guess you need to find the model number of the cooker. Lord knows where to begin with that

 

[Sandrine]

Thanks so much for your reply and help, its good to get some feedback.

Ditto. inside it says WELLBECK. CF

I have searched the web and emailed companies who supply these cements and even furnace and kiln products and had no real response or limp ones at best but with no advice or information.
No one will stand up and tell me if thier products are suitable, its just that it could possibly do that bit of the job but not all round advice .

I think its the world we live in now which is why I came here to 'The been there, done that, you need to do this'

I just hope someone can come up with good working tech advice because I don't want to rip out a hard working range with life still left in it that still provides me with heat a hot pot and a pie

Thanks for your input

Carolyn

 

[calorific]

All you're after doing is to contain heat effectively and safely. Can't help but think that a couple of layers of that board cut to size with some fire cement as an infill would do the trick. After all, the ordinary house brick back there seems to have taken the brunt without any real problem, and I'd imagine that it was actually created in a kiln of higher temperature than within a domestic oven.

If it were me, I'd give it a whirl and see what happens - it's a cheaper alternative than ripping it all out....

Another thing you said earlier is that it had turned the "motor to dust". I assume that this is a typo but just want to be sure

 

[Sandrine]

Tee Hee. Twas a typo.
I think its all lime mortor which I hear was all that was used back then.... sometimes with a bit of cow dung!.

Correct I just want to seal it all and burn on safley.
Think I will do normal cement in the deep, deep bits followed with fire brick and fire cement to seal it all.

Thanks for your help, I guess I am just a bit of a twitchy old woman who is in a bit of a grey area here and needs some backup to my lodgic.

Ta Muchly
Carolyn