During the normal operation of your Hestia Heat & Grill, the fire bricks inside the firebox will experience heating and cooling. Sometimes minor cracks can occur. Hairline cracks may occur after repeated firings. When these fine cracks occur, you can continue to enjoy the stove. Each stove has a metal structure behind the fire bricks, so even if the cracks get larger, the stove will still operate safely.
WHEN TO REPLACE FIRE BRICKS:
You should consider replacing the fire bricks of the firebox:
If the cracks are greater than 3 mm wide.
When the crack is greater than 6 mm deep.
When the surface of the fire brick has eroded more than 25% from the original thickness.
When the fire brick starts to crumble and fall apart in chunks.
PREVENTION:
To prevent the problem from happening in the first place, you should ‘’condition’’ the fire bricks in a new stove by building relatively small fires for the first few burns and then gradually working up to larger fires.
When adding wood to the fire, you should use caution not to throw logs into the firebox, which may hit and damage the bricks. In almost all cases, the back fire brick shows the most signs of wear and tear because it takes the most abuse from heat and log impact.
CONCLUSION:
Replacement fire bricks are highly engineered product. Small cracks are possible and if they appear, this will not affect the safety and operation of the stove. Consider replacing the refractory bricks when large cracks are present, pieces of fire brick start to break off or if you wish to change fire bricks for aesthetic reasons.
RESPONSIBILITY:
Hestia is not responsible for any loss or damage of any kind to replacement panels during the installation or after installation, during normal operating conditions of the stove.