Coalbrookdale Severn multifuel burner repairs

[John&Lou]

Hi folks

Hopefully, some of you who live in period properties may also have one of these burners in their house and may have experienced a similar problem to ours?

The firebrick at the back of the burner disintegrated, requiring replacement. It was quite easy getting the old brick out - after all, it was in pieces. Getting a new brick in was a bit of a mare, as the brick extends to the full width of the burner. There are a number of screws on one of the side panels of the stove, which I thought could be used to remove the side and insert the brick. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the screws to turn and I didn't want to force or drill them.

In the end, I cut the firebrick and cemented the two halves together in the burner. Not ideal and now the cement joint is coming apart.

Has anyone else had this problem and is there another way of getting the firebrick into the burner? By the way, I didn't pay hundreds of pounds on the Aga firebrick, I got a cheap alternative off eBay.

Thanks in advance

 

[skier-hughes]

Looking at it from a different angle, maybe the cheap alternative is not quite the same size and shape, making it awkward to install?

 

[John&Lou]

Regardless of the cost, the rear brick has to fit behind the bricks on either side. I suppose I could have taken those out, with the inherent risk of them cracking, but I just wondered if anyone knows whether it is possible to take the side panel off?

 

[Mark]

I wouldnt start messing with the side panels of a cast iron stove.

firebricks are cheap, take the side ones out to get at the back. Any decent stove shop can make up replacements.

 

[John&Lou]

I wouldnt start messing with the side panels of a cast iron stove.

Sounds like you've had a bad experience?

 

[Penners]

In the end, I cut the firebrick and cemented the two halves together in the burner. Not ideal and now the cement joint is coming apart.

Did you use fire cement, or ordinary cement?

If the latter, I suggest you trot along to your local fireplace shop and get a tub of fire cement, to replace the OPC. That ought to do the job.

 

[Mark]

I wouldnt start messing with the side panels of a cast iron stove.

Sounds like you've had a bad experience?

No. But taking the structure of the stove to bits and then fasting it together (with all the risk of damage that that implies) seems silly, given that they are designed for the simple replacement of the firebricks.

What are you going to do if you crack a panel either directly or as a result of imperfect assembly. Or strip the bolts? etc etc.

I've seen my local stove shop make up fire bricks from sheets of material cut to size and charge a few pounds. The risk reward balance is very heavily weighted in one direction.