Vermiculite Fire Bricks

A hairline crack in the brick will not damage your stove.

Replace the brick if;

• the hairline crack causes the brick to fall down
• you can see the steel body of the stove through the crack
• or if you notice crumbling on the edges of the bricks, that exposes the steel

It is advisable not to light your stove if the steel is visible. If your throat plate brick has fallen down, don’t use your stove as it will distort the metal throat plate, that holds the throat plate brick in place.

If you have any of the Stock Cube family of stoves or the Penguin 7 or 78 series, they have vermiculite bricks on the base of the stove.  The same advise applies to these bricks. These are all wood only stoves, so smokeless fuels should NOT be burnt in them. We advise that you retain a layer of wood ash, approx. 2 cm deep on top of the base bricks.  Wood ash acts as an insulator, it will protect your bricks. Occasionally you may notice that wood ash can “cake” on top of these bricks, this may be to do with moisture in the fuel. If you are removing this for an annual service take care that you do not damage the brick as you do it. Scraping and poking the bricks can damage them.