Fire bricks

[Medusa]

We have two wood burning stoves. The bricks around both fireplaces retain some heat. Would it be worth investing in a few fire bricks to put under the stoves which would then retain some additional heat and therefore keep the room slightly warmer for longer?

[grenfell]

If it's just loose underneath a free standing burner ( looking at mine as I write this) then I don't think there's any real need to go to the expense of fire bricks . In the fire yes but not necessary underneath it. I'd go with something simple like semi engineering bricks or even for that matter concrete pavers would do the job. Some time ago via the re-enactment I do we built a bread oven , think a pizza type oven. It was basically a steel box insulated and covered in render. It was quite heavy but to increase the overall mass we had a number of loose paving bricks that went in before it was fired up. They were in contact with the fire and lasted years cracking eventually but not in any harmful way. I'd say to have a look in local skips or have a word with anyone doing a bit of building to see if they have a few spare bricks you could scrounge. An alternative is to find some large rounded rocks . Put them under the burner when it's on and when going to bed put the rock in a bag and take it with you as long as it's not too hot...

[Yorkshire Andy]

Old storage heater bricks if you can get any

[Medusa]

Grenfell I was considering buying a couple of the very old fashioned brass bed warmers last year in case of a very cold winter and would fill those with small stones although I have heard that you arent supposed to heat river stones as they can explode. Yorkshire Andy I did think of storage heater bricks and may keep my eyes open for some.

[Yorkshire Andy]

We deal with this firm at work

https://www.inventair.co.uk/product/fire-bricks/

But guessing postage will be crippling if you want more than a couple

[pseudonym]

Old storage heater bricks if you can get any

+1 to those.

We used them in an open firepit at a Bushcraft woodland for 5 or so years.

[grenfell]

Grenfell I was considering buying a couple of the very old fashioned brass bed warmers last year in case of a very cold winter and would fill those with small stones although I have heard that you arent supposed to heat river stones as they can explode. Yorkshire Andy I did think of storage heater bricks and may keep my eyes open for some.

The round rocks or big pebbles , call them what you like ,came from near the shore in north wales. Never had a problem with them exploding or evdn cracking. Thing is though we never heated them up anywhere near hot enough for that. If you're taking them to bed with you they don't need to be at 100+ degress,just hot enough to hold inside a pillow case. Any hotter and there's a potential issue with burning yourself, too hot can cause cotton to smoulder but not linen and I'd be wary if using sheets with artificial fibres.

[Medusa]

Thanks for the links

[Vitamin c]

Old storage heater bricks are hard to get these days as they have a high metal content and get sold as scrap.

[Peter]

Fifty years or so ago I remember my uncle heating a firebrick in the oven of a coal fired cast iron range,
wrapping it in flannel, tied with an old pyjama cord, to heat the bed. He worked at the local gas works,
this was in the days of coal gas so fire bricks were no problem.