Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

[Kemo]

Hi all,

I will be starting my oven late August or early September. Does anyone know of a supplier of firebrick that is the correct "Low Duty" with ~30% alumina?

I contacted ACME brick in Round Rock who didn't have the specs on the firebrick but gave me the contact of the brick supplier in Elgin. I called them and they had firebrick but did not have any specs on the alumina content either.

Any ideas?

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

They are probably fine. You could find out how much a brick weighs. It should weigh around 8lbs..as long as it is not a super light insulating brick it will be fine. I used a medium duty for mine because that was all I could get, works great...

[wlively]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Kemo

I asked my brick supplier and they didn't know either. They felt and looked right so bought some from both places in San Antonio and as it turned out both came from the same supplier. Had the same name on one side of the brick. I would assume that most firebricks in central Texas probably come from the same supplier. If it look and feels right you will be fine, most dealers stock low duty only.

You could also look up Chris on the forum. He lives in Austin and you can see where he bought his supplies. He found a great place to get the loose perlite insulation.

[RTflorida]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Seems to be a common problem.....brick suppliers without spec sheets. I went through the same thing. The only local supplier who had specs on any bricks they sold was a small refractory specialist with extremely high pricing. So I went a different direction.
I finally went so far as to contact the manufacturer of my bricks (I believe they were in S. Carolina); after several days, I finally was told by the engineering dept that they had been in the process reworking all of their formulas and could not verify whether I had new or old...so they wouldn't send specs....
You'll love this, they offered to "test" one of the bricks I purchased at the brickyard (if I shipped it to them) for a cost of $400 and give me a full report. Hell, I only paid $165 for the 215 bricks (77 cents each).
The only usefull information I was able to obtain - they assured me the alumina content didn't exceed 40% and that they had never produced anything more than "fireplace" grade bricks.
Brick/mansonry suppliers all said the same thing, "yes we sell firebrick........grade? what do you mean, what grade is it? its firebrick, you know, to build fireplaces".

just thought I'd share..........as mentioned, just don't use the lightweight (2-3 lb) insulating bricks.....and if someone says "fireplace bricks", your in good shape.

RT

[RCLake]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

I have been getting the same response from Dealers in the Dallas area. "What specs, they are fire bricks" They do say they weigh 8-9 pounds each so I'm also assuming they are the right bricks. Asking about a dollar apiece
They also sell HeatStop but not the dry mix it's already prepared. 50 lb pail for $58. Anyone have any input on using the prepared stuff or has anyone found the HeatStop50 in Texas?

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Don't use the prepared pails. The dry mix is what you need. The stuff in the pails remains water soluble and is not for outdoor use.

Drake

[RCLake]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

I just saw this advise on a different question. thanks

[Kemo]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Im glad I'm not the only one not finding the firebrick recommended here. I guess my best bet is to go with weight. I have a portable kitchen scale that I can take with me I suppose.

Now I have to worry about the "dry" mix. I can only imagine the look on the face of the brick supplier when i ask...

[dmun]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Only refractory specialists supply high or medium duty firebricks. The stuff at an ordinary brickyard or construction supply is no doubt low duty.

[james]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

I think we need to post something permanent on this. When I put the plans together, we wanted to give a heads up to not use (or go looking for) high duty bricks which are for industrial furnaces.

Basically, if you building material store has generic "firebricks" without a specification, they are almost certainly low-mid duty firebricks designed for fireplaces -- which is exactly what you want.

Just avoid "insulating" firebricks, which are light-wieght insulators.

I would make a permanent posting in the forum, and I will make an addendum to the HTML plans. We can also add this to the e-Book in the next version.

Basically, you are in good shape!
James

[james]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

One more thing. If you are having trouble finding dry mix refractory mortar locally, check out FB RefMix. It's great stuff, and if you are close to California, the shipping cost won't be too bad. I've said this before, but RefMix was designed specifically for brick ovens -- indoors and outdoors.

James

[Kemo]

Re: Sourcing Firebrick in Austin Texas

Thanks for all the replies and thanks to Forno Bravo for hosting this site. With that in mind, I will be purchasing the REFMIX from our wonderful host to show my appreciation.

How many bags should I get? I will be building a 36" Pompeii. Also, I would like to have some left over for some experimental chimney casting or some other ground breaking engineering nightmare

Steve Kennemer
Austin TX