Last December the northeast had a horrific ice storm and the electricity was off for 8 days at my place. I had just moved in and although there was a spot in the basement for a wood stove, I didn’t have one.

So due to the kindness of my landlord and neighbors, I didn’t freeze, but I sure was cold. Inside my house the temp. hovered around 38-40 degrees. In fact one day it “warmed up” enough that I opened the windows because it was warmer outside.

The new fire brick

So I made it my quest to find a wood stove before the next winter arrived.
I also don’t have much money, so a used one was what I hoped for and I ended up with a good size “All Nighter”, but it was missing most of the fire bricks inside.

I was told that it could be run without the bricks, but if the fire was too hot the sides could warp so I got some bricks just to be safe.

A Little Fire

The bricks just set in along the sides and it’s not difficult to do if the bricks are the correct size and if there are not old bricks, broken off and stuck to the sides already! That was my problem.

So someone came out and put them in for me. I don’t know for sure, and information online is hard to find, but a friend bought a new stove and had to burn on a low temp for 40 hours to “cure” the bricks so I will do the same just to be safe.

I just found lots of helpful info at the UNH Cooperative Extension site, so go there if you have questions about heating with a wood stove.