Repairing the fireclay elements in a traditional gas fire?

Aug 19, 2011 11 Replies

I have a standard gas fire, the likes of which have been around since the



1970s and maybe earlier. They have a set of (usually 3 or 4) white fireclay (or similar) elements into which the flame rises. You knowm the things that are fully visible and get heated heat up by the flame. They are removeable, and are not fixed in place. One of mine is broken in a cople fp places. Is it possible to glue it together with something? Is there a glue that will stand such high temperatures?

Thanks..



Al


Cherry red... I doubt it. Wire the bits together but any wire in the flame path will get erroded.

Is the fire 1970's vintage or was that only to give an example of the type? If it's a more recent fire say up to 15 years old one might still be able to get a replacement "fire block", I doubt that anything would be avialable for a 40 year old fire...

"gas fire radiant spare*" seems to produce some interesting looking hits.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@srv1.howhill.co.uk:

Thanks for the ideas. I don't know the actual vintage of the fire, but it's a Valor "New Firelite", Serial No. 308 94.

I can't seem to find any mention of replacement blocks for it on the 'net. Due to the nature of the break, it's not going to be easy to wire it together. I thought there mighht have been some kind of fireclay cement that will stand high temps. I guess silicone is out of the question, is it?

In my days of British motorbikes in the 1970s, we used orange hermetite (silicone gasket goo) on cylinder heads which got pretty hot.

The breaks are at the lower portion of the fire block, at the front - probably not the hottest part of the block...

If the thing was simply broken in half, horizontally, I'd rely on trusty gravity to hold it together, but that's not applicable here.

Al

Refractory cements do exist, mostly used for patching cracks etc in kiln linings rather than sticking things together. Google for Purimachos, who make a whole range of such things. Their KOS cement might work, given the description:

"KOS FIRE CEMENT is a ready mixed blend of thermo setting resins and inorganic fillers that cures when exposed to heat, resulting in a mortar which is resistant to temperatures up to 1250?C. Can be used for domestic and commercial applications on fire bricks, fire grates, flue pipes, flue bricks, boilers and other applications subject to extreme heat. Offers excellent adhesion to fire bricks, blockwork, stone and clayware, asbestos free."

Try searching for "gas fire radiants".

Try polyfiller and pva. Let it set overnight before lighting up.

Correction not polyfiller I think it was plasterboard adhesive and pve I used. It was just to patch an element with a hole in it. A thin slurry might weld it up. I doubt it will look pretty though.

Try

Gasworks

299 Shirley Road Southampton Hampshire SO15 3HU

Telephone: 023 8078 3031 Fax: 023 8049 9035 Web:

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were very helpful when I needed new radiants a year or so back for an old New World gas fire.

Found This;

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Found :

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These fires go back a very long way, we took two out of the chimney breast upstairs in the current house many years ago. it was built in 1939, and all the houses were fitted with them. Brian

He probably fixed in the 5 years since he posted it.

Andy

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