Storage heater bricks.

[spider8]

Does anybody have any ideas about recycling storage heater bricks? Ideas would be good as we've gathered about 30 of the things and wondered how to use them...........thanks :)

[Green Aura]

That's really weird, we've just dismantled one and have been wondering the same thing! We haven't got 30 though. About 8 I think.

At some point we're replacing our boiler (it keeps moving back ) and I was wondering about using them as a wall behind its replacement to radiate more heat. I don't know if that would work but it seems like a good idea.

[oldjerry]

Go forth to thy patio,and build a pizza oven.

[Zech]

We used a couple in the bottom of a multifuel stove to convert it to wood-burning only, but that's not going to use 30!

If you put them behind a boiler, they'll smooth out the heat radiated between 'on' and 'off' periods. When the boiler's hot, they'll absorb heat, reducing the amount that's radiated into the room, then when the boiler's cold, they'll radiate that heat back, possibly straight into the water in the boiler. I've been learning a lot about thermal mass, as our house has loads of it, but not very much insulation. I've come to the conclusion that thermal mass is not a whole lot of use when it comes to keeping warm (thick walls absorb heat then radiate it to the cooler side, or as a friend put it, "they just wick heat away.")

I wonder if the bricks would be good for building a pizza oven or something like that? From what I've just said above, I guess you'd need a more insulating material round the outside.

EDIT: Ah! I see OJ beat me too it, and with more confidence!

[Skippy]

You could always use them to warm your bed. Maybe not the whole lot mind, but I've camped in some really cold weather and have warmed a brick up on the fire , wrapped it up in a pillowcase or towel and taken it to bed with me.


Pete

[diggernotdreamer]

If you have a greenhouse or polytunnel, you could build a coldframe (or even outside), if they have heat retaining properties they might be useful for raising plants and seedlings with glass over the top, would be even better with a soil warming cable as a large propagator.

[spider8]

Thanks for your ideas folks :) We had an idea about using them to build the low wall for a lean-to greenhouse as they could retain any heat from the sun.....should we get some this summer. Not a very good shape for that but you never know, perhaps we could try it. Our stove doesn't have a back boiler but, at some point, we will be replacing it with one that has so could use them then. Great minds think alike so cheers folks

[Carltonian Man]

As far as I know there are two types of bricks used, the slim blue/purple sort (very heavy) and the pale brick coloured crenelated type. The heavy blue bricks are soft and break down fairly rapidly to a gritty mush if exposed to the weather, the other sort can be left out the same as a normal house brick.
Via Freecycle I picked up 20 of the blue bricks which are currently stacked in the greenhouse as a thermal mass heat store and 65 of the pale ones that are being used on the allotment for just about anything.

[spider8]

Thanks Carltonian Man for that info. It looks like they'll be used in a greenhouse - when we make one - for thermal heat storage. Mind you, looking out at the swamp of a garden it's hard to imagine it anything other than waterlogged!