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Post by wisc0james on Feb 1, 2020 8:44:25 GMT -8
Yes! Thanks for persevering. We've all been anticipating its completion.
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Post by ericaus on Feb 1, 2020 13:24:04 GMT -8
Yes! Thanks for persevering. We've all been anticipating its completion. There's always something to slow the progress on large, time consuming projects like this. Over the last couple of years we've had several. One major one was an fire in our meter box. A storm blew the door open and rain poured in causing the fire. This left us without power for 3 months. We ran a generator for around 2 hours a day to get by. Several other things happened that I won't bore you with, but the main focus now is to complete the heater before winter (I think I said that 2 years ago. Haha). |
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Post by wisc0james on Feb 1, 2020 13:49:57 GMT -8
Oh my. Wish we all lived in the same neighborhood. We'd get a group together and help you finish.
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Post by ericaus on Feb 1, 2020 14:41:42 GMT -8
Oh my. Wish we all lived in the same neighborhood. We'd get a group together and help you finish. Thanks for the offer. Most generous of you. |
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Post by ericaus on Apr 14, 2020 16:09:46 GMT -8
Hi guys, I just cast up my first section of refractory for the firebox riser. I'm not real happy with the way it turned out, so I won't be using it. I really need some advice from the experts here. You can see from the image that I've got some porosity on the inside. This is only on the one side and is due to the way the mold was positioned. I used a vibrating wand, which seemed to work well, but I'm just wondering if it's common practice to fill these voids with fire mortar? Also what sort of time frame should I allow before taking it out of the mold? I just left it overnight and it still seemed really "clay like" and hadn't set that firm. Thanks for any feedback.  |
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Post by ericaus on Apr 14, 2020 16:14:11 GMT -8
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Post by ericaus on Apr 14, 2020 16:25:44 GMT -8
Just one more question if I may. Is there any standard way of attaching the fire bricks to the inside walls of the fire box? The arched roof will load up the walls, so they shouldn't need securing, but I'd feel more comfortable if they were tied in some way. Also is it standard procedure to use mortar between them or just fit them dry? I was thinking of using some stainless steel angle or tee section that I could bolt into the walls of the fire box and then have the bricks grooved so that the channel would lock them in. I'm sure you guys will have a better solution. Thanks.  |
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gjh42
Junior Member
Posts: 61 
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Post by gjh42 on Apr 21, 2021 6:06:48 GMT -8
I have some secondhand never used industrial hard firebricks, and they have grooves of various sorts cast in for concealed fastening to the kiln/furnace/whatever frame.
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Post by ericaus on Apr 21, 2021 15:00:37 GMT -8
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Post by ericaus on May 19, 2021 22:59:53 GMT -8
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Post by Vortex on May 20, 2021 1:05:22 GMT -8
Beautiful work Eric, well done. After 5 years it's great to finally see it finished and running.
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Post by ericaus on May 20, 2021 14:06:59 GMT -8
Thanks Vortex, yes it's been quite a journey. Now I can move on to other projects.
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Post by martyn on May 20, 2021 22:20:59 GMT -8
Certainly looks spectacular!
Please give us an update when she is running on song....
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Post by ericaus on May 21, 2021 18:55:13 GMT -8
Certainly looks spectacular! Please give us an update when she is running on song.... OK, will do Martyn. Just hope this water is from the refractory casting and will subside after a few more burns. |
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Post by satamax on May 25, 2021 21:44:18 GMT -8
Ericaus.
Your water can also come from the fuel, and from the air too.
I see the towels, does it drip under the bell? What is your flue temp? I guess, with your huge metal bell, you might have created a big rocket fractional distillation tower.
The culprit i guess is bell and flue temps. As long as your bell walls are not over let say 60/70C° You will have condensation.
I didn't think of it when you were building it. But with such a big radiating surface, you're cooling may be more than you should.
Sorry to say, but you might be in for recurring trouble with that. I don't know how to calculate the dew point. But you might have to calculate it.
And your big bell tube is bound to cool back down to ambient every time it's not in use. So condensation at each startup? It might not be the case. You might have to brick the inside, to keep a bit of warmth.
Anyway, first things to check. Bottom of the bell temp, and first elbow flue temp.
HTH.
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