ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 5, 2013 20:42:56 GMT
First update. Single wall finished at the weekend. A bit scruffy but but chuffed its done More to follow.....
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 5, 2013 20:52:44 GMT
2nd update - having taken dads advice went for a double wall for strength (ok, he built it). Just looking at the single wall it looked a bit 'flimsy' And for all you perfectionists (or OCD sufferers out there) yes, the bricks need scrubbing! Next for the top, need advice here. I've added a post in the main section above
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 10, 2013 20:12:37 GMT
Slow(ish) progress but now coming to the exciting(?) bit Looks at bit 'untidy' at the mo but got some tarting up plans, also, may look at bit high to some (remembering the elbow height 'rule') but I've lost at least 6 courses to the height of the deck and it's still not up to my elbow yet (no I haven't got short arms ) Next got some old storage heater blocks to lay and then the cooking surface. Anyone in agreement that I can lay the storage blocks (onto the thermalites) using regular mortar? Can't see the heat penetrating far enough down to trouble these Oh and my father in law, as a thank you for borrowing my car, has bought me some thermocouples and a reader that he's going to install (forgot he was an electrical engineer that worked on industrial furnaces etc d'oh)
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 10, 2013 20:20:36 GMT
Forgot to mention I called Liam at Kilnlinings just to get some prices etc. What a bloody nice bloke! Spent loads of time late on a Friday afternoon talking my through things and gave me some really useful little tips and hints. Felt bad that I can't order from him (although without prompting he said "doesn't matter if you don't order from me") due to the minimum spend and delivery prices. Top fella, wouldn't have found him without coming here
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 12, 2013 19:04:52 GMT
Father in law just dropped this bad boy round... This is for the chamber temperature and got another for the cooking surface Blimey, never thought I'd get this technical Ps - any thoughts on my question above?
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Post by kstronach on Jun 12, 2013 19:23:01 GMT
Hi ringo, Good work your off to a great start. If I were you I'd probably bed them on a lime mortar with a bit of cement as well or at least that's what I did! It would probably be fine on normal but couldn't guarantee it as these things get seriously hot! What were you planning to bed the finished cooking floor on? You'll have a lot of thermal mass under there with the heater bricks and a firebrick floor Keith
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 12, 2013 19:36:18 GMT
Cheers Keith
I've been following your build and noticed the storage heater blocks too! Nice work
I was going to cook on these but they're a bit janky (although I have got few new ones)
I'm going lay (thin) firebricks on top to cook on, burying the thermocouple in them, just need to find them locally to Birmingham now. The reason for the thickness is the thinking that a thermal mass is better than more courses of support bricks as I've had to compensate for the height of the decking
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Post by kstronach on Jun 12, 2013 21:05:42 GMT
Yea absolutly, you may aswell use them as part of the floor make up and there even better than retaining heat than firebrick I'm told! If you struggle sourcing thin fire brick a lot of others use quarry tile on top of the heater bricks. I was going to do this but the tiles I got were wrong so annoyingly had to compromise abit, I may add them at a later date I'll seehow the heaterbricks go on I think first! Good work on the thermolight blocks under your hearth too I wish I'd done this now instead of the vermicrete.
Nice cast dome too , do you have to insulate this etc when its installed?
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 12, 2013 21:33:35 GMT
Yes, the dome will be wrapped in ceramic blanket, then (top tip from Liam at kiln linings) some aluminium foil, then chicken wire. This way, when the lime clay outer skin goes on, it doesn't soak into the blanket, causing steam when it dries out, thus cracking the outer casing - seems logical to me! Oh, and cos I had some knocking around I put some aluminium foil under the thermalites and between the blocks (heat retention gone mad!!!)
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Post by kstronach on Jun 12, 2013 21:43:40 GMT
Ah that's a good idea! so your not using any vermicrete over the dome? Just ceramic blanket then a lime and fireclay render as a finish coat? How much CB you planning? I may just go that method and leave out the vermicrete it's not good stuff to work with!
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 12, 2013 22:13:07 GMT
No, no vermicrete. My dome is 70mm thick so a wrap of 25mm blanket will be sufficient I guess. The outer skin will get warm but that's ok. If it turns out to be losing heat, I can always recase it if needs be, my thermocouples should help (or if the cats decide it's too hot to sit on)
BUT, bear in mind I'm no expert.......just guessing as I'm going along!
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Post by kstronach on Jun 13, 2013 8:34:37 GMT
Ha yea me too, but luckily there are a lot of folk on here who can answer most of the questions we have!
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Post by bookemdanno on Jun 13, 2013 20:42:42 GMT
Make sure that you get some seasoning fires into your oven before wrapping it in the impervious foil though Ringo. Otherwise your creating a barrier for any remaining moisture held within your oven to get outwards. This is the only issue with tin foil wraps. Also, don't skimp on the insulation, unless absolutely necessary. It'll work with none, but you don't want a "wish i'd" situation, when you've loads of space around your oven and it cools down too quickly for your new attempts at residual heat cooking, or bread making! Especially as your going to all the effort of plenty of underfloor heat retention.
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ringo
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Post by ringo on Jun 13, 2013 21:57:37 GMT
Cheers Danno
Yes I'd planned a few firings before wrapping the dome to release the moisture, the foil was just a tip that made sense to stop the outer covering soaking into the blanket causing more steam. Don't necessarily want to skimp on insulation but conscious of cost as those blankets ain't cheap - like I said before, if it's leaking heat, I'll just have to rethink/recover - a ball ache but trying to take it all on board. The downtime is giving me too much time to think!
Build has slowed down to a standstill at the mo anyway cos I've still to sort fire bricks
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Post by bookemdanno on Jun 14, 2013 12:23:50 GMT
I was on a tight budget with mine. I lucked out and a chap nearby had dismantled a Kiln, so i nabbed the Ceramic Blanket from that. It was only 25mm, but it was enough for me to then think i'd be happy with using Rockwool Fire Blanket, which i found as seconds on Ebay. ukwoodfiredovenforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=membersbuyandsell&action=display&thread=434From what i could gather, Rockwool is a better insulator, but the basic variety has a max working temp very close to the temperatures that the bricks will get to. Fire Barrier has a higher working temp range, but the layer of Ceramic Blanket i fitted first was just enough, in my thoughts, to provide an element of tolerance. After using both, the CB is far easier to use, as the Rockwool is like super-heavyweight sheeps fleece, and very limp. The CB is like a wooden sheet in comparison! Try the Ebay, as there will be lots of UK based WFO in production right now, and someone will over-order CB at some point, and offload the remaining, or even remnants on there. Also keep an eye on Gumtree, and Freecycle. Good Luck
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