Arch exploding brick issues

[yorkshiresmoke]

Hi,

I’m new to the forum but I’ve spent years trawling these pages when building my budget ovens, the info in here has saved me some real head aches!
My most recent project was built with storage heater bricks and has worked really well...up until now....

I’ve always enjoyed reading the posts and seeing people’s pictures on these boards, it is a veritable treasure trove of information and has really helped me with both builds I’ve undertaken. Time for me to seek some help!I’ll see if I can get some pictures of them added to the thread.

My most recent Pompeii style oven which I adapted the style of so no threshold/second outer arch was used. All seemed to be fine and I had multiple small Fires to dry the oven before the first full firing after 3 weeks. The first firing also seemed to go well with the fire built in the centre of the oven but once at temperature the problem started! The arch bricks surrounding the door extend into the oven And the backs of these bricks started to explode....disaster!!

I’m just trying to figure out why this is happening and decide what I need to do about it! Could it be that these Fire bricks are not Rated highly enough (these were second hand so no guarantees of their quality, seemed ok though) or i could there be an issue with them being exposed externally and potentially continuously absorbing moisture?
All or any help would be appreciated but I have a terrible feeling it’s going to involve a grinder and a hammer 😫

Chris

[truckcab79]

Sounds like they contained moisture and heated up too quickly to be able to dry out in a more controlled manner. If it’s not too visible I’d give it a few more firings and see if it has stopped and use it as is. Otherwise yes, chop them out and replace. Any pics?

[yorkshiresmoke]

I'll see if I can get some better photo's of the damage but this is a few stages from the build....

[truckcab79]

Fantastic looking build. If you can’t see the damage or even if you can, unless it continues or is affecting the integrity of the oven I’d leave it well alone to be honest.

[yorkshiresmoke]

Thanks! I was hoping that might be the outcome...I'll give it another good build up and another full firing and see how I get on. Really didn't want to dismantle that arch!, not sure I'd be able to rebuild with the door. The problem only seemed to start once I moved the fire to the side and it was in direct contact with the bricks, might just try keeping the fire to the back.