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I'm in Perth, Australia, in the last stages of curing. I've followed the "sticky" advice on curing, but should note that the dome had been finished for quite some time and has never been wet by rain directly. So I think, despite some normal humidity, the whole thing is relatively dry to begin with.
I've insulated with two layers of 25mm blanket, and only managed an inch of vermicrete over that. See pics. So far, the outside of the vermicrete is cool to touch - the temp gun registers no more than about 30C on the outside. My intention was to invest in the blanket for max performance, and do less vermicrete.
First question: If it's cool on the outside with that insulation, do I need to add any more vermicrete before eventually rendering the outside with waterproof stucco?
Next question related to how much wood it takes to get a 42" Pompeii to 370C (about 700F). I'm using dry seasoned Jarrah, our local hardwood (hard as a cat's head, actually). It lights easily and burns efficiently - perhaps too much so. Seems it's taking quite a bit already to get to 300C so far. Or does a cured oven heat more quickly? I wondered if there was any significant heat loss into the slab, but it's all sitting on 50mm CS board and I have a heat break to the front arch which is working very, very well. If I seal off the oven after a fire, it's still hot as Hades next morning. The temps under the slab in the wood storage area is about 50C, so there's some heat escaping through the bottom, but I would expect that to be normal?
I've insulated with two layers of 25mm blanket, and only managed an inch of vermicrete over that. See pics. So far, the outside of the vermicrete is cool to touch - the temp gun registers no more than about 30C on the outside. My intention was to invest in the blanket for max performance, and do less vermicrete.
First question: If it's cool on the outside with that insulation, do I need to add any more vermicrete before eventually rendering the outside with waterproof stucco?
Next question related to how much wood it takes to get a 42" Pompeii to 370C (about 700F). I'm using dry seasoned Jarrah, our local hardwood (hard as a cat's head, actually). It lights easily and burns efficiently - perhaps too much so. Seems it's taking quite a bit already to get to 300C so far. Or does a cured oven heat more quickly? I wondered if there was any significant heat loss into the slab, but it's all sitting on 50mm CS board and I have a heat break to the front arch which is working very, very well. If I seal off the oven after a fire, it's still hot as Hades next morning. The temps under the slab in the wood storage area is about 50C, so there's some heat escaping through the bottom, but I would expect that to be normal?
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