Brick oven reconstructed to a steel one

[cobblerdave]

G'day V12
Man it's good to hear your alive.
Now problems with a woman. Sorry that's definitly above my pay grade as gulf would say. Oven problems, now bring those on, there more what I can handle.
Regards dave

[wotavidone]

Words fail me, Very sorry to here things didn't work out with the missus.
Regards,
Mick

[v12spirit]

Teared the cladding down and welded an outer steel wall so a new cladding would be filled in between while leaving the 15 steel blades radiating from the inner wall intact.

[v12spirit]

Enlarged the vent, welded a 15*15 cm sqare vent. That is 3+ times more draft space than my previous vent. Still adhering to squirrel tail design resisting the temptation to not to. I know Im more interested in fast heat up time than in retained heat. That is why.

[v12spirit]

Cladding.. Three pieces in the dome with three analogous on the side walls, separated by aluminun tape to allow for managed expansion and in hope to minimize miniscules. Was generous in cladding the dome; could reach 6 cm around the squirrel tail. The theory is that the massive low dome will compensate for the thin hearth; being steel it will heat up fast and being thick will retain heat for longer allowing the thin hearth to heat up fast and keep hot with the aid of the radiated heat from the low steel "massive" dome.

[v12spirit]

Extending thermometer probe. A copper tube was used at 3-4 o'clock passing two of the steel blades and obviously surrounded by refractory in hope to get a relatively average reading of heat. The probe will engage into the end of the tube. You can see the thermometer in the second picture.

[Gulf]

V12Spirit,

It's great! to see you back and busy again on the oven. The new forum takes a little time to get familiar with. I don't mind clicking on the links to see your pics. But, if you will use the camera icon rather than the attachment icon, the pics will be visible as thumbnails.

[v12spirit]

Hellow Joe,
Thanks for the warm welcome, and for the hint as well. Have been wondering why the pictures did not appear.

[david s]

I can't help feeling that you are defeating your original intention of producing a fast heat up oven. While steel is way more thermally conductive than any refractory it also works in the other direction in that it will lose heat much faster too. By adding a layer of refractory cladding that heat will be stored there but now having added a layer of steel on the outside any stored heat in the refractory wil be sucked to the outside steel layer so insulation outside this second steel layer becomes more imperative. As a rough guide heat takes around one hour per inch of thickness to travel through refractory, so the thickness of this layer will be a determining factor in the heat up and performance of your oven.

[v12spirit]

Actually the walls are 3 cm thick and the hearth is 2. Didn't think of that effect of the outer steel wall. I just thought that the outer walls being steel in contact with the steel of the inner walls will absorb heat from the inner ones and contribute to heating the refractory in between from both sides, and consequently accelerating heatup time, not to mention the steel blades radiating from the inner walls half the way into the refractory. Not sure, just was my thought. Can't wait to see how this thing is going to perform.

[david s]

Just make sure you insulate it well.

[v12spirit]

By chance, I came across a pile of used dense firebricks and bought the entire 450 blocks. I removed my red bricks of the hearth and replaced them with the new used ones after slicing them in half, that is 2.8 cm thick hearth.

[v12spirit]

Installed the ceramic insulation 2" on the walls and about 3~4" over the dome. Was easier than expected.

[cobblerdave]

V12
Thanks for the posts. The question as always is how does it cook.
Regards dave

[v12spirit]

Can't wait to see that. Still curing, could hit 250 degrees C yesterday. I am curing this time with the insulation on. I think there is still moisture in the ceramic blancket.