Looking for castable refractory suggestions

[sriceky]

I have finally decided to go ahead and builf a WFO. Over the past few years, I have tried to make do with a contraption I built out of a Weber grill, but the fuel usage is way too high and the amount of retained heat is too low to do a good job. Anyway, I have settled on building a cast oven. I am lucky enough to work just a few miles away from Louisville Firebrick - the manufacturer/distributer of US Refactories. That's the good news, the bad news is that their website lists the following under castables:
Castables
- Lou Cast FS
- Lou Cast 24
- Lou Cast 25
- Lou Cast 26
- Lou Cast 27
- Lou Cast 28
- Lou Cast 29
- Boiler Cast
- Lou Cast 3000
- Lou Cast 90
- Lou Cast 94
- Lou Cast 96

I have not been able to find any specs for any of these products and after a few hours of searching this forum, I have been able to find that I want a dense castable. Are there any specs on castable that I should be aware of when I go to visit the shop?
Cheers!
Steve

[Cjs]

There's two main types of castable refractories, insulative and dense. You need to use the dense for casts. Also look for the one with the largest % of Aluminate, over 40% is usually the range for dense castables.

[david s]

As a WFO only reaches temps of around 600C max there is little point selecting one that has a max service temp of 1500 C. Also the density should be in the region of 1.9 Kg/Litre (1900 Kg/m3). Sorry you may need to do an imperial conversion. Go to the manufacturer with this info and see what they offer.

[sriceky]

Armed with a little bit of data, I paid a visit to Louisville Fire Brick today. It was a very worthwhile trip. It looks like I have found my source for almost all of the hard to find items. The staff recommends a product called Lou Cast 27. It has a density of 130 lbs/ft3 (2.1 Kg/liter), a service temperature of 2700F (overkill) and a Al2O3 content of 48.1%. The 2 other vitally important stats are that it is $35/50lb bag and they always have a couple of pallets in stock.

They also stock medium duty fire brick ($2.25), fire clay ($25/50lb) and CeraBlanket (1"x24"x25' for $60). They don't stock CaSil board, but I can find that online.

I'll keep planning for a little while longer, but the make vs buy decision is looking like a no-brainer for me.

If you are reasonably close to Louisville, KY, I would definitely recommend this place as a supply house.