Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

[mrchipster]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Gulf,

Must be nice, I still have 3 ft of snow in my back yard, and yesterday was the first morning that was above 0 degrees F in the last two weeks.

[Gulf]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Gulf,

Must be nice, I still have 3 ft of snow in my back yard, and yesterday was the first morning that was above 0 degrees F in the last two weeks.

Chip,

It is sort of nice down here right now . But, in a just a few days, it will be a lot like this

[mrchipster]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Gulf,

Like your end of the country this time of year but come summer time, I just can't handle your humidity.

Mr. C,

Good to hear from you. Looks like the Midwest and East are getting all the snow this year. Snowbird has not even broken 300 inches this year when normally it is over 500 inches. March here is in like a lamb so we will seen how she ends up for the month. Did you harvest any SM seeds from your plants last year? If not I could send you some.

Yes I harvested SM, hot banana pepper, red bell pepper, and some jalepeno.

Hope they germinate....

[Texas]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell - can you give me an idea of dimensions on your vent arch and outer arch? Pg 29 post #290 - the last 2 pictures.... what is the dimension of the inner arch that protrudes out from the dome, the depth and width of the vent opening, and the depth (thickness) of the outside arch bricks along the sides (guessing 9") and at the top (to the right of the vent opening in post #290 third pic)? What about the depth (thickness) of the final arch (pg 30 post #297)? Are the final arch bricks attached to the vent arch somehow or are they there own freestanding arch? Is the vent arch totally separate from the inner arch and dome? It looks like it barely touches on the inside corner of the vent arch side bricks - I think that is what you are using for your heat break and said you would stuff with rope. Did you cut an angle on the back side of the brick? What size is the gap?

Thanks so much. I've looked at your build (and many others) so many times. Thanks for your help.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Let's see if I can get all these questions right. Inner arch 13.25" high 20.25" wide With the first 3" vertical then the arch started (10.25" radius). The vent area is 25" wide x 15.75" high (first 3" vertical) x 9" deep allowing for a 2 3/8" reveal on both sides of the inner arch. My decorative arch is 23.5" so there was a 3/4" lip to help channel smoke up the vent rather out the front. The vent arch is free standing but is tied to the inner arch via the chimney vent. I back cut the back of the vent brick so it only touch the dome roughly about a 1/2 to 3/4" and the gap was about 3/8" which I stuffed with ceramic fiber rope then sealed with a high temperature sealant. It was for a heat break. Some other builders use a "L" shape cut, such as Gulf to isolate this vent arch from his dome but his chimney was a massive, mine I did not have as much weight due to the dual wall SS vent. The heat break in the floor was a piece of SS channel. Good luck glad to help.

[Texas]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Thanks - Awesome information. I am especially interested in the vent dimensions opening at the top of the vent arch and the bricks at the top front of the vent area (in front of the opening). Looks like the vent opening might be 6" with 3" of bricks to finish off the top of the vent arch - based on the total depth being 9" for the vent. What about the depth of the decorative arch?

Again, Thanks so much for your help.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

The dimension of the vent bricks are 2.5 x2.25 x 9" tapered bricks and outer arch too. This makes the vent opening depth 9-2.5 = 6.5" X (you have to count the number of bricks plus .25" mortar gap to get the width, can't remember). This is just the way it worked out for me in brick layout. There is no precise formula I just wanted a bottom vent opening that exceed the cross sectional opening of the SS chimney vent. The decorative arch are made from 3" thick fire brick but you can use what ever you want, they were just surplus.

[the_dr_masuess]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell, Do you know how many bags of Sand, portland, Lime, and fireclay you used? Trying to figure out how much to buy as I get closer to being ready. Also what did you use for your thermal break? I remember seeing a metal square pipe used but I don't recall 100%. Also... how did you end up tying in the arch in the middle to the main dome? I re-read your thread but I still don't quite understand.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Going by memory
2- 100# bags of quartz sand - Sutherlands
1 bag of fire clay - Interstate Brick
1+ 90# portland - Sutherland
1 bag of lime - Sutherland

Thermal break - a piece of 316 SS rectangular tubing abt 1/16" thick wall. Found it at an old resturant supply store bone yard at 900 south 800 west more or less - $5.00

I used the tapered arch method to tie dome to arch if that is what you are asking about. If this is it go to Gianni Focaccia's thread around post 70ish and he details tapered arch. If you are talking about the vent arch to the inner arch, the two are almost independent archs the vent arch is just tied to the inner arch by a mortar joint and the brick was tapered so only about 1/2" to 3/4" is touching the gap filled with CF rope (from NPS) then high temp caulk seal. Some people like Gulf used a "L" shape slot for the vent to the inner arch thermal break. Each to one's own.

PS Call me anytime and if I can I will pop out and be sidewalk supervisor.

[david s]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Thermal break - a piece of 316 SS rectangular tubing abt 1/16" thick wall. Found it at an old resturant supply store bone yard at 900 south 800 west more or less - $5.00

The use of highly conductive, heavy gauge stainless steel in an area you are trying to prevent conductive heat flow is counterproductive IMO.
There was some discussion about this here.
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/51/n...tml#post157623

[the_dr_masuess]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Thanks Russell! If I have anything that truly makes me stumble I'll be sure to invite you out to check out the pad and give me some help.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

loren,

David does bring up a good point about heavy gauge SS. Mine was relatively thin and had FoamGlas underneath so just something to think about. As far as how it works, beats me, have not done any scientific test, it is also hard to tell what is radiant heat transfer and material heat transfer anyway without thermal couples. So up to you. But it looks cool.

[boerwarrior]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

I am interested, Russell!

we have a large vegetable garden consisting of twelve 4x12 raised beds and were recently thinking of extending the varieties of tomatoes we have. I may be able to trade you for some pumpkin/butternut seeds if you would be interested in those!

Neil

[deejayoh]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

The use of highly conductive, heavy gauge stainless steel in an area you are trying to prevent conductive heat flow is counterproductive IMO.
There was some discussion about this here.
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/51/n...tml#post157623

Here comes the stainless police... This argument seems to pop up every time a stainless thermal break is mentioned.

Sorry to go all "Mythbusters" on your thread. Yes, there has been plenty of discussion of this and consensus is that we are talking about TUBING here, not a solid piece of stainless steel, so you can't just compare the conductivity of the two materials without applying a lot more physics. Tubing does provide an effective thermal break vs. the alternative of solid firebrick. As an added bonus, it looks better too!

[stonecutter]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

I'm interested in seeds too. Pm my address?