36" Midwestern Pompeii

[RandyJ]

I see what you are talking about Russell . I could be a visual illusion of the camera angle or not. Mine was off by like 1.5" or so. I fixed it pretty much all at once and it turned out good. But not all work out the same. Just make sure you take a second look it doesn't take much to cause problems.

Randy

[Saluki]

The picture is a little deceiving. I think the upward angle I took it at makes it look worse than it actually is.

[Saluki]

[Saluki]

I got it back to normal. I'll have to get some pics from the inside.

[Larry P]

I could be off base here, but I'd be worried about the keystone in your arch. The arch is going to expand when heated, and when it does I don't see anything supporting that center brick.

[RandyJ]

I don't think it will be a problem. That is how I did mine too. I have had no problems.

Randy

[UtahBeehiver]

Larry brings up a good point, if you look up the purpose of a keystone, it locks the arch so it can bear weight (hence tapered bricks are preferred vs untapered. So it may depend on what the arch is supporting, if it were a massive brick chimney like Gulf's or Tscar's builds then the keystone/tapers arch or voussiors plays a critical roll in arch support. If we are looking at a relatively short SS vent pipe then this may be a different story.

[deejayoh]

I don't think it will be a problem. That is how I did mine too. I have had no problems.

Randy

Issue I would see is that there is a lot of mortar between those bricks. Right at one of the hottest spots in the oven. The bricks should be nearly touching at the bottom. I might cut a couple voisseurs

[RandyJ]

Well at least he is using the heat stop mortar. So atleast that should not be nearly as affected by the heat.

Randy

[deejayoh]

Well at least he is using the heat stop mortar. So atleast that should not be nearly as affected by the heat.

Randy

Not sure. That looks like a pretty thick joint. Heat Stop 50 recommends:

• Joint thickness up to 1/2 inch is acceptable with this product and is quite common.

[Saluki]

I could be off base here, but I'd be worried about the keystone in your arch. The arch is going to expand when heated, and when it does I don't see anything supporting that center brick.

I see what you mean. I prob should have done that arch a little different now looking at it.

[Saluki]

I don't think it will be a problem. That is how I did mine too. I have had no problems.

Randy

Let's hope mine is on par with yours then. There is quite a bond on this brick thou considering it is closer to a full size brick than any other in the dome and fully covered with mortar.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Saluki]

Re: Rectangular Vent gives a Better draw???

For optimum airflow the transition should be the same width as the door and as deep as the diameter of the pipe. It should then be a square to round with as gentle a slope as possible in your space. That is the ideal from a purely airflow point of view, but obviously you can make concessions for space limitations. This is how I built my vent and it draws perfectly with no smoke out the front even on startup.

What are your thoughts on the above? I'm looking at making the outer arch and vent area/landing now, trying to get an idea on sizing.

[deejayoh]

You must be going broke on HS50. I bought one bag of that stuff and switched over to homebrew when I saw that a bag didn't go very far.

[UtahBeehiver]

You still have the vent and outer arch to do so consider the joint size when constructing these two arches. I agree on a smooth a transition as possible, smoke will travel the path of least resistance. There are many ways and areas to make the transition smoother, IE taper in the outside of the inner arch is one, JR did a "S" style chimney, minimize hard lips or angles, etc. FYI, a rectagular or square vent does not have the same effective venting capacity as a round vent, something to do with thermodynamics.