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Cracks - pompei oven
Hello, I hope this is the correct place to post this.
My wife and I finished building our pompei oven and decided to cure it before insulating. After the second curing day some hairline cracks appeared. We put it down to the cold weather and having heated it more than we should have. It had been drying out for a month or so so before curing.
It is a refractory brick build with refractory mortar. The cracks seem to be only on the outside, along the mortar joins, not through the brick. Some are vertical and some horizontal. There is one crack on the outer arch. The widest crack, when the oven is hot, is about 1-2 mm. See photos. (The black dots were to help me track whether or not the cracks were getting wider.)
I have done the curing for four days. The maximum temperature I have achieved was 220 deg C on the ceiling; 120 deg C on the floor next to the fire; walls around 170 deg C. I'm planning to do another curing fire tomorrow and will try to get it a bit hotter.
My questions:
1. Do the cracks matter? Should I try to repair them?
2. If I were to repair them should I use the same refractory mortar or something else?
3. What temperature should I try to get the oven up to to make sure it doesn't crack further?
All advice appreciated! Many thanks in advance!
Sam
My wife and I finished building our pompei oven and decided to cure it before insulating. After the second curing day some hairline cracks appeared. We put it down to the cold weather and having heated it more than we should have. It had been drying out for a month or so so before curing.
It is a refractory brick build with refractory mortar. The cracks seem to be only on the outside, along the mortar joins, not through the brick. Some are vertical and some horizontal. There is one crack on the outer arch. The widest crack, when the oven is hot, is about 1-2 mm. See photos. (The black dots were to help me track whether or not the cracks were getting wider.)
I have done the curing for four days. The maximum temperature I have achieved was 220 deg C on the ceiling; 120 deg C on the floor next to the fire; walls around 170 deg C. I'm planning to do another curing fire tomorrow and will try to get it a bit hotter.
My questions:
1. Do the cracks matter? Should I try to repair them?
2. If I were to repair them should I use the same refractory mortar or something else?
3. What temperature should I try to get the oven up to to make sure it doesn't crack further?
All advice appreciated! Many thanks in advance!
Sam
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