ECO Blocks

[OscarA]

Hi Guys/Girls

I'm almost finished my Oven stand and I've started thinking about Eco Blocks that Bunnings sell for insulating the oven floor. I've bought 2 100lt bags of Vermiculite and was going to use that but these Eco Blocks look so much easier to use. I know quite a few ovens have used insulation blocks so basically what I would like to know is who has used Eco Blocks and are you happy with it.
The vermiculite I have wont be wasted as I'll still need it for the oven dome.
I also have 2 sheets of 1" insulation board. I want to lay the Eco blocks on the concrete slab then the insulation boards and finally the cooking floor.
Does anyone see any problems with this.

Oscar

[brickie in oz]

Re: ECO Blocks

Arent they made of polystyrene?

[nissanneill]

Re: ECO Blocks

The eco blocks are an alternative to the CSR Hebel block, aerated cement blocks.
I have used them for wall building but not in an oven as an insulator.
Contact the manufacturer and get the specifications for their thermal resistance.
They are very light and soft but should be fine, especially since they are 100mm thick and 400 long by 200 high. Not forgetting that you will have probably 3" firebrick or clay brick as your hearth and cooking floor.
I would be tempted to run full height soldier course and then cut the eco blocks to fit inside them as they will be easy to replace if needed and replaced with 4" vermiculite cement.

Cheers.

Neill

[brickie in oz]

Re: ECO Blocks

to fit inside them as they will be easy to replace

After they melt with the heat you mean?

Id be very worried about fumes leaching from the styrene and into my food.

[The Goose]

Re: ECO Blocks

Worth a read....

ECO-Block Energy Efficient ICF

[nissanneill]

Re: ECO Blocks

brickie in oz
these blocks to my knowledge (at least the ones that I have bought and used) are aerated concrete, not plastic (styrene nor any other plastic based material). They have at least a 2 hour fire rating and are consequently used to fire separate flats/units/residences.
They are very similar to the MtGambier sawn limestone blocks that were quite popular 30 - 40 years ago in house construction.

Neill

[The Goose]

Re: ECO Blocks

Still worth a read - eco block = Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)

ECO-Block Energy Efficient ICF

Expanded polystyrene according to Wiki

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a rigid and tough, closed-cell foam. It is usually white and made of pre-expanded polystyrene beads. Familiar uses include molded sheets for building insulation and packing material ("peanuts") for cushioning fragile items inside boxes. Sheets are commonly packaged as rigid panels (size 4 by 8 or 2 by 8 feet in the United States), which are also known as "bead-board". Thermal resistivity is usually about 28 m?K/W (or R-4 per inch in American customary units). Some EPS boards have a flame spread of less than 25 and a smoke-developed index of less than 450, which means they can be used without a fire barrier (but require a 15 minute thermal barrier) according to US building codes. A growing use of EPS in construction is insulating concrete forms. The density range is about 16?640 kg/m3.[4] The most common processing method is thermal cutting with hot wires

[david s]

Re: ECO Blocks

Hebel would be better because it is just aerated concrete.

[OscarA]

Re: ECO Blocks

Thanks guys, I'll give them a miss and stick with the proven Vermiculite.
I thought the Eco blocks were aerated concrete but looks like I was wrong.

[cobblerdave]

Re: ECO Blocks

dear Oscar
Don't like the sound of these eco blocks if they have plastic in them?
Hebel is what I have used in my oven as the under hearth insulation couldn't find a local source of pearlite at that time in the construction. So 50 mm Hebel slabs was what I used. I basically run a row of bricks around the slab then layed the hebel in the shape of the oven on a base of fireclay to get them level. The space in the corners was filled with concrete.
Works?... seems to you can have the oven flashed up for hours and the slabs still cool underneath. I do get a hot spot under the entrance but I'm sure this is caused by moisture and should go away when the ovens not getting rained on for 40 days and 40 nights.
Cost.. had 1/2 the hebel anyway payed maybe $20 bucks for the rest

Regards
Dave

[C5dad]

Re: ECO Blocks

ECO blocks are what I built the house from. They are expanded polystyrene with a cement core. They are assembled on site and stacked like lego's and your pump concrete into them.

I can post pictures if you like. I have about $4500 of Rebar in the wall, along with 1 broken finger due to a storm and lots of blood from hanging the rebar in the walls. Though, I would do it again as they are awesome - my average bill year round is $180/month for electricity in Arizona.

So in short, I dont think they would do well for the oven. Maybe the oven base if you wanted a solid concrete base.

Chris

[brickie in oz]

Re: ECO Blocks

my average bill year round is $180/month for electricity in Arizona.

Our electricity bill is about $300 per quarter. (at around 19c per kwh)

[OscarA]

Re: ECO Blocks

dear Oscar

Hebel is what I have used in my oven as the under hearth insulation
Dave

Thanks Dave.

I'm keen on using them I just have to find supplier and hopefully they don't come with a big price tag.
After reading your post I did a search to find out more and came across this

site:fornobravo.com aac oven insulation - Google Search

There's heaps of stuff about these blocks.

Found them.. 600x200x100 $5.50 a block