Starlite chimney testing

Tested a chimney it was way too small to be effective, but I learned more about starlite.

Paper in the outside and about 1/2 inch of starlite on the inside.

Are you going to conduct further tests?

What changes are you planning to make?

Mike Lang wrote:Are you going to conduct further tests?

What changes are you planning to make?

I am planing on getting 1 gallon of glue off Amazon, you can get it for 11 a gallon  with this I can make a much larger chimney that could be of use.

I think I would put it in layers into the chimney then roll it in,   I believe I would cure the chimney inside my rocket oven so it would be evenly heated.

The mixture was not as per spec as I added sodium silicate, I want to make it true to the formula given.

I realize that rocket stoves are supposedly immune when functioning properly, but it would be helpful to see if this would stand up to a regular old creosote chimney fire.

K Eilander wrote:I realize that rocket stoves are supposedly immune when functioning properly, but it would be helpful to see if this would stand up to a regular old creosote chimney fire.

Starlite has limitations.

Update?

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Update?

I found it to be non - viable.        deteriorates too quickly.

refractory board proven, works.

Thanks Mart.  Can you say more? what kind of deterioration, was it from humidity? flame? heat? temperature oscillation? cracking?  what kind of backing did you use it on, or was it a standalone starlite chimney?  which formula did you use?

would it stay better with a different kind of backing from what you used?  

Mart Hale wrote:

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Update?

I found it to be non - viable.        deteriorates too quickly.

refractory board proven, works.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Thanks Mart.  Can you say more? what kind of deterioration, was it from humidity? flame? heat? temperature oscillation? cracking?  what kind of backing did you use it on, or was it a standalone starlite chimney?  which formula did you use?

would it stay better with a different kind of backing from what you used?  

Mart Hale wrote:

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Update?

I found it to be non - viable.        deteriorates too quickly.

refractory board proven, works.

I can only speak for the mixture that I made,   and after the foaming up of the material, it then breaks down with a few weeks of time.      

I now understand why research and development is so expensive, you have to try many different  mixtures to get to your goal.....

Fiber board is expensive,  I have been looking at a method of making cob ovens where they use hundreds of  clay tiles on the inside of the oven instead of fire bricks...          But life is short,   go with the refractory board combined with morgan super wool for the win,  along with Matt Walker's plans....  his method proven.

Thanks.  That's clear.  I think it warrants more research, but with a shortcut--making a bunch of the different forumulae and then storing them somewhere without any fire for a while, and those that break down just from time without even fire will have to be eliminated.  

There's another shortcut too that could be helpful.

Also, this sounds like a useful cheap element for quick demo situations, such as a festival, where it doesn't have to work long.  Or a camp, an emergency shelter situation, a MacGuyveration, or if you got trapped in a corn starch factory or a supermarket during an alien invasion.  The possibilities are endless.

"Having read a recent article on Mr Ward I've decided to leave a brief & factual synopsis of why Mr Ward's product never came to fruition. Mr Ward came to my lab about a year before his death needing help to turn what was essentially a party trick into a useable & commercialy viable product. The problem he had was although the powder component did exactly as it said on the tin, he had found no way of applying a lasting coating. All he really has was some powder mixed with PVA glue, the problem being that although you could apply it to certain objects it's longevity was no more than 2 weeks. While testing we discovered that a sample he'd kept for almost 10 years could be destroyed in a matter of minutes under a methylacetylene-propadiene propane blowtorch. Unfortunately after many samples & tests we where unable to find a effective application method & we parted company on good terms. Sadly this is the true reason why Mr Ward was never able to sell or bring his incomplete product to market. But rest assured, as of this time I can say that there is at least 1 complete & superior product in testing, testing that so far is going remarkably well. So one day there will be a product on the market that will save life's while also having countless other uses. The inspiration behind this project.... Mr Maurice Ward
Anon, London GB"

-- https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-5575,00.html

Just because one expert failed to come up with a solution doesn't rule it out.  I also am more inclined to trust direct experience.

And the material doesn't need to be a thin coat of paint that repels nuclear blasts to be useful in a rocket heater, it simply needs to be cheaper than firebrick/fiberboard.  

THe basic concept, as I understand it, is basically tensegrity.  A tensegrity structure (discontinuous compression elements connected by continuous tensional elements) is everything in nature--a human body, a cell, an atom even.  If we were not tensegritive, our legs would fall off when we tried to run, our arms would fall off if we cast a fishing line.

So something that foams up and hardens at high temperatures, without getting too unpredictably thick so that it chokes off the air channels, fits the bill.  

That's pretty much what fiberboard is too, I guess, in a sense, a foam-like structure, but it's less organic.

This really calls for some Green Hat thinking.

I'll do one.

PO way of making a starlite-like barrier is a professor.

This gives me the idea of a person saying it can't be done, like some of the nay-sayers above, and their confidence--so it can't be done, instead do something different.  A material that decays even more each time it is subjected to fire.  You put a dollup (sp.?) of it in the firebox each time you light it [oops--human discipline failure] and it blasts the whole inside of the burn chamber, riser, and even the barrel with a fine mist of whatever it is and renews the coating.

Lousy idea.  I'll try a few more but don't want to type much more today.  Anyone else?

Here are some more random words to use as provocative operation provocations:

mask
prevalence
extent
harmony
headline
institution
freckle
motorcycle
noble
throw
put
orientation
sound
approval
origin