Opinion - smooth or molded side of bricks on front of bell?

Hi All;  I'm building a new brick bell  heater.
I have very old bricks that have class and they will be used as much as possible on the visible side.
I also have brand new bricks that have a decorative  feature molded in that is only on the one side.  I don't care for this feature and would face the smooth side out if I use them on the front. However, after thinking about it. I am wondering if that feature would release more heat if it is faced outward?
I still would face them in on the front side but wondering if it would be better to face them outward everywhere else.  
What do you think?

Hi Thomas,  

In one of my earlier posts discussing bells, Peter and Satamax gave me most valuable info on the subject. Perhaps you can find something in there that would also help.
bell questions

From what I understand, since the bells sizing is dependent upon Internal Surface Area (ISA), wouldn't having the fancy side facing inwards increase the ISA thereby being able to extract more heat from a smaller footprint?

What impact does the hollow cavity have on the performance of your Bell?  I'd imagine that it would insulate vs using solid brick as mass storage.

Or are the cavities being filled with rebar and concrete?

Hey Gerry;
Thanks for showing me that post. Will take me a bit to soak it all in, but its given me some new thoughts on how I might route my exit pipe. As well as the sculpted brick question.
I have enjoyed seeing your dragon again!

Graham, The hollow cavity's are being mostly filled with clay. I think concrete would crumble, the rebar would be OK though !  Almost all my old brick is solid.

Sorry Thomas, but I've go more studying for you to do:  Bell info

Maybe this one you'll remember about a year ago: bell talk

Hope you didn't have anything else more important to do?

Well Gerry, I'd say its settled . They will face inside the bell.  I had already been planning on numerous flat brick laid end on , so they protrude inside the bell as well.  Peter had suggested that single skin bells were more prone to cracking. By having numerous protrusions it seemed to mitigate those effects. Maybe the sculpted brick will do the same.  Besides I don't like looking at them... that's a good reason ... Right ?

The idea spinning about my head this evening is the chimney. Was reading on brick towers inside the bell for added mass and now  I'm wondering about a brick chimney inside the bell... could I get an adequate isa with a brick chimney that would keep low enough entrance ?  Maybe... maybe not...  have to support the chimney ,that restricts the intake... seems somebody would have done this if it was possible..  Hmmm been up since 4 AM... maybe it's better to think on things in the morning...

Good morning Gerry;
This morning I'm thinking ... I wasn't thinking clearly last night...  no surprise there.  
I'm still pondering about  my exhaust stack.   Was planning on it leaving the bell via a 90 at the bottom then rising along the outside of the bell and up thru the roof.
After looking at your photos I'm now wondering about coming thru the roof of the bell with stove pipe, like you did.  It would be alongside the interior wall like yours is. Did you put a "trumpet" on the end ?  If so how large ? How close to the floor were you able to go? How close to the exterior wall is it ?Is that interior pipe fixed solid ? Or are you sliding it up & down ?  Is that arrangement working out well ?
Another thought I had was to build a brick exit box at the floor and extend it outside the wall , so my pipe is sitting square in it rather than a 90 ?
Inquiring minds would like to know...  what do you think ?

thomas rubino wrote:Good morning Gerry;
This morning I'm thinking ... I wasn't thinking clearly last night...  no surprise there.  
I'm still pondering about  my exhaust stack.   Was planning on it leaving the bell via a 90 at the bottom then rising along the outside of the bell and up thru the roof.
After looking at your photos I'm now wondering about coming thru the roof of the bell with stove pipe, like you did.  It would be alongside the interior wall like yours is. Did you put a "trumpet" on the end ?  If so how large ? How close to the floor were you able to go? How close to the exterior wall is it ?Is that interior pipe fixed solid ? Or are you sliding it up & down ?  Is that arrangement working out well ?
Another thought I had was to build a brick exit box at the floor and extend it outside the wall , so my pipe is sitting square in it rather than a 90 ?
Inquiring minds would like to know...  what do you think ?

Heya Thomas,    First off, I'm no expert on this subject....more like a protege of Satamax, Peter and the almighty Google, but I can share my experiences with my setup so here goes....
My shop dragon certainly is certainly not situated in a very great location, more like crammed inbetween the work bench and all that shelving which left me with little options as to how things can get placed. Between this decision and not having a dragon to play with though, I'll take cramming any day! Yours on the other hand has breathing room, so you can plan much more better in making it work the best.
In my "Bell questions" post, Satamax and Peters replies were really spot on. Maybe worth re-reading.

" Did you put a "trumpet" on the end ?  If so how large ?"  Yes I did. It was about 2 1/2" or so wide made from sheet metal and set at about a 45 degree angle.

"How close to the exterior wall is it ?"
Since the exhaust pipe is so close to the wall, the funnel doesn't circle all the way around but rather butts up against the wall. It looks like the letter C when viewed from above. As you may remember, this is not the best scenario from what Peter and Satamax recommended.

"How close to the floor were you able to go?"  At first it was about 3-4" above the floor but it was sending much more heat up the chimney than what I wanted so I lowered it to about 1 1/2". This is where it still is now and am pretty satisfied with its location.

Is that interior pipe fixed solid ? Or are you sliding it up & down ?
It has been solid ever since I discovered that when I ran the stove with the plunger tube/chimney uninsulated that the once the tube heated up (in a very short time), it reheated the cooled gases inside the tube and kinda just defeated the whole point. So as long as the sliding tube is insulated then it could be done, but at the time, was more work than what I had time for in the moment. Definitely want to revisit that one some day as it would be awesome to have the tube slide upwards to get a real good draft going at the beginning of the burn, then slide it down to have it start to stratify.  

"Another thought I had was to build a brick exit box at the floor and extend it outside the wall , so my pipe is sitting square in it rather than a 90 ?"
I'm picturing how the exhaust leaves the castle build from Dragon heaters.... quite possible.....

I know there is much room for improvement on my bell, but again am happy with its performance until I can get back to it one day. Your interest in it of course is going to get me to that day sooner than later... Thank you!