Robbie Mendelssohn

Thanks to all who helped me here! My heater is fired up and rocketing! I have put pictures up in this blog article:
Link to my article, click here!

brilliant, thanks satamax!!! I'm at 1100m, so 70mm it shall be!

Thanks again to all who have helped out, I'm now constructing the bell...I have a technical question: I have scaled the core to a 175mm system as that is the available tube. But now my floor channel is 67mm wide. I can only get 70x30 or 60x30 tube, so should I go bigger, or smaller? or do I need to fabricate my own tube, which will be tricky....? Thanks guys!!!

I see what you mean, sounds good. My thinking is that maybe a steel plate (1 cm thick) will spall and fail and need replaced, but if those t-sections fail the collapse will be quite spectacular! Also, the firebricks I can get are rated to 900c which is maybe not as hot as the top of the bell, who knows. I think I might leave the oven out and just have a flat faceplate instead. If the plates heats up enough this winter, I'll cut a door and weld a box into the back. Thanks agin for the feedback!

Thanks for the input satamax, I had a feeling that the arlite slab was a bad route to go down....

And the oven won't heat enough.... What kind of temperature can I expect in that area? I'd be disappointed to make an oven and not eat any baked spuds.

Any images of how a composite top might look?
Some t section steel and then bricks laid dry on top with next later mortared onto them? I was thinking a thick steel plate that might last a few years.... Here they sell thick square plates that are bases for steel columns. I would corbel the bricks to close the bell top to 60x60cm, the biggest plate size.

I say it would be a bit like a bell in that it has extra volume, being of larger diameter and the exhaust would still be moving slowly compared to when it narrows at the vertical chimney. I bought the tubes today so I hope I'm right...

I did read the post to the end as recommended and was thoroughly entertained, I like the science fair interlude.

Is that ytong block wrapping the firebox? I was considering using it until I dug deep and spend a staggering quantity on ceramic fibreboard.

Here's a question.... To make a slab for the top instead of steel, can I cast one like someone said here with clay and sand and arlite? I can't find a refractory slab around here.... And, why arlite? Isn't it insulating, rather than accumulating,,? Also,  I'd hate to see it collapse and crush my fibreboard riser :-p

[img]Here is my almost finished design!!!
it's peterbergs sidewinder core with an oven / door insert

Can I make the pipe in the mass thicker to get the required ISA?? making it kind of like a bell?

thanks again, I've been away the last few days, so I didn't get a chance to check the boards. I Appreciate the input!

thanks, decision made, it'll be piped mass as I live continuosly in the house and it seems tecnically easier to build rather than sealing the bench.

a burning question: how long before I can fire up the stove with clay/sand mortar?
thanks again for your help

Hi again, I am almost ready to build, please have another look at this latest iteration and help me decide...does the bench benefit from being a bell, requiring sealing etc, or will a piped mass bench be just as good?


thanks again!