Florida Igloo Brick Oven Photos Discuss Florida Igloo in the Good Background Information forums; Frances - Coneheadedness I think....

[gjbingham]

Frances - Coneheadedness I think.

[Les]

Originally Posted by leemc

go inside the oven and try to fill in these gaps but I started to think - is that really necessary? Would I only be doing that for looks?

I wanted to resurrect this because it's an interesting topic. I totally agree that gaps are bad in regard to spalling. But when is good enough, enough? I use a metal wood stove for heat (I do have gas, just hate when it kicks on). I run this thing for 5 months straight in the winter for 4 hours a day (average). After 18 years I replaced the fire brick lining that was not mortared. The bricks were obviously spalled but not just on the edges, it was on the face as well. No mortar joint will keep that from happening. So back to topic - all those fires equates to 10,800 hours of fire. If I use my oven once a week, with a two hour fire, that equates to 103 years! I would think that by that time, I would not know what a pizza is, let alone have the teeth to eat it

What do you all think - I do have some gaps (biggest may be 1/8 inch) - so when is good enough , enough?

Les...

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by Les

If I use my oven once a week, with a two hour fire, that equates to 103 years! I would think that by that time, I would not know what a pizza is, let alone have the teeth to eat it

Les...

Giving it up that easy?

I was shooting for 134!

Great build!

The concrete work was excellent!

I'm enjoying your thread!

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by gjbingham

Frances - Coneheadedness I think.

Hola George!

Long time no see bro!

How's that oven performing?

[gjbingham]

Hola Dave,
I PM'd you. I'm the worst at getting off topic here.
G.

[david s]

A bit of input on the central flue idea. I built my first oven with a central flue and it has both advantages and disadvantages, On the plus side is simplicity, saves space on your hearth, draws extremely well. The down side is that your vent is coming straight out of the oven that you want to keep hot, a lot of heat is lost straight up the flue and combustion is incomplete resulting in a fair amount of soot falling back on top of your oven giving it a speckled black appearance. The door also needs to be in place or you lose heat up the flue unless you have a damper. A flat tile sitting on top of the flue is the easiest way to control the air flow and can be adjusted simply or shut off completely as desired. I still think the front flue, that is completely independent of the oven, as used for centuries by the ancient Romans, is the best design.

[leemc]

Well I decided to fill the gaps between my bricks inside my oven and bought a mortar bag from the local Lowe's. Thought that would be the easiest way to do it - and it worked great until it clogged on me. Had to then crawl out of the oven to unclog it (it was a little tight in there - not a job for the claustrophobic I can tell you!). I crawled back in and it very promptly clogged again. So I gave up, but got most of the large gaps filled. Just need to finish the outer arch of the vent this weekend and then start my curing fires.

David - although the chimney is going to be centered, it will still vent in the front. I just plan to slope the flue back in the space between the inner an outer dome back to the center and then up. I went ahead and put some mortar reinforced with some chicken wire to give the center of the dome more strength to support the weight of the chimney.

Lee

[Les]

Lee,

It's a little late now, but I found that I had to cut about 1/2 inch off the end to get it to flow right. Even then it would give me trouble at times so I started mixing the mortar a little wetter.

Les...

[Dutchoven]

Sorry a bit late from me too...I would have suggested that you use the ones from HD as they are Marshalltown(great masonry tools) not Kobalt...and I could have told you to mix it quite wet and with less sand than you would usually...the sand tends to settle to the bottom of the bag and clog it...my nephew and I repointed our entire building using grout bags and when ours clogged it was sometimes cat cra(we were mixing a custom blend of mortar so we had a big pile of sand AKA neighborhood litter box)
Best
Dutch

[leemc]

I have a quick question. I had planned on doing a clay liner all the way from the vent, across the dome and up the chimney. Since I am having to keep the transition flue in the insulated space between the inner and outer dome I would like to keep it as thin as possible without messing up my draft. I was thinking something like a 6"X10" but when I look at the clay liners that is not one of the standard sizes - I would probably have to buy a larger size and cut it to narrow it. As I searched I found this product which looks like it would work well for me since it can be ordered thin and wide, is thinner walled than ceramic, is flexible and I can get in a 6"x11.35" size.

Oval chimney liner, stainless steel oval chimney liners, oval flue liner

Has anyone used this product here? I was worried about stainless steel - will that last pretty much forever in a humid environment like Florida's? Also will the fact that it is corrugated be a problem with the draft or keeping clean?

Thanks

Lee