Soapstone floor - Advice

[SCChris]

Thanks for the additional info Gotwood. I wonder too how the soapstone over the brick functions for heat transfer, bringing the floor up to the working temps. I know the SStone is going to spread the heat evenly over the underlying brick and hopefully it heats more of the brick floor quicker and with less wood. I'm curious as to what the cooling would look like over a 5 day period with a tight door.

Chris

[gotwood]

I just removed the firebrick floor and going straight with the SS floor.... I have a refractory floor beneath that came with the modular kit.....Im going to fire it up in a few hours to check it out....

[SCChris]

Gotwood, Let us know how it works out.

Chris

[GianniFocaccia]

Originally Posted by SCChris

I wonder too how the soapstone over the brick functions for heat transfer, bringing the floor up to the working temps. I know the SStone is going to spread the heat evenly over the underlying brick and hopefully it heats more of the brick floor quicker and with less wood.

Chris

Chris,

After work last week I pulled my soapstone floor up to re-level it past the government standards I had originally installed it to. The sun had set and the entire backyard had been in shadow for a good forty-five minutes. Although the soapstone was still very warm (almost hot) to the touch, what surprised me was the temperature of the underlying firebrick. I should have taken an IR reading, but they were hot and radiated a significant amount of heat, absorbed exclusively from the direct sun-heated soapstone on top.

I am now convinced of your prognosis: the soapstone will transfer (oven fire) heat directly to the firebrick below quite efficiently. Because soapstone gives up it's heat slowly, I'm hoping for increased oven heat retention as well.

BTW - I mentioned your solar panel/heating element idea to my 18 year old son and he's hot to build a panel from purchased parts!

[SCChris]

Thanks to your son for the offer of help. I'd like to see if I can meter some info about what it would take to hold a temp of X.. If I pickup a "Kill-O-Watt" and a heating element, I should be able to get an idea about how much energy it would take to hold the temp at say 250F. This in turn would tell me how much PV panel it would take to hold the temp.

Anyway it fun to think about..

Chris

[edsalldw]

Anyone making bead in a brick oven with a soapstone floor sicne the posts above?