Strength vs Simplicity

[Les]

das,

Whare are you located in Ca? It's a big state.

[BeanAnimal]

I contacted Asley a few weeks ago and they indicated that there were no distributors in this area that carry their MD brick. The freight cost would make them far to expensive for me. I can get the W-Greer product from several local suppliers and it is by far the cheapest.

I don't think I am concerned about the thermal properties as much as I am the durability of the product. It appears that the general concenus is that the WG low duty (the only fire brick product they make) is perfecty suitable for this project and it furhtermore would appear that the more expensive MT Savage medium duty product is simply not worth the extra expense.

This is one of those topics that gets a lot of thread space and a lot of opinion yet never gets fully answered. The FB plans appear to have changed to spec medium duty, making things that much more ambiguous with regard to the proper brick.

@Tscarborough

What is the problem with narrow face bricks? I would assume they may be more prone to spalling.

[das]

Originally Posted by Les

das,

Whare are you located in Ca? It's a big state.

Orange County. Do you have a connection for Alsey?

[Tscarborough]

Cracking, actually. There is a relationship between unit size and joint size. Standard specifications call for no units less than 25% of the normal uncut size.

[Les]

Originally Posted by das

Orange County. Do you have a connection for Alsey?

Not for that make but there are a few builders in your area. Exceloven and Dino to name a couple. I'm sure they can lead you in the right direction. I thought you might be located in N. Cal. There is a great deal in Sacramento.

[das]

Originally Posted by BeanAnimal

I contacted Asley a few weeks ago and they indicated that there were no distributors in this area that carry their MD brick. The freight cost would make them far to expensive for me. I can get the W-Greer product from several local suppliers and it is by far the cheapest.

I don't think I am concerned about the thermal properties as much as I am the durability of the product. It appears that the general concenus is that the WG low duty (the only fire brick product they make) is perfecty suitable for this project and it furhtermore would appear that the more expensive MT Savage medium duty product is simply not worth the extra expense.

This is one of those topics that gets a lot of thread space and a lot of opinion yet never gets fully answered. The FB plans appear to have changed to spec medium duty, making things that much more ambiguous with regard to the proper brick.

@Tscarborough

What is the problem with narrow face bricks? I would assume they may be more prone to spalling.

That's too bad about the Alsey bricks, I thought you may have better luck on the EC. The reason I am after Alsey bricks is they are supposed to be the most durable, which the W-G are supposed to be next best, so you should be fine. That is my second line of attack as well, though I think there also is something to the thermal properties of the higher density brick, especially with the wide variance of the readily available LD bricks sold at the local yards.


What Buckley points out about the lax industry standards makes it hard to determine what is good or not even from specs. Supposedly the Muddox, PC, and others don't meet even the new low level standards. Funny thing is Forno Bravo has some chart on Alumina content and they suggest 38% being medium duty, I called Muddox today, and well they use 38%, but were very clear they were low-duty, and supposedly they don't meet the ASTM standards.

I agree about the question never being answered. From searching here on FB it seems when the question comes up, a few jump in and say "I used such and such and my oven is fine, has a few cracks, but that is normal." Hence why I am defaulting to people that have been in the industry for years and have experience with most all the brands. I am building an oven on a stand and therefore plan on taking it with me if/when I move so I want to make it as durable as possible.

It would be interesting to know who makes the Forno Bravo bricks as it seems only a limited # of manufacturers make medium-duty, and also a more extensive reason behind their switch to medium-duty over light-duty.