Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
(OP)
Hey all,
For reasons I won't go into beyond saying they were renovation-related, our residential Canadian-made Pacific Energy brand fireplace insert hasn't been used for about five years.
When the unit was taken out of service at the time renovations commenced, I noticed some of the sections of the unit's firebrick had either sustained spalling, had cracks, or were missing chunks, so I ordered a complete replacement set of firebrick and swapped it all out [ I retained any complete old pieces, just in case ]. It is the new firebrick that has never seen heat I'm concerned about damaging.
My boiler books talk about building light fires in green refractory so as to both cure it and drive out any moisture before imposing full service duty. I'm wondering if I should do the equivalent...
My approach would be fabricate a heating unit using one of those screw-in ceramic cones wound with - what? Nichrome wire? - along with an older ceramic lamp socket and a supply cord utilizing Pyrotenax, if that's the right word, or some sort of equivalent high-temperature-compatible insulation, wired in series with an SCR-type lamp dimmer to regulate the heat output. I would use this rig to attain and stabilize the internals of the insert at a temperature of, say, 250 °F for, say, two or three days; temperature to be confirmed with a thermocouple-type pyrometer.
Two questions:
One, do I even need to worry about this?
Two, if I do, is the approach sensible, or would there be a better way to go?
For reasons I won't go into beyond saying they were renovation-related, our residential Canadian-made Pacific Energy brand fireplace insert hasn't been used for about five years.
When the unit was taken out of service at the time renovations commenced, I noticed some of the sections of the unit's firebrick had either sustained spalling, had cracks, or were missing chunks, so I ordered a complete replacement set of firebrick and swapped it all out [ I retained any complete old pieces, just in case ]. It is the new firebrick that has never seen heat I'm concerned about damaging.
My boiler books talk about building light fires in green refractory so as to both cure it and drive out any moisture before imposing full service duty. I'm wondering if I should do the equivalent...
My approach would be fabricate a heating unit using one of those screw-in ceramic cones wound with - what? Nichrome wire? - along with an older ceramic lamp socket and a supply cord utilizing Pyrotenax, if that's the right word, or some sort of equivalent high-temperature-compatible insulation, wired in series with an SCR-type lamp dimmer to regulate the heat output. I would use this rig to attain and stabilize the internals of the insert at a temperature of, say, 250 °F for, say, two or three days; temperature to be confirmed with a thermocouple-type pyrometer.
Two questions:
One, do I even need to worry about this?
Two, if I do, is the approach sensible, or would there be a better way to go?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]





RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Look also at table DD1. Check the end notes for temp ratings.
eg: SEWF-1 with a nickel conductor 250 deg.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Keith Cress
kcress - http://www.flaminsystems.com
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
I have not seen Pyrotenax in years. I did not even know it was still available. I can tell you horror stories of working with a blow torch on the open end of that stuff trying to get it to pass a Megger test before we potted the ends.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
"Warning. If a flame is used to dry this cable, care must be taken that the copper jacket is not melted."
I haven't seen the inside of a commercial gasoline pump for many years. They were originally wired in rigid conduit and explosion proof fittings.
This forced electricians to a level of precision that was above normal. Close enough was no longer good enough.
Then prefabricated Pyrotenax pigtails came on the market. No more precision measuring and cutting. Screw a seal fitting and an EX-P JB onto the end of the entering conduit and then bend the Pyro pigtail to fit between the incoming JB and the pump JB. Those pigtails saved several hours.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
All of that stuff was 40 years ago.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
The stuff I worked with before I left the UK ( I used to help out my Dad who was an electrical engineer.) was made by British Insulated Callendars Cables.
And you are right about working with it, You got one shot at making a decent looking 90* bend , and to make things worse most of the stuff I put up was surface mounted.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
BTW I wanted to add a self-castigating emoji/emoticon to my previous post, but couldn't find the right head-bashing one I saw [in another thread] in the emoticons feature of the Post Options; are these alternate emojis being imported from another app?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
CR
"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." [Proverbs 27:17, NIV]
RE: Returning Wood-Fueled Fireplace Insert To Service: Moisture In Refractory A Concern?
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter