Installing fire brick

[Maplewalnut]

I ordered a new evaporator and the crunch is on to get it ready. Any trick to installing the fire brick. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Fred Henderson]

I like to use fire clay to set them in with. Just mix up a good thick slurry of it , dip the brick into the stuff and sit it into place. :D

[powerdub]

I would cement the brick like Fred said but I would also encourage you to put insulated blanket or board between the brick and the arch. It made a real difference on ours.

[Maplewalnut]

Does the blnket or board get cemeneted also? Does each layer need to cure first or can you put the blanket followed by the brick at the same time?

[tuckermtn]

I put the board flush against the sheetmetal without any adhesive (my arch is older and tapers out as it goes up). Then bricked (also used refrac. cement on seams between bricks) on the inside of the arch board. The manf. of the archboard recomends that you slowly bring up the temp. the first time you fire the arch to cure the binder in the archboard. Some folks also do arch board-then blanket-then brick...

How big a arch do you have? if you have the "baffles" in the arch (typical on a raised flu sap pan) below the flu pan you can fill that space between the baffles with vermiculite filler and then lay ceramic blanket on top of the vermiculite. I did use some high temp silicone(i think it was silcone) caulking to hold the blanket in place...

just my two cents worth...

[powerdub]

Yeah, what tuckermtn said. I just laid two layers of board in and staggered the seams then bricked it. The only thing I did not do is bring the temp up slow. I put the fire to it right off as I had a lot of sap to boil that day. It is good to have some blanket on hand because you will have some spots that you shove a fist full in and seal it up. Its a lot easier than trying to cut brick or filling it with cement.

[Maplehead]

I looked for this arch board for a while down here in Massachusetts and can't find it anywhere.

Where can I buy it and how much does it cost?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bascoms has it for $ 7.55 for 1'x3' sheet.

[Maplehead]

Thanks WVM

I went onto their website but couldn't find it.

Have you any idea what thickness that 1' x 3' is?

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Maplehead- Bascom's order#= ABIN for the Arch board.

[Maplewalnut]

What size brick should I be using? Bascoms has two sizes listed and a local stove shop has a third size??? Thanks again

[tuckermtn]

Maplewalnut-

Brick size depends on how wide the rails are that your pans rest on. with my older Grimm arch I used arch board against the sheetmetal and then full brick up to the last course/layer before the rail. I then switched to 1/2 brick b/c I was concerend that the full brick would block too much heat from getting to the outside edges of the pans (b/c with the full brick and arch board it would stick too far in toward the middle of the firebox)

not sure if thats the right way or best way, but thats they way I did it...

if your not going to use the arch board, then you could just use the full brick for better insulation. IF you are going to use the arch board, you might want to use some 1/2 brick.

[tapper]

I just bricked my evaporator a month ago. First layed in 1" ceramic blanket then full fire brick except for the top course where I put splits to allow heat closer to the edges. Click on my signature there are a few pics.

[Russell Lampron]

Tapper,

Nice pics, I liked the ones that show your old set up. The pre heater pan, smoke stack looks like it must have worked well. The new rig looks nice too and it will be alot different to boil on than the old one was.

Russ

[tapper]

Thanks Russ,

I boiled on that little rig my 1st year. The pan was borrowed. I made the stove out of a barrel and experimented a lot. The next year I bought a 10 year old leader 2x6 and used it for 10 years. I'm hoping the new 2 1/2 x 8 will cut my boil time in half.

[Sugarmaker]

Tapper,
Nice pictures! nice to see the progression from the smaller units to the new rig. As my wife would say "He has a problem" :D :D

Are you a member of a maple association? If not consider our NWPA maple group.
Regards,
Chris

[tapper]

Chris
Thanks!! And I will be the 1st to admitt I have a problem. :D . Of all the things I've tried in life that are here today and gone tomorrow I've never lost interest in making maple and I'm sure everyone on this board says the same! I will consider your NWPA maple group. Thank you for the invite!

Jon