Using a blower with not airtight insulated doors

[Big Stoney]

When we bought our evaporator it came with a blower. The previous owner told me that the doors would glow red thus I have not used it. I have a leader wood fired arch. Would it be possible to glue ceramic blanket onto the back of the arch doors and then use the blower without them turning red? I know he told us to just not have the fire too close to the doors. I would consider using the blower, but I do not want to ruin my doors. Any suggestions?

[mellondome]

You will not ruin your doors by heating them to red. I ran a blower on mine with standard doors for a couple years. Then I tried to "glue" ceramic blanket to them with mixed results. In the end, I had a local shop fab me an airtight door to fit. ( $100).

If you search, You will find a couple threads on ways to insulate your factory doors.

[madmapler]

On my old arch I welded a 1"x1/8" piece of flat stock around the perimeter of the inside as a frame and tacked 1/4"bolts around to hold a piece of blanket in it. It would be an easy job for a welding shop if you don't weld yourself. I had no problem welding to cast. I just did small areas with a mig welder.

[nymapleguy607]

On my old arch I changed the double door setup to a single door that was insulated and had a locking latch. This helped with sealing up the front end of the arch.

[buckeye gold]

Two things I wonder about in your scenario: Do you have a strong enough draft to pull heat away from the door and is the air injected in a way it swirls the fire to the back. I was able to some what direct the heat away from my door with a nozzle right by the door aiming back away from the door. However I believe draft is the biggest thing for you to check. If you have not ran the blower you should try, you may have more draft then he had and be ok.

[Big Stoney]

The blower is set up to blow towards the front door.

[buckeye gold]

I know you want a lot of heat up front, but a subtle change may help with your door problem and still get sufficient heat forward. I aim my front nozzle up across the firebox and slightly back. It seems to work well, but then again I only have a small arch. Maybe someone with more experience here can shed some expertise on what is best.

[nymapleguy607]

I'm not sure what size your arch is but I can say from expierience that there will be no problem getting heat to the front of the evaporator. On my 2x6 setup it takes about an hour and all the firebrick if cherry red. On my old arch I changed the firing doors to a single door that had 1" fire blanket in it. My current arch has air to cool the door. If you want to keep the current door setup I would consider drilling the doors and attaching blanket or even fire brick to the back of the door. Another option would be to block off the grates for the first 6" by the door.