Mortar and Bricking questions

[Maplesugar]

I'm building an evaporator out of a 275 gallon oil drum and plan to use a 1" 1900 degree fire board and then full fire brick over that. If I fit the fire brick fairly tight do I have to mortar the bricks in place. I'll be moving the evaporator from my garage to the sugar bush every spring. I'm concerned the mortar joints would crack during the moving process when lifting and hauling back and forth. The other reason I'm asking about this is due to the overall weight of the evaporator. I felt I could fit the brick fairly tight and then build a frame to hold the bricks in place so the brick could be held in place, yet be removed for transport and replacing cracked and damaged bricks. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Brian:)

BTW, I'll be lifting this with a 45 Horsepower Tractor and frontend loader.

[MaxJ]

Just a question-Why not just leave it out in the sugar bush and cover it when not using it?

[saphound]

Hi Maplesugar, No, you don't need to use mortar, just keep the joints tight. Any joints that aren't tight you could sweep some dry sand into them.

[Maplesugar]

Thanks Guys, I might just mortar the bricks in place and take my chances on them breaking loose. I'll put the evaporator on a low profile pallet to limit the amount of flex in the evaporator while I'm moving it from place to place. Will mortar stick to a brick that is full of soot, just wire brush it a little perhaps? The property is owned by our hunting group all family members. I just don't want anyone thinking the evaporator or possible sugar shack is an eye sore. I might just build a small roof cover for the evaporator and park it behind a big balsam tree along the trail.

[newmod]

I have been boiling on my new arch this year with the brick just dry stacked. I was wary on doing it this way, but after every boil I have checked the fire box and found no problems at all.

[saphound]

Well if you do want to use mortar just be advised regular mortar is doomed to fail. It can't take the heat and will fail even if you weren't moving the evaporator. It will crack and separate between every brick...they expand at different rates. Firebrick needs a special refractory cement. This has been my trade for 40 years. You're really better off butting the firebrick together dry in this application. It's not like a fireplace or pizza oven where the bricks are visible. They'll be covered with ashes from day one. If the bricks don't lay flat on your fireboard due to the contour of the oil tank, lay them in an inch thick bed of sand. You don't want any air space under the bricks or they can crack too.

[dadtkm]

I have oil tank arch, insulation blanket, brick and mortar but I drilled through the metal tank where the four brick corners come together used a long enough screw and nut with a 2" square plate to hold things in place. I move the arch to the middle of the shack. When the season is over it gets moved back to the corner out of the way until next season. haven't had any problems to date.

[Maplesugar]

The evaporator it mostly all flat surfaces. There is only a slight difference on the side wall. As I say, it is nearly flat. I have 1900 degree board on the side walls. How should this board be held in place. Any ideas? Does it get held in place by the brick or high temperature silicone. It seems like silicone wouldn't hold because the board in so soft and brittle (ish).13445