Airtight front for next year

[tmessier79]

Hey all,

I'm looking for some feedback from those of you that have built your own airtight fronts. My AUF blower licks flames out my doors and puts too much smoke and ash into the sugar house. I really want a nice tight front but can't justify the cost of a manufactured one to my wife. So that leaves me with building one. Anyone have a set of plans from your build? How much could I expect the cost to be for materials? I have a 2ft arch front. Thanks!

[Zucker Lager]

Hey Tmessier:
I just finished a 2 by 3 hobby arch build and when I made the door I planned on it being air tight even though right now I'm not running a blower. If you would like to check it out look up "2 by 3 hobby arch build" The door is 1/4 cold rolled then 3/4 by 3/4 square around the edge that I ran through my milling machine, but you could do it with a side grinder and lots of time, to make that grove in it for a standard stove gasket I glued that in with regular stove cement. You could do any handle / latch that will pull the door up tight. But I chose this design after reading a bunch of posts about hot handles and for me this way is easy on the back. Good luck Jay

[CharlieVT]

Does your arch have a cast iron front with double doors?
I converted an oil fired 4x10 to air tight for my own arch, and I helped a friend convert his 2.5x8 cast front with double doors to air tight. Different approaches depending on what you are starting with.
Some discussion and pics here:
http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?26401-Airtight-door-conversion

If you have questions, I'm happy to try and help explain what I did.

[tmessier79]

Hey Tmessier:
I just finished a 2 by 3 hobby arch build and when I made the door I planned on it being air tight even though right now I'm not running a blower. If you would like to check it out look up "2 by 3 hobby arch build" The door is 1/4 cold rolled then 3/4 by 3/4 square around the edge that I ran through my milling machine, but you could do it with a side grinder and lots of time, to make that grove in it for a standard stove gasket I glued that in with regular stove cement. You could do any handle / latch that will pull the door up tight. But I chose this design after reading a bunch of posts about hot handles and for me this way is easy on the back. Good luck Jay
Awesome, thank you.

[tmessier79]

Does your arch have a cast iron front with double doors?
I converted an oil fired 4x10 to air tight for my own arch, and I helped a friend convert his 2.5x8 cast front with double doors to air tight. Different approaches depending on what you are starting with.
Some discussion and pics here:
http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?26401-Airtight-door-conversion

If you have questions, I'm happy to try and help explain what I did.
Charlie, I do have a cast front with two doors. The pics on the link are very similar to what I was thinking. Thanks for posting.

[Sugarmaker]

Couple thoughts.
We still used a non air tight front on our arch. We do now have a insulated door on the old arch. We get a little ash from the blowers when we open the door to fire.
With our old grates we put a brick across in front of the doors to move the auf back into the fire box. that helps.
Our new grats have a dead spot in the front that does not allow auf to blow up at the door.
You might have too much auf. try turning it down a little? We have ours dialed in so we dont have to shut the blowers down when firing.
Regards,
Chris

[tmessier79]

Couple thoughts.
We still used a non air tight front on our arch. We do now have a insulated door on the old arch. We get a little ash from the blowers when we open the door to fire.
With our old grates we put a brick across in front of the doors to move the auf back into the fire box. that helps.
Our new grats have a dead spot in the front that does not allow auf to blow up at the door.
You might have too much auf. try turning it down a little? We have ours dialed in so we dont have to shut the blowers down when firing.
Regards,
Chris
Dialing the blower back definitely helps minimize the smoke and ash, but I don't get the evaporation rate compared to having the blower cranked up. I will probably fab a new door and try to insulate the front.

Thanks for the I put. Any other thoughts, please let me know.

[n8hutch]

I got a Air Tight Front from Lapierre this year. The door is not insulated. Instead it is built with an air cavity on inside that air is forced up through from the bottom. And it blows out in 6 or 8 places on the sides. I wasn't sure about it when I first received it but now I think it is pretty slick. It stays fairly cool and it's maintenance free. You don't have to worry about messing up the insulation when you close the door. I did run a small blower for just this door however.