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Major hurdle cleared!
Was able to brick my arch last evening. Ended up using a propane torpedo heater to heat up the sugarhouse. I have to say that the bricking went much smoother than I expected. I cut my bricks by scoring them on both sides with a tile wet table saw, then breaking them apart. The refractory cement dried nicely. I have 2 heat lamps turned on in the firebox at the moment, with a piece of metal roofing and insulation covering the arch. Tomorrow I am going to simulate a "fire" to cure the cement by blowing the torpedo heater in through the doors of the arch. Now have to decide if I am going to use sand or vermiculite to fill the area between my ramp and the wall I made in front of the base stack.
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Usually guys cure the refractory too fast. Just use 1 light bulb and cover the whole thing with anything you have around, first a non combustable layer, then tarps, blankets, sleeping bag, whatever. You are best to do this for a week if possible. Then when you get set up to fire up, go very slow for the first 3-4 hrs. Start a small fire and barely keep it burning for about 2 hrs, then gradually go hotter for the next 2 hrs. After that you should be good to go. The main thing in the beginning is just to keep it from freezing but barely warm to the touch is real good. A 100 watt incondescent bulb will do this well with the evap completely insulated to hold the warmth in.
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Oh, remember, don't do the fire thing without water in the pans.
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Yeah maybe I'll wait to do the torpedo thing. I can't burn in it yet because my stack just goes through the roof. Waiting on another 4 feet from Patrick.s
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Heus, I'm about a week away from bricking up my Leader 2x6 and your thread brought out some great feedback.
I would have fired it up but will not do that now. Have an outdoor spot light I've been using nights to finish off little stuff inside the sugar house and it sounds like setting that inside for a spell will be the ticket. Had no idea that you could cure the refractory cement too fast, Dave's post contains a wealth of information. Thanks to both of you.
