Air tight front

[VTnewguy]

It looks like one of the big projects for this year will be to replace the cast front on our 2x6 Leader arch with a air tight front. The cast front has all kinds of cracks in it well past drilling a hole to stop the spread. I was wondering what kind of improvement should I expect with a air tight front? What is everyone's experience with them? Thanks- Josh

[Russell Lampron]

I'm faced with the same problem this year. I've been holding the biggest crack in my Algier arch front closed with a bar clamp. The other cracks are making it hard to open and close the doors when firing. I ordered an air tight arch from W.F. Mason.

[S.S.S]

We are on our second year with air tight front cause we installed blower and ash was blowing out doors. Works awesome now with air tight front.

[abbott]

Late 2016 I lost a corner off my door. HPIM2422.jpg

After bolting it back on, the door closed really hard. I drilled and tapped holes in the doors and bolted blanket insulation in the inside (sorry, no pic). Well now the doors didn't heat up so much, meaning a big gap in the middleIMG_0445.jpg

So I started tucking a piece of woven rail gasket in the crack every time I closed the doorIMG_0444.jpg

Those were the only changes I made and I went from boiling at 80 gph to 100+ gph. This is on a 40"x10', no blowers. So for next year, the hope is to make the doors even more airtight and pay a lot more attention to arch insulation, gaps under and between the pans, etc. I think the biggest factor was eliminating the cold air being sucked over the fire.

[VTnewguy]

Did you see a uptick in the evaporation as well?

[VTnewguy]

Nice job. It looks good. We have a pretty big gap in our door from not closing all the way. Hopefully with a air tight front the evaporation goes up.

[n8hutch]

You should see an increase in evaporation with an air tight front. Especially with a good blower and Grates that spread the air out well.

[VTnewguy]

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The new front and blower are on. Just waiting on the pre heater and hood now. Hopefully we will have the 2x6 humming good next year.

[softmaple]

what is the cfm of the blower you put on the unit? can you tell me the model number of the blower? I just got my air tight front from leader and its also a 2x6.
thanks

[VTnewguy]

what is the cfm of the blower you put on the unit? can you tell me the model number of the blower? I just got my air tight front from leader and its also a 2x6.
thanks

The blower is the one straight from Leader. I'm not exactly sure of the CFM. The next time I go up to the sugar house I'll try to take a look.