Quote Originally Posted by Swingpure View Post
So if I go ahead and buy the door and I think I got my head wrapped around how to do the plate and attach the door to the plate and how to put some firebrick on the inside of the plate to keep it from getting too hot and losing heat out the door.

What I am not sure if I will have enough air openings for the draft.

The height of my evaporator is 18.5”. The opening size required for the door is 16x16”. That would give me one inch above the door for the plate and an inch and a half below the door. The plate would go from the top of the evaporator, tight right to the bottom of the concrete pad. My firebox opening is about 22.5” wide. Potentially I could have openings 3” wide and 4 “ high either side of the door and I could drill holes in the plate below the door.

Would that allow for enough draft for my base stack and 8” wide stovepipe?

The yellow rectangles are not to scale but give an idea of where the larger openings would be, and the yellow circles give an idea where the holes would be, but there would be more of them, slightly smaller.


https://share.icloud.com/photos/084c...D9twcb-92YEL2Q
No, this does not look like a good plan. You want all air to come in *under* the grate. Air coming in above it is going to cool down your pans. As for how big the opening, you want the area to be the same (or larger) as your stack opening. So 8" stovepipe = 50 square inches. So if the firebox opening is 22.5" wide, you could have a two inch high opening the full width of the space to give yourself about enough space. Or else buy a blower.

GO