john elder on thu 1 jun 06
We are re-building a cone 10 gas, soft brick car kiln. The walls are moving
and cracks forming in the bricks after one year of service. The kiln was
built with header courses of hard firebrick and then 5 stretcher courses of
soft brick and repeated. The kiln is tired in with a steel frame.
Question: Is the hard brick expanding more than the soft brick and in doing
so it is pulling the soft bricks apart??
Solution: Is it to have your header courses made of soft brick, ie. same
rate of expansion and contraction?
Any other ideas or comments are welcomed.
Thanks,
John Elder
armory arts center,
west palm beach, florida
We would like to get the courses tied in before hurricane
season........................you're right....
we are late!!
Vince Pitelka on thu 1 jun 06
> We are re-building a cone 10 gas, soft brick car kiln. The walls are
> moving
> and cracks forming in the bricks after one year of service. The kiln was
> built with header courses of hard firebrick and then 5 stretcher courses
> of
> soft brick and repeated. The kiln is tired in with a steel frame.
> Question: Is the hard brick expanding more than the soft brick and in
> doing
> so it is pulling the soft bricks apart??
> Solution: Is it to have your header courses made of soft brick, ie. same
> rate of expansion and contraction?
John -
I am curious as to why you did the header courses with hardbrick. I would
do that only in the high stress areas (firebox, flues, ports), and otherwise
I would use softbrick for the header courses, and I would do a header course
every fourth layer of brick. That has worked well for me in the many kilns.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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