Wednesday, February 22, 2006

diy masonry heater how to make it work


I shall now adress what i find the most difficult part: how to make it work clean and efficient. First: if you have or plan to have a masonry heater; go ahead and buy yourself a good contact thermometer. I personnally use a Testo 925 http://www.testo.com/ fit with a contact probe. I am using it in two ways. Firstly, during the first month or so i would regularly monitor the temperatures within the firebox ( i drilled a small hole in the door frame for the probe ). With that i was able to see the difference in temperatures whith changing air intake. That is a good way to learn how much air you need at which stage of the fire. We will come to this later. Secondly, i take t° readings on 2 points of the surface of the heater which i have determined. One at the front and one at the side. I take these readings every mornings at 8.00. I note them on a spreadsheet together with useful informations ( outside t°, how many fires, etc...). That is also important because at the end of the day it is the surface temperature which radiates into the rooms. I know it all seems very silly but i can assure you that unless you have some sort of special bonds with the gods of fire, this is the only way to learn about your masonry heater and also about clean combustion. Next i shall deal with the fire itself and will try to share my modest experience.

Voyons à présent comment faire une bonne flambée, éfficiente et propre.Tout d'abord, si vous envisagez l'achat ou la construction d'un PDM courrez vous acheter un bon thermometre de contact. Moi j'ai un Testo 925, www.testo.com avec une sonde contact.Je l'emploie de 2 manières.

D'abord pour contrôler les températures de combustion a l'intérieur du foyer. Durant le premier mois j'ai très souvent mesuré les températures en fonction des réglages d'arrivée d'air. J'ai à cet effet foré un petit trou dans l'encadrement de la porte pour y passer la sonde du thermomètre. C'est un très bon systeme pour apprendre vite quelle quantité d'air vous avez besoin et à quel stade. Nous y reviendrons.

Ensuite je prends les températures de surface tous les matins sur 2 points précis. un se trouve sur la facade avant et l'autre est sur le côté. Je note tout cela sur une feuille exell ainsi que différents paramètres ( t° exterieure, qualite du bois etc.)Je sais que cela peut paraître enfantin mais je ne le crois pas car en fin de compte c'est bien la chaleur rayonnée qui nous intéresse et puis n'oubliez pas que nous sommes a la recherche de la combustion parfaite. La prochaine fois nous verrons la technique du feu avec un PDM.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Amato de Paulis said...

Congratulations for your masonry stove. The photos and description are very helpful, but I need some dimensions please ! Especially for the smoke channels and all. Could I possibly have a copy of the professor's drawings ? Thanks, Amato de Paulis. amadep1@gmail.com

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