Sideways burning self loading stove (part 4)
Primary and secondary combustion air supply
So we used the magic hacksaw to make a few cuts in this old but thick walled pipe (scrap dug from Dave’s garden). Making four cuts at 22.5 degrees we can make up a 90 degree bend so that there is a less abrupt change in direction, and thus less turbulence and resistance for the incoming air.
After cleaning up the ends of the pipe, we are ready for welding. I think we achieved some pretty good welder settings for these welds, they were fairly flat and consistent, and I could tell from looking inside the pipe, had good penetration.
After tack welding, the technique we used was, fairly high voltage settings, and short runs of say 1.5 to 2cm, so that it didn’t overheat and burn through. As we haven’t done loads of pipe welding, and we don’t want these leaking air, we ground the weld a bit just to check it was sound – and it was pleasingly seamless, so all good on that front.
Apparently, the best combustion occurs with high velocity preheated air, not necessarily high volume. That way the fuel in the combustion chamber mixes up better with the igniting gasses. To this end, and also to distribute the air, we drill a bunch of holes in the pipes to act as air nozzles. The number of holes was worked out so that it was just slightly less than the carrying capacity of the pipe.
Once we are happy, we use a hole saw to drill some holes in the stove body to accept the pipes…
That’s it for now, in terms of the burn unit we are about ready to start putting insulation and a refractory coating in, so that fun coming next…
Tweet |
April 10th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Coming along very well, is that a new pillar dril I see?
April 11th, 2012 at 9:04 am
That’s the X3 mill. I think you have seen it in the flesh already – but maybe with the cover on. It is just begging to be converted to CNC… A future project.
October 11th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
hello a quick question what diamiter is your air feed pipe and how thick is the wall
October 13th, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Hi Jason. Am not there right now so can’t check. Off the top of my head I would say they are about 4mm wall thickness. There are three air feed pipes. Two of them taking air from outside (these are about 50mm) and one that come from inside which is about 40mm. Hope that helps, B.