Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Empyre => Topic started by: mgw44 on March 09, 2013, 09:45:14 AM
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Anyone have any experience with cracking the brick in the secondary burn chamber of the Empyre Pro Series ( I have a 100). I was cleaning my flues and when I was cleaning the left hand vertical flues (from the back) I must have used too much force and the side firebrick broke. a piece about the size of a kids shoe came out of the secondary burn chamber.
How do I fix this? Do I need to fix this? I have a question into my distributor but I'd like second opinions. I am worried that without the brick I might damage the steel if I use the boiler.
mgw44
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Can you use firebrick mortar to glue it back together?
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It's two very thin pieces of brick. Unfortunately I'm not knowledgable about repairing these aside from the normal maintenance. I don't even know where to buy the right mortar. Will I damage the steel if I continue to use it?
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If you have a Menards near by, they sell it in caulk tubes.
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Thanks for the info. I'll see what I can do.
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I opened up the back cover two the secondary burn chamber and found plastic wrapped insulation. Does anyone know what is behind that? I don't want to tear apart too much and cause additional damage.
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I have no idea, that model was discontinued before I dealt with empyre...
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How often are you guys cleaning out the secondary burn chamber? It seems when its real cold like this im cleaning at least every two days. Its almost always got a bunch of coals in it but not very much ash. Didn't know if you guys just let the coals burn down to a fine powder then clean it out or keep the chamber free and clear for air flow? Im kinda a clean freak so that maybe why I clean it so often lol.
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I clean mine about every 2 weeks. Just fine ash down there. The nozzles are big enough for some small coals to fall through but they get burned up in gasification chamber.
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I clean mine out every two days or so. I can usually tell when it is having trouble getting up temp it is time to clean the secondary chamber. I usually have mostly fine ash. The large embers should be pretty well burned up.
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If yours is like the 100 that I used to own, the secondary burn chamber trough is all one piece. It's some sort of high temperature cast/molded fiberboard that protects the metal from the high temperatures of gasification. I believe they glue it in with high temperature mortar. I guess the only advise that I'd give you would be to reposition the bricks on the floor of the primary burn chamber to move the nozzle toward the front of your stove about the thickness of two bricks to keep the high temps away from the bare metal. It should be fairly easy to make a snug fitting "U" shaped heat shield out of 12 0r 14 gauge metal to go in it's place until you can get the new part. You should be able to install it from inside the primary burn chamber by pulling out the bricks on top of the affected area.
I cleaned mine out weekly, and even though it was only a year old, I sometimes got a bit too aggressive and chipped out a few small pieces when cleaning out that area.
They should have made that piece out of the same refractory material that the bricks are made from.
The heat shield on the inside of the primary burn chamber on the right side looks to be made of the same material and mine was half worn out after one year.
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I repaired it with mortar last Summer. I called Empyre technical support and they mentioned that the damage in the back of the boiler was fine as long as the tub could support the bricks. I tried pulling the tub out the top but it won't happen. It extends back behind the back of he primary burn chamber so it is not possible to pull it out from above. You have to remove the back panel from behind the secondary burn chamber. Which means (at least for me) that I have to cut out the supply and return water lines. It would be a nasty replacement. So thankfully the mortar worked for awhile. I see that it is falling apart again so I will mortar again this Spring and hope to make it another heating season.
I rake the secondary burn chamber a couple of times per week and clean the flues 1-2 times every two weeks. I clean it a lot less often now that I damaged the tub. I don't want to destroy the tub cleaning the vertical flues or raking the ash out the front door.
mgw44