[TheForge] Melted Flares & Refractory Liner

[Ed F]

Hi All,

I'm running the awesome robust reliable cheap burners Jay Hayes sells.
Problem is I keep melting the flares.  I replace them after 200 hours or so.
Yah, I think she gets hot enough, thank you.  But I think the flare
deterioration has a lot to do with the 1 1/2" castible refractory liner I
have (backed by 3" ceramic fiber).  I have about 1/4" clearance all around
the flare to the refractory.

Jay suggested I wrap the flares in ceramic fiber, extending 1/4" beyond the
flare end, to protect them from the heat of the castible refractory liner.
Not to take away from his advise at all, I'm curious what others are doing.
I haven't heard of others having this problem.  I know several people here
have a refractory liners inside the ceramic fiber insulation.

By the way, I'm sorry to sound so promotional about Jay's stuff, but I feel
sorry for people who read Ron Reil's site and don't find anything about what
Jay offers.  Everything Jay sells is cheap - supplies and parts made for us.
He does big time commercial work in the glass industry so he has all the
stuff we use and buys in quantity.  And his flares kick ass because they are
machined not pressed.  I tried the pressed ones, too.  His burners are
simple and like I said they get damn hot, and that's hot enough.  I was
heating 2 feet of (3) 1 1/4" square bars simultaneously on the last job with
no problem, and that was with obliterated flares.  Welding is no issue.

I don't make money promoting Jay's stuff, nor do I think he makes any money
selling it.  He's spent more time helping me than I can ever make up for
buying cheap supplies.

Here is a link to his site: http://home.earthlink.net/~xmas4lites/

The picture of him shown was taken a while ago.  At that time he was quite
good looking.  However, since then he has required a cranial enlargement
operation to accommodate his ever expanding brain.  OK I'm kidding but if
you
talk to him about combustion you'll know what I mean.  Jay is the real deal.
If you want to play with "magic" go elsewhere.  If you want practically
engineered stuff from a real blacksmith, talk to Jay!  He's the guy you
hated in school because he aced all the math exams and ran circles around
you in shop class.

Yours,

Ed