[TheForge] reducing fuel costs by improving forge efficiency.

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

if you look at ron reil's original 4 burner propane forge my forge is
nearly identical. i have two inches of kaowool lining with several coats
of itc-100 on the inner most layer. the only item in the forge not
coated with itc-100 is the kiln shelf at the bottom. the moveable back
wall is made of kaowool board and coated with itc-100.

not one to burn my bridges, i will experiement with building a new forge
with the design goal of pre-heating the combustion air. it may even be a
clamshell design so that i am able to work on more intricate pieces. 

i have more than enough kaowool and itc-100 to experiement with.
the new forge will have sidearm burners instead of the original reil
burner design. 

design drawings and a few pictures of the current forge may be found
here::

http://strauss.blauedonau.com/forge/

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:

peter> Terry:
peter> The Sandia forge design does that and it goes a long way on a tank of 
peter> gas. Good insulation and an IR reflector spray help a lot too.
peter> 

terry l. ridder wrote:
terrylr> 
terrylr> hello;
terrylr> 
terrylr> while i have not giving up on the idea of using coal instead of propane
terrylr> further research points to improving the forge and perhaps the crucible
terrylr> furnances efficiency in order to reduce propane cost.
terrylr>
terrylr> most methods to improve forge efficiency have been discussed before on
terrylr> theforge in the past.
terrylr>
terrylr> in looking at kiln designs and charcoal retort designs the most common
terrylr> method is to preheat the combustion air. 
terrylr>
terrylr> so for the near term i will experiement with pre-heating the combustion
terrylr> air used by the forge.
terrylr>

-- 
terry l. ridder ><>