In detail: do-it-yourself solution for repairing a furnace from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.
weak or no draft, slow combustion of fuel, penetration of smoke into the room in the case of an open firebox door, as well as in the wind;
the appearance of dark spots on the outer surface of the smoke channel due to excessive moisture;
loosening and detaching the doors of the fuel combustion device and other furnace components;
rapid heat loss after completion of the combustion process;
weak or excessive heating of surfaces and their areas;
cracks in the masonry that cannot be repaired;
installation of stove appliances of inappropriate dimensions, various irregularities inside the smoke ducts.
The main thing is to start repairing the stove on time, without putting yourself and your loved ones at risk. Only a working device can guarantee both fire and sanitary safety. The nature and complexity of the work determine the scale of the repair, which can be current, medium or major.
Weak draft or its absence can arise, for example, due to the accumulation of a large amount of cold air in the chimney during a long break in the operation of the stove. However, there are other reasons: obstruction of the canal (clogged with soot), squally wind outside, there is no access to air, the flow of which could support combustion.
In this case, you need to light the fire not with paper, but with a dry substance, for example, a piece of rubber. In this case, fuel (kerosene, etc.) should not be used.
If more than a year has passed since the moment the soot was "burnt out" in the chimney, most likely it will be clogged. To eliminate this problem, you need to act as follows: first try to get rid of the soot by pouring a little coarse salt into the burning stove and immediately closing the shutter. Burning down, the layer of soot begins to crack strongly, pieces of it fly out of the chimney. If this method turns out to be ineffective, you will have to apply manual cleaning. There is a special door for this.
Video (click to play).
One of the signs that cracks have formed in the brickwork is the strong smoke from the stove. In this case, the seams must be sealed with a clay-sand mixture, adding salt and crushed asbestos fiber to the solution. The last ingredient is used for elasticity. In terms of consistency, the mixture should turn out to be not very viscous, but not liquid either: after drying, a too greasy solution will crack, and a thin one will not provide the required strength, which will lead to the destruction of the masonry. To save time, you can purchase a ready-made mixture in a specialized store. An instruction is attached to it, following which you can quickly and easily dilute the solution and perform all the necessary work.
Another problem is the need to replace the old, burnt-out brick with a new one. To do this, the surface must first be prepared: remove dust and clay, moisten, then put a clay cake there. A new one is put in place of the burned-out brick, after immersing it in water and applying the prepared mixture to it both from above and on the sides to fix the seams. It is necessary to use the same mortar as for filling the cracks.
Before proceeding with the sealing of the joints, they need to be prepared: remove the residual clay, rinse thoroughly with water using a brush, then prime with heat-resistant glue (a 50% solution is suitable). When grouting the joints, make sure that the repair mixture fills the joints to the end, leaving no voids. If too large a gap has formed in the masonry, in addition to the mixture, a ceramic cord must also be placed in it.Due to its physical properties, it not only withstands open fire, but also very high temperatures - over 1000 degrees.
Ceramic cord is often counterfeited, therefore, before purchasing it, you need to bring a lighted match or lighter to it in order to evaluate the heat resistance of the product. The cord is placed in the seams of the masonry along the perimeter of the cast-iron plate, using heat-resistant glue for fixing.
To protect the elements of the stove that do not need to be repaired, they must be covered with masking tape.
If it is necessary to replace the grates in the oven, an expansion joint with a thickness of 5 mm must be made between them and the brickwork.
If the firebox door falls out, it can be secured using steel wire. However, you first need to disassemble the brickwork around the sash.
Pre-furnace plates, as a rule, cannot be repaired: perforated and rusty elements are simply replaced with new ones. In this case, the old product is removed, the nails are removed, then a felt soaked in liquid clay is placed on the bottom, and a new sheet is placed and nailed on top.
If there is a need to replace the lining, the same brick is taken for the new brickwork that was used for the old one. The thermal expansion coefficient must remain the same.
In case of damage to the firebox lining or hearth, more serious work will be required. As noted earlier, it is necessary to maintain the same coefficient of thermal expansion, therefore, the homogeneity of the selected material, namely brick, is extremely important.
These types of work include the following: replacement or repair of faulty elements, as well as the return of the furnace once lost performance. Many people think that such a reconstruction can only be done by an experienced stove-maker. However, this opinion is erroneous: any home craftsman can do this kind of work.
If it is necessary to replace the lining, experts advise against touching the main masonry. The wall of the stove must be dismantled from the bottom of the ash pan to the height of the firebox, without affecting the ribs, then cleaned of rubble after disassembling the old lining and lay out a new one without fastening it to the masonry of the walls. The thickness of the seams should not exceed 2 mm.
The upcoming transition of the stove to another type of fuel is a serious task, and each stove-maker solves it in his own way. As an example - one of the methods. First you need to lay out the walls of the firebox using fire-resistant bricks. In this case, it is required to use a solution that can withstand high temperatures and open fire. The sides of the firebox must be equipped with small slopes so that at the moment of heating the coal falls down, closing the grate. In this case, it is important to use only high-quality bricks.
Repair of a sauna stove is carried out in the same way as the restoration of a conventional heater. The only difference is in preventive measures that need to be carried out more often. This is due to the higher temperature regime of the bath device. In this case, special attention should be paid to both the fire resistance of the brick and mortar. If the tile is broken, it is forbidden to use such a stove until it is replaced with a new one.
If an external examination of the rear wall of the structure does not reveal serious damage, then the device is suitable to become a frame for repair work.
When inspecting the oven, the following facts may come to light:
The device does not have an additional blower, the so-called summer, which enhances the furnace draft when it is fired up.
Changing the location of the blower: instead of the lower part of the firebox (under the door), it is placed on the side of the end of the furnace.
In addition, there may be no additional hood above the hob, and the heating of the room is less on the side where another wall is located. These errors also need to be corrected.
The second minus is the location of the view relative to the upward-going smoke channel. From an ergonomic point of view, this valve cannot be positioned horizontally all the time.This leads to the disruption of her work or, as the stove-makers aptly put it, to “the tears of the stove”. The fact is that in winter, especially during frosts, a lot of condensate accumulates in the equipment, which, mixing with soot, turns into a solution of carbonic acid of high concentration, which leads to the gradual destruction of the masonry.
So, thanks to an external examination, it was possible to identify problem areas that need to be worked on. After that, you can start repairing the brick oven with your own hands.