ARCHIVES teardown at tulane

This color furnace was built 6 years ago as far as we know. The reason it was torn apart is that the floor of the furnace had sunken. Our theory was that glass had seeped through the seams and dissolved the soft brick beneath. This means there is no longer any insulation in the floor and there were many stones in the glass. This picture shows the remains of a patch job performed a year ago in an effort to stretch the life of the furnace.

After removing the layer of fiber insulation, we found that glass had seeped to the outer surface of the brick. If you don't find this, you probably shouldn't tear your furnace down. Even if you do find it, it doesn't mean you're doomed. You can go until glass pours out the side or until you see utility bills that would pay for a rebuild.

Guess What! We found that the liner brick had been installed directly on top of the soft brick. Had there been a layer of hard brick between these two layers, the furnace could probably have gone a few more years. Compare the thickness of the old soft brick with the new one at left. The glass had devoured all but a half inch of the soft brick layer. We found that the steel foundation had heated so much that it remained warped even after it cooled down. The tendency when building furnaces from smaller bricks is to avoid over insulating the liner. This way the glass rapidly becomes more viscous as it seeks its way to the outer wall.

Wet Dog's Furnace's use much larger slabs of AZS refactory for the glass contact surface. The fewer seams in the liner, the less chance the glass will have to eat away at the insulation. This in fact allows us to be more generous with insulation without the worry that the glass is seeping through the cracks. The result is a drastically more efficient and longer lasting furnace!