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Thread: My crematorium

  1. #1
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    Default My crematorium

    I scrounged up some insulating firebricks, rigid board insulation and a bucket of mud for $50. inside dims are about 300w 380 deep and 340 high. the bricks are 75 wide and there is another 25mm of the rigid board around the outside. The roof is 75mm of the rigid board. I bought some Cera blanket for the door just need to assemble that. Just waiting for the element wire to show up. I have a fancy Novus controller so can do temp ramps and holds. Still have a way to go but it shouldn't be long after the element wire shows up.
    1593493464999.jpg 1593689480914.jpg 1594119111415.jpg

  2. #2
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    Hi Oldbuggermike, Mike,

    I must admit that yours is looking good. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

    I gave a new 240 volt 3Kw storage heater element away to a local chap to make a kiln !

    I never found out if he ever completed his project.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  3. #3
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    Baron
    Not sure a water heater element would stand up to 1,000+ degrees but it would have been interesting to see if it did.
    Weather today is crap so good time to make the door. Need to make a box for the controls as well.
    Wish it would stop raining.

  4. #4
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    Looks great!

    Where are you sourcing the element wire from - just ebay or similar?
    How many kW do you expect to need for that size enclosure?

    Steve

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by OxxAndBert View Post
    Looks great!

    Where are you sourcing the element wire from - just ebay or similar?
    How many kW do you expect to need for that size enclosure?

    Steve
    I tried to get the kanthal wire from a US company but they just ignored me so i got some from eBay $20. Its Chinese so maybe not last too well but its not that important, will keep an eye open for more as i only ordered enough to make one 2KW element. No idea how much power it will need and that's why the walls have enough grooves to put two 2KW elements in there, hopefully find out soon.

    Door just needs some hinges. The soft Cera blanket should seal to the walls, hopefully
    1594178337496.jpg

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldbuggermike View Post
    Baron
    Not sure a water heater element would stand up to 1,000+ degrees but it would have been interesting to see if it did.
    Weather today is crap so good time to make the door. Need to make a box for the controls as well.
    Wish it would stop raining.
    Hi Mike,

    It wasn't a water heater element ! It was a six or seven meter long spring like element that is laid in grooves between bricks. The night storage heaters had five layers of bricks with the element sandwiched between them.

    We still have one that has been giving good service for over 40 years. To be honest I wish I could buy another similar one. All the new ones are simply rubbish and use more than double the electricity because the insulation is very poor. They also have only a third of the heating capacity.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Mike,

    It wasn't a water heater element ! It was a six or seven meter long spring like element that is laid in grooves between bricks. The night storage heaters had five layers of bricks with the element sandwiched between them.

    We still have one that has been giving good service for over 40 years. To be honest I wish I could buy another similar one. All the new ones are simply rubbish and use more than double the electricity because the insulation is very poor. They also have only a third of the heating capacity.
    never seen a hot water system like that before. Storage? is it a form of central heating or stores hot water for general use? I was married to a Yorkshire girl but never saw anything like that in their house when i went there.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by oldbuggermike View Post
    never seen a hot water system like that before. Storage? is it a form of central heating or stores hot water for general use? I was married to a Yorkshire girl but never saw anything like that in their house when i went there.
    No water involved. It uses a wire coil running in grooves in fire brick, (or sometimes in cast iron bricks) just like your kiln will, and heats the layers of brick up and back in the day were known as Off Peak Heaters, because they were wired into an interrupted supply which only came on when the supply authority wanted customers to use the power while demand was low. So you got power for perhaps 10 -12 hours a day, which heated the bricks up, and the heat was released slowly because the brick pile was (usually) well insulated, making these heaters great as background heat during the winter months. More elaborate models had fans to pump the heat out quicker when it was needed, but of course when the storage was cold, you had to wait for the next off peak period for the brick pile to heat up again.

  9. #9
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    Thanks Rob,

    Yes the off peak electricity system here in the UK is called "Economy Seven". You get what used to be seven hours during the night of cheap electricity. Originally it only cost about 20% of the normal rate per unit (1Kwh). Today it is about two thirds, 75% of the cost of a unit. The electricity people are trying their best to phase it out in favour of so called smart metering, which is ultimately a cost increase. So for the past few years the cost of economy seven has slowly increased. Storage heaters are now very difficult to obtain.

    One of the advantages, apart from cheaper heating, is that the whole house runs from the economy seven electricity feed during that seven hours. So things like the washing machine used to have built in timers so they could be programmed to run during the cheaper electricity feed.

    My wife programs the oven to to do her baking and roasting during this period. We also heat all our hot water from it as well.

    As an aside, I've found out that if we have solar panels installed, which we don't, the so called feed in tariff is recovered by the electricity people as a higher standing charge for the metering equipment which they install as part of your installation.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  10. #10
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    Nice oven project Mike,

    Are you planning to use it for knife making or the like?

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by simonl View Post
    Nice oven project Mike,

    Are you planning to use it for knife making or the like?

    Simon
    It started out as a small heat treat oven but i was given a pile of bricks and it sort of grew to use the available resources. Its about twice the original intended volume but now its tall enough to put at least an A10 crucible and have plenty of room to keep feeding it. Very likely an A20 would fit as well but i can't see me pouring anything that needs 30KG of bronze.
    Everything is about finished just waiting for the Kanthal wire to get here.

  12. #12
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    Baron and ropetangler.
    Thanks for that, its nice to find out about unusual things

  13. #13
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    Thought i should post a couple more pix. Wire still not arrived so no progress really.
    1594197153083.jpg1594548110601.jpg

  14. #14
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    Hello Mike,

    Probably too late now, but oven elements are quite cheap and a couple of 3 Kw ones would heat that oven up admirably.

    In any case it looks very nice and should do a good job for you.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hello Mike,

    Probably too late now, but oven elements are quite cheap and a couple of 3 Kw ones would heat that oven up admirably.

    In any case it looks very nice and should do a good job for you.
    I want them to fit into the wall slots for protection so they need to be about 15mm outside finished diameter. I had a bit of a look and didn't find any elements i liked so not a problem to wind some, just the waiting is a pain but no rush.

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