End of Season Clean Out - Rear Liner Burn Thru Clayton

Lightning wrote:

franco b wrote:I would. Any moisture turning to steam could make the casting spall.

Do you think 450 degrees for a few hours would do the trick?

Look at the Rutland recommendation and then give a bit more on the safe side. I would prefer 200 degrees but only after maybe a weeks drying.

Unfortunately, Rutland's directions are a bit vague. They say after 24 hours, heat it slowly to bake off moisture

... So yeah

Lightning wrote:Unfortunately, Rutland's directions are a bit vague. They say after 24 hours, heat it slowly to bake off moisture

... So yeah

So give it 48 hours and then put it in the oven at 150 and after an hour turn up to 200 for another hour. Let cool and use it in stove with low fire.

Lightning wrote:

franco b wrote:I would. Any moisture turning to steam could make the casting spall.

Do you think 450 degrees for a few hours would do the trick?

Sweet job lightning, thanks for the instructive photog on the mold I'm now the proud owner of a vigilant 2310 that is going in my living room fireplace and it has 8" long, triangular shape bricks at the base of each side to direct the ash into the grates.


Maybe a slow cure in a gas grill would work.

Nice job, looks like it came from the factory that way. Looks better than the piece of metal that was back there. Matt

franco b wrote:So give it 48 hours and then put it in the oven at 150 and after an hour turn up to 200 for another hour. Let cool and use it in stove with low fire.

I like your idea.. That's just what I'll do

michaelanthony wrote:Sweet job lightning, thanks for the instructive photog on the mold I'm now the proud owner of a vigilant 2310 that is going in my living room fireplace and it has 8" long, triangular shape bricks at the base of each side to direct the ash into the grates. Maybe a slow cure in a gas grill would work.

Thanks man, I'll probably step up to the gas grill after a slow warm bake in the oven

DePippo79 wrote:Nice job, looks like it came from the factory that way. Looks better than the piece of metal that was back there. Matt

Hey Thanks Matt! My first attempt at casting. I was pleasantly surprised myself

Rear liner has been installed. I had to cut an inch off one of the bricks on each side due to the thickness of my custom casted liner. Cutting bricks is not a fun task haha. I did it outside with a circular saw.

I ended up baking the new liner in the oven. Started out at 225 for a few hours then upped it to 300 for about 8 hours. It gassed off quite a bit of water vapor.

Fire box is complete. Now just gotta hook the flue pipe up and I'll be ready to fire up!!

Lightning wrote:Rear liner has been installed. I had to cut an inch off one of the bricks on each side due to the thickness of my custom casted liner. Cutting bricks is not a fun task haha. I did it outside with a circular saw.

I ended up baking the new liner in the oven. Started out at 225 for a few hours then upped it to 300 for about 8 hours. It bled out quite of water vapor.

Fire box is complete. Now just gotta hook the flue pipe up and I'll be ready to fire up!!

Looking mighty good there. You should write the book on Clayton modifications for anthracite.

lsayre wrote:Looking mighty good there. You should write the book on Clayton modifications for anthracite.

Thanks Larry!! Been thinking that at least it might be a good idea to link all my mod threads into one post so people with these furnaces could easily access the blood, sweat and tears I've put into this thing, and loved every minute of it.....

Excellent job with liner, looks great.

Wiz wrote:Excellent job with liner, looks great.

Thanks Randy! Hopefully it holds up when I start the fire!

Well, Its about 4 months since my last post on this thread and about the same since I lit the fire with the new rear liner I made with refractory cement. I want to thank everyone again for being supportive and offering advice. I'm afraid I have some bad news. I noticed the liner had cracked down the middle a few weeks ago. No biggie. Then it developed more cracks. I recently got close to the bottom of it and noticed erosion just over the grate. It looks like the coal is rubbing against the refractory cement wearing it away when I shake down. Then yesterday at closer inspection again, It has begun to disintegrate at that location over the grate and I'm afraid the hot coal may be exposed to the fire box wall.

I ordered a new cast iron rear liner last night. I don't want to take any chances with damaging the fire box wall with burning coal up against it. I will likely do a complete shut down and clean out to do the surgery..

Sorry to hear that the liner is disintegrating.

But on the bright side, look at all the fun you had doing the mod. You've learned a lot from this, and other people have learned by following your thread.

Very disappointing. That casting should have held up as well as the fire brick.

Yep its a bummer... I enjoyed the attempt. I'll try again with a better cement or maybe I could just cut a paver to fit, if the cast iron liner fails again.

I didn't factor in the abrasion from the coal directly above the grates. I'll get some pictures when I do the replacement.