Patching furnace refractory cracks with ceramic wool and Satanite

Discussion in 'Furnaces and their construction' started by Melterskelter, Aug 31, 2022.

  1. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    I recently assembled a segmental BluRam hot face and lid liner. There were inevitably some spaces between segments. In the past with my prior furnace I have crammed BluRam into the cervices and it has worked pretty well. This time I decided to try sopping some strips of ceramic wool in thin-mixed Satanite (about the consistency of buttermilk as Fishbonz likes to say) and then cramming the crevices. This seems to work better.

    My method is to first sop the 1/2" thick strip of wool in water as that allows the Satanite to wet out the wool much more easily and thoroughly. Then put the strip into the mixed Satanite and using my hands compressing and wringing the wool to encourage penetration by the Satanite. Once it is well saturated, I used my hands and sometimes also a aptula to press the soaked wool into a crack maybe 1/4" wide to as much as 5/16 and as little as 1/8" or less. I then painted on a bit more satanite. The wool seems to provide matrix to hold the Satanite in place until it heat sets when I fire the furnace. I used a weed burner immediately after application to dry and cook the Satanite until it went through its color changes and started to glow red. Then I fired the furnace as I normally would. The patches I have applied seem to be holding very well. The wool may be melting with the high heat of the iron melting furnace I am running on diesel. But, once the Satanite has fused, the wool may not be needed any more. Anyway, something to try. It is now my patching method of choice. I also used it to seal the junction of the hotface sides to the furnace floor. Worked great.

    Denis
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2022
    FishbonzWV likes this.
  2. Ironsides

    Ironsides Silver

    I do the same thing but I don't coat the wool until it is packed firmly in place and then cook the coating with a propane burner.
     

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