Wintertising my tent Non-Theoretical discussion

[Moondog55]

I haven't had a chance to check physically yet but the bunnings website lists a 7kg bag which is quite small; potters ball clay locally in in 30 kilo batches otherwise 20kilo bags sold as additive for bricklayers

Still whatever I do it will work out; fitting the flue through the roof of the tent is now more problematic; I seem to have misplaced the specialty fireproof fabric although I know it is here somewhere

[stry]

If you buy a big bag of the proper fire clay, you could convert the stove into a tandoori oven

Probably wouldn't put out as much heat though

[Moondog55]

Well the renovations are almost finished so I'll be starting work on the tent soon enough.
We found the siliconised fibreglass and the Kevlar for the stove jack
The floor will get a cut-out sized for a standard pallet and the stove will sit on a half sized pallet base with a heat shield

[Moondog55]

Hey Stry did your friend mention whether to use Kaolinitic Fire-clay or Bentonitic?
Both available and both the same price although if it's bentonitic i could just steal some kitty litter and grind it down in the mortar

[Moondog55]

I just had a sort of brainwave after checking out the rocket stove site
I've been thinking about a heat exchanger for a while and i just picked up some LW steel channel used for plastering from the junk in the shed
I might cut them into 600mm lengths and wire them to the first and hottest section of the flue; as it's channel and not angle I may not need to use a second skin to encourage airflow

[stry]

Hey Stry did your friend mention whether to use Kaolinitic Fire-clay or Bentonitic?
Both available and both the same price although if it's bentonitic i could just steal some kitty litter and grind it down in the mortar

Ran into him yesterday or today. Might be able to get you an answer in the next day or so.

[stry]

I just had a sort of brainwave after checking out the rocket stove site
I've been thinking about a heat exchanger for a while and i just picked up some LW steel channel used for plastering from the junk in the shed
I might cut them into 600mm lengths and wire them to the first and hottest section of the flue; as it's channel and not angle I may not need to use a second skin to encourage airflow

Wont that simply interfere with the radiant heat coming off the flu ?

[Moondog55]

It will rob some of the heat yes, but it reduces the flue temperature where it exits the tent, it will still radiate heat tho and quite a bit of it

EDIT
It will be movable so if it does I'll be able to place it higher on the flue, I'll have quite a bit of height to play with there

[stry]

Hey Stry did your friend mention whether to use Kaolinitic Fire-clay or Bentonitic?
Both available and both the same price although if it's bentonitic i could just steal some kitty litter and grind it down in the mortar

Ran into him yesterday or today. Might be able to get you an answer in the next day or so.

Kaolinetic. Apparent a much higher temp rating than the other, and less plastic.

Depending on how much you need, he may be able to give me a bit. PM me with a quantity and I'll see what I can do.

I also have a good condition size M (roomy size M) Snowgum Polartec 300 jacket with a dud zip that may suit Cecile. If your sewing skills run to zip replacement, you are welcome to it, otherwise I'll put it in PIF.

[Moondog55]

Thanx Stry but I will source the cupful I need from my potter friend as soon as she gets a new supply in as that is what she uses sometimes
And really even a cupful may be generous
Put it in the PIF thread mate as we are both a Large +
Getting the flue sorted too
I hope you will be able to join us for a W/E this year

[stry]

Thanx Stry but I will source the cupful I need from my potter friend as soon as she gets a new supply in as that is what she uses sometimes
And really even a cupful may be generous
Put it in the PIF thread mate as we are both a Large +
Getting the flue sorted too
I hope you will be able to join us for a W/E this year

All good ! I'm cautiously optimistic about a W/E

[Moondog55]

I need some DIY input on a top-hat for the stove flue
First question Better a vertical end or a 45 degree end termination? I have a 45 angle here
Second question Any ideas on using old A10 cans for the top-hat? I can get a standard topper for $38- but those witches hat units do not cope with a horizontal wind and / or snowfall all that well

[Moondog55]

I put on my frugal hat and looked through all my "stuff" and came up with this
Should do the trick, aren't church keys marvelous tools in the right circumstances?
Not restrictive at all

[Moondog55]

Still haven't had a chance to test the stove and this end-cap
Even if it hasn't been a total fire ban day I have considered it too dangerous to light the stove or it has been pouring with rain and the sealant would have washed away before it had a chance to set.

[Moondog55]

Well it's cold and wet so I fired up the stove to set the sealant and check my El-Cheapo A-10 top-hat
Works a charm and even with only a single 900mm length of flue pipe the draw is quite good. Hard to tell from the photo but it is pouring with rain here and I just had to cover the top of the stove to stop water getting in through the pot hole
Angle is such that rain will not get in and down the flue and as we all know keeping the stove and the firewood dry is the main step in efficient wood heating
I've decided for safety reasons to bu a couple of new SS flue sections rather than risk zinc poisoning but I can buy them much closer to the departure date
At this stage I haven't decided between using self tapping screws or the more traditional bolt and wire to keep the flue securely assembled during the high winds I expect
Next part of the project will be the raised fireproof base so we have somewhere stable to dry out firewood

[Moondog55]

Now that I know the stove will work well I have to go back to the quick discussion from page one about stove placement.
While I agree that placing the stove in the middle of the main tent area would be the best from a heating POV it looks like it will be much easier to use the stove closer to a wall and exiting from one of the existing windows.
If you look at the pictures on page one of the really big tent you can see that there are 2 triangular mesh windows with covers
I can open the bottom one to let in fresh air for combustion and replace the mesh screen above it with something fire resistant and simply roll-up the outer cover when I need to use the stove
This means the flue can be well stabilised with a couple of poles outside
Took a while to get sorted on my head but it now becomes very simple to implement and I'm itching to now get my sewing machine back out and start work
Thoughts and comments?
Links to some very cheap welding blanket would be appreciated tho, just in case I need any

[Moondog55]

Welding blanket not needed, ALDI and a cheap [[$5-] fire-blanket will work fine or a small fixed aluminium plate bolted to the legs or both if needed

[Moondog55]

I have v
been spending a few hours when I should have been cleaning working on the stove and flue
I wanted to make absolutely sure I did not melt the LY polyester of the tent inner
Outer skin is 130mm SS and the heat exchange fins/channels are left-overs from doing the plaster ceiling in the new kitchen

[Moondog55]

The heat shield and exchange on the flue seems to work well enough
Next question is guy ropes. While for a week-end to a week I'm more than happy with the 3.75mm polyester I have in stock, that stuff isn't suitable for a long term exposure to cold and UV
How resistant to long term UV is Amsteel and is it worth the cost here?
Alternatively is there a relatively simple way to improve the UV resistance of the cord I already have that is cost effective against the Amsteel?
Really a breaking strength of 300+ kilos[ the polyester] is probably more than enough if using multiple guy lines but the 200 kilos of Zing-It is probably not
OR
Should I just take up enough spare cord to replace everything halfway though the season?
\EDIT
I was going to use that hollow tube stuff but it turns out it isn't very resistant to abrasion

[Moondog55]

I'll take some photos later today but I put the big tent up again so I could start work on the positioning of the wood stove.
I wish I could afford a new tent
Every time I put this thing up another wand section breaks and I am running out of spares damn it.
One of the good things about the "Pin & Ring" system is the ease of adding extra wands and I spent a good part of yesterday working on adding extra support for the extended vestibule area; important because the roof of this is relatively flat
The hardest part is the gradual cutting down of the last wand section to get the length right, I got one done yesterday and I'll see if I can add another today. Then it is just a matter of going around and adding reinforced tie-out points everywhere.
Then the taping all the wand sections for added strength as otherwise it won't survive the first big winds of winter

[Moondog55]

If I'm starting to blather let me know and I'll try and be more succinct


I added an extra wand and that worked out OK so this afternoon I tried adding a second and crossing them in the middle of the vestibule area
This hasn't work well at all as it has deformed the fly just enough to make closing the zippers difficult, not something you want it winter.
So tomorrow I'll remove the second and go back to an idea I had at the start; a wand or pole section along the centre line, to assist in supporting a load of snow until it can be removed
Stove fits where I thought it would but I will need to shorten the first section of flue by about 150mm to make more room,stove is a little [ OK A LOT] oversized for the tent but it is what I have

Working on an A frame to support the flue on the outside and that will use steel poles and possibly wire guys if I can find my small stash of Stainless wire
I just saw a great idea too for the stove jack [ American forum and the Yanks use a lot of hot tents in winter] using a pizza tray and a pie plate rather than siliconed cloth.
I don't think the cheap Chinese No-See-Um mesh is quite strong enough tho, looking at alternatives as the fire blanket fibreglass is a real PITA to sew on my machine, on another American forum there was a tent made by using several layers of LW nylon rip stop glued in layers using silicon and it's possible I can adapt that technique to LW cotton cloth.
It's a big [BIG ] tent; plenty of room in the tent for at least a half dozen people on chairs
I do suspect tho that the tent will only last until the first really big storm so I'll start work on the alternative soon, but all that really needs is new wands and some DWR and there is that other group shelter too; just in case

[Moondog55]

While the fly is still an issue I've got a handle on the stove jack for the inner
Old pizza tray works very well, only held by a single Brownbuilt bolt at the moment as I need to get some more roofing silicon to stop the fabric fraying.
Waiting on the double side tape from Simon to add some waterproofing to the mesh doors in the vestibule

[Moondog55]

While I am sometimes a little envious of those people who can afford to just go out and buy what they need there is a lot of personal satisfaction in making do and adapting stuff to other purposes and in extending the lifespan of a product and not simply buying new every year because stuff isn't made well even when the basic design is there.
Been a busy few days with the sewing machine, glue, tape, diluted silicon and bits of string
My family and my beloved think I'm insane but if so its a glorious madness

[Moondog55]

Tent is packed away now
So you will either have to visit or wait until I do the winter trip report to see photos of it in action
Far too much trouble to bring it to Mt Franklin as well as all the other stuff