chimney lid project

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Yeah that's right, kenklingerman is FINALLY posting a projecttired of it raining down my chimney and I had the material and a new compressor and sandblaster to complete it!Not done yet, hopefully tomorrow The chimney that needs alot of work:first pic I finally tookmostly sandblasted, except the top and insidetomorrow I finish blasting (ran out of daylight) and build the top from scrap heating duct.HH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:I don't know anything about chimneys. Are you just covering the center pipe or are you making three covers? The cover looks too square to cover all three.
Reply:The other two are dummies that I'm going to remove when I re-do the masonry veneer. The center one is the actual chimney.HH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:That should keep Santa Claus out pretty good!Looks very good, how will it fasten to the chimney?"...My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun...""...God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy..."
Reply:Originally Posted by CrawfordThat should keep Santa Claus out pretty good!Looks very good, how will it fasten to the chimney?
Reply:haha. Same here.if you have a raccoon problem out there may wanna add some weight, strong little bastards they are, they did that to our chimney, found the cap laying in the neighbors yard about 9 months ago lol."...My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun...""...God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy..."
Reply:OK, continuing:bending the top:top complete:ready for sandblast (so the paint will stick to the galvanized):Done:installed:whew, finally.probably will replace those ugly mounting bolts with shorter black bolts sometime.HH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:Looks good Ken.  Do you think it's high enough to not affect the draft?MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55Looks good Ken.  Do you think it's high enough to not affect the draft?
Reply:Where I live, we have to have those -- it's called a spark arrestor.  Our code reads: "The net free area of the spark arrester shall be not less than four times the net free area of the outlet of the chimney. The spark arrester screen shall have heat and corrosion resistance equivalent to 12-gauge wire, 19-gauge galvanized wire, or 24-gauge stainless steel. Openings shall not permit the passage of spheres having a diameter larger than 1/2 inch and shall not block the passage of spheres having a diameter of less than 3/8 inch."  This means we use mesh with 5/8" gaps.  Mine has arms that reach down into the interior masonry to hold the thing in place.  The cap piece is removeable with a pair of stainless steel wing nuts.Nice work.Jack OlsenMy garage website
Reply:thanks jack, I never thought of the spark arrester, I guess I was thinking of it more as a squirrel arrester LOLHH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:Originally Posted by kenklingermanthanks jack, I never thought of the spark arrester, I guess I was thinking of it more as a squirrel arrester LOL
Reply:We should of had a squirrel arrester... You see the thing had a nest in our chimney, and on a cool fall day I decided to light a fire... well the poor things tail caught a light and well he started running... darn thing set fire to half our neighborhood before his tail went out... LOL Nice job
Reply:There is an effect that can take place in the winter when a cold front moves in. You get the college cap phenomena as I call it. We found it making an eight pack injector bonnet, for a race boat. The fellow building the boat owned a speed shop. He asked me to spin an aluminum bonnet, kind of like a giant salad bowl. And to make titanium stainless steel supports, from the intake manifold bolts, to the bonnet.When he ran the boat with the bonnet, he melted the spark plugs, he was way to lean. He checked everything in the boat. In the end he upped the injectors, and burnt the plugs again, but not as bad. He raised them in size, once or twice more till he finally got to where, they supplied enough fuel. He got massive amounts of horse power from this. What we did that you can easily show with a flow bench or flow meter is that we created a funnel or a velocity chute. Something like a tunnel ram. On a chimney or fireplace, that can cause, an amazing amount of pressure, and volume of air, to race down the chimney. I have actually witnessed an oil fired boiler do this during a cold front. It was amazing to see. The oil burner actually cools off very fast, because there is a very powerful, back draft occurring. The oil burner then fires and when it does, there is not enough heat and pressure to reverse the flow. So the oil burner fires into the house for almost a minute. But does not alert the flame sensor. At some point enough heat is created to reverse the flow. But since there is no call, to the burner, the burner only runs for about 3 minutes, till it comes to temperature. Not enough time to heat the chimney. And they cycle just occurs again and again. The area gets all covered in soot. And the house fills with carbon monoxide. Awesome to see. I would not have believed it if I did not see it myself. I would have suspected everything else first. But the chimney screen can cause this at some certain height off the flue. I know the eight pack was only an inch under the bonnet face. So the square inches of the pipe opening were about 7 inches, and the area around the pipe to the bonnet left a wedding band shaped area of about 9 1/2 inches. I did some flow bench testing, and it was wild how you could increase flow and decrease pressure with this effect. By just moving a plate closer and further away from the pipes opening. During a cold front it could blow hot ash into your living room or den. Easily. I saw it blow the flame of the oil fired boiler into a house.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:As regarding the height of the lid above the  flue, As an apprentice I was always taught that the amount of clearance a lid would need (on pipework) was H=D/4.  meaning Height = Diameter divided by 4,to give free flow. So I would think if you take an average of your square flue.measure across the corners and also across the flats add them together and divide by 2,then make the lid height a quarter of this average at least, Nice job Ken.  regards  Gordon.Lincoln SP-170 MigHypertherm powermax 45Lorch T220 AC/DC TigButters FM 215 synergic MigKemppi 180 adaptive mig RULES ARE FOR THE OBEDIENCE OF FOOLS AND THE  GUIDANCE OF WISE MEN.
Reply:Originally Posted by gordon stephensonAs regarding the height of the lid above the  flue, As an apprentice I was always taught that the amount of clearance a lid would need (on pipework) was H=D/4.  meaning Height = Diameter divided by 4,to give free flow. So I would think if you take an average of your square flue.measure across the corners and also across the flats add them together and divide by 2,then make the lid height a quarter of this average at least, Nice job Ken.  regards  Gordon.
Reply:Gordon, your calculation would decrease the opening of the pipe. That may be a valid solution to the velocity caused by the flat plate, and the problems it may cause. A flat plate over the end of the pipe actually reduces the pressure needed to blow air in and out of a round pipe. You will only believe this if you do it on a flow bench. Otherwise it will just seem like rocket science. You have to move the plate closer and then farther away, and watch the oil level. It will actually go down below the free flow of the pipe alone, at some point as the plate hits the sweet spot.        Sincerely,             William McCormick
Reply:WOW, just built a fire, wondering if I accidentally hit the "sweet spot". I mean this thing is roaring like I'm blowing it with a fan, never seen it do that!HH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:In the future, you dont have to sandblast the galvanized to paint it. All you have to do is wipe it down a couple of times with vinegar. the vinegar kills the galvanize coating and allows the paint to stick without hurting the smooth finish of the metal.
Reply:coool ken ,  i thought u were mostly a  CAD guy..........i use CAD SignLab for my graphix on my plotter sometimes , when i'm not laying it out by hand..........i wonder how much of a different beast it actually is to yours.....cool if u'd show some sometime.seeya pal.world.        thermal arc 252i  -  millermatic 350P -   miller XMT, cp300ts, 30a 22a feeders, buttload of other millers, handfull of lincolns, couple of esabs  -   Hypertherm 1250 G3
Reply:actually, working a full time job in cad made me nuts, staring at a computer drawing stuff for others to have a blast making sucks, could have come out of my skin, I need to keep my hands busy making stuff, I LOVE shop stuff and I', aligning myself to do metal art and hopefully custum fab for profit. I just today bought a plasma, I'm losing it I'm so happy. Not to be sick, but my wife always saidf paying over a grand for a machine to cut metal would happen over her dead body.....well, it was her choice. Like I said, no disrespect to her.HH187Hobart 500i plasma cutterClark 4.5" GrinderDewalt 14" chop saw30 gallom 1.6 hp compressor10 gallon pressure pot sand blasterlots of hand tools
Reply:Originally Posted by krazirbarIn the future, you dont have to sandblast the galvanized to paint it. All you have to do is wipe it down a couple of times with vinegar. the vinegar kills the galvanize coating and allows the paint to stick without hurting the smooth finish of the metal.
Reply:if i can get my cam working, i will take a couple of pics to post here of some galv that i have painted like this. the paint lasts longer on the metal that it does on the wood LOL