How to increase the efficiency of a potbelly stove without the help of a specialist and serious financial investments. Raise a wooden house What to do if the stove wobbles on the foundation

There are many doubts about exactly how to coat the brickwork - when it is cold or when it is warm. Where there are cracks, it is worth removing the clay and moistening it thoroughly, and compacting new clay there. The brick above the firebox is also a problem in this case. This stove in the photographs is three years old, and only recently has it begun to crack at the seams; unpleasant and dangerous gaps have appeared that something needs to be done about. Often such cracks appear as they shrink on a warm, slightly heated stove, and everything is cleaned down to clean brick. Then everything is generously moistened with a saline solution from a spray bottle, and also covered with a clay solution.

The stove sits on a concrete foundation slab; the efflorescence has been erased, but it appears again on its own regularly. The house where the stove is installed is intended for permanent residence; the collapsed brick burst in half, and one half collapsed.

If there are efflorescences, they can be washed off with a weak solution of vinegar and water - there will be a neutralization reaction. Next you need to wipe everything dry. Over time, such unpleasant moments as efflorescence will completely disappear. However, there is an opinion that such cracks do not cause concern - each furnace has its own thermal expansion, and it can never be avoided - hence the cracks. A broken brick is another matter; measures need to be taken here. In theory, it needs to be urgently changed, the mortar removed, the brick removed, and then another brick laid. In a place like this, this is not uncommon. You can install new brick inside, but the work is very dirty. It is also necessary to clean the stove and chimney pipe. Bricks falling out of the masonry cannot be ignored. With good draft, even large cracks in the stove should not smoke.

Expert opinion

It is worth cutting cracks only in a hot oven, when the brick has expanded as much as possible and has gained its expansion. First you should scrape out the seams as much as possible. Most often, 2-3 centimeters will be enough. The brick above the door most likely rested on an iron corner or a strip of iron, which is why it falls out, as the metal burns through and leads it out. Or it simply hung in the air, resting only above the door. It is best to rearrange such a knot by placing bricks above the door in a “lock”, otherwise there will be no point.

It is convenient to deepen the seams using a metal bracket; its ends are sharp. Next, deepen and well-moistened using a regular flower sprayer, compact the seams on a hot stove with a small hammer and a sliver of wood with an end to the thickness of the seam. The recess that appears should be sealed with a very thick clay mortar. Usually, after such techniques, cracks no longer appear.

Recipe for the correct mortar for laying a stove

It is worth monitoring the quality of the mortar for masonry and compaction (sand, clay) using the “trowel” method. First, the clay and water are mixed to form liquid sour cream, then it should be carefully poured into already sifted and clean sand - everything is mixed very diligently with a construction mixer. You should check the fat content of the solution using a trowel; you should put it in a bucket, catching the solution with it. When you turn the trowel over, the solution should fall off it, leaving sticky pieces and traces of its sliding on it. If the solution is too thin, it flies off the trowel, leaving no traces at all. A solution that is too greasy will stick, envelop, and will not fall off. The solution should be plastic - not liquid, and not thick - in moderation. The main thing, when expanding the seams, is to first wet them with hot water on a slightly melted stove.

If the fallen bricks/bricks are simply strengthened and not replaced, then the result will not be good. It’s better to re-cover everything right away, you can also add a door and a brick wall with lining, lay a stainless sheet of metal so that this brick then heats up less. It is most often the hottest in the entire oven. It will be easy to reposition by cutting out the bricks. In this case, the brick is difficult to get out, since it rests against the door. It's still worth disassembling the stove from above.

Salt is often used in stove mortar, but it is better to use it only when laying in winter, as a necessary measure, and also to increase the heat resistance of the mortar. Using salt in the summer will not give any positive results, and it is true that salt will then become more intense. There is already enough salt in the clay from which the brick is made, so it comes out of it, along with moisture.

Potbelly stoves are often chosen to heat houses. They have several advantages over other types of furnaces, but it happens that when using them there is a need to increase power. You can increase the efficiency of a potbelly stove by taking several simple and economical measures.

The draft force of a chimney can be affected by many reasons. Among them are the influence of the temperature of the exhaust gas, the correct shape and size of the chimney, the cleanliness of the inside of the pipe, as well as the deflector.

How to increase draft in a potbelly stove using a chimney

The design of a high-efficiency potbelly stove chimney should have the following features:

The chimney should be made high enough. So, the optimal distance from the furnace itself to the top of the pipe is about 5-6 m.
There should be no horizontal or inclined sections of less than 45 degrees in the pipe shape, or their number should be kept to a minimum.

When establishing the cross-section of the chimney, you need to choose the optimal size. If at the time of establishing the efficiency of the potbelly stove there is already a too narrow chimney, you can put a deflector on top, which will protect the structure from precipitation and increase draft.
The height of the pipe should also be affected by the level of the ridge. If the chimney is lower than it, you need to extend the pipe.

The history of the invention of the potbelly stove dates back to the 18th century. A potbelly stove has been and remains a cheaper alternative to expensive fireplaces and stoves. The device became most popular during the October Revolution, when heating rooms became quite difficult. Thus, the potbelly stove began to actively spread and gain popularity among the population.

Tip: The draft force in the stove is determined by the color of the flame: if there is not enough air, it is red with dark stripes, if there is too much air, it is bright white, and the chimney often makes a hum. If the color of the flame is golden-orange, then the potbelly stove’s draft is normal.

How to increase the efficiency of a potbelly stove by working with the design

Sometimes the draft force is influenced not by the shape of the chimney, but by the influence of operating conditions:

You should periodically check the stove for cracks, especially around the perimeter of the firebox door and stove. If cracks are present, slabs and covers are replaced and the cracks are sealed.
Usually the question of how to increase the heat transfer of a potbelly stove is asked after some time of use. This is due to the fact that soot gradually accumulates on the pipe walls, which reduces the clearance and makes the draft lower.

It is also worth removing soot from other parts of the furnace periodically. So, when cleaning the chimney, some of it falls into the channels of the potbelly stove. They are removed through existing cleaning doors or through holes made.

Increasing the efficiency of a potbelly stove with your own hands

Since it is not always possible to improve the heat transfer of a potbelly stove only by cleaning the pipe, a more labor-intensive, but still quite simple method was developed.

Before increasing the efficiency of a potbelly stove, you need to prepare:

About 30 red heat-resistant bricks.
Frame made of steel angle.

The frame installed on the stove stove will act as a heat shield. Not only will it retain heat for a longer time, but it will also reduce the stress on the pipe and extend its service life.

Important: It is worth leaving about 250-300 mm between the brickwork and the slab, which will allow you to easily use the latter for its intended purpose.

Since it is necessary to improve the potbelly stove correctly, it is worth taking the following steps of forming a heat shield responsibly:

Two frames are welded from the corner, the lower one is placed so that the edge captures the slab.
From the outside, four more corners are added to the frame.
The next frame, corresponding in size to the bottom one, is welded at the height of one row of bricks.
The frame is installed on the stove, and a chimney pipe is added to it.
Brick laying begins with clay mortar. The first row is placed flat along the frame, the next row is placed edgewise, then flat again, then two more rows edgewise.

A steel strip is attached to the last row on all sides, which will act as a retainer.
The gap between the bricks and pipes is filled with mortar or asbestos cord.

For many cities, heating is the most important part of life support, and in private homes it is most often formed using stoves. One of the most popular types is a potbelly stove with a water circuit, which includes radiator batteries in its design, allowing it to heat the entire house. Many people may not be able to afford the purchase of such a design, but you can create water heating from a potbelly stove with your own hands.

After all procedures, the oven is left for a couple of days to dry. After this, you need to heat the oven several times for 15 minutes. Then such a semi-homemade potbelly stove with high efficiency will immediately show its effectiveness and will last for a long time.

How to improve draft in a potbelly stove using fuel

Only an oven that is not filled to the brim can ensure sufficient air circulation. Determining the sufficient amount of fuel can be done as follows:

Prepare a standard size bucket and put fuel in it.
Place a small portion in the firebox and light it.
Continue adding fuel until the beginning of the hog - a horizontal chimney for removing gases - takes on a cherry tint. This volume will be minimal.
Add fuel and watch the far part of the hog - 1/5 of it should remain dark. This figure will be the maximum.

Video: instructions for increasing the efficiency of a potbelly stove

Thus, with fairly simple actions that do not require costs, you can increase the efficiency of the potbelly stove and extend the service life of its individual parts.

Currently, residential buildings are built from a wide variety of materials. Each of them has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Most often, small country houses are built on stilts. Moreover, in some cases, in order to repair a house, as well as replace some of its components, it is necessary to raise the structure. For these purposes, you can use the most ordinary jack.

A pertinent question is: how to lift a house with a jack? Often wooden houses are a log house, which is made from a wide variety of wood species. Raising a log house with a jack is not that difficult.

The most important thing is to follow the instructions below, which will tell you in detail about this process.

The process of raising a house

Scheme of raising a house using two jacks: 1 – a rail with a mark of the lifting height; 2 – foundation (jacks are not indicated).

Let's say a person has a log house, or a wooden house, which needs to be raised to a certain height. It is ideal to use a jack in this situation. By the way, using this method you can raise not only a wooden house, but also one made of any other material. The technology will be practically no different for other types of buildings.

It is worth remembering that in order to raise the log house to the required height, it is necessary to use only cargo jacks that can withstand a sufficiently large weight. They are easy to use. In addition, such equipment is quite capable of supporting a house of almost any weight.

Don’t forget that the house needs to be raised at the corners of one side.

The use of four jacks is unacceptable, since in this case the house may shift along any axis. The process itself has some nuances that must be taken into account when raising a log house.

Raise only two jacks at a time, which are located on opposite sides of the house.

These include:

You will first have to hammer in two slats in each corner of the building. Then it is necessary to note the exact height to which the log house will rise. Next, you definitely need to prepare a place for the jacks; it is best to use a rigid support that is installed on the ground;
Only after this can you slowly begin to raise the house. In this case, this must be done simultaneously and evenly on both sides. Only after the log house has been lifted on one side can we proceed to work related to lifting on the other side. This is how the house is raised to the required height.

Often the process of raising a house is necessary if we are talking about a pile or columnar foundation. Piles have one very unpleasant property: they break very often. They just need to be replaced from time to time.

In this regard, it is necessary to raise the house to a certain height. The easiest way in this case is to use jacks. Raising the foundation is often necessary when repairing it using screw piles. It's worth talking about this process in more detail.

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Foundation repair using screw piles

The piles are connected to each other by channels and form a kind of lattice. Afterwards the house can be lowered onto the resulting grid.

It is this method of maintaining the foundation in normal condition that has gained the highest popularity. This is not strange, because it is quite simple and not expensive. At the same time, its efficiency is at its best.

During construction, some people forget that the foundation is the most important part of the house. As a result, during operation, various cracks, chips, and so on appear on it. This is a sure sign that the foundation needs repairs.

It is in this case that you will need to raise the foundation using jacks. In recent years, some residents of our country have begun to prefer a foundation on screw piles to an ordinary one. This is due to its many advantages over ordinary concrete.

The technology for replacing the foundation with screw piles is quite simple. Moreover, it will seem simple to those people who are reading this article, because it has already described how it is necessary to raise a house with the help of jacks. In this case, this process is the main one. So, the installation technology is as follows:

Based on the characteristics of the soil on which the piles will be installed, their exact number is calculated. This is a very important matter, because the integrity of the future structure will directly depend on it;
it's worth raising the house. This is done according to the principle described above. Then you need to mark the perimeter on the territory of which all the piles will be located. It is very important to calculate the location of each of them. Piles should be installed at the corners of the building, as well as along the perimeter of load-bearing walls;
Next you need to start screwing in all the piles in turn. This can be done manually, but you can use special equipment;
All piles are connected to each other by channels. They should form some kind of lattice. This will increase the rigidity of the structure;
only after this the house can be lowered onto the resulting lattice.

Now we can state the fact that the renovation of the foundation has been completed and it will delight its owners for many years.

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If the house is raised using jacks, insurance must be provided.
If the clearance increases by 15 cm when lifting, then a special duralumin gasket is placed under it.
In the place where you plan to install jacks, it is necessary to check the quality of the wood. It must be at its best. Otherwise, there is a very high probability that the building will not hold up. This can lead to harmful consequences.
Sometimes you have to use narrow jacks. In this case, an additional bracket must be installed at the installation site. It will increase the installation area. This will ensure that the house does not move under its own weight, and the jack will remain in place during all the work.
If the house has a brick stove, then when lifting it, you must pay attention to the junction of the pipe and the roof.

Sometimes a situation arises when a house needs to be lifted without fail, but the necessary jacks are simply not at hand. This is where you should think about purchasing them. Although it is currently difficult to obtain sufficiently powerful options, you can always find a way out of the situation.

For example, many turn to the nearest depot. There are probably jacks in stock there. Many employees of such enterprises will gladly accommodate the homeowner.

Houses built from wood are very popular. However, after several decades of operation, these structures have to undergo major repairs. It consists of replacing the lower rows of rotten logs or raising and strengthening the foundation. In order to carry out such repairs, the building must be raised.

What structures can be lifted

For major repairs, only one-story buildings of the following types are raised: made of wooden beams; from rounded and other logs; panel wooden houses.

Facilities from timber or hardwood For example, larch and oak last quite a long time. There are still pre-revolutionary houses that are over 100 years old and have retained their almost original appearance.

Modern wooden buildings are not so durable. The reason for this is the quality of the timber, which became especially susceptible to various diseases after the beginning of the “atomic era” and the ongoing testing of nuclear bombs.

In this regard, timber structures are required every 15 - 20 years scrutinize to identify signs of rot and the appearance of fungus, the lower crowns of wooden houses are especially often affected by this.

Signs of Problems

There are several such signs and they can be seen almost with the naked eye. Namely: partial or complete violation of the foundation of the house; deepening the foundation into the ground; subsidence of the building in one of the corners; large distortion of windows and doors, as well as the tilt of the building.

After inspection and identification of many additional works, a decision is made to raise the house. Simultaneously create a plan, through which they purchase the necessary building materials and tools. In addition, the following activities are planned for major repairs:

replacement of rotten building crowns;
preventing further subsidence;
alignment of the distortion of the entire box around the perimeter;
treating wood with chemicals to prevent rotting;
complete or partial replacement of the foundation.

Such great work carried out within 1 - 2 weeks, involve the entire family and several invited specialists.

Preparing to lift the building

Before lifting the house, it is necessary to carry out actions to ensure ease of lifting and further repairs. This is done to protect against sudden and unexpected destruction of the structure. The following must be done:

In many houses, the floor is built on joists that have their own columnar foundation. The walls of this building are connected to the floor only by baseboards, which will also have to be removed. In addition, the upper crowns on which the rafters are attached need to be well connected with reliable blocks 50 mm thick or bars so that the roof does not move apart. You also need to separate the veranda attached to the wall.

When everything is ready, select suitable jacks for wooden houses. For ordinary standard buildings with a total area of 60 to 100 sq. meters, hydraulic jacks with a lifting capacity of 5 - 10 tons are quite suitable. You need at least 2 of them. Drivers of heavy-duty trucks always have such lifts.

Cooking wooden pallets with a thickness of at least 50 -- 80 mm, on which jacks for lifting and steel plates under the heads of these devices will be installed. There should be a small depression in the center to prevent the jack from slipping.

Instructions for raising a house

In practice, lifting a house is carried out quite rarely, but if it is already done, then all the work that is possible during this event is done. This includes the replacement of rotten lower logs, treatment with chemical compounds against fungus, and complete repair of the foundation. At the same time, the building frame is leveled.

Logs prepared to replace rotten ones must be dry, free from bark beetles and treated with special solutions that protect against moisture. The bricks for the foundation are well-burnt and red in color. They are suitable for corners, can withstand loads of several tons and are not afraid of dampness. It is also necessary to prepare cement and sand for the solution.

All actions to lift the structure are done slowly and clearly taking precautions. It is best to start such an event in the morning.

To raise a house with your own hands, the step-by-step instructions say the following:

Start from the most sagging corner. At a distance of about a meter from it, they dig a hole in the ground to install a jack with flooring. The soil should be firm and dry.
The lift is brought under the lower log, and if it is intact and strong, a prepared steel plate is placed under the head of the device. If the log is rotten, then cut a recess for the jack pin to a stronger surface.
Proceed directly to raising the angle. They do it carefully. The lifting height should not exceed 5 - 6 cm at a time. At the same time, prepared supports and stands are wedged in to lighten the load on the lift.
The structure is carefully inspected to identify unforeseen complications.
If there are two jacks, the second corner is prepared for lifting. They also dig a hole for a pallet on which to place the next lift. They bring it under the log, place a plate on the head and lift the house. Place prepared bars and dies under the lower crown.
Place the jack in the middle of the log. They do the same operations. Raise it a little, about 2 - 3 cm. Be sure to add stops.
Return to the first corner. Raise it, trying to level the frame, but no more than 6 - 7 cm. Be sure to insert supports from chocks or blocks. They try to make sure that the entire side is supported.
They inspect the building again.
Jacks are removed from the reinforced and raised corners and the other side is prepared for lifting. Perform similar actions.
Return to the first two corners and lift the house until the entire box is completely level. This is checked with a water level.
The building must be raised clockwise or counterclockwise until the entire structure is level.
Under the walls, reliable supports are placed under the lower crown along the entire perimeter of the building.

After the house is raised, it strengthened on all sides with supports. Then the repair work necessary for this object is carried out.

Unlike a large house, a bathhouse can be raised faster. This takes 1-2 days. In some cases, it can be raised within a few hours. The speed of work depends on experience. If you have no experience in how to lift a bathhouse using jacks, a video that can be easily found on the Internet can help with this.

One of the problems that residents of their own homes face during the cold winter is the need to increase the efficiency of home stove heating in order to provide some fuel savings while creating comfortable living conditions. What is the cause of this problem?

It occurs due to the peculiarities of fuel combustion in the furnace. In addition to the firebox, each stove always has a vent through which air flows to support the combustion process. To accumulate the heat released during fuel combustion, the stove has a shield with smoke channels. The brickwork of the shield has a certain heat capacity, which cannot be increased even with constant burning of the furnace. At the same time, the heated air of the room begins to flow through the blower into the firebox and, ultimately, flies out into the chimney. It is replaced by colder air from the environment, which again must be heated by radiant and convective exchange from the stove panel. Thus, it becomes clear that in order to increase the efficiency of stove heating, it is necessary to organize a channel for the flow of cold air from an unheated room into the vent. This is a fairly fruitful idea and it should be implemented taking into account the design features of the stove and the overall design of the house. One of the options, implemented with my own hands, is given below.

At the time, when choosing stove heating for my country house under construction, I settled on the option of a fireplace stove with a stove and oven, which I liked for its versatility. Since my plot of land was located on a drained swamp with a close groundwater level, I had to build a basement to prevent dampness in the house. Therefore, the house now has a heated level and unheated rooms in the basement. Therefore, to implement the idea of increasing the efficiency of the furnace, it is necessary to create an additional air channel from the basement for the blower

The creation of an additional air channel involves the following work:

formation of a side inlet channel into the furnace ashboard;
formation of an entrance channel into the basement of the plinth for intake of cold air;
assembly and fastening of the pipeline connecting two prepared channels.

I made the entrance channel to the ash pit in one of the side wall bricks using a hammer drill bit. The result of the work is shown in Fig. 1 . View of the entrance channel to the ash pit. I created a channel to the basement by drilling 6 holes in the floor with a pen. The result of the work is shown in Fig. 2 View of the channel to the basement. Finally, having assembled the necessary pipeline with a valve, I connected the two channels. The final view of the air intake channel is shown in Fig. 3 View of the formed channel.

Now, before lighting the stove, you need to open the valve of the additional air intake channel without opening the ash door and ignite the fuel. A view of the operating furnace is shown in Fig. 4 View of a burning stove, and in Fig. 5 View of the air channel of a heating stove.

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