fire chamber viewing port material

archibald tuttle

Mounting a new oil burner on an old triple pass coal steam boiler.  I bored a hole in the mounting plate to use for viewing to get a sense of flame and performance in the chamber since there are obviously no nozzle specs for this application.



I'm looking for a clear heatproof sheet that I can buy or cut a 3x3 or 4x4 inch piece and then bore several holes to secure it to the plate.



I could just use a metal door as are on many previous gen boilers that slides to the side, but of course that changes the air dynamics in the chamber a bit and I thought if I could get some clear material then I'd have a constant visual monitor on flame quality



any other ideas, details for sealing or installing such a panel.



The base material for the plate is 1/2" steel.



Thanks,



Brian

Steamhead

Most of the ones I've seen

are some form of high-heat glass, such as Pyrex. These are inserted into a frame which is bolted onto the boiler. You might be able to salvage one from an old boiler that has been replaced.



Another way might be to weld a short piece of threaded 2-inch pipe to the door at the proper angle, and put a cap on it when not in use. This would at least let you see the flame pattern when it's open, and also let you check the over-fire draft. You'd then cap it for the final combustion testing. We find this setup frequently on older boilers.



What model boiler is it? What burner are you installing? Are you firing into a traditional chamber or thru the door?

bob_46

Window

Go to the housewares dept. of a hardware store and look at covered bowls made of pyrex. Use the cover, you could fasten it by fabricating a metal bezel and drilling and taping the 1/2" plate.

bob_46

Window

Go to the housewares dept. of a hardware store and look at covered bowls made of pyrex. Use the cover, you could fasten it by fabricating a metal bezel and drilling and taping the 1/2" plate.

Pidge

Quartz Glass

The local university glass shop, for the chemistry labs, recommended quartz glass for a project I had which required visually assessing carbon combustion in diesel particulate traps.  The glass shop sold me quartz plate glass about 3" diameter. 



I never had a problem with the quartz, even with combustion temperatures up around 1800°F.  In fact, a few run-aways got high enough to ruin my thermocouples & the particulate traps.  At those temperatures, the radiant energy emitted to the quartz had to be up there.



I have no experience with this outfit, but it looks like you can buy quartz plate here:

http://www.technicalglass.com/tech.htm



Although I don't know anything about the tradeoffs between pyrex and quartz,  I have a vague memory that pyrex tends to shatter if you try to cut it...



Bill Pidgeon

scrook_2

Vycor or quartz

Corning Vycor 96% silica  (vs. Corning Pyrex or other borosilicate) or quartz (100% silica). both are higher softening point & lower thermal expansion than borosilicate glass.



  

Pidge

Sapphire

This company is selling sapphire optics for extreme conditions like 1832°:



http://www.ien.com/product/sapphire-optics-withstand/155832



Bill

LarryC

Try Edmunds Scientific

Try Edmunds Scientific      www.edmundoptics.com/Borosilicate Windows

3" is approximately 75 mm.  Try P/N NT43-894