Each bath has a stove for heating the room. The portal for the sauna stove is used for decoration and isolation. This structure favorably emphasizes the beauty of the firebox, closes poorly located structural elements, gives seriousness to the entire structure, protects nearby wooden elements from fire. Each person, thinking about arranging a bath, personally decides how to approach the arrangement of the frame. It is made of simple or designer materials and can withstand many hours of heating from a red-hot oven.
Description of the design of the sauna stove
The sauna stove is made of different materials - brick, heat-resistant alloy steel, cast iron elements. However, the designs are similar. A standard oven includes the following items:
- Firebox. This is the place where firewood or other heat carrier is burned. In brick structures, this place is made of refractory material. In steel - from heat-resistant alloy steel.
- Ash pan. Placed under the firebox, it is designed to remove loose ash and ash. The ash pan openness controls the air flow rate and the fuel combustion rate.
- The arch of the furnace is made in the form of a grate for open passage of the flame, or closed in metal models.
- Kamenka. Filling with stones, this element of the furnace is the main accumulator of heat due to the passage of a flame through it or intense heating from the roof of the furnace. The sauna stove gives off steam in the steam bath when watered. The higher the temperature of the stones, the lighter the steam.
- Boiler or other container for hot water. It is located directly above the firebox, stove, heated by a pipe with flame and smoke passing inside. Sometimes the boilers are taken outside the furnace, connected with pipes to a special heat exchanger.
- Chimney. This is a natural way for combustion products to be removed to the outside. It is a pipe, sometimes equipped with a draft regulator - a rotary slide damper, which does not allow heat to escape after heating. Even when the damper is fully closed, a gap of 15% of the pipe area remains in order to avoid poisoning by combustion products leaking through the gaps.
- Doors. This refractory element is required for fuel loading. It experiences high-temperature loads, therefore it is made of heat-resistant alloy steel, cast iron or heat-resistant glass.
The stove and the portal weigh a lot, so a solid foundation is laid out under the base. On heaving grounds, it should not be associated with the base of the house.
By design, furnaces are horizontal, vertical. In shape - barrel-shaped, cylindrical, square.
Types by manufacturing method
The portal for the oven in the bath is made depending on several parameters:
- room design;
- ability to work with material;
- owner preferences and value.
Mostly brick or metal is used. They are readily available.
When applied, you do not have to install massive heat-reflecting screens. These materials look beautiful and can be processed at home.
Made of metal
Metal products are used independently and to create a structure when attaching light materials - wood, drywall and the like.A number of advantages of decorative metal finishes:
- withstands high temperatures;
- fire resistance;
- easy to clean with detergents;
- forged inserts go well with brick and stone.
Stainless steel gate elements look interesting. It is recommended to decorate metal elements with any non-heat-consuming material.
Brick
The brick portal for the sauna stove will easily fit into the interior of the sauna room. For lovers of the classic style, the red brick option is suitable. It is thermally stable and tolerates high humidity. In some cases, the use of clinker material is recommended.
The main thing is that the structure of the material fits the interior. Most often they use finishing bricks with a smooth surface. The U-shaped finish serves for decades inside the bathhouse, in the recreation room, on the street.
If the construction of the portal is combined with the installation of a brick screen, the bath unit immediately falls into place. Brick is a versatile material for installation.
Materials for the portal design
The materials adjacent to the oven must be non-flammable. For the furnace portal in the bath, non-combustible materials are selected, or the combustible materials are separated by heat-reflecting screens. The following apply:
- brick;
- metal;
- a rock;
- glass;
- tile;
- wood;
- drywall.
In addition to brick and metal, gates using natural or artificial stone masonry are popular. Decorative stone makes a simple stove look like an exquisite fireplace. Several types of hard rock are used:
- elements farther from the door can be laid out of sedimentary materials - slate, marble, shell rock or foam blocks;
- cladding options with river pebbles, recessed into the solution, look great.
Stone products are heavy - they increase the load on the walls and supports, so the foundation must be massive.
When decorating wooden baths, wood portals are used, made of moisture-resistant plywood, parquet boards, chipboards. The tree is decorated with carvings, ornaments. Wood-based materials are attached to a metal base, which gives additional rigidity to the structure. Over time, the tree darkens and warps. To avoid this, material from dense rocks is used, or well-dried raw materials. Sometimes inserts of brick, stone, concrete are mounted, heat-reflecting screens are used.
The use of glued wood will reduce deformation. Darkening of the material is prevented by 2-3 layers of varnish.
Wooden boards, plywood and drywall are attached to the frame with self-tapping screws. The frame is made of metal or slats. Self-tapping screws are masked. It is easy to assemble a figured portal from these materials.
The use of ceramic tiles depends on the vision and taste of the wearer. The main advantage is easy surface cleaning, resistance to soot contamination.
Bath walls for safety
During combustion, the surface temperature of the furnace reaches 400 degrees or more. For safe operation, all flammable elements are removed far away. 20-25 cm is not enough. Wooden surfaces will catch fire when exposed to infrared radiation from a heated oven. This is actual in a steam room, where the temperature above 100 degrees constantly dries the wood.
The heat-insulating screen is made of bricks or basalt cardboard covered with galvanized coating. In some cases, talc chloride becomes an insulating material. It conducts heat well, so non-combustible materials are used as the basis for it.
Sauna heating rules
Bath heating tactics are constantly being improved taking into account the experience of generations. Rules for the preparation and heating of the premises:
- the room is put in order, the floors are washed, the leaves left over from the brooms are swept out;
- garbage is carefully swept out in the immediate vicinity of the stove;
- before the stove is flooded, the room is ventilated for about 30 minutes;
- with the help of a scoop, the ash chamber and grate bars are freed;
- the oven is inspected for damage;
- the open heater is rinsed;
- tanks are filled with water;
- traction is checked;
- with the help of kindling from natural materials, the stove is melted;
- firewood is thrown up as it burns out.
A heated stove is characterized by the instantaneous evaporation of the splashed water. At the first water supply, a layer of ash flies off, so it is better to turn away. Having finished heating the bath, they close the windows, ventilation, pour a ladle of warm water onto the stove and get ready for the bath procedures.
Fire safety standards
Lining walls require careful protection when located near a heating zone. Distances from ovens are considered safe:
- brick - at least 32 cm;
- metal - at least 1 m;
- lined iron - 0.7 m.
Such distances are only possible in large steam rooms. In private baths, compliance with these parameters is an unjustified luxury. Paired rooms in the places adjacent to the furnace are finished with protective screens or special materials.
The smallest fire-prevention distance, according to SNiP, from the stove to the combustible material of the wall is 0.38 m. The height of the non-combustible screen must not be lower than the upper edge of the stove.
However, it is better to add a dozen centimeters and not regret the omission. The distance on the sides of the remote fuel channel is increased to 0.5 m. Upwards, they are extended at least to the entire height of the wall.
The combustible and brick walls are not connected to each other, leaving a gap of 2-3 cm, which is filled with a non-combustible material - heat-resistant mineral wool or basalt cardboard. The joints between the wall are masked by decorative panels.
Heat-resistant drywall is also used for decorative finishing. Treatment with fire-resistant compounds increases the duration of resistance to an open flame up to 20-30 minutes. Therefore, when using it, it is also important to observe fire breaks.
When making a portal, bricks cannot be stacked right next to the firebox. A thermal break of 2.5-3 cm is required. The gap is filled with non-combustible basalt or stone wool. The use of binders is prohibited - already at a temperature of 600 degrees they collapse and spill out. It is dangerous to use glass wool - it can withstand temperatures up to 350 degrees, and then it melts.
Using a reflective screen protector will reduce the heating of the sauna walls. Some of the infrared radiation will be reflected back into the steam room. The metal screen is installed with a gap of 2-3 cm to the floor for ventilation. It is forbidden to install a brick screen close to the firebox - air exchange is disrupted, and the masonry becomes unusable.
In some cases, it is easier to buy a ready-made version of the portal than to do it yourself. Whatever material is chosen for the manufacture of the portal, it must be fireproof. The furnace portal in a brick bath is the most versatile.
