# Question about Drying Time for Furnace Cement



## Griz (Dec 8, 2007)

I used some furnace cement to seal the gaps between the plates of my wood burning stove.
Some of the old cement had deteriorated.

This particular cement came in a small plastic tub and is like black sticky pudding.

How long should I allow it to dry?

*The container says to allow a minimum of 4 hours.*
However, after 4 hours, I find that the cement is still soft.
Need I wait until it the cement is hard before I fire up the stove?
The last time I used this cement it took about 24 hours for it to be hard (perhaps the relatively low temperature in the house -- due to the stove being on hold -- had something to do with the long drying time?)

Thanks,
Griz


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## homefront (Dec 9, 2007)

Griz,

Right or wrong, I can only tell you what I did.
After the specified time (roughly), I lit my first break-in fire, at around 250 degrees. The next fire, 3 hrs later was 350, and the next 500. At 500 I heard sizzling, which turned out to be moisture boiling out of a thick spot in the cement. There have been no problems since, and I think some heat is needed to cure it out.


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