My Francesca internal insulator panels, which if memory serves me they called FireX or some such name, seems like a version of pressed vermiculite; very fragile and crumbly. I replaced the original panels after a few years. The new back panel cracked in half horizontal after a month or so. It still functions fine but looks broken, since it is. I am going to take the original set of panels, clean them up, and try coating them with a high temp ceramic coating called ITC-100 HT. It’s supposed to be stable to 5000 F. Supposed to reflect heat back to the oven. Reviewers say they cut down fuel cost significantly in their forge furnaces. I’m mainly looking to prolong the life of these flimsy panels but always open to experimenting to increase potential out of this small stove. Replacing the flimsy ash pan with a local made heavy stainless steel pan actually made a performance difference I suspect is due to the higher mass and it’s holding more heat inside the stove. Ditto for replacing the cheesy cast burn pot with a heavy SS aftermarket. Next I need to have my local shop fab a SS flame trap.
Last edited:
