Heat Shield Prototypes

Williams 728
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a more elegant solution than mine,I simply use an aluminum pie pan and shove it under the edge of my pots where I have the sight glass,thermo and ball valve.looks ghetto but it's effective.
 
Bobby i'd be more than happy to test one of these for you.:D Seriously though if I were buying my sight glass combo now I would also purchase one of these. Looks great.
 
It would be nice if you could make a heat shield for the sight glass on Blichmann kettles. The issue with these is the squared shape of the sight-glass housing. I'd imagine it would require a different type of clip to hold it in place.
 
Stainless doesn't transfer heat as well as aluminum, but I'd imagine it costs more, so there's that factor.
 
Seven said:
It would be nice if you could make a heat shield for the sight glass on Blichmann kettles. The issue with these is the squared shape of the sight-glass housing. I'd imagine it would require a different type of clip to hold it in place.
Click to expand...

Since I'm far too cheap to ever buy a boilermaker, can someone tell me the square base's width and depth?
 
Great idea! I'd vote for the stainless version.

Another product idea along these lines, a splash cover for march/chugger pumps would come in handy. I just spend a few hours making 3 out of plywood, a bigger version of the heat shield would be lighter (and look better) than what i hacked out.
 
Bobby_M said:
Since I'm far too cheap to ever buy a boilermaker, can someone tell me the square base's width and depth?
Click to expand...

You could just make one that will attach to a 3 piece SS ball valve and have it extend about 5" to the left (facing the valve from the outside). On my 10 gallon BoilerMaker kettle, the sight tube starts about 5/8" lower than the ball valve underside (just under 1.5" from ground level on the sight tube, about 2.07" to the lowest part of the valve housing/assembly). You could put a small piece of metal to keep the spacing under the sight tube housing.

I'm planning on gluing some carbon fiber welders blanket (1800F tolerant) to the top side of the heat shield that came with my BoilerMaker kettle. You might want to do the same to the up side of your item. I'll be using glue that's good up to 2300F to do this. All from McMaster-Carr. :D
 
Seven said:
It would be nice if you could make a heat shield for the sight glass on Blichmann kettles. The issue with these is the squared shape of the sight-glass housing. I'd imagine it would require a different type of clip to hold it in place.
Click to expand...

I second this, sort of.

I definitely want to see one for the Blingmann kettles, but it seems to me that it'd be better to just clip onto the 1/2" 3-piece ball valve, and just have it extend to under the sight glass, no? And as a result it should work for anybody with the 3-piece valves.
 
Golddiggie said:
You could just make one that will attach to a 3 piece SS ball valve and have it extend about 5" to the left (facing the valve from the outside). On my 10 gallon BoilerMaker kettle, the sight tube starts about 5/8" lower than the ball valve underside (just under 1.5" from ground level on the sight tube, about 2.07" to the lowest part of the valve housing/assembly). You could put a small piece of metal to keep the spacing under the sight tube housing.

I'm planning on gluing some carbon fiber welders blanket (1800F tolerant) to the top side of the heat shield that came with my BoilerMaker kettle. You might want to do the same to the up side of your item. I'll be using glue that's good up to 2300F to do this. All from McMaster-Carr. :D
Click to expand...

Hehe... great minds think alike?
 
emjay said:
I second this, sort of.

I definitely want to see one for the Blingmann kettles, but it seems to me that it'd be better to just clip onto the 1/2" 3-piece ball valve, and just have it extend to under the sight glass, no? And as a result it should work for anybody with the 3-piece valves.
Click to expand...

Yep, that works too. Either way would be infinitely better than my current heat shield; a rectangle of sheet metal that has already burned my leg twice because of the way I keep bumping into it.
 
emjay said:
Hehe... great minds think alike?
Click to expand...

Twisted ones too... :D

I have enough 'spare' blanket material (and still a full container of glue) that I could insulate more than a few heat shields.

If Bobby_M can come up with a design that works, that would be great. I would even volunteer to be a beta tester of it. :D

I would also go with a good grade of steel for the shield. IMO, it doesn't need to be stainless. If you went with a high heat tolerant carbon/tool steel that could work out. Unless you want to have it so that it won't rust at all (from occasional contact with water/wort) in which case you'll need a stainless alloy to match. It comes down to the cost per unit. If the cost is low enough for non-stainless steel, then [IMO] people wouldn't mind replacing them every few years (or 100-150 batches, depending on testing).
 
The cost should be pretty reasonable. Banging them together is a pain at the moment but once I'm happy with where the clip mounts and exactly how big the plate is, I'll get rocking on a couple hundred.

The stainless plate is only about a dollar more than the aluminum so I doubt that would be too prohibitive for most people.

I'm also playing around with how it would mount to a 3piece valve because I know a lot of people burn their hand on the bubbling vinyl wraps.
 
You thinking about making one to work with Blichmann kettles? If you go with two pieces, then it wouldn't matter what size kettle they had, since it would connect directly to the ball valve housing and/or the sight tube bottom housing. Only issue I see with the sight tube housing, is how you'll get it to stay. Unless you make it to hold to the flat sides with tension that is.

What [metal] are you using for the part that grabs the hardware? Are you riveting the parts together or spot welding it?

Even with the stainless heat shield under my kettle, the ball valve vinyl gets hot enough to slide all over the place. It doesn't bubble, but it's still hot. I've gotten to the point where I use either an ove-glove or pot holder to grab it either during flame-on, or at the start of the cooling process. Hence my thoughts on putting the welding blanket piece on the upper side of the plate. It should add a thermal barrier layer to the piece.
 
DeNomad said:
Love the idea! I'd vote aluminum to keep it cheap.
Click to expand...

One dollar isn't a large enough price difference to offset the improved thermal barrier properties of stainless steel (over aluminum)... Aluminum will transmit more of the heat through to the hardware above, plus kettle bottom. Neither of which are desired.
 
Most of the price is going to be in labor so I'd call the difference between alum and SS negligible. The prototypes are using rivets but I might spot weld in production.

The clips I'm using may in fact provide a grip on the block of metal on the blichmann but I'm far more focused on getting a model out for my own line of sightglasses.
 
How big are your guys burners to need something like this? I boil on a bayou classic and a keggle and never had an issue. I'll be getting a hurricane burned for Xmas, will it be big enough to start worrying?
 
phoenixs4r said:
How big are your guys burners to need something like this? I boil on a bayou classic and a keggle and never had an issue. I'll be getting a hurricane burned for Xmas, will it be big enough to start worrying?
Click to expand...

On my Blichmann burner, it's not as much of an issue as it was on the KAB4 burner, with my 10 gallon BoilerMaker kettle. Or even my 8 gallon aluminum kettle (that I made).
 
I'll vote for the Stainless since the cost difference is so minor. I'd also imagine that a rivet 'might' start to get loose over time, so spot welding might be the answer for production as you said. Yet again, another great product!
 
Great idea! I would vote for the stainless version since it's a heat shield and it doesn't conduct heat as well as aluminum. I never use rivets much, but I too think that they may loosen over time with the thermal cycling - maybe a spot weld would be more appropriate.

I suppose the main question is: How effective is it? Did you have a way of measuring temperatures with & without? Maybe a slightly larger size is in order for people using bigger burners? Does the clip remain tight after it's heated and things expand a bit?

I don't mean to be critical - just some thoughts, as you were asking for feedback...
 
These are all questions that will be answered after several live test cycles. I know the concept is effective. I tested the previous design, the one shown here (skip to 12 minute mark):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5p-JYSLXRA&t=12m27s]Overheating Sightglass? Heatshield is the solution. - YouTube[/ame]

It dropped the fitting temp by up to 100F. Of course this depends a lot on how aggressive your burner is, how high you run it, what diameter your pot is, and probably 10 other variables I didn't think of.

The joint between the clip and plate isn't really being stressed much but I understand the feedback on the rivets. If I go with stainless plate, and there's a really good chance I will, spot welds are practical.
 
phoenixs4r said:
How big are your guys burners to need something like this? I boil on a bayou classic and a keggle and never had an issue. I'll be getting a hurricane burned for Xmas, will it be big enough to start worrying?
Click to expand...

It seems there are a lot of factors that affect the need for a shield. Even if you have a huge burner, you may operate it in a way that doesn't have a lot of heat wash. Some people really run their burners balls out even though it wastes fuel.
 
I'll throw a vote to Stainless for all the reasons already stated and being a keggle man with stainless fittings I would just like to keep it all ferrous.
 
hmmmm . . . interesting idea.
So, when will my royalty checks start arriving.




j/k
Hope it works out for you!
:D
 
You have a good idea. I made something similar for my rig. It has saved my fittings. It came down to the poor design on my burners. I get a lot of heat wash that is directed straight at my fittings and dial. I made mine out of aluminum coil stock. Not as nice as yours, but it makes a huge difference. I'm sure you will move plenty of them, maybe even a few to me. :D
 
I'm definitely moving forward on this now that I've ordered more of those clips that I'll ever know what to do with. I'll probably have the smaller ones available first because by far I sell more WLSL and WLST240 kits. After I get those going, the larger plates will come for the larger kits and also for protecting ball valves/handles. I found that a certain clip will fit nicely one the 2 and 3 piece ball valves and the longer plate can be rotated sideways to keep the handle from being untouchable. Stay tuned for more progress.

PS: YES, I did find that AnoldUR seeded this project some 6 months ago and here I thought I was being so darn clever coming up with my own idea.
 
Has anything come of this Bobby? Very interested in one for a weldless sightglass/thermometer kit i bought from you.
 
Bobby,

Im also interested in one for a 3 pc valve.

On another note, what are those clips called? I have another hobby and think those kight come in handy.
 
Still working on it. I'd probably have something ready if the holiday order volume wasn't a factor. Note to self, develop new stuff in the off season in the future.

Right now I have a few people who actually have time to brew beta testing the prototypes. I'm also playing with assembly methods. While my DIY monkey brain wants a new spot welding machine in the garage, the payback would be like a year. I've been having some success with semi-tubular stainless rivets and my air hammer but the larger clips for the big fittings/valves don't leave enough clearance for tools so stainless blind rivets are probably going to be the choice.

The last bit of feet dragging, which may seem completely lame to many, is waiting for my BrewHardware.com metal stamp to arrive so I can finally do some product branding.

kincade - Mcmaster.com calls them tool holders. They come in many different materials and sizes. Attaching the larger plate to a 3-pc valve requires that the two bottom bolts are removed, the clip pops on, then the two bolts go back in. The much larger clip may have the grip required to go over those bolts but it would be a bit obnoxious.
 
Bobby_M said:
Still working on it. I'd probably have something ready if the holiday order volume wasn't a factor. Note to self, develop new stuff in the off season in the future.

Right now I have a few people who actually have time to brew beta testing the prototypes. I'm also playing with assembly methods. While my DIY monkey brain wants a new spot welding machine in the garage, the payback would be like a year. I've been having some success with semi-tubular stainless rivets and my air hammer but the larger clips for the big fittings/valves don't leave enough clearance for tools so stainless blind rivets are probably going to be the choice.

The last bit of feet dragging, which may seem completely lame to many, is waiting for my BrewHardware.com metal stamp to arrive so I can finally do some product branding.

kincade - Mcmaster.com calls them tool holders. They come in many different materials and sizes. Attaching the larger plate to a 3-pc valve requires that the two bottom bolts are removed, the clip pops on, then the two bolts go back in. The much larger clip may have the grip required to go over those bolts but it would be a bit obnoxious.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bobby! They look perfect to clip something to my handlebars... I knew they looked familiar.

Keep me in mind if you make any heat shields... Currently looking to build or buy 2 for a 3 pc valve. Sent you an email about another subject as well.
 
I spent some time this weekend building a bunch with the sample plates I had. I'm just about ready to start full production but I'm offering the prototypes for a 50% discount.

Brewhardware.com Heatshields

SMshield1.jpg


LGshield2.jpg


And not ready yet but:

BVshield.jpg
 
Do you think you would ever make one just to protect a weldless thermometer? ie a Brewmometer fitted into a Megapot? (my set-up)

Oh, and I could definitely see myself buying the one featured in the last picture above to protect my ball valves.
 

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