WEEK 12 - Day 46 Dismantling Furnace to Pan 5

This is getting to look like an archaeological site. With most of the superstructure dismantled we can see the flues underneath the salt pan.

The first photograph is looking east from the Stove house end looking towards the furnace front, but from the interior. The collapsed brick flue walls have been cleared to show the flue walls where they are infilled with flue ash, sand and cinder deposits. This a deliberate part of the construction to reduce the amount of bricks used in the furnace.The were four firing positions, with two 'dead-draft' flues along the outer walls to prevent the salt crystals from burning on the bottom of the pan as the crystals were drawn to the side. At the end of the pan (bottom of picture) the flue arrangement changes as the flue gasses were ducted underneath a walkway between the end of the pan and the front wall of the Stove House. The flue chamber is the wider infilled channel, with an ash filled space between each flue.

This second picture of Pan 5 furnace is taken looking west from the front of the furnace looking towards the Stove House 5. There is a clearer space within the flue at the fire end. Pan 5 was originally fired with coal or coke and later altered to burn recycled oil.

WEEK 11 - Day 40 Preparing Pan 5 and Recording Stove 5 Flues

The two long 'I' beams were installed today along the north and south sides of the salt pan No.5. Each beam weighs one ton. Five lighter 'I' beams will be inserted underneath the pan and will be clamped to each of these lifting beams. The pan base is buckled through use and will have packing pieces inserted between the steels and the under surface so that the weight is carried evenly. Only when we are sure the pan can be carried safely will it be lifted. This might be later this week, or early next week, so keep logging on to see developments.

With the east gable dismantled and the brick wall removed from below it we can see how the stove area is constructed. Hot gases from below the salt pan are drawn along flues within the Stove House to dry the salt. The lower part of the flue is set within ash and cinders, lined with brick but due to the heat and fumes the bricks are very badly corroded and decayed. Many bricks have turned to powder, some are heavily impregnated with white salt crystals. The flues are carried above the ash and cinders with brick upstands to create 'ditches' between the flues. There has been a build up of salt within the ditches which is over 20 centimeters thick.
A bag wall slows the passage of gases as they pass from the the pan house into the flue system. There is a thick layer of fly ash throughout the whole structure.
Metal plates sit over the flues so that salt blocks can be placed directly over them. These metal plates have corroded heavily after twenty years in a now cold, damp unheated building covered in salt.

The inner surface of the flues have suffered the most and with e mortar having broken down many walls have simply collapsed into the ditches and flues.

Most of the dismantled timbers have now been assigned racking space within the timber store and are being graded for condition and re-use when the structure is rebuilt. Some pencil marks were seen when the trusses were dismantled, but today we found some carpenters marks cut into a beam which had been re-used as a supporting joist within the Loading Bay. There are carpenters marks in other re-used timbers in Stove House 3.

WEEK 10 - Day 39 Dismantling Brickwork

The east gable brick work is being taken down today. This supported the east gable timber framing which was removed earlier in the programme. This wall is three bricks thick, unlike the other three walls which are only two bricks thick. Also the mortar comprises a hard concrete mix, so it is taking longer to remove.
Another sunny day, after a cloudy start. Excellent for getting on with the work in hand.

The removal of the wall provides easier and safer access to work around the salt pan and to have easier access inside the remains of the stove house. The interior is really poor condition, mostly the depredation has been caused by vandalism by intruders over the years in which the site was abandoned.
Four scaffold towers are being constructed at the east end of the salt pan. These will hold the pan temporarily whilst it is shot blasted and painted.
During next week steel girders, delivered yesterday will be inserted under the pan and the whole structure will be lifted and turned through 90 degrees.
The remains of the furnace will be dismantled and recorded before the pan can be returned to its original location, but replaced at ground level.