December 2009 Workshop Invitation

Dear Masonry Heater Professionals,

We are pleased to present you with a workshop that will provide an in depth exploration of the application of current “state of the art” masonry heater calculation software developed by the Austrian masonry heater organization Kachelofenverband. This software is potentially applicable to the design of most masonry heaters marketed today.

The workshop will take place in Connecticut from December 7th through December 11th under the sponsorship of the Alliance of Masonry Heater and Oven Professionals (AMHOP).

Overview

  • This unique workshop will include class presentations in theory, materials and techniques with an accompanying workbook.
  • The Kachelofenverband calculation software will be studied in depth using a trial version distributed to participants before the class begins. This computer program is a tool which aids in designing internal construction for optimal and predictable high efficiency and low emissions to a given design application. It also provides 3-D modeling of the smoke channel pathway.
  • The “hands on” portion of the workshop will involve honing construction component applications, including combustion air delivery systems such as specialized air inlet components and computer controlled air optimization systems.
  • Determination of draft and chimney specifications will be covered.
  • Sizing of fuel loads, firebox size, combustion air inlet, and heat exchange channels will be covered.
  • Participants will also be able to examine specialized firebrick and other refractory components which allow for different construction applications.

Scope

  • Participation will be limited to allow for intensive and individualized training.
  • Participants should already be involved in the masonry heater industry and masonry heater construction. This will be an advanced workshop; participants will therefore need to have some prior masonry heater experience as well as a desire to learn (please contact the presenter, Rod Zander, if you are uncertain here).

Logistics

  • The workshop fee will be $500. Discounts of 10% are available to multiple participants from individual businesses.
  • Participants must be AMHOP members.
  • New AMHOP members will receive a 10% discount on the workshop fee.
  • Participants will be responsible to obtain their own meals and housing; a list of local resources will be provided.
  • Participants will need to bring their laptop computers with the trial application software already installed. This software will be made available prior to the workshop.
  • Directions and other information will be provided upon application acceptance.

Presenter

Rod Zander of New England Hearth and Soapstone (NEHS) in Goshen, Connecticut, has been designing and installing masonry heaters for more than twenty years in locations around the globe. He has frequented masonry heater builder gatherings, factories, and quarries in Sweden, Finland, Germany and Austria as well as the North American venues to increasingly hone his masonry heater skills and to take NEHS into the realms of heater engineering, stonecutting, and advanced design and construction. He and his firm maintain membership in Austria’s Kachelofenverband as well as the North American masonry heater and hearth trade associations.

His journey into the world of kachelofen construction began with study under Austrian master Ernst Kiesling of Canadian Kachelofen in Nova Scotia. In studying with the Kacholefenverband in its training program, he was taught by Leopold Hallach, their training head. He has been guided in the use of their calculation software by the current Kachelofenverband executive director and his personal friend Dr. Thomas Schiffert, and his firm now represents the European refractory company Rath, importing their advanced line of masonry heater materials into North America. This makes it possible for the first time for North American heater masons to use both cutting edge European heater design methods and the materials for which they are designed to apply.

Rod has shared his expertise recently in masonry heater presentations at last year’s Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association (HPBA) Expo in Reno, in the AMHOP workshop he led which installed a seventeenth century kachelofen last August in Maryland, and in last December’s AMHOP excursion to Austria with its visits to the Kachelofenverband testing facility and participation in a kachelofen build in rural Austria with Richard Jussel, Austrian Kachelofen master builder.

Rod’s tireless contributions to the North American masonry heater industry have included serving as officer in both trade associations as well as chair of the ASTM Masonry Heater Task Group and participation in both the national and New England regional HPBA efforts. His advocacy of our masonry heater industry and the Austrian design methods in application to it make him uniquely qualified to conduct this workshop.

Why should you attend?

  • With the current “green” building enthusiasm, interest in masonry heater technology is at an all time high, with building professionals as well as prospective consumers. Informed masonry heater design expertise is at a premium!
  • Current regulatory and legislative programs as well as consumer interest are mandating increasingly efficient, clean burning, and verifiable masonry heater designs in North America as has previously occurred in Europe.
  • We in North America have the opportunity to take advantage of the European experience and expertise in optimizing our heater designs; consumers will benefit from lower emissions and maximum heat extraction from their fuel.
  • The ability to use calculation software makes custom or production heater design easily adaptable to given design applications as well as providing predictable and proven performance. Time needed to design or change design is greatly reduced; uncertainty as to results is eliminated. Masonry heaters need no longer be designed by trial and error.
  • Specialized combustion air inlet systems, both passive and with computer control are now available to North American builders with the resulting design advantages possible.
  • Europe has had five hundred years of masonry heater tradition as well as the last three decades to apply the modern technologies to this tradition. We in North America have the opportunity to profit from this experience.

It’s as simple as combustion engineering’s proverbial three “T’s”- Time, Temperature, and Turbulence, with the addition of a fourth: “Training”.

Join us in Connecticut this December!


Best wishes,


Timothy Seaton,

Timely Construction, Inc,

President, Alliance of Masonry Heater and Oven Professionals

Click here to download the Application for the AMHOP 2009 Workshop!