The range of these sauna stoves
According to the manufacturer himself, the Varvara stoves were produced for baths after a thorough analysis of the pros and cons of domestic models - and therefore all the minuses and pluses of competitors are taken into account here.
Any model of "Barbara" to create a comfortable temperature in the bath and good steam. And there are three main serial "Barbarian":
Stove with a heating circuit and a tank, which is located at the top and has a capacity of 120 liters.
These stoves are designed for those baths where there is a water supply or a pumping station with water connected to it. Here the tank is, in fact, a passage through the ceiling. Steam from such a furnace is brought out to the street through a steam outlet. And the heating circuit itself is made of 1.5 mm thick stainless steel, where hot water circulates. Such a stove will cope even with a steam room up to 30 m3. By the way, if such a large tank is not needed, it can be replaced with a standard 60 l.
Stove with a side tank - 50 liters.
This model is ideal for baths in which there is no way to connect or arrange water supply. But such a furnace is record-breakingly quick and easy to install, easy to maintain and serves for a long time and without problems due to its simplicity.
Furnace without tank - with and without a circuit.
Furnaces with a circuit are designed for heating water using electric and gas water heaters. But the "Barbarians" without a circuit are used more like a solid fuel boiler, which is connected to the bath batteries and so it is heated.
Advantages and disadvantages of Barbara
One of the important advantages of the Varvara sauna stoves is that they do not weigh much: 100 kg of the stove itself and, in addition, a pipe to it. Absolutely any floor in the bath will pull such a weight, and therefore a particularly powerful foundation for the stove is not needed - sometimes you can get by with good insulation alone.
And what is just wonderful is the presence of a round hole with a plug on the back wall at the Varvara sauna stove - especially for cleaning. And the place that needs to be cleaned at this stove can be easily seen with the naked eye: we look inside the firebox and see a welded sheet of metal in its upper part (it is also called a “smoke tooth”) - that's where all the settled soot accumulates. Yes, the Varvara furnace requires maintenance - twice a year, clean the pipe and the afterburner. That's all the trouble!
Sometimes these ovens do not favor due to the fact that the water in the tank heats up longer than in conventional ovens. But solving this problem is simple: we install an additional heat exchanger on the chimney, and in an hour the water will be about 70 ° C, which is quite enough. True, after three hours it may boil - this will have to be monitored.
Another common problem that owners of the Varvara sauna stove often face is condensate flowing down the pipe. This happens if the chimney was assembled "by smoke". The thing is that "Barbara" is a furnace with an afterburner, and it works mainly in slow burning mode. Therefore, the temperature at the outlet of the chimney turns out to be small, and condensate forms quite generously, and even with impurities.
That is why it is so important to install the "Barbarian" according to the correct scheme - you can see it in the step-by-step photo below. And also make the pipe itself not 1.2 meters, but passing through the entire tank - longer by as much as half a meter
So the condensate will drain clean and will not come into contact with the stove smoke.
It is also undesirable to heat this stove with birch firewood - there were cases when the seams of the stove simply diverged.
How to overlay Barbara with a brick
Bath attendants often jokingly call the design of the Barbara "simple as a rake." After all, in fact - this is a good metal potbelly stove with a grid for stones. But surprisingly, quite durable and effective in use.
To create the same climate of a real Russian bath, "Barbara" must be overlaid with bricks. But - right. Here, for example, is one of the proven ways to make a solid and inexpensive foundation for "Barbara" in a log bath, and competently overlay it:
Step 1. It is not necessary to remove the timber and break the strapping - only one side of the foundation should be brought under the wall. So that the screen of the stove goes into the rest room. It also needs to be waterproofed and cutting the wall should already be started from the second crown. It all looks like this: the foundation is brought under the wall, the lower crown remains intact and the screen is laid directly through the insulation. The masonry itself is tied up with the rest of the furnace lining in the steam room. So the design will be especially strong.
Step 2. Now we heat the stove well on the street - so that there is no longer an unpleasant smell and the paint is polymerized. We put the first row on the solution - with an accurate check of the horizontal according to the building level. Next - lay out the dry brick. The furnace itself must eventually be placed on two layers of bricks and one galvanized sheet.
Step 3. Next, the lining of the furnace itself begins: fireclay bricks will be good for the firebox, as in places with contact with fire and high temperatures, for the rest of the masonry - a hollow facing brick. The cavities need to be covered with sand - this can be done when the furnace is really lined, and not built
And finally, it is important to foresee thermal gaps for bricks in advance.
Step 4. The mortar for laying the screen must be kneaded on the basis of fireclay clay
It can be bought at a regular hardware store - in 20-kilogram plastic bags, and simply diluted with water. Even brick ovens are laid with it, because it can withstand temperatures up to 1500 ° C and well compensates for the expansion of the masonry. You can also use basalt cardboard - it is very light, but at the same time it perfectly tolerates high temperatures in the furnace area.
Step 5. We cover the pipe in half a brick, leaving two channels at the base. When lining the back of the furnace, one brick can be omitted - in order to create a convective flow. And from an ordinary plastic sewer pipe, a good hood is obtained.
Step 6. Cut out a sheet from a metal screen that will cover the heater. From the bottom of the lining we lay two small doors and another large one on the sides of the furnace - they will create an air flow. By the way, between the doors themselves it will be possible to switch the inflow under the stove in the modes “from the rest room” and “from the washing room”.
Here is such a detailed instruction on how to put a good quality stove in a bathhouse for relatively little money.
