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Didn't realize how much heat we lose through the foundry floor until I checked the numbers | Foundry Workers - SMM Buzz

Didn't realize how much heat we lose through the foundry floor until I checked the numbers

I was reading some old trade journals my dad left me, and one article from 1985 talked about heat loss in iron foundries. It said up to 30% of our furnace heat can escape right through a concrete floor that isn't insulated. That hit me hard because our shop floor is just plain concrete poured back in the 70s. I did a quick check with a temp gun last week and the floor near our big furnace was reading over 120 degrees. The article recommended using a layer of ceramic board under a new pour to stop that loss. Has anyone here ever retrofitted insulation into an older foundry floor? I'm wondering if it's worth the downtime.

3 comments

3 Comments

derek9945mo ago

120 degrees near the furnace, yeah that sounds about right. Plain concrete from the 70s is basically a heatsink. We poured 2 inches of cellular glass insulation under a new section last year and the floor temp dropped to like 80. The downtime sucked, took us three days to bust out the old slab and pour new, but we saw a solid 10% drop in our gas bill that first winter. If you can time it with a shutdown or a slow month, it pays back quick.

miles725mo ago

I mean, is a 10% drop really that wild though? Like, maybe it's just me, but 120 degrees near a furnace doesn't sound like the end of the world. Old concrete's been doing its thing for 50 years without anyone crying about it. Taking three days to bust up and repour a whole slab just to save a little on gas seems like a lot of work for not much payoff. idk, I'd probably just throw down some rubber mats or something and call it a day.

bettyfox4mo ago

Rubber mats over 120 degree concrete? That's a fire waiting to happen, man. And sure, old concrete's done its job, but it's also been leaking heat into the ground for 50 years, so you've been paying for that the whole time.