Empire Masonry Heaters Blog

For those of you who missed our Spring workshop, want to come and build another heater with us, or just want to come have pizza, we’ll be having another hands on workshop this fall, on October 2nd.

We’re still working out details for the heater build, but now is a good time to mark your calendars and plan on joining us.

We’re tentatively planning on starting around 11:00 AM again and running until 5:00 PM.  Come and go as you like.

If you’re interested, please email us at jsteele@empiremasonryheaters.com, and let us know how many may be attending. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Envirotech Econ model is the latest model in the Envirotech heater line manufactured by Empire Masonry Heaters.  It was designed earlier this year and it’s been run through the testing sequence at our 3rd party EPA accredited lab in Washington State.  It ’s tested out as the 3rd cleanest masonry heater tested so far in North America (it’s big brother, the Envirotech Classic, is the cleanest masonry heater tested).

The Econ was designed to heat well insulated areas from 1000 to 1800 square feet, and it’s designed to burn between 19 and 38 pounds of wood per firing, or 3.5-5.5 face cords of wood per year.

It is also very quick to build.  What would have taken at least 30 hours with a typical brick-by-brick heater, we’ve gotten down to 5 hours with the exclusive Envirotech Core System we offer.

We had the opportunity to put this build time to the test recently, with a heater install in Saranac Lake, NY, approximately 275 miles and 5 hours away from our shop.  Saranac Lake is typically one of the coldest parts of New York State, with winter lows frequently below -10 Fahrenheit.  The home in question is a 2 bedroom home with a spacious living area and fairly open floor plan, perfect for our Econ.

The truck was loaded with our core kit, insulation, chimney pipe, and refractory mortar, sitting in the driveway at 5:00 PM.  We said our goodbyes, hopped in, and drove.   After a brief stop in Syracuse, NY for dinner and gas, we hopped back in the truck again, arriving at the jobsite in Saranac Lake at around 11:00 PM.

At 11:30 PM, we began unloading the truck, finishing up around midnight.  We arranged our parts by course, so they were easy to find when we needed them.

The mason at the jobsite left us with this foundation, perfectly level and properly sized:

Envirotech Econ block foundation

Around midnight, we mixed up some refractory mortar, filled the grout bag with the mortar, and started out.  First the insulation board went down and was cut to size, next was the base course.  After that we just went from course pile to course pile, and kept going and going.

Around 2:30 AM we finished up the firebox liner and surrounding courses.  All of our heaters come with fireboxes designed to be rebuildable, so when the elements in this firebox wear out after 20-25 years, we can just come in and replace them without tearing down the whole heater and rebuilding.

4:30 AM came and we found ourselves standing back looking at a completed Envirotech Econ core:

Envirotech Econ core complete.

Just a little cleanup to do, and we took a short nap and then took a trip down to the pond to do a little fishing just after the sun rise.

9:00 AM we were on our way.  Just a quick photo of the team before we left:

The Saranac Lake Econ Team

Reflecting back, it took more time to drive to the job than to build.  With the precision cast parts and a level foundation, it was easy to keep everything in line with each course.  If we could put this together in 4 1/2 hours, with no sleep and after driving 275 miles, we have no doubt that you could put one together too with just a day of work.

Since we introduced wood fired S’mores at CMAC, they’ve been a big hit.  We’re cooking them 10-20 at a time in our ovens, and it takes about 20 seconds to cook them to perfection: gooey marshmallows, toasted graham crackers, and melted chocolate.

Sunday night for the Weezer show we took some photos of people enjoying their S’mores, which sell for $1.  People even came back multiple times for more S’mores.

Here are our first customers of the night, two ladies who managed to smear chocolate all over their faces:

First S'mores customers of the night

A few local radio stations were broadcasting that night, including 100.5 The Drive FM.  They said our S’mores were “the best dollar they ever spent.”

100.5 The Drive crew enjoying S'mores

Then there was this gentleman, who thought he could use his powers to cook the S’mores before they went in the oven:

Gentleman attempting to cook S'mores with only his gaze.

When that didn’t work, he attempted to eat the whole batch:

That didn't work. Eat them anyway!

Check back here for more adventures with this gentleman, when we show him how to cook the perfect pizza out of our ovens.

This summer we were offered the opportunity to do some wood fired pizza cooking at the Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center (CMAC) in Canandaigua, NY.  We accepted the offer and so far we’ve cooked 3 shows, taking two of the mobile ovens we manufacture to each show to do the cooking.

Two of the three concerts so far had a fair amount of tickets sold: the Sugarland concert had about 11,000 tickets sold and the Phish concert had 13,000 or so. 

The main product we are making and selling is cheese or cheese and pepperoni pizzas.  We aim for a 9 inch diameter pizza, to just about fill a paper plate. 

Our top output so far for these two large concerts has been around 150-175 pizzas per hour from the ovens combined, during the busy “rush” times right before the concert starts and during the intermissions.  We’ve been able to keep a 20-30 yard long line of customers moving along well, with most people making it through the line in 15 minutes or less.

With these ovens we’ve been able to sell 400-500 pizzas per night at these concerts.  Also, at the Phish concert, we decided to try wood fired S’mores as well, and sold out of the 1,000 we were preparing to sell.  The way the ovens are set up, we were able to have 3-5 pizzas in the oven at a time and keep them cooking evenly, while simultaneously cooking 20 S’mores on a peel above the pizzas on the deck. 

Of course, we have a support crew to keep the pizzas made, and to plate, cut, and sell them.   It’s the crew that really keeps the ovens fed.   The mobile ovens are a just a tool for the job, and they’ve been working out beautifully for this opportunity.

After a test firing one night, we came up with a new use for a masonry heater:  The ultimate marshmallow roaster!

Here is a marshmallow load: 30 pounds of wood.  This is also the amount of wood you’d burn in your heater to heat your house with for 12-24 hours.

30 pound Marshmallow Load

Here we are, 15 minutes into the burn.  The wood is consumed quickly to bring the firebox up over 1700 degrees, which consumes the smoke and carbon monoxide for a very clean burn.  This was verified by our young heater technicians.

15 minutes into the burn

Young technicians on the roof, verifying emissions.

Here we are 90 minutes later.  The wood is mostly consumed, leaving just coals.  A little after this point you’d shut the intake air on your heater, and the remaining coals would burn down and the heat will radiate into the room from all over the heater’s veneer for the rest of the day.

90 minutes into the burn

Jonathan exhibiting proper roasting technique, marshmallow centered in the firebox.  The dog supervisor keeps us in line.

The perfect marshmallow.

We finished up a wood fired oven build recently right here in the Fingerlakes of Western New York.  Our clients wanted a wood fired oven to blend in to their existing natural stone patio, and here’s the finished product:

Natural stone oven

 We installed a natural clay core which can cook anything from pizza to meats to granola, and surrounded it with natural stone in the style of their existing patio, incorporating side shelves and a soapstone hearth to maintain an organic cooking surface.  We even added in some hooks made from horseshoes so the chef can store his peels.

Here the view from the side of the oven, while we were almost done building:

Side view of the oven, nearly complete.

At Empire Masonry Heaters, we ensure all of our jobsites maintain a professional appearance before, during, and after the build.

On May 1, 2010, we held our first Hands-On workshop at our site. 

About 50 people showed up, from as far away as Lake George, NY to see how easy an Empire Masonry Heaters Envirotech Econ model goes together and learn to build one for themselves.  We also had our portable wood fired oven fired up and ready for pizza throughout the day.  On the menu for toppings were tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms and hot peppers, all spread on Katy’s dough.  Also on the menu was Katy’s famous Chicken Pizza.

Here is Jonathan answering some questions in front of our mobile oven

Jon answering questions in front of our mobile oven unit, May 1 2010.

The previous day, we built the heater and veneer up on a steel plate with wheels on it so we can move it around the shop.  We left 2 courses for workshop attendees to build, and started to veneer the heater, leaving 3 courses to complete so they could learn to work with our concrete veneer as well.

We started to build the heater up, and we laid a few of our blocks into place, and then left the attendees have at it.  Within about an hour or hour and a half, 6 or 8 people who had never built a heater before completed the top two courses of the heater.   They liked how our tongue and groove system locks the pieces together, and also the weight of the pieces we produce, which allows you to build the heater quickly, but without too much exertion as you’d have with heavy masonry blocks.

Here is the core, dry stacked and ready to be mortared in:

Dry Stacked Core

Once the core was done, we again showed our new work crew how to lay a couple of the stained concrete veneer blocks, and let them have at it.  Within another hour or two they had completed the top third of the veneer on the heater, with straight and true corners.

While all the building was going on, our guests were filtering back and forth from the shop to the pizza, grabbing a slice and heading back for more building.  It was an enjoyable, free flowing event for all of us involved.

Here comes the pizza!

Pizza area is a busy place.

After the heater was all done, we manuvered it under the chimney with some help, and lit a 20 pound charge of wood.  The heater fired right up and within 2 or 3 hours you could feel the heat coming out of the veneer.

How do you manuver a 6000 lb heater? Very carefully.

Hooking up the chimney.

First Firing

We’d like to thank everybody who showed up to see our heater go together and learn about masonry heaters, and especially Scott, Mike, and Randy for helping out getting ready the day before, and the day of the workshop.

Date: Saturday, May 1, 2010

Time:  11:00am – 4:00pm

Location:  243 Reed Rd Scottsville NY 14546

Learn how to build your own masonry heater, with a pizza party for dinner. Enjoy some wood fired pizza with any toppings you’d like!! You can come as you please, We will be enjoying some fresh, make your own wood fired pizza @ 3:00. You can just come for the pizza if you wish. It will be informational and fun!!Please be sure to invite any friends or family to attend. We ask that you email or write on our wall who will be attending so we have lots of piza supplies. You may even bring your favorite topping.