10-15-07 In this picture I just lit a small wood and paper fire in the furnace, and turned the blower on. This is a lower temperature fire than the fuel oil I will use to melt metal later, and is for the purpose of driving any trapped moisture out of the refractory. I haven't personally experienced it, but it's said that if you fire a furnace too hot, too quick, the potential for a steam explosion exists. I didn't take the chance, and fired it for about an hour with a wood fire when it was done setting up. If you look on the bottom right, you can see the fuel lines and where they will attach when it's time to start melting aluminum.
10-15-07 Here it is going full-tilt with a wood fire in it. I burned mostly pine sticks and some old cardboard boxes I had laying around. The furnace wall got pretty warm, but never too hot to comfortably touch. I didn't leave the fan on for too long of a stretch, because I was just trying to drive moisture out, and not cause a steam explosion. I am a little worried that if the furnace runs full tilt on fuel oil, that it may become too hot to safely touch the exterior wall. As a safety precaution, there's a fire extinguisher right behind me as I take the pictures. I recommend you do the same!
