Refractory bricks used in furnace inner walls deteriorate over time due to various factors like thermal shock cracking, impinging effect of flame, corrosive products of combustion like sulphur dioxide present in furnace oil, build up of carbon deposits in burner blocks and removal by manual scraping of refractory, etc.
Owing to refractory lining wear due to above factors, the time and fuel required to reach a certain temperature increases over a period of time. For example: A furnace with new refractory lining may take 3.5 hours to achieve a temperature of 1250 deg. However, after 8 to 10 months, owing to refractory lining wear, the same furnace will take 4 to 4.5 hours to achieve the temperature of 1250 deg. C. Fuel consumption is increased substantially. It eventually leads to furnace maintenance downtime. The refractory lining may need lot of repairs or may need to be changed.