Neill's Pompeii #10

[Bacterium]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hi Neil.....just a thought (albeit a bit late but maybe good for others). Did you try A & B Industries Pty Ltd (Salisbury direction) for your flue? They made up my stainless one....different size to yours tho.

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Damon,
sorry that I didn't get back to you earlier but been thrown into disarray with the arrival of our first grand child.
I purchased 2 galv sections and will put them onto the existing galv section making a 3 metre chimney. It really isn't worth travelling all that way across town and waiting for them to make it. Galvanised looks almost the same and after all most of it is weel out of sight and above the proposed new roof line.
I found a place at Tonsley Park that sells woven stainless mesh, expanded metal and punched sheet for my spark arrester. Rather than buy (or have them order in for me) 1.2m wide X 1 to 2 metres of mesh, I purchased a 1200mm X 300mm offcut ally expanded mesh for the arrester. They sell it for fire screens which are put in front of open wood fires. I plan on cutting 3 or 4 rectangular sections out of the top flue section and wrapping it (probably on the inside of the 8" flue) to kill any sparks that might venture up the flue.
I collected my cast aluminium doors on Wednesday and cut it in two, drilled the adjustable hinge pins/bushes and fitted it this morning.
I forgot to purchase a 3/16 whitworth taps for the latch/catch but will get them first thing in the morning.
Any one bought any brass metal threads lately?
I had to ask politely yesterday when ordering 50 x 3/16"X 1" metal threads for the doors (to secure the backing insulation frame onto the back of the doors) when the salesman asked me if I was sitting down and told me Aus$128 or $2.38 each!!!
I quickly changed to stainless for only 1/4 the price.
I tiled the vent opening floor and need to grout it tomorrow before another cook-up on Sunday.
I also purchased some new thermocouple wire, welded the ends and now ready to slip into the copper tubes which have been built into the hearth and dome. I received my 10 station thermocouple switch during the week and hope to install it all tomorrow, including a thermocouple on the outside of the dome (directly beneath the proposed ceramic tiles) and another to measure the ambient air temperature.That leaves me with 4 spare swith points for later if needed.
Getting closer to finishing the oven! Now I need to concentrate on using it (cooking a range of goods) and the new roof and tiling/redevelopement of the patio.

Neill

[Kemo]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

excellent work on the doors. looks great! thanks for posting.

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #14

Another Sunday gone and another family cook-up. We ended up with 16 adults and my first 4 day old grand daughter Annbelle (Belle to her friends) here for home made soup, pizza and sticky date pudding.
I put the other 2 sections of 8" flue on the chimney and dyna bolted the vent into the dome and facia brick arch. Added the brass latch to the doors and replaced the waterlogged insulation from around the down lights (from not having the vent sealed until finishing the welding/fitting).
Went to make the vermiculite cement only to realize that I gave all of my portland cement to my son when we concreted his garage floor for topping, so will do it later in the week and grout the vent floor tiles once the oven has cooled down.
Lit the fire at 3pm and connected the thermocouple sensor wires through my 10 position switch and into my digital display whilst getting the fire going. However, problems when compared to the infra red digital temp readings. Need to problem solve that one!
Had a great fire, no smoke after the first few minutes and got the dome to over 500°C. The hearth got to 475°C and consequently cooked 24 pizzas in just over an hour. The flue is 3 extensions high (approx 10') and draws exceptionally well, no smoke at all out the front arch what so ever. The picture attached was taken 5 minutes after lighting the fire.
Got the message tonight that I have two other oven to build, one for one son in law and another for his mate. They will also be Pompeii ovens but will have to put them on a base. A little more time and expense, but not my problem! At least I have around 80 fire bricks leftover from my oven build so that will reduce the son in laws costs a little.

Neill

[janprimus]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Top work there Neil! Your oven is grand looking. Everything is well planned and quite tiddley.
Congratulations.
Chad

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

The continuing link.
To continue with the spark arrester [ics and discussion, go to:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f21/...ster-2333.html

It got put into a new thread but really continues on from here.


Neill

[david s]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

I find the maintenance of a little fire on the side producing flame also gives you enough light in the oven, when cooking pizzas, although it's always dark when locking the heat in for a roast.

[acdc]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hey Neil, fantastic work on the oven
Im from Adelaide and keen to know where you got your fire bricks from, how much, and how many did you use !

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hi ACDC and welcome aboard.
There are a few of us from sunny Adelaide so you help to boost the numbers.
I purchased my firebricks for a $1 each from the demolishers of the old Gepps Cross Abertois boiler.
I bought 200 of them and have about 55 left over so I used close to 150 all up plus the house bricks and tapered pavers for the front arch and void.

Neill

[acdc]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

thanks Neil, thats a great price... I heard a friend mention that bricks were available at littlehampton, but these were 6 bucks each... Need to find some second hand ones like you did somehow !....

PS your oven looks a treat and has certainly inspired me

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Littlehampton have fire bricks but they can't/won't tell you their content but are really only made for the open fireplace lining. They were $5 each when I enquired some 18 months ago but I believe that they also get seconds at a much reduced price.
You should use their fired clay 4" pavers for around $0.80c each and they have been fired at 1200˚C so will be fine for a 500˚C oven temp. I plan on using these for my next build.

Neill

[dlgeis]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

To form pizza crust from balls roll them out one direction then dust with flour and let rest about 5min. This let's the gluten relax before rolling the other direction. If you want it thinner let rest and repeat. I dust with enough flour that I can stack them on top of each other to save space.
Doug

[Knackers]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

To form pizza crust from balls roll them out one direction then dust with flour and let rest about 5min. This let's the gluten relax before rolling the other direction. If you want it thinner let rest and repeat. I dust with enough flour that I can stack them on top of each other to save space.
Doug

(In a Dr Evil voice) Rrrrrrrrriiiiigggghhhhhttttt!

[tallman72]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

HI Neil,
I too am also from Adelaide and i have built a brick oven using russell jevons design, my brick work was a bit rough on the inside of the oven but it works really well and the pizzas taste great, i did not build it with a chimney and now i regret it as one of my neighbours did complain to me about the smoke when i lit it i have eased that by using charcoal and only putting small bits of timber on only once the coal a roaring, but this is very expensive as charcoal is 30 bucks a bag and i use one bag per firing. so my question to you is do u think it would be possible to build a flue into the front of it now and what size dia and height of the flue would i need the opening is 550 at the front.
this way i can use wood to light it and the smoke would just go . i could send u a photo of the oven. i am in parkside near fullarton road and it would be great to have your expertise

cheers Paul

[nissanneill]

Re: Neill's Pompeii #10

Hi Paul and welcome aboard,
everything is possible, it may be complex but with a little work, an angle grinder with a diamond blade, you can add a flue similar to mine to catch the smoke (which incidentally should be on initial light up for no more than a couple of minutes) and channel it up the chimney. Have a look through my build as I explain and show pics of the chamber which without seeing your set-up could dynabolt directly onto the front of your oven front.
Post a couple of pictures to show your oven and we can take it from there.
Cheers.

Neill
PS where abouts in Adelaide do you reside?