My build, New Zealand.

[Boogie-D]

Nice build mark I like your chiming box and vent set up would you do anything different??

[MarkJerling]

Nice build mark I like your chiming box and vent set up would you do anything different??

Thank you Boogie-D! I think my brickwork could have been much neater. I should have used an ID. As for the chimney setup. I should have made the "throat" (intake) to the flue slightly larger and I should have used better formwork for my door arch which would have allowed me to build a slightly nicer arch. But, it does work very well. With a slightly larger flue intake I feel it would draw better when cold. When hot, it draws very well. Better under-slab drainage would have been good. I had to drill drainage holes afterwards. Most people here advise against a foil layer, but, for me, that as worked well and with our wet winters I feel that any moisture in the outer plaster layer will, at least, stay away from the insulation.

[Boogie-D]

Hey mark how do you feel about the size of your oven 42” to big? Not big enough?

[MarkJerling]

Hey mark how do you feel about the size of your oven 42” to big? Not big enough?

For us, it's pretty much perfect. I find it's good for 2-3 large pizzas at one time which is good when we have lots of people round. When it's just us, or a small group of friends, then it is larger than it needs to be as I then seldom cook more than one pizza at a time. Where the size works really well is when doing roasts as I can fit a pretty big dish or a few dishes in the oven at the same time. If I did it again, I'd probably go for the same size. If I was to go smaller, I'd not go smaller than 38".

I have not yet started experimenting with baking bread but that's next on the "to-do" list. I think the larger size will be good for bread baking too.

The one thing that I will absolutely recommend, is to go overboard with insulation. With mine, I have 25mm of furnace blanket and then 150mm of regular fibreglass insulation and then a foil layer, with perforations for steam. Over insulating has meant that the oven holds it heat really, really well. I would have liked to go to 50mm furnace blanket and then the regular insulation but the furnace insulation was very expensive. You really cannot have too much insulation.

[Boogie-D]

Thank you so much mark this is very useful information... I really appreciate it... I plan to use my big cast iron Dutch oven inside the oven... part of my design is that big old antique beast need to fit inside... and I want to do large roast of meat as well...

one thing we do in Hawaii is imu cooking... below ground... Maori have this tradition as well... in fact for thanksgiving we did 4 big square tins underground.... we look at the wfo as an above ground imu that we can cook traditional Hawaiian food in.... I am thinking my original plan of 37 inches is on track... mahalo.

[NCMan]

You really cannot have too much insulation.

Very good advice. To that, I would add to consider using well-placed thermal breaks.

[JRPizza]

You might want to consider 39". It's right in the middle of the FB plan's 36 and 42 and the numbers work out really well if you build a hemispherical brick arch. When we do retained heat baking we often cook with two big pans in the oven. Yes a bigger oven can take more wood to heat but we just make sure we cook a minimum of two if not 3 things every time we fire We typically follow pizza with roast chicken in the AM and a pork or beef roast in the afternoon, along with any veggies we want to cook (acorn squash is a favorite). The next 3 or 4 meals are planned around the meat we have cooked.

[MarkJerling]

Thank you so much mark this is very useful information... I really appreciate it... I plan to use my big cast iron Dutch oven inside the oven... part of my design is that big old antique beast need to fit inside... and I want to do large roast of meat as well...

one thing we do in Hawaii is imu cooking... below ground... Maori have this tradition as well... in fact for thanksgiving we did 4 big square tins underground.... we look at the wfo as an above ground imu that we can cook traditional Hawaiian food in.... I am thinking my original plan of 37 inches is on track... mahalo.

Yes, a Dutch oven works very well. We have one and it works great in the WFO.
You're right, Maori call below ground cooking "hangi" and I rather enjoy it.

[MarkJerling]

Very good advice. To that, I would add to consider using well-placed thermal breaks.

You're right. And, I could have done better with that on the door arch.

[lorenzo73]

Mark, your heat measurement fascinates me. How are you collecting this data? A thermocouple with a connection to ??? I'm a hobby computer nerd and this sounds like something I've overlooked! Beautiful door by the way, I'm looking to reach out to a fabricator family member to help create mine, but am stumped on what to use for insulation inside. Where did you source your stuff?

I mounted K-type thermocouples in the dome and floor, and connected them to a 4-channel readout that logs data to an SD card. I used this one (bought from Amazon): https://www.gainexpress.com/products/88598 ... Very helpful to have a record of each burn cycle.

[MarkJerling]

Very nice. Can you upload your image larger? It's tiny and impossible to read.

[lorenzo73]

Sorry, the size got reduced after I posted it. Trying again here. All the temperature charts are on the last tab of this worksheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...6dhTgi4oM/edit

[MarkJerling]

Sorry, the size got reduced after I posted it. Trying again here. All the temperature charts are on the last tab of this worksheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...6dhTgi4oM/edit

Thank you, I can see those much better!
Very nicely done Craig! I wish I had thought of something like this!
Kind regards,
Mark

[Baza]

Hey Mark!
Been great following your build and your work on the heat tracking has been invaluable to the forum!

I'm interested in your Arch buttressing - you indicate that (like me) you have a segmented arch. You indicate you have buttressed the sides to support the assembly going up from there (your chimney is quite different moving backwards, but you still felt it important to buttress). I'm wondering if you have a pic to reference? It would be good to see how high up you went on the straight side of the segmented arch to ensure the outward thrust from any weight above the arch is compensated for in the buttressing.

I'm feeling I will have to factor in the same.

Thanks - and REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU with the success of your build - door, and particularly FOOD!
Barry

[MarkJerling]

Hey Mark!
Been great following your build and your work on the heat tracking has been invaluable to the forum!

I'm interested in your Arch buttressing - you indicate that (like me) you have a segmented arch. You indicate you have buttressed the sides to support the assembly going up from there (your chimney is quite different moving backwards, but you still felt it important to buttress). I'm wondering if you have a pic to reference? It would be good to see how high up you went on the straight side of the segmented arch to ensure the outward thrust from any weight above the arch is compensated for in the buttressing.

I'm feeling I will have to factor in the same.

Thanks - and REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU with the success of your build - door, and particularly FOOD!
Barry

Hi Barry

Thank you for your kind words! Basically, you'll see that with the type of bricks I used, that I cut each brick in half to make my dome thickness. (Have a look at my build photos earlier in this thread)
But, for the lower part of the door arch, I used full bricks, effectively creating a double-wide support for the arch. Near the top of those "uprights", I also built out some bricks to act as a "hook" to hold the sideways thrust of the outer decorative arch, which is only a single 3" thick brick all round.

You can see what I mean in these photos. Notice the large "pillars" for the door arch:



And here, you can see how that "thick" pillar" on both sides does not go full height. After 5 courses I change to a thinner construction and you can make out the brick that "hooks" and holds the top of the front decorative arch from spreading sideways:



The photo is a bit dark but you should be able to make it out. The insulation layers and the plaster render hides that part of the door construction rather well.

In the end, I used a fair bit of mortar around the outer arch to give it more strength too:



Hope that helps!

Kind regards,
Mark