Hello and a question about oven repair!

[homefire pizza]

Hello everyone! I am new to the forum. My wife and I have just completed our first year in business and it was a remarkable success! Sadly, right at the end of our (pizza) season my oven has started to need significant repairs. See attached photos. I am wondering if someone can direct me to the correct forum or if anyone has any advice on how to repair the damage. I know how to cook with the oven, but I have no idea how to repair it.

[Gulf]

Hi Homefire Pizza,

Welcome to the forum. We may need a little more information on how the oven is built. More pics at different angles would also help a bunch. From the one pic, I'm guessing that your oven is a barrel vault. If so, the end walls of a barrel vault are normally built outside of the barrel due to heat expansion. If you can include more pics and some information about the type, methods of construction, and insulation we may be of some help.

[homefire pizza]

Ok, thank you for getting back to me! I really appreciate it. I bought the oven so I did not build it, but I will get out there tomorrow and get some more photos that will hopefully shed some light on the situation. Thanks again!

Dan

[homefire pizza]

As I said in my earlier post, I did not build the oven, so I can't speak to the insulation etc. The trouble I am having is on the right side of the oven. The brick archway at the entrance from the middle (where stove pipe sits) is coming forward for some reason. And there is a large gap now on the right side where the red brick and the white dome come together.

[hillscp]

Looks like the whole thing is coming apart

[homefire pizza]

Well, oddly, just the right side. The left side is just fine.

[david s]

Be extremely careful transporting that oven. No mobile ovens like being moved, but particularly brick ones. Heavy brittle materials don’t travel well. Some manufacturers of cast ovens offer a single dome casting for mobiles for this reason. Fit shocks to your trailer if they’re not already there.

[MarkJerling]

As I said in my earlier post, I did not build the oven, so I can't speak to the insulation etc. The trouble I am having is on the right side of the oven. The brick archway at the entrance from the middle (where stove pipe sits) is coming forward for some reason. And there is a large gap now on the right side where the red brick and the white dome come together.

I think you have a number of structural issues there. The damage to the right hand side is quite substantial. I'm somewhat perturbed with the internal steel frame. Obviously, that's not liking the heat and I wonder if it's played a role in the oven coming apart as the differential movement of heating steel and heating brick will be quite different.

I take it there's no insulation so the oven will lose heat quite quickly to the exterior?

You may be able to do a fire cement repair but I doubt it will be a good permanent fix. As David has said, ovens don't travel well.