Separating the firebox from heat storage and insulation in a WFO

[akk]

I have been lurking in the forums and reading up about all kinds of designs for sometime now. I like to experiment and think of new ideas.

One thought that has been on mind lately is this:
- The WFO works as a place where energy is created by the wood fire, stored in the mass using brick or refactory cement, and kept inside for a long time using insulation.
- Is it possible to separate the energy creation part from the storage and insulation part?
- Specifically is it possible to build a completely insulated firebox as a separate chamber next to the oven and funnel the hot gases into the insulated oven chamber and store that energy for cooking?

The advantages in my mind, if this is possible at all, are:
- Better control of fire and thereby the temperature of the oven
- More cooking space
- More possible experiments in terms of the oven shape (maybe a circular base with a flat roof - a cylinder)
- Design of a tall fire chamber that can burn all the hot gases more efficiently before venting into the cooking chamber
- No cold air rushing into the oven when it is being charged with energy
- Venting of cold air out of the oven from a lower point in the oven wall thereby retaining most of the hot air longer
- Possibility of an oven/smoker combo design
- etc

Curious to know if anyone has done any experiment like this before?

- Krishna

[SableSprings]

Welcome to the forum Krishna! Yes, it is possible to separate the firing and cooking chambers. This was a common practice in many old European ovens (and still is). These ovens were generally referred to as white ovens, since ash & soot in the cooking chamber was minimal. The ovens most often built by our forum members are classed as black ovens because they soot up inside during the initial firing process. We have several builders here that have built white ovens as well as those who have created a third category, gray ovens. These have the option to be fired from a separate chamber or directly in the cooking chamber (makes a really cool meat smoker option).

The white & gray oven designs are fairly well documented online but are significantly more difficult to build than the straightforward (and extremely versatile) Pompeii dome. You'll find that white ovens are still commonly built for bakeries that return to the "old" way of producing quality breads with classic methods.

Again, welcome to the forum community.

[Gulf]

Krishna,

+1 on welcome to the to the forum. I may be a purist on oven design but, the Pompeii style oven has worked very well for several millennia. I have several different types of smokers and grills. My WFO works great for what it was designed. My smokers and grills work great for what they were designed. I use them all on different occasions and sometimes in tandem with each other to get the results that I want to accomplish.

My advice is "don't complicate the build"............ unless you just can't help yourself

[CoastalPizza]

I was thinking about integrating a rocket stove into my build and decided against it due to complexity. Here is what I found:

https://donkey32.proboards.com/threa...za-oven?page=2

https://wazawazapn-exblog-jp.transla...&_x_tr_pto=nui

https://www.feralturtle.com/2014/10/...en-part-4.html

[akk]

Thank you SableSptings & Gulf for the warm welcome. Never knew about the various kinds of oven designs (white, grey, black). CoastalPizza - the ideas in the links you sent were what I had in mind when I talked about separating the firebox.

For now, I agree with all your suggestions to keep it simple. I will follow that advice when I attempt my build. I do have some other unconventional ideas in my mind about the build. I will make separate posts with those questions when I formulate those ideas fully.

Thanks again for the warm welcome. This is an amazing community I am happy to be part of.