How much space to set aside for wood?

[docesam@hotmail.com]

when deciding for an oven size how much space (width , length , height) is reasonable to set aside from wood?

[SableSprings]

Welcome to the Forum Community! When properly insulated, the outside of a wood fired oven is cool (or warm at most) to the touch. That said, be aware that the chimney stack needs to be properly installed...double or triple wall, insulated stainless steel chimney recommended. Chimney pipe can/will get much hotter than the outside of an insulated masonry oven. In the U.S.A., when a chimney pipe is designed to go through a roof, if is normally required that a special insulated sleeve is installed to protect and provide an air gap between the pipe and any combustibles in the roof structure. We also see most areas with a requirement for the top of the chimney to be at least 3' (~ 1 meter) above any portion of the roof within 3' of the pipe (possibly higher if the roof is made of a combustible material) and have a cinder screen cap. I do not know what the building codes are for your country, but you should find out if there are specific instructions & measurements for the install of a wood burning oven.

Heat issues aside, extra space around the back, sides, and top of a WFO that is built within a structure is very helpful during the construction or future maintenance...tough to work on the back of the oven if you've got walls that are too close. For a properly insulated WFO, just providing space to work/access all around the oven is plenty far enough to insure minimal fire safety issues. One thing I do not like about most oven installs, is the wood storage directly below the oven opening. I know it's convenient, but the possibility of coals or hot ash falling into that wood storage area makes it too risky for me (IMHO ).

I hope that helps, your question is a little vague so I hope this was what you wanted to know...if you're looking for the hearth size needed to put under your oven, you need to consider not only the width of the masonry materials, but the insulation and finishing render/façade that will go outside the oven.

[docesam@hotmail.com]

Thank you for the reply.
actually the question is about sizing the oven. i.e. if i have an oven that is 42 inches in diameter , how much of that 42 inches will be taken up by the wood and how much is left for my pizza?

[SableSprings]

Pizza is normally done with a reasonably active fire. I think as a general rule of thumb, you're looking at a fire/coals "pile" that takes up about 25 to 35% of your cooking floor. You want an active enough fire going (some flame going up the side of the oven) so you can lift/hold the pizza just under the apex (technique is called doming) This is to finish each pizza with a little more browning of the toppings.

Most of us push the fire into a back side while doing pizza, you usually will move the fire back over the cooking area after a few pizzas to recharge the temp in that area (since cooking each pizza lowers the floor temp). Although there is the temptation to try to cook more than 1 or 2 pizzas at a time, the reality is that you need to turn & position each pizza while it cooks...so it's much more efficient to do 1 or 2 at a time. At just a few minutes to cook a pizza, there is NO advantage to fully loading up your cooking floor (IMHO).

Hope that helps. There are some very large oven builds documented on this site, so it would be good to let us know your goals for the oven...personal parties or a commercial venture?

[david s]

In order to maximise cooking floor area and to reduce the tendency for the edge of the pizza burning because it's too close to the fire, I often use this fire tidy device. Because my oven is small this is a bigger problem than those with much larger ovens. It allows you to clean the floor right up to its face and easily feed small bits of wood into it by hand after pre-heating them in the sides of the flue gallery. After making a couple of prototypes to sort out the appropriate size, holes and thickness of material I've settled on this from 0.9mm 304 stainless and had a bunch laser cut.

[docesam@hotmail.com]

In order to maximise cooking floor area and to reduce the tendency for the edge of the pizza burning because it's too close to the fire, I often use this fire tidy device. Because my oven is small this is a bigger problem than those with much larger ovens. It allows you to clean the floor right up to its face and easily feed small bits of wood into it by hand after pre-heating them in the sides of the flue gallery. After making a couple of prototypes to sort out the appropriate size, holes and thickness of material I've settled on this from 0.9mm 304 stainless and had a bunch laser cut.

for me i think i will use one that is made of perlite mix or fireclay mix (made by hand by me). i guess its cheaper and very durable.

[david s]

My mobile oven is only 21" in diameter so management is important. I recently catered for a function, cooking 40 pizzas for the evening, one at a time. They cook faster than you can prepare them, but I did all the preparation, cooking and cutting on my own for a large crowd. Can you think of any other catering style or method with such a low staff level. I recharged the floor twice, after around a dozen pizzas.

[docesam@hotmail.com]

My mobile oven is only 21" in diameter so management is important. I recently catered for a function, cooking 40 pizzas for the evening, one at a time. They cook faster than you can prepare them, but I did all the preparation, cooking and cutting on my own for a large crowd. Can you think of any other catering style or method with such a low staff level. I recharged the floor twice, after around a dozen pizzas.

very nice. how large each pizza is?

[david s]

9-12 inches

[MarkJerling]

Thank you for the reply.
actually the question is about sizing the oven. i.e. if i have an oven that is 42 inches in diameter , how much of that 42 inches will be taken up by the wood and how much is left for my pizza?

In my experience, with a 42" oven, and with the fire to the side of the oven, there is ample space remaining for cooking 3x 12" pizzas at once. From a practical perspective, I prefer to only cook two pizzas at a time, because, if the oven is nice and warm, the cooking time is so short that I find it hard work to manage more than 2 pizzas at a time, with each pizza taking under 2 minutes to cook, that means that I'm adding a pizza about once a minute and removing a pizza about once a minute. That keeps me plenty busy and doing three just adds too much to my workload and does not leave me enough time to chat and have a beer or two!