Heat put off by indoor stove

[Mr Salami]

Hello;

I am building an addition to my home which will include a substantial sized "Man Cave". I've been considering putting a pizza oven near the wet bar.

I live in Southwest Florida and one thing I an concerned with is heat output in the immediate vicinity of the stove; I notice that all the ovens I've seen do not have a door. I am concerned about the heat that will be put out when I use the oven - Florida is HOT most of the time and the typical AC lifespan is 50% of what it would be in other states. Adding a heat source to compete with the AC may not be my smartest idea...

Can anyone tell me what sort of heat escapes into the immediate vicinity of a pizza oven? I've searched all over but can't find info about the heat OUTSIDE of the oven...

I've noticed that many folks put them outside. I don't want it outside. Between the bugs, heat and rain outside would be mostly useless. If the heat from a traditional pizza oven is too high for inside then I will have to consider something else, like a bakers pride or something - which causes all sorts of other problems (zoning would consider it a 2nd kitchen and therefore a multi-family home)

I am hopeful for an answer which will support my endeavor, but if that is not the case, then I would prefer to know now before I spend a gob of money for an oven I can only use during the few cold weeks in the year.

Thanks

[Argden]

Re: Heat put off by indoor stove

I wouldn't do it if I were you based on everything you discussed here, but if you do I recommend these following things. Build a smaller one. One reason you haven't found much info on the outside temp of the oven is because of the number of variables that will determine that temp and also heat output. One obviously is the size. The bigger it is, the more the heat, but the thicker the walls the less transference. 2 is the duration of use. A couple pies, hot for maybe an hour or so is one thing, all day is quite another. (more on this in a minute). Also, placement and construction. If the oven is built into the wall like a fireplace, it will have much more of its surface area exposed to the OUTSIDE of the house, thus reducing heat transfer to the inside. Heat also rises, so if the room containing the oven is the basement, it will affect the house temp more than if it were in the kitchen of a ranch design. And lastly the insulation built around the oven. A double layer of brick with air space between them is nice, and will contain a lot of heat. But that's expensive, tricky to get right and should be handled only by someone familiar with that type of installation, again not easy to find.

Most people that I know and have talked to that have one, myself included, are likely to tell you a story something like this. "We do all our own baking, bread, pies cookies all of it. We make at least one artisan pizza per week, often baking more at once. We "grill" steak, brisket etc in it, slow smoke meat, game, sausage, etc and bake larger birds regularly. We have friends that come over to use it, especially during hunting season when large amounts of meat needs to be processed. It frequently stays lit for over 24 hours, in fact it will stay hot for close to that even without further fuel after reaching 700 degree temperature."

Basically I'm saying if you just want to bake artisan pizza there are much cheaper and easier ways to do it than installing a brickie. Pizza stone and convection oven is one, that can be table top sized easily. Big Green Egg, and conversely every other high quality grill can hit temps of well over 650, I know mine does and it bakes excellent pies. And hey, did you consider the actual oven in your house? I have my eye on one of those convection jobs. Pizza is about how hot your "oven" can get and how evenly it cooks, so...

Anyway the folks here are nice and know an awful lot about cooking so whatever route you choose to go I'm sure there is some quality advice and experience to share.

[eprante]

Re: Heat put off by indoor stove

Let me qualify any statements I make here by saying my oven isn't completed yet. From what I have learned about these ovens is that they dont put out much if any heat from the oven opening. The oven if well built is insulated well to maintain heat in the oven, and any heat that escapes, goes up the flue. You will probably get some more input from people who have installed ovens attached to their kitchens. Good luck
E

[RTflorida]

Re: Heat put off by indoor stove

I can't comment on the specifics of indoor use, only on my experience with an outdoor oven in the FL climate.
During firing, especially that "scary" fire stage when we are trying to get the oven up to temp, there is considerable heat that radiates from the entry and can easily be felt 4-6 ft away, even on a humid 95 degree day in the blistering sun. There is simply too much heat during this time to be contained within the oven OR go entirely up the flue. Once the oven burns white and you let the fire die down, the heat radiation disipates considerably, but still can be felt.
I would guess that your A/C system would be extremely strained during our hottest months on the days that you would be firing the oven. Knowing nothing about indoor installations I can't comment on utilizing some sort of room venting or heat exchanging system, but I think it would be a necessity in our climate, otherwise your going to kill your A/C and/or have a 90 degree indoor temp for a day or 2 after firing.
As cool an idea as it is (I want one), I don't think an indoor instal is a good idea in a hot, humid climate unless you have some sort of system mentioned above.

RT

[DimTex]

Re: Heat put off by indoor stove

For what its worth I would chime in by saying that when I fire my oven up, there are times as its heating where some smoke comes out the top edge of the opening. In other words, not all the smoke goes up the stack. It's probably my fault for not making the flue bigger, but anyway it does bring up a consideration which is air supply. Your oven is going to suck air to burn properly, air conditioned or otherwise so it seems to me you need an outside air source in any case.