Are pizza ovens a major source of pollution?

[DaveHI]

Re: Are pizza ovens a major source of pollution?

Wood stoves with very limited draft for high efficiency can produce some pretty ugly molecules hence the modern designs with catalytic afterburners. But a pizza oven with the door open will have gobs of excess air so you should mostly be putting up C02 and some small amount of soot. In a bowl like LA you might not want to add more pollution into the soup but for most of us not a big issue. Buy a hybrid and come out ahead??

Dmun is right on one count, if the wood was just going to rot away, probably less greenhouse gas effect from burning it.

[CSWolffe]

Re: Are pizza ovens a major source of pollution?

I head a report to day on NPR about carbom scrubbers. the chemistry was too advanced for me, but things look hopefull.
Has anyone found any information on small scale scrubbers or carbon filters for home oven use? I know wood fired ovens can be efficient, but we could do better, and BBQers like be would relish the infor for our smokers.

[Dutchoven]

Re: Are pizza ovens a major source of pollution?

I altough not a scientist by any stretch of the word researched wood burning as heat sources as well as for ovens. Living in the Mid south heating is generally not an expensive issue but I was hoping to reduce my necessity on natural gas. While looking into the issues of wood burning stoves and masonry heaters I stumbled upon a catalytic converter for wood burning stoves. It creates a secondary combustion of nearly all exhaust gases from a slower burning wood burning stove. In reading the description of the reaction it is virtually identical to the reaction that happens when the oven is burning at higher temperatures. If you look in while you are firing and see strange colored gases dancing along the ceiling of the oven towards the door, that is the secondary combustion. At the same time you will notice no smoke exiting the chimney. If you use well seasoned wood, don't load the oven to much to start you will reach this level quickly. Then it is important to maintain the same schedule of not overloading you will not create much more to the atmosphere than the rotting of the same in the forest.
Best
Dutch

[wg_bent]

Re: Are pizza ovens a major source of pollution?

Looking at how oven's burn compared to how masonry heaters burn, the issue is really one of burn temps. I'm not sure how hot a temp an oven burns at, but they need to be over 900, more like 1200 to burn off the nasties, and masonry heaters burn more like 1800, so really are hot enough to do the job. It seems to me that an oven probably sends more heat up the chimney than a masonry heater does, so it might be less efficient, but the goal is very different. Heaters job is to distribute heat, an oven's is to contain heat.

I'd bet an oven pollutes a lot on startup, but may not be more than a heater.