Newbie needs an advise

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Ok, I added additional layer of thermal blancket on top of the dome and I am seriously thinking about removig bricks from the floor and adding 2" silica brick on the floor for insulation,

I have a question; my opening is 10 inches and inside of the oven is 15 inches. Will I be Ok by going to 8/13 by raisig my floor by additional 2 inches?
thanks for advise!

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Thanks for your advise! I will report my under the hearth temperature after next fire.

[SCChris]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

I know you have the floor on sand that is on foil that sits on the concrete, and that the dome sits on some of these bricks. It looks like your arch is something like 10 to 12 inches. I wouldn't want to do much bread if I didn't have a minimum of 2.25 inches of brick in the floor so if you build on top of what you have you'll be loosing the 2.25 and an inch for insulation so a total of 3.25 inches from the existing arch height and this will leave you with something like 7 to 9 inches of vertical. I think if I were in your shoes, I'd work with what you have for a season and see where it takes you. Even if it sounds like Deejayoh and I have some disagreement relative to insulating under the hearth, we both agree that some benefit will be there. Would it be worth the effort? and how much effort would it be? This is where we might butt heads. Anyway, I think I'd work with what you have for a few months and you'll have a greater perspective of your ovens strengths and limitations. In the end you might pull it apart and rebuild it as v.2 and you might find that it's just the right size or too small or whatever. You have the benefit of a oven to play with and any solid WFO is better than none.

Do you have a IR thermometer to check under the hearth and on the dome? They are highly recommended.

Chris

PS enjoy your oven!! Don't worry, Be happy!

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Ok, So what should I do?
I cannot remove existing brick. Should I laydown ceramic board on the top of my floor and lay another layer of brick?

Do don't know what to do at this point.

[deejayoh]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

underneath the stand won't do much good. You need insulation between the floor bricks and the hearth if you the oven to hold heat and you want to bake bread

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

I have 2 layers of thermal blanket and I think is 1 1/2" which is covered with 2" of stucco.
I think I need to add some tiles on the floor or add insulation underneath of my oven stand, I do not know..

[SCChris]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Newbie, you mentioned in a older post that you have 3" of insulation on the dome. Is this vermicrete? or??

Chris

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Thanks a lot Chris for your advise!!

[SCChris]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Anything you can do to insulate will help. For the dome, ceramic blanket is recommended. It's costly but your dome isn't big so your cost shouldn't be high. $100 to $200. Your alternatives are the vermiculite and concrete blend but it's not as insulative and more work.

Under the floor, if you can get any insulation under the floor of the oven you'll greatly benifit. If you add more bricks to the floor you're adding mass not insulation and it'll take you more wood to get to temp. If you're careful, and you can remove the floor of the oven and then add an inch of calcium silicate rigid insulation or insulating firebrick and then replace the floor with your firebrick, you'll find that the oven does better heating and retaining heat.

If pulling your floor is not an option then you might find some advantage getting insulation on the bottom of the support slab. I don't know how hot this area gets but assuming it gets over 200F you might use something like fiberglass insulation. You'd need to frame up someway to hold this insulation place against this area and it's not ideal, but it's better than nothing. If I were you, I'd start at the top and work down. Wrap the dome and weatherproof it, stucco over the insulating layer. Then take stock of how your oven is working and decide on the next move.

Chris

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

I cured it for a week with propane burner and same time I dried my wood.
Yesterday it was a first time I fired my oven after curing and was able to get good result not much smoke. Oven temperature was 900F dome and close to 700F at the floor.
I removed the coals after sides of the oven cleared, put the oven door for about an hour for my temp (550F floor - 110 outside at the dom top) to equals, after that time I put my first loafs (4 for test).

Unfortunately, once I did that huge storm with lots of rain came in, 45 minutes later I pulled my bread which came really good consider rain, but the floor of the oven came down to 370F really to quick, I think.

Newbie mistakes, I think, I need more insulation on the dome and the floor.
Can I put additional layer of brick or tiles on the floor?
In advance I appreciate your advise.

Thanks

[david s]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

New ovens are always smoky. Keep firing.

[Laurentius]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Without a doubt! If its finished? What is your (3" of high heat insulation")?

[SCChris]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

DeeJayOh, is correct that you'll be able to get to Pizza temps with your oven so if your don't mind burning more wood you'll get the pizza you want.

I was hoping that your floor was independent and that you could pull the floor in the oven area and put a bit of insulation under the floor.

This early in the life of your oven every burn will be using calories to push water out of the oven. The bricks, mortar, stucco and even the slab under the brick floor has moisture that remains from the build. In my oven it took 15 pizza burns to break the oven in. During these burns the oven got better and better. The oven used less firewood to get to temp and building a fire got easier.

Curing your oven will take time and although the first attempt to get to pizza temps wasn't what you hoped for don't worry it'll get there.

Here is a thread on curing to read through, if you haven't already.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f16/my-take-curing-17586.html

Chris

[tjb77494]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

Your choice to place the oven floor bricks directly on the slab is going to really hurt you with regard to heat. Ideally your brick floor should sit on some insulation. Some use a non-structural layer of blended vermiculite and concrete, some use a ceramic insulator board, some use an underlayment of insulating firebrick. Before we go further about curing, did you place your dome directly on the floor bricks or is the floor of the oven independent?

Chris

Well, I built this oven not knowing this great site exists, found a video on youtube of oven and built it.
I placed my dome on top of the fire bricks which are on the top of aluminum foil and 1/4 inch of sand to fit bricks properly.
The top is made with half split brick covered with high heat refractory cement then 3" of high heat insulation and 1" of stucco.

Do you think I need additional insulation on my floor?
How can I fix this issue?

Thanks Tom

[deejayoh]

Re: Newbie needs an advise

If the fire is just smoking, I don't think the issue is insulation.

Questions I would ask:
What kind of wood are you using?
Are you certain it is dry? (you can get a moisture meter for $12.99 at Harbor Freight)
How are you starting/managing your fire?

The oven may not stay hot because of lack of insulation, but with a good fire in there any oven will get hot enough to cook pizza. If the oven isn't cured, that may be part of the issue - but I don't know that it would account for the smoke.