I have cobbled together electric heating for my Hybrid-WFO. It’s a “hillbilly” assemblage of parts that have been through the “phase 1” proof of concept to heat and maintain temperatures in the oven using electricity rather than using wood.
For $50 I purchased a 1100W hotplate, high temp electrical tape, ceramic wire nuts, and 10 feet of insulated high temp wiring. With these I relocated the heating element well into the WFO, this was supported by firebricks and cast iron pan was placed on this to disperse the heat. The hotplate controls were located outside the insulated oven door. By setting the hotplate control to medium, and maintain power to the hotplate for 48 hours, a final temperature of 395F was achieved. The hotplate was cycling electricity and not running full on, so higher temperatures could have been achieved.
Initially I had a “Kill-a-Watt” power meter attached but because of a poor connection to an old extension cord, heat at this plug connection killed the device. Unfortunately I can’t say just how much electricity was used and so I can say what the heating cost was. What I can say is that it’s well below what 1100W of full time load would have cost. This information would have helped me to calculate just how many solar panels would be needed to provide this same heat.
Why in the world would I want to add electric heating to a WFO?
Firstly, curiosity.
Secondly, public trends, around here, are to legislate against the use of wood for cooking to minimize soot pollution and the associated negative health ramifications of soot particles. Most of us here understand that WFOs are highly efficient at the gasification of firewood and therefor minimize soot while maximizing the conversion of wood to heat, but again the trend, around here, is to outlaw any kind of wood burning.
Thirdly, an advantage of adding an electrical heat source to a WFO is the ability to accurately maintain a desired temperature in the oven over any prolonged period of time as long as you have electricity. This ability to maintain a set temperature has real and potential benefits relative to the utility of a WFO. For instance, curing an oven can be less guesswork and more decisive. The oven can be heated to 200F or 98C or whatever temperature and maintained at this long enough to really saturate the oven. After some time this temperature can be raised and again the WFO can be allowed to become saturated without temp overrun.
Advantages include the ability to heat or preheat the oven without having to tend a fire. Preheating would mean quicker oven to temperature times when the wood burn finally happens. The deeper saturation of heat within the brick, because of the duration of heating will also result in slower oven cooling because of this deeper, more complete, heat storage.
Additionally, with a bit more hillbilly engineering, solar Photo Voltaic panels can do the heating. My feeling is that as long as an oven is well insulated, photo voltaic solar can be, at a minimum, a significant supplier of heat for a WFO. Is PV economic? Maybe. PV heating is only going to be economic where the conditions are correct.
Does it extend the potential utilization of a WFO? As long as you use your oven it can be, consider instant access to a preheated oven.
Chris
PS Phase 2 will be to include a PID controller to enable tight temperature control.
For $50 I purchased a 1100W hotplate, high temp electrical tape, ceramic wire nuts, and 10 feet of insulated high temp wiring. With these I relocated the heating element well into the WFO, this was supported by firebricks and cast iron pan was placed on this to disperse the heat. The hotplate controls were located outside the insulated oven door. By setting the hotplate control to medium, and maintain power to the hotplate for 48 hours, a final temperature of 395F was achieved. The hotplate was cycling electricity and not running full on, so higher temperatures could have been achieved.
Initially I had a “Kill-a-Watt” power meter attached but because of a poor connection to an old extension cord, heat at this plug connection killed the device. Unfortunately I can’t say just how much electricity was used and so I can say what the heating cost was. What I can say is that it’s well below what 1100W of full time load would have cost. This information would have helped me to calculate just how many solar panels would be needed to provide this same heat.
Why in the world would I want to add electric heating to a WFO?
Firstly, curiosity.
Secondly, public trends, around here, are to legislate against the use of wood for cooking to minimize soot pollution and the associated negative health ramifications of soot particles. Most of us here understand that WFOs are highly efficient at the gasification of firewood and therefor minimize soot while maximizing the conversion of wood to heat, but again the trend, around here, is to outlaw any kind of wood burning.
Thirdly, an advantage of adding an electrical heat source to a WFO is the ability to accurately maintain a desired temperature in the oven over any prolonged period of time as long as you have electricity. This ability to maintain a set temperature has real and potential benefits relative to the utility of a WFO. For instance, curing an oven can be less guesswork and more decisive. The oven can be heated to 200F or 98C or whatever temperature and maintained at this long enough to really saturate the oven. After some time this temperature can be raised and again the WFO can be allowed to become saturated without temp overrun.
Advantages include the ability to heat or preheat the oven without having to tend a fire. Preheating would mean quicker oven to temperature times when the wood burn finally happens. The deeper saturation of heat within the brick, because of the duration of heating will also result in slower oven cooling because of this deeper, more complete, heat storage.
Additionally, with a bit more hillbilly engineering, solar Photo Voltaic panels can do the heating. My feeling is that as long as an oven is well insulated, photo voltaic solar can be, at a minimum, a significant supplier of heat for a WFO. Is PV economic? Maybe. PV heating is only going to be economic where the conditions are correct.
Does it extend the potential utilization of a WFO? As long as you use your oven it can be, consider instant access to a preheated oven.
Chris
PS Phase 2 will be to include a PID controller to enable tight temperature control.
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