Fire at back vs side of oven

[Purplehouse]

Hello,
I have 2 wood fired oven that I use commercially to cook pizzas. I have always built and left fire at one side of the oven. I’m wondering if anyone has advice / suggestions if this is the most efficient way to maintain heat vs putting the fire at the back in the middle of the oven.
Thank You

[Giovanni Rossi]

I'm only 2 yrs in with my oven, but I've almost exclusively cooked with fire on the side. As you know, it's easy to add wood in that position without kicking up a lot of ash and embers. I tried a rear fire once and it was a pain reaching over the food to add fuel. I now use a steel L bracket to contain the fire's footprint and that would make it even more difficult to add wood if in the rear.

I also like how the heat climbs the dome and rolls down the opposite side and back across the top of the food. I wonder with the fire in the rear if the flow would be interrupted and travel up the flue??

[Purplehouse]

Can I ask about the still L bracket? Does that contain the wood? Did you order from somewhere or put together yourself?

[david s]

Can I ask about the still L bracket? Does that contain the wood? Did you order from somewhere or put together yourself?

Because my oven is small, burning of the pizza edge can be a problem with the pizza so close to the fire. To solve this issue and provide more cooking floor area, I made an L shaped guard from 0.5mm stainless (with no holes) and used it for about 10 years with good success. So, I had a bunch laser cut from a thicker material, 300 x 300 x 95 x 0.9 mm and also designed in some holes to allow some air and heat through the vertical side.
The original prototype suffered from warping badly, so don't go too thin. Mild steel would also work although it will rust. Don't use galvanized because the zinc will burn off and the fumes are highly toxic.
I don't think anyone sells them, but not too hard to make, but any metal shop should be able to make one up if you're not up to fabricating it yourself.A curved edge for the horizontal part can be shaped to fit your oven perimeter.
With the bulk of the coals pushed to the rear of the oven, feeding preheated sticks from the entry and easily fed into what I call the "fire tidy", management of the fire on the side is pretty simple.

[Giovanni Rossi]

Purplehouse I bought mine from Amazon. it's similar to the one in David's picture but without the tapered corners. Will not do pizza without it now. If you're someone who moves the fire from side to side to recharge the floor during long bakes, the holes also make it easy to hook and reposition it.