Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

[andrewpizza]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Still no word from FB UK guys. I went with my initial idea and got a heavy steel tray made up at a local boat yard to hold the fire. I would recommend this to any commercial user, not sure if it has solved my disintegrating floor problem but it keeps the oven so clean and free of ashes, stops round logs rolling out of the fire, its brilliant!!!

[james]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Sorry that FB UK has not been in touch. That is not good. I will remind them.

I like your ash guard idea. Very thoughtful.

James

[andrewpizza]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Well, the oven is now 10 months old and floor is still crumbling. I'm considering
shuttering off a lip at the front of the oven and pouring a new floor.
Has anyone ever tried this? I,m not sure how thick I should pour it or how long to let it set.
I think the current prefabricated floor may not have been properly set, or may have been affected by cold while setting. Theres litterally hundreds of hairline cracks now and every day another few bits come out. I want to avoid this with a poured floor. I'm gonna have to do something before busy summer season.
Any suggestions please?
Thank you!

[james]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Hi guys,

In order for our customer service staff to work with Forno Bravo customers efficiently, you need to contact us by phone and/or send us an email at info@fornobravo.com or info@fornobravo.co.uk. That way we can help you address your questions as quickly as possible. The FB Forum is a great resource for sharing ideas and connecting with other oven owners, but we cannot guarantee a timely response to every posting and specific answers to specific product questions.

In this particular case you need to continue working with Forno Bravo UK and directly with the oven manufacturer -- something that is already happening. That way you can get qualified support from the oven designers and official repair service.

Any time someone has a question regarding one of our oven, you should get in touch with our service department directly, we will do everything possible to answer your questions and address your problems.

Thanks,
James

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Wow!!! I thought you had that fixed last year. I thought you were in contact with Forno Bravo for the repairs. Well give them a go and see what they say. Be sure to let us know what's going on so perhaps we all can learn something new.

Have you considered setting a thin layer of firebrick tile on the floor or do you like the solid surface.

It would not be good to serve a customer a piece of your oven floor. I have broken teeth "finding things" in my food. It can also hurt your business if too many crunchies are found.

Good luck keep us informed.

[andrewpizza]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Hi Faith,

Yes I do prefer the solid floor, mainly because the Health Officer prefers it.
On last inspection, she wasn't too happy about one of the cracks right down the middle of the floor from the door inwards which would be comparable to a grout line between tiles, the only thing that kept her on our side was the fact that the oven was burning at 700F while she was there.

Don't get me wrong about the oven, it is a fantastic oven and I have seen two identicle modena ovens in operation both of which are older than mine with little or no cracks. My one is just a rare case of something gone wrong, the dome is perfect, no cracking at all.

I am in the process of planning a second shop in a town 25miles away and will more than likely be installing another modena.

[james]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

There are a couple of things I can add.

1. The company that makes Modena oven has produced many thousands of this oven over the past 20-odd years and this is the first time I have seen a problem with the floor.

2. The comment from health officer is not accurate. Because of the high heat that a brick oven operates at, internal floor joints are not an issue. In fact, a significant majority of all brick ovens utilize a discrete floor, ranging from individual bricks to sectional floor tiles.

We will resolve this without a lot of disruption -- we really appreciate your patience.
James

[Cheesesteak]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Andrew -

Is your place in Skibbereen? I've been to Ireland a couple of times - once a whirlwind tour from Dublin - through Kilkenny, Kinsale, Killarney, Dingle, Doolin and Galway. My second time was a week in Dingle and a week in Doolin. Next time out - I'd love to travel to the South a bit more - and will try to make a point to stop by your restaurant.

Hopefully - it all gets worked out for you - please let us know the final outcome.

[andrewpizza]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Hi Cheesesteak,

Yes we are in Skibbereen. Do call for a pizza if you're passing. You can find exactly where we are on Google maps, Search for The Oak Fire Italian Pizzeria.
I would recommend going further west also, Baltimore, Schull, Crookhaven and The Mizen Head are all lovely places to visit.

[Fourlix]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

I have a MAM 505 I bought on ebay really cheap....And there may have been a reason for the low price because we immediately had problems with the floor chipping away. We have been routinely repairing the floor with refractory cement with good results. "Sairset" is available locally. It has a little more grit in it than the original floor, and you can see the additional wear on the metal pizza peels. Our repairs seem to hold up better than the original castings. After two years the ceiling also started to degrade which was downright scary, as pieces were falling off into the pizzas. But we recemented that too and it seems as good as new. I don't know what happened to this oven that it has this problem. Perhaps it froze while still drying or something. Anyway, I am not losing any sleep over this....anymore. If it is broke....Fix it!

[david s]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

For large castings of refractory material cracking is common. It is the reason most ovens have smaller unmortared bricks for their floors. The problem is the rapid rise in temperature which also leads to rapid expansion. If the centre of the floor heats up quickly it wants to expand, but the outer perimeter is still cold so the stresses are fairly significant. If the floor cracks then it is simply creating its own join and will not affect the oven performance. Cracks in the dome are also highly likely if it is cast in one piece. The crown of the dome gets way hotter way earlier than the rest of the dome. This is also why most cast ovens are cast in a number of pieces so the joins can take up the expansion. It is simply designing where the cracks are to be. Again, it is creating its own joins and the dome being a self supporting structure will not fall down. Chipping of castable refractory is something else. My opinion is that materials used in the mix, that are unable to withstand thermal shock, are probably the cause.Alternatively there may be too much moisture contained in the refractory.

[andrewpizza]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Although there are large cracks in the floor, this was not the main thing I was concerned about. The problem was the floor under where the fire was, it actually looked like someone had chipped away at it with a hammer and chisel. And the oven was less than a year old at that stage. There are a number of pretty severe cracks now, and the edges of the cracks are gradually chipping away all the time, opening them up. It looks to me like the floor was not cast correctly, but sure what do I know?

[WJW]

Re: Modena140 Wood - Floor disintegrating under fire??

Has your floor been fixed by the manufacturer?