Large WFO in India

[brickie in oz]

Re: Large WFO in India

just one wider door opening with the chimney right over it?

I would go for 1 wide door opening, this would make access to the large oven so much easier.

Can you draw your flue concept on paper, that way it will be easier to give help.

[david s]

Re: Large WFO in India

david s,the castable under the herringbone pattern is a refractory concrete used to insulate larger furnaces again i hope that should be ok,

Ok, I thought it looked like normal concrete. If it is insulating castable rather than dense castable it should be ok. Because you have laid the floor straight over it you will have trapped a lot of water that the castable contains. It will take a long time to dry out this layer.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Large WFO in India

Check out where Panchgani is on google maps, it wont take that long to dry out.

[david s]

Re: Large WFO in India

Check out where Panchgani is on google maps, it wont take that long to dry out.

It may well, as they are in the middle of their winter and I note that their humidity is currently 70%. Water evaporation is dependent on temp.humidity and air movement. If indoors there won't be any air movement. Our pottery often dries faster in our winter than in our summer because although the temp is lower the humidity is also lower.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Large WFO in India

Im sure a few fires will sort out the humidity.

[1 strover]

Re: Large WFO in India

panchgani is is at an altitude of 4200 feet above sea level, my restaurant is a further 7 km from panchgani and a few hundred feet higher , the current day time temps here are 22-25 Celsius and night time temps are a low 5-8 Celsius the current humidity is at about 58% .
i do plan to keep the oven unfired for few days till i get the whole insulation and the doors done.
with your suggestions i did end up with only one opaning and a large vent a inch ahead of the door. the inner vent dimensions are 19x7 inches , the chimney height is planned at 15 feet above the cooking floor.
here are a few pictures from day 3 that's today as i am working.
ill add some more pictures of work done by the end of the day in a few hours

[brickie in oz]

Re: Large WFO in India

Your new oven looks divine, Im sure you will get many happy years from it.

It reminds me of my build, only much bigger......

[david s]

Re: Large WFO in India

Your oven looks terrific. What is the purpose of the pipes on the inside, are they extra air inlets or provision for gas burners?

[1 strover]

Re: Large WFO in India

Your oven looks terrific. What is the purpose of the pipes on the inside, are they extra air inlets or provision for gas burners?

U are rite the are provisions for possible future use of gas as our restaurant is in the middle of a reserve forest and an ecosensitive zone, and if tomorrow regulations are tightened against burning wood .
Only two will be used for gas . One wool be used for light and one for an additional temp sensor

[1 strover]

Re: Large WFO in India

as promised here are a couple of pics from the evening we completed closing the rear side and also closed up the front we also started making a form for the chimney to make my life easier . ive made the form out of steel and will keep it in place and let it rot over time .

[1 strover]

Re: Large WFO in India

day four and we finished the everything i can do rite now , i am awaiting the pipes for the chimney which should be here in a few days and the blanket which should be here in a couple of days.
here are a few pictures of the day today, we finished the chimney base on which the pipes will rest, i plan on them being 10 feet high form the top of the bricks which will make them of a total of 15 feet high from the cooking floor
we also did a small pooja (prayer )and asked for blessings , this in generally done for all new machines and equipments we make or acquire

[1 strover]

Re: Large WFO in India

i also did a small test fire which i had to put out after a few minutes as i could see some condensation on the sill just before the vent hood,
but loved the way the vent was drawing up the smoke, just about no smoke was coming back out from the decorative arch.
in the background you see some of my staff who were all very excited with their new oven.
now i need to clean up the extra mortar and coat the whole dome on the outside with thermoset which will plug up any leaks if any and then i will start the insulation work on .

[Aussie Pete]

Re: Large WFO in India

love how this build is looking, at first i thought the front opening was going to be way too small, but looking at it now with you in the picture, it looks really good.
Keep pics coming....(oh yeh, great work)

"i think i heard faintly in the distance....free pizza's for FB members"

[david s]

Re: Large WFO in India

I know it is more difficult to build, but the kiln builders bible "Kilns" by Daniel Rhodes says vaulted kilns of this configuration should have their end walls inside the vault, unless they have steel bracing to prevent the end walls having a tendency to fall outwards. I know this is not a kiln and therefore not subject to the higher temperatures and stresses of a kiln, but are you planning on having any steel bracing to avert this possibility? The length of your vault looks like about
3 m, with thermal expansion of around 0.5% this would be about 25mm of expansion pushing on the end walls.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Large WFO in India

1 strover any more pics of the progress in the build?