how much wood ?

[eran]

hey everyone,
i'm new to the forum and want to say hi and thanks ahead to everyone
i have been in the restaurant world for a long time now and always used gas pizza ovens, now after i took a few years break i'm planing a new pizzeria and want to move to wood.
btwn many things i wonder how much wood is used in a large oven, 12 hour day,900 F plus heating time ?
thanks

[eran]

any answer will be appreciated
from any of you nice people that use a pizza wood oven.
manby thanks

[Gulf]

Hi Eran,

Welcome to the forum. Here is a very old discussion that my be helpful. It has a link to a wood consumption pdf. used for estimates.

[eran]

Hi joe,
Thank you very much for your reply and welcome,
I'm really trying to hear some opinions from people that run a oven all day on a daily base and for some reason can't get answers anywhere
I see that you have build a beautiful 44 oven, can you say what is your wood consumption?
How many 12 inch pizza can you put in at once ?
Thank you for your time
Eran

[SableSprings]

Eran, it's difficult to answer your question of "How much wood?" without a little better idea of the oven size you are considering. It's also important to know how well the oven is insulated to determine how much wood it will take for daily operation. Many restaurants with a WFO that I have visited keep a 575F-625F (300-330C) cooking floor temp and use a longer cooking time on their pizzas. Although a higher temp can create a crisper pie, the lower temp gives a busy operator a little better control and allow for a more even bake on pizzas with more toppings. Again, another factor on the "how much wood?" issue.

Here's a link to a post by the owner of an 81" (206 cm) diameter oven in Kentucky that speaks to your question.

https://community.fornobravo.com/for...954#post148954

Following that thread, post #180 and #188 also have interesting information about the running of this business. (It's unfortunate that Photo Bucket stopped their free service...certainly made it difficult to see the build pictures--via his signature links--if you don't have a Facebook account. ) You might want to send a personal message or post on the thread to ask more specific questions of him.

Hope this along with the pdf document (Gulf noted in post 4 above) gives you the information you need.

[david s]

A WFOs fuel consumption is dependant on a number of factors, so is not easy to calculate or estimate. The main ones are thst consumption will be directly related to oven chamber volume. Secondly the consumption rises as the temperature increases. Thirdly, the tempersture rise is dependant on how thick the floor and walls are, as well as how much insulation surrounds the oven to prevent heat loss. Also the density and moisture content of the fuel will affect consumption, as will the moisture level in the oven itself.
i did a test with my mobile oven years ago by weighing the wood before and after firing and deducting before and after measuremrnts to obtain fuel used. From ambient to interior turned white which took 1.5 hrs the fuel used was 4 kgs. I did not continue the measurement to see how much was used per hr to maintain this temp. My oven is 21" in diam which is 2425 cu inch chamber volume. Hope this helps you, but i suspect not as every oven will be different.

[eran]

Hi guys,
Thanks for all the information ,
I'm new to the forum and it's great, there's so much great info here and you guys are very helpful
I think about building a 48 low dome Neapolitan WFO for a new pizzeria I'm planning to open in a few months.
I guess i will know real wood consumption only when I'll start doing it myself.
Thanks
Eran

[windage]

Eran...it's been several years since you posted, did you get your shop built and open? Hope so...by now you have figured out the wood consumption issue. I built and run the 81 incher in KY, We are open Wed thru Sat night..we don't feed the fire after close on Sat night, brick up the opening. On Monday night or Tues morn, I place half a wheelbarrow of wood and paper in the oven, that gets lit Tue after noon. I feed the other half wheelbarrow of wood in Tue PM, and brick it up. I feed more wood in on wed morn and at noon, half a wheelbarrow each time. After we open on Wed, the routine will consume 2 wheelbarrows a day to keep heat up and bake pizza. WE can go through a pickup truck of wood in 3 to 4 weeks

[UtahBeehiver]

Windage, fyi Eran's post from 2018

[windage]

Windage, fyi Eran's post from 2018

yes, the post date is right on the posts.....that is what I meant when I started by saying...'it's been several years'......etc..we never heard back from him in the forum...hope he got his shop open and has surely figured out his wood burn by now, ha ha..