Barrel vault oven dome direction?

[bchaseluv]

Greetings Guys and Gals,

We have two ovens joined by a middle wall inside a box truck. We are going to be using coal to fire these ovens and you can see the coal box for the inside oven in lower left corner of picture. We will start fire using wood then place coal inside and regulate flame with fan mounted to outside of coal box pushing air through oven and regulating draft with a lever hooked up to the flue pipe. What im asking is it ok for the direction of the dome for the inside oven to be north to south instead of the traditional east to west? If we are to do this I believe we need to add an extra wall to help carry two dome going in different directions. Please correct me. thanks again

Regards,

Chase

[Polo]

Re: Barrel vault oven dome direction?

I don't think that the direction of the arches will make any difference. I've seen examples of arches running either way. Your flue placement will be much more important.

[dmun]

Re: Barrel vault oven dome direction?

We don't have much actual experience with ovens with an external fire box. Please keep us posted about how it works out.

[bchaseluv]

Re: Barrel vault oven dome direction?

The firebox is integrated into the oven. The coals will be placed on a metal grate level with the oven floor. Yea I definitely will keep you all updated this design is based on frank pepes (new haven,ct), sallys (new haven,ct), and a little bit of first and last tavern (hartford,ct) all legendary coal pizza establishments open. Polo where have you seen these designs any references? Also where you recommend flue placement in this type of barrell dome design? Im open to all ideas and comments. thanks everyone

[azatty]

Re: Barrel vault oven dome direction?

I'd be interested to see how it works, too. It looks a lot like a smoker. Coal fired with a fan...sounds like you'll be able to forge iron with it!

On your barrel vault question, remember that the wider the open span, the higher the arch must be to prevent it from failing (or you need buttressing). With overhead space constraints, it could be an issue that would affect which direction you run it. Also, I assume the vault will be heavily cladded. In that case, I'd pay attention to the shape of the arch because it'll be carrying a heavier load than is typically placed on our domes.

[shuboyje]

Re: Barrel vault oven dome direction?

If it were my oven my number one concern would be the lack of insulation between the two chambers. If you are only running one of the oven chambers that wall will pour heat into the unheated chamber. I know coal ovens generally run at much lower temperatures then wood fired ovens with much longer bake times, but even is you are able to maintain temperature with the forced air system and all you would be wasting fuel.