Show us your Door Thread

[djginivisian]

Oven door design and material Choices:

I'm ready to begin the door construction

The back of the door will recess 4" into the oven opening.

To insulate, I am weighing the pros and cons between CFB, Fireblanket, or Foam glass block.

Also considering best gauge stainless to use, with strength, durability and weight being factors.

Will likely have two spring door handles.

Opting not to include a thermometer

Does anyone care to weigh in with some facts & opinions?

[shanxk8]

Started on my permanent insulated door and have been slowly working away at it. I'm sure it will evolve over time, perhaps eventually get replaced.
It still requires some finishing with rustic hardware, but it is more functional than a straight wood door to retain heat. It is 22G plain steel, bent, and attached with machine screws.

[DaveHI]

To report back -- It works well. Obviously more heat loss than a wooden door since steel has such high thermal conductivity, but I think I might make a second door out of hardwood to back it for when I'm trying to hold heat.

It did start rusting here by the beach even with 3-4 coats of high temp clear spray paint on it. Cleaned it up and went to black paint.

[deejayoh]

looks like that Etsy shop makes doors to order based on your specs. Good deal at $125 for those without handy skills, nice find

Its a pretty good price, but for those who are interested in learning to weld - you can buy the same flux-core welder I got at harbor freight for ~$70 after the discount, get some mild grade steel, and go to town. I found the welder on Craigslist so I think I paid $60 for it + a welding mask and gloves.

[madspeed]

looks like that Etsy shop makes doors to order based on your specs. Good deal at $125 for those without handy skills, nice find

[DaveHI]

I made a mess on doors with my first oven in Hawaii. Built the oven and then tried to find someone to make me a metal/insulated door without much luck unless I wanted to spend $600 --nope. My own wood efforts with tile backer worked ok but they tended to fall over when I used them for draft doors and suddenly I had extra fuel.

For my new nat gas oven, I found a guy on Etsy that makes door. Haven't tried it as I'm just now at the last ring/final keystone stage but it looks pretty cool. At least I can't burn it up!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/2746997..._home_listings

[david s]

Thermometers in the door are subject to accidental damage and thermocouples will fail sooner or later. After you have used your oven a fair bit you rely less and less on temperature measurement. Providing my oven is pretty dry I usually use the time taken to fire the thing as a guide to temperature e.g.. one hour of flame for roasting or baking and one and a half to two for pizza. WFO's are also pretty forgiving in regards to temperature. When it starts to smell good it's usually good, If it's not cooked enough put it back in until it is. A cheap oven air temp thermometer placed inside the oven is excellent as is one of those thermometers you stick into the centre of a roast or bread loaf. IR thermometers are good but can give false readings because they are reading surface temperature. They're ok if used after the oven has been sitting unfired for a fair while.

[JRPizza]

Well, I'm afraid the ship has sailed on thermocouples, unless I want to do exploratory drilling into my almost completed dome. Colin, are you saying you mostly use the TC's and the door thermometer isn't as useful for you?

[oasiscdm]

Hi JR

I have thermometer in door and 2 thermocouple insertion tubes on each side of my oven. one tube on each side is 10mm from the inside of the oven the other tube on each side is about 15mm from the outside of the firebrick.

reason is I use either side to cook, I use the temps to determine my equalisation temperature. i use the half way point of the 2 temperatures to determine when I close the door shutting it 50c above the temperature i desire for cooking the following day. Seems to work really well.

[UtahBeehiver]

JR,

My door is without a thermometer. I installed TCs, in the the dome to measure heat saturation but I hardly ever use them now (maybe when I start baking bread it might be different). For the most part I just use my thermo gun to get a ball park temperature similar to what DJ says.

[deejayoh]

Mine is pretty reliably off by 50 degrees F to the low side. It's nice to know at a glance where the oven is, even if it is not 100% accurate.

[JRPizza]

For those that have build their doors with and without thermometers, what are your thoughts? Reading through this thread and the forum, there seems to be a pretty even split between with and without. I have read that air temperature is not the best indicator of how hot the oven is - do those without wish they had them, and are those with glad they have them in their doors?

[deejayoh]

Made my door the same way, only I used stainless steel with 4 inches of ceramic board inside. works very well, my question is have you added a gasket to the back? If so what type of material did you use and any adhesive to hold it on? thanks Campmaki

I just bought some gasket. Same stuff that sevenacre used. But I need to sand down the door and repaint it before I apply. Right now it has too much surface rust from being exposed to the elements for a couple of winters. As 7 says, it has adhesive on it already. "Will not peel or loosen" it says on the package. if it does loosen, I have 15 feet of it!

[RandyJ]

I forgot to post my door here. so here it goes I made my door from 22 gage mild steel for the inside portion of the door and 16 gage for the outside. I wanted to make sure that the outside would be nice and strong. I filled the inside with 4 "of ceramic board. I cut triangle notches in to the steel every 3" for the bottom and every 1.5" for the top. I was aiming for about a 1\8" gap so ot would be a fairly tight fit. And it is . You need to have it lined up just right or it will no fit.

I bent the metal with a sheet metal pliers. That worked out great. It made it easy to get a nice straight bend. Then I pop rivited the bottom to the inside of the door. And shoved the insulation inside then used bar clamps to pull and bend the sides to where I wanted them, and pop rivited it. Repeated the same for the front.

I used 2 4" u bolts for Handel's and so far the have not even been warm to the touch. I also painted the door with high temp spray paint rates for 1200F. It has held up nicely so far.

Randy

[gastagg]

Stainless fabricated by a friend, 2" thick with CalSil board on inside. FB thermometer. Welding hammer handles.

What would I do different? Friend could have used a lighter gauge steel. I should have used ceramic blanket for insulation. The door is way too heavy. I can get it in and out without a problem, but I don't think anyone else in the fam could. Also, I tried to make the tolerances too small and had to shave off some mortar and grind a little bit of brick to get the door in all the way.