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Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

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  • Tscarborough
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    And a barrel vault, with coals and flame on one side, has a line the length of the oven.

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  • Neil2
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    A hemisphere has a single focus point = the centre.

    An ellipse has two, or in 3 dimensions a ring.

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  • shuboyje
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    To me the big difference is a lower dome oven can be run hotter. The low dome will cook the top fast enough that you can keep your hearth temp up without burning. My oven has a 13" dome. I can run at a 1000F hearth temp and kick out 40 second pies all day long. If I bring the temp down below 900 the top can actually cook too fast. That heat and speed isn't critical for great pizza but for the style I like to make it works very well and gives awesome oven spring

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  • david s
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    The lower dome reduces the chamber volume and hence the size of the fire which would result in a slower heat up. In practice I don't think it makes much difference, they all cook well.

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  • olddude
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    seems to me it goes like this the lower dome cooks a (better) pizza
    because the top is closer to the pizza but the higher ovens reatin more heat from the wood using less wood also get hotter faster

    So i have sloved the problem well not me but someone did here it goes make a high dome oven
    cook pizza then lift pizza up for say a count of 5- 10 to char top note this is not allways needed but there if needed know you have a round oven with a high dome to hold the heat in from the fire longer. starts faster uses less wood.

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  • Neil2
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    "I think there's a certain amount of Neapolitan snobbery in the flat dome."

    Yes indeed. Those of us with elliptical ovens (dome height = 85% to 90% of diameter) defiantly look down with scorn at you hemisphere fellows.

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  • Tscarborough
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Only if there is no fire and you place the pizza directly below the keystone.

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  • karl
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Hi dmun

    Sure, me too. Proves that "most efficient" can be interpreted in many ways. Most convenient, least challenging, heat up time, best baking result ....... From the perspective of even heat distribution to a pizza the flat dome intuitively should give the best (most even) result.

    karl

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  • dmun
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    For pizza it would be a flat dome?
    A LOT of us here are successfully cooking pizza in hemispheric domes.

    I think there's a certain amount of Neapolitan snobbery in the flat dome. They make a good pizza, but the horizontal forces create more of an engineering challenge than the hemisphere.

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  • karl
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Originally posted by david s View Post
    Remember too that the most efficient combustion chamber is the hemisphere. Any departure from it is a compromise. It's like boats, there is no perfect form. The form you choose is a compromise to suit your needs.
    For pizza it would be a flat dome?

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  • fxpose
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Glosta, if you are shooting for a 22" dome you can cut out a dome profile template out of cardboard, for instance, and make adjustments to your I-tool to the template at every course level. By following the template you're guaranteed to end up at your desired dome height, or at least come very close.

    George

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  • Glosta
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    George Thank you for the quick reply. Yes I am using an I-tool. Its the magnetic door stop attached to threaded rod with turnbuckle for adjustment. It produces fairly consistent measurements but the spring loaded magnets introduce some slop.

    Door height is 12 inches, so I was shooting for the 22 inch interior dome. My soldier course consisted to three chains laid on the flat, vertically with no pitch. I should have started the pitch on second chain. This would have picked up ten degrees. I was initially using 3/8 inch wedges but pitch was not rising quick enough. This morning used a 3/4 inch wedge on sixth chain. This looks better. I will probably cut a 1 inch pitch into the next chain to avoid large mortar joint. Thanks again for the help.

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  • fxpose
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Glosta, what are you using as a gauge to pitch each course, such as the I-tool or a form of some sort? The entry and dome height should both be predetermined for the most part, first by deciding on dome height, then determining your entry height, at least before you start laying courses.

    George
    Last edited by fxpose; 07-21-2010, 05:27 PM.

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  • Glosta
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    David S: I am wrestling with the optimal door height to dome height ratio. All over FB forum 63% is recommended & builders seem to desire a low dome height. One of your past posts contends "THE MOST EFFICIENT COMBUSTION CHAMBER IS THE HEMISPHERE" I am building a 42 inch Pompei with a 20 x 12 door entry. I kept the first three rings flat and vertical. However I am now on the sixth ring and the dome is only pitching in to a 39 inch diameter. I am raising each ring about 1/2 inch at the outside. But it appears at this rate I will end up with a higher dome--maybe 28 inches? Will this pose a cooking or heating problem? The FB manual states there are many WFO with higher domes. How is the performance? Why is there a repeatedly stated desire for the low dome height?? Should I agressively increase the chain pitch with a 3/4 inch rise at outside?? Any input would be appreciated. Thank you.
    Last edited by Glosta; 07-21-2010, 04:56 PM. Reason: spelling

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  • david s
    replied
    Re: Neapolitan oven - lower dome height

    Shuboyje,
    I think you are are correct in yor assessment of the situation regarding the heat radiation. Probably the main advantage of the hemisphere apart from its inherent stability is its superior shape as a combustion chamber. Remember the Chrysler hemi heads?

    Leave a comment:

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