Checking oven dimensions

[zoran]

Hi All, I am a new member and currently building my pizza oven.

I have the foundation base and support finished and hope to complete the hearth slab this weekend - this is the easy bit before I start building the oven itself. I have had a look at various plans etc and wanted to confirm the key measurements.

I intend building my oven with an internal diameter of 1.0 metre and with an internal height of about 600 mm. I understand the dome (vault) opening should be approximately 63% of the oven height ie around 400 mm but I am unsure of the opening width. Similiarily I am unclear of the exterior opening height and width. The Forno Bravo plans use inches rather than metric and whilst I can convert I wanted to make sure I had it right.

Does someone out there know the correct formula for width, height and openings etc and advise me if I wanted to build my oven with a 1.0 meter internal diameter. Your advice would be sincerely appreciated. regards
Zoran

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Checking oven dimensions

Hi Zoran,
Hope I can help (remember, I'm American and therefore severely metric-challenged )

MY oven is 1.06M (42") inside diameter. So, most ovens on this forum that are in the 1M range have basically the exact same opening give or take 25mm(1").

I'm putting the US inches in too so a)I can be corrected and b) this may help others.

Here is what majority did and I've underlined MY oven dimensions I used:

Opening Width: 508-533mm wide (20" to 21" wide)
Opening Height at middle: 280-317mm (11"-12.25")
Opening Height at sides: 21553-228mm (8.5-9" depends how "archy" you want your arch)
Dome Height: 510-533 mm (20"-21") mine is 520 mm

In my opinion, your dome height of 600mm for a 1M diameter (23.5" for 39") is too high. You'll trap too much heat way up there where it's of no use. I would think 500mm dome height (19.5") should be your goal and if you end up a bit over, it's OK. I found the dome height "gets away from you" as you install the brick-rows and it's a challenge to keep to your "squished ellipse" shaped dome. A few people on this forum do a perfect half circle for the dome (I think squishing the half circle down a bit is ideal) but at 600mm, you would have a bit of an 'egg' shape which is not desirable.

I've double checked with many recent builds and most have these proportions for your oven size. Good luck and keep asking questions, we all want to help you out as much as we can.
Cheers, Dino

[david s]

Re: Checking oven dimensions

The opening width is not a crucial dimension, but generally you want it wide enough so you can work the oven easily but the wider it becomes the greater is the heat loss.
The FB plans have worked well for many, suggest you don't deviate too much from them. Usually the oven height is half it's diam (hemisphere) but some have a slightly lower dome.

[zoran]

Re: Checking oven dimensions

Thanks Dino and David,
Appreciate your response and yes you have confirmed some concerns I had with the height measurement - I will stick to what has been proven and aim for about 500mm. Regards for now. Zoran