Rocket pot oven

[shuboyje]

Re: Rocket pot oven

When it comes to thermal efficiency the door is an ovens biggest weakness. I personally would not adhere to a 63% ratio for an oven of your style due to the different airflow patter. The smallest door that will serve it's function should be the best one in your situation.

[david s]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Regarding your opening, stick to the 63% rule approximately for door height. My oven is 540 mm (21") internal diam. and has a 400mm x 160 mm opening.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Rocket ovens are pretty efficient, but even with that efficiency they do not put enough raw BTU's into play to make it for heating the mass of a Neapolitan oven to the required temps. If Neapolitan is not your goal, then you need to have a discrete (isolated) mass gauged to your desired use that is heavily insulated. That is well within the realm of a rocket oven, but not 800-1000 degrees sustainable.

[PsychDoc]

Re: Rocket pot oven

I am sitting here enjoying a fine homebrew. One of my better Imperial Stout's I might add. The mortar question is absolutely something I've learned throughout this process fortunately I'm doing it small-scale so I don't screw up a really big oven. My beautiful bride is inside making dough right now and we will throw it on the stone see what happens. It seems that my awesomeness is only surpassed by my humility.

[Wiley]

Re: Rocket pot oven

PsychDoc,
First off, 'tweren't me who commented on your yard. This is basically a benevolent forum and there are members of every ilk, our common interest being WFO's and what can be made in/with them. Haters, flamers, Trolls and such like are rare here. Online every thing we post lives on long past us, I try to keep this in mind when posting and it seems most members are of similar mind.

As for posting multiple photos: You have the window that opened when you selected and clicked on "Manage Attachments" after uploading the first simply click on "browse" again and you will be able to select another file from your computer. I think the limit is five but haven't pushed it that far in a while.

As for size of opening: it would seem to me at a minimum you would need the thickness of the pizza with enough room to see how far along it is in baking. You are in uncharted territory with your oven; in most WFOs the opening is controlled by the opening/ interior dome height ratio/relationship. I would suggest starting with as small as would seem reasonable with the parameters I mentioned as you can always increase the size of the hole... harder to make it smaller. The inside will be dark as you do not have the benefit of a fire by which to observe the pizza. This may be a serious problem especially if you are planning on making pizzas after sundown. At the end of a pizza session I usually have extra pizza skins with which I make calzones. I usually let the fire go out and work using the coals as I don't need as much heat. I use a small flex head LED lamp made for working on a grill. Got mine at Walmart for less than $20. You could probably use a flashlight but that occupies a hand or maybe a head lamp?

Hope this helps,
Wiley

[david s]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Most WFO's have a floor with high thermal mass that is well insulated. Your set up has a thin floor and is uninsulated. Because of this you will probably need to keep some fire going constantly in the rocket stove or cool air will be sucked in and cool the floor from the bottom. You may be able to prevent this partially by blocking off the inlet at the rocket stove, but the low thermal mass from your thin floor will mean it will cool down pretty fast. Regarding your dome I think it is way too high for its diameter. If it were mine I'd be cutting it off at the bottom about where that thicker flange is. I don't think that the rocket stove will be sufficient to heat the dome to the required temp and you will also need to create a fire above the floor. It seems from your pics that you are already trying this. Beware that heating an uninsulated pot with fire is likely to create cracking because of the temp differential between the inside and outside of the pot.nyou can prevent this by insulating the pot with 4" vermicrete.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Some way of baffelling the exhaust to heat up the dome (barrel) would be a way of making a rocket stove pizza oven.
The cooking should come from radiated heat all the way round the food

[Tscarborough]

Re: Rocket pot oven

The cracks in your mortar joints are shrinkage cracks from using too wet mortar. 500 degrees is not going to do you much good, double it, we can talk.

[PsychDoc]

Re: Rocket pot oven

But wait there's more it's a live-action shot of flowerpot Oven 2.0. I thought Gulf might like to see this. The big lump of vermiculite on top is just to cover hole was going to be a chimney earlier.

[PsychDoc]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Over 20 years of education I still can't figure out how to post more than one picture. Oh well. I realize all the black stuff on this is unburned soot. used cheap wet wood which I believe contributed to this condition. I thought it might be good to show you my internal diffuser configuration.

[PsychDoc]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Okay let me see if I can address some of the things of been brought up thus far. Wiley I completely support anybody who believes I should raise my fees. However cracking wise about my yard is just not nice. I agree the idea that a tortilla is not by any means a real pizza. And well, maybe you guys are pizza snobs I felt it was best to go to the experts to get information about ovens.
In my zeal to make a fire I rushed out this morning like a child on Christmas and fired up the stove. It steamed like crazy and eventually developed some cracks. However my internal temperature was up well over 500?.
Clearly patience is not my best suit.
I believe you're right about the one trick pony aspect of the small oven and while I'm more convinced than ever that it's possible to make a woodfired oven that's fed by a rocket stove, There remain some significant hurdles to get over.
The postmortem from this morning's Bernshouse some cracks around the chimney probably due to my lack of masonry skills. The pizza stone and the terra-cotta stone diffuser both survived without incident.

And I'm still waiting for an answer on how small of a door I can make in my pot since I have yet to cut it.

[Wiley]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Great link to the Green Rocket Oven site, thanks Deejayoh!

It would appear that the Green Rocket Oven probably works and well enough for some people. Those of us on this forum will probably admit we are pizza snobs and laugh at the idea that somehow a six inch tortilla can be dressed up to masquerade as a pizza. The photos alone of the pizzas on the Green Rocket site are worth the visit.

Over the years I have been on the forum we have had several ovens that are made of converted Weber grills and chopped and modified ex-propane tanks and such like. Many are quite innovative and show a lot of personal inventiveness and creativity. But IMHO the problem with most of these creations is that they are pretty much all a "one trick pony". Those of us with a more traditional WFO (and I'm being pretty loose here to include WFOs like my own and cob ovens) know that our WFOs are capable of so many tricks. There's nothing I can bake in my home oven that I cannot bake in my WFO, and alot more that I can bake in my WFO better than in my home oven.

In defense of the one trick pony, there are several creations whose portability make the idea of pizza at a tailgate party a lot more interesting. Take away the portability and IMHO they are just a curiosity.

Happy New Year to All!
Wiley

[brickie in oz]

Re: Rocket pot oven

I'm glad to know that your World Tour was a success, was it a trip that you would recommend to a less robust American traverler?

Im not going until our winter, June 2013, it will be too hot out there in summer.

Anyone who is well prepared could make the trip.

[Laurentius]

Re: Rocket pot oven

I think I will! How is it prepared today and what wine would you suggest? By the way, I'm glad to know that your World Tour was a success, was it a trip that you would recommend to a less robust American traverler?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Rocket pot oven

Al,

Leave it up to you to start the NEW YEAR, with words of wisdom. Happy New Year, my friend.

Thank you, thank you very much, while youre here please try the veal.

I will be performing shows here twice daily until 2014....arhuh......