Le Panyol construction and Stability

[dmun]

Re: Le Panyol construction and Stability

Thanks for that link Mark. Just as a side note, the gentleman to whom that was addressed was building an oven in a commercial bakery, in a desert country without much in the way of firewood.

In a reply, Cajunknight put his finger on the key question for those looking for gas ovens:

Or you could leave out the hassle and find a blodgett on ebay at a fairly reasonable price.

I stand by my statement about backyard gas ovens. If you can get firewood, why would you want one?

[james]

Re: Le Panyol construction and Stability

Here is the standard FB position.
James

Why You Should Not Use a Gas-Fired Oven at Home
We do not recommend gas fired ovens for homeowners for three reasons. First, there are some serious safety issues. Pizza ovens are small and enclosed, and even a small leak can leave enough gas in an oven to be unsafe and capable of exploding. Our commercial gas-fired ovens have very sophisticated burners, controls and shut-offs that minimize risk, and they cost $4,000 by themselves. The scope of the safety problem is very large, with the possibility of a life-threatening explosion.

Second, commercial gas-fired ovens are operated in a commercial setting by professionals. We have concerns about a potentially dangerous gas-fired oven being operated by friends, neighbors or even children. Even if a problem were to never occur, the stress of worrying about oven safety would detract from the enjoyment of owning a pizza oven.

Third, a gas fire has less potential energy than a wood fire, so gas-fired ovens take a long time to heat up from scratch. Gas does a good job of holding a commercial oven at cooking temperature because those ovens never fully cool down. Still, it can take hours for a gas burner to heat up an oven from a cold start -- which is what homeowners do with their ovens. The Forno Bravo wood-fired ovens heat up in about 45 minutes, which is why they are so popular.