Dome vs tunnel

[jfd]

So I am curious about the advantages and disadvantages of a dome oven vs a tunnel(if thats and accurate description.)

I am in the early stages of designing an outdoor kitchen and want to include a wood fired oven but want the unit to be very versatile. Any thoughts? I get the idea of a dome providing even heat but for all types of cooking would I be doing myself a disadvantage by not exploring a tunnel? Not to mention the build looks way faster!

Thanks

[jfd]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

Ok I guess I missed the post about why pizza ovens are round in the newbie forum.

[Greenman]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

Tunnels might be a little easier but I like the dome, just does it for me for versatility. There are devotees of both but the tunnel fans are mostly bread makers.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

G'day
I'm lucky I have a good mate that has a tunnel oven. I help him, chop wood flash up and feed the oven, cook food , but its all under his direction. He is the master of that thing and I might add a good cook.
He has used my oven once and he definitely doesn't understand mine as much as his own. I think he likes to relax around mine and enjoy the food without the work.
With a tunnel oven the fire naturally end up at the far end and the food at the front. To add more wood it involves either removing the food to feed the fire or tossing it over the food to the far reaches of the oven .
I like my own as I can set the fire to either side and still be able to move food as you want , or feed the fire without moving or tossing wood over it.
With pizza the fire at the side means you can see if a pizza is burning on its side not the back were you can't see.
Off course a tunnel oven is easy to build but a dome oven is too. Mine was not built with a brick saw and fancy cuts. Its simple 1/2 and 1/4 bricks and mortar and has been up and burning now for nearly 4 yrs.
Anyway this is how I see it , if we're to build again a dome shape, but the important thing is that you build yourself an oven regardless.
Whichever shape high dome, low dome, pear shape or full tunnel you will make the thing work as long as its insulated
Regards dave

[v12spirit]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

G'day
I'm lucky I have a good mate that has a tunnel oven.

Hi dave
May you post some pics for your oven?

[Tscarborough]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

You still put the fire on the side in a barrel vault, not the back.

[boerwarrior]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

I started out with the intention of building a tunnel oven... and then shifted to a Pompeii after discovering this forum. I still have an unused Brickwood oven foam form and instructions that I could make you a great deal on - but I am honestly not sure I could recommend that style of oven.

My build is here: http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/3...nia-19283.html

[boerwarrior]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

P.S. Where in California are you? We have a big state here!

[cobblerdave]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

You still put the fire on the side in a barrel vault, not the back.

Gday Tscar
Its been a long time since I've read you oven build but I do remember its more square than oblong. Which now I'm thinking, perhaps we should use the term "arched oven" rather than "tunnel oven".
It had some other features that set it apart from the normal, the back wall was partly rebated into the arch to give it strength and flexibility.
You should set a link so that members can see you oven build.
G'day V12
A lot of members have a link to the ovens at the bottom of thier posts, mines there. Took a number of years to complete due to a hand injury. I'm not just lazy

Regards Dave

[Tscarborough]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

It is 22"x36" barrel vault. I normally make 14" or 16" pizza, so there is plenty of room for the fire on the side, although you do have to pay attention. I also offset the door opening to the right which helps.

Outdoor Kitchen

You can say that one style oven is better for one style pizza, but I think it is a matter how you cook, not what you cook in. I have cooked in round ovens, and for a commercial application making ANY kind of pizza a round oven is superior, but not so much in a home oven.

Various styles made in my WFO:

Random pizza - Imgur

[stonecutter]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

Gday Tscar
Its been a long time since I've read you oven build but I do remember its more square than oblong. Which now I'm thinking, perhaps we should use the term "arched oven" rather than "tunnel oven".

For term usage.....

I've read somewhere that barrels vaults can be called tunnel vaults, but that term isn't common....I can say I've never heard any mason I know describe one as such. Vaults...barrel, pointed ( gothic ) to name a couple....are a series of arches, but so are domes. So saying arch vault doesn't distinguish one from the other correctly. A vault will be longer or deeper than it is wide...that is a characteristic of a true vault.

For for continuity, and as Tscar mentioned....it's a barrel vault.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Dome vs tunnel

G'day
Barrel vault sound a better term all round
Regards dave

[narcosi]

Just started my barrel vault build here: https://community.fornobravo.com/for...-oven-build-uk

the more help i can get the better.

thanks all