Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

[Asimmetrico]

Hello all,
greeting to the community. This is my first post here.
I'd like to build a freestanding oven (possibly with weels) like this as an example.

The main requirements are: light and fast heating

After reading a lot on this forum I'm thinking:

- 32 or 36'',
- for the dome use bricks on the flat side not cross (the dome will be 2" thick);
- iron stand
- use Ytong to insulate the Heart (is this the english name for the base? In Italy we call it "platea");

I know that the thermal mass will be not enough for keeping heat for many hours but it should allow me to cook 3 - 4 Kg of bread and should get at Pizza temp (450? celsius) in less than 30 minutes. This is my goal.

There are other things I'd like to confirm but I'll address them later.

What do you think?

Best

Al

[Greenman]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

Hello Al

Welcome to the forum. I am sure that you can produce an oven that will do what you want. I know only about the traditional brick oven that most people on this forum build but quick heat up times usually mean that it will cool quickly as well.

Your question raises a lot more questions about what you intend to build your oven with.

The floor of the oven is called the hearth in english.

I am not familiar with Ytong and you did not indicate what you intended to use for the floor or hearth of your oven.

I am sure that you will get support from others on the forum.

[oblertone]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

I built a Pompei on wheels, works well for my needs.

Paul

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

Steve,

I believe that Ytong is similar to your Hebel in your neck of the woods. A couple builders from the eastern Europe areas used it as their base.

Alex.G thread used Ytong for his base.

[v12spirit]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

I know that the thermal mass will be not enough for keeping heat for many hours but it should allow me to cook 3 - 4 Kg of bread and should get at Pizza temp (450? celsius) in less than 30 minutes. This is my goal.

david s made a rough estimate for heat up time about 1hr per 1" of dome thickness and his ovens saturate after 90 mins from match. I doubt that a 2" fire brick dome will heat up that fast. The Forno Bravo produce two kinds of ovens that heat up very quickly, one is refractory oven that heats up in 20 minutes, and the other is steel that heats up in 15 mins. The first is claimed to hold heat to bake bread in the next morning. I don't know what kind of refractory they use but I'm sure it is a more sophisticated and engineered formula than ordinary fire bricks. I think your 2" fire brick oven will roughly require more than an hour to get to pizza temp. I struggled against heat up time but couldn't beat it without steel. That was my experience when heat up time was a crucial demand, I'm not encouraging you to build with steel.

[Asimmetrico]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

Thanks for the answers.

1. Yes Ytong is similar to Hebel and I'd like to use it to insulate the heart
2. I'd like to use bricks
3. I don't like steel ovens

Do clay bricks take so long to heat up compared to refractory?
I've seen that they sell here clay bricks and other refractory bricks that are not clay based.

Based on your experience, is it there a way to build a quick heating oven or should I purchase a premade dome?

Thanks

Al

[v12spirit]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

I did not mean that refractory is faster than fire bricks, what I meant is that the company may have used an engineered formula for the oven building material so that it achieved an oven that heats up in 20 minutes.
I did not, actually, hear of a brick oven or a refractory oven that heats up that fast. Even the ovens of "david s" that I pointed to in my post (which are refractory ovens) take 90 minutes to saturate as he tells. Some ovens even take 2 or 3 hours to saturate.
I think the estimate of 1 hr / 1" does make sense and it applies to both refractory and fire bricks.
Don't bother with the heat up time, you will be cooking for 2 or 3 or even 4 days from a single firing DEPENDING ON YOUR INSULATION..
Slow heat up time > slow cooling down > multiple day retained heat cooking
Fast heat up time > fast cooling down > less retained heat cooking
You will forget the price of heat up time once you enjoy the retained heat, and you will definitely get used to it. Don't let it block you. Just choose the right medium duty firebricks and INSULATE as much as your budget allows you and let the oven do the rest.

[Greenman]

Re: Freestanding Pompei oven - doable?

I may be wrong but if it heats up quickly it will cool quickly as well. I used brick and the thermal mass that it provides lets me cook for a couple of days as it cools and then more with a quick recharge that takes very little.

Each has their place and it depends on what you want to use it for, quick pizza or longer term cooking.