door opening size

[william]

Hi
I have been reading allot about oven door opening sizing and the importance of having it large enough for the type of cooking you want to do and that to large reduces your heat holding capability. My question is could you make it as large as you might want but have one or two bricks custom size cut that could stay on each side of the door opening when you don't need that extra width, and when you do just slide then out of the way. They would be there to hold the heat and reflect the heat back in the oven, just movable.
Thanks Bill

[david s]

Re: door opening size

Hi
I have been reading allot about oven door opening sizing and the importance of having it large enough for the type of cooking you want to do and that to large reduces your heat holding capability. My question is could you make it as large as you might want but have one or two bricks custom size cut that could stay on each side of the door opening when you don't need that extra width, and when you do just slide then out of the way. They would be there to hold the heat and reflect the heat back in the oven, just movable.
Thanks Bill

That's a good idea. Insulating firebricks (the really light ones) would be best for this application.

[william]

Re: door opening size

Hi David
Why insulated fire brick , they wouldn't hold the heat
Bill

[david s]

Re: door opening size

Hi David
Why insulated fire brick , they wouldn't hold the heat
Bill

Exactly, you are trying to hold it in aren't you?

[william]

Re: door opening size

Hi
I'm confused, insulted fire brick K26 and the like don't hold heat like the hard fire brick. If you use the same brick you built your oven with for those door brick I spoke of in my thread wouldn't they then act just like the rest of the oven in holding the heat.
Thanks Bill

[david s]

Re: door opening size

That would be true if your intention is to increase the thermal mass to store more heat. But if the bricks are uninsulated you will lose the heat they have stored. If using IFB's you would be reducing the heat loss from the door by reducing its area but not increasing thermal mass.

[william]

Re: door opening size

I do see your point, I was thinking about it for a while after your last response, those bricks would not be part of a insulted oven body
Thanks for you insight
Bill

[v12spirit]

Re: door opening size

That is an interesting idea, but I see the IFBs weak in structure to endure consecutive installing and removing so one may tear them out in a short period of time...

[william]

Re: door opening size

Hi
My idea was to make the opening over-sized and have those brick cut just perfect that they could be slid out of the way if you wanted to say put a wide roasting pan and put back in place for all other cooking, they would line up with the set back for the door so the door could still seal the opening. In reading posts about door size it seems to have been stated many times a door to wide contributes to lose of thermal mass, by keeping these bricks in place and custom cut to say fit nicely but be easy to slide away if you wanted that wide tray in. anyway it was just a thought. I can see that because they are not part of the insulated mass for the oven there might still be heat loss.
Thank for your interest.
Bill

[v12spirit]

Re: door opening size

Yes, and you could more efficiently keep the door with ordinary width and make JUST the two bricks at both sides of the bottom of the door arch movable and replace them with IFBs. This is not easy to achieve because the arch needs buttressing underneath, but I think it is not impossible with some smart tilted cuts or something..