Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

[deejayoh]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Glad it worked out for you!

That looks like the pdf they link from their firebrick page, right? Should be the right stuff.

http://www.hcmuddox.com/TechData/MSDS%20HC%20Muddox%20Clay%20Brick.pdf

For brick count, check the spreadsheet in my link. Add about 30 bricks for your entryway, and 10% for screwing up. I think you can get by with 200 or fewer. $0.35 is a deal-o-rama

[Gulf]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Just to double check with you guys with more experience with this kind of brick, here's a link to the specs of the bricks that I was quoted for. That look like the right kind of brick to make an oven out of?


its mainly a safety chart but it seems to give the composition of the bricks on the first page if that is useful at all. This should be the dimensions and such of said bricks.

I would call them back, one more time, and ask them if they are low, medium or high duty firebrick. They may not even know that info, but they can tell you if they are sold for residential fireplaces. (Which, they most probably are) At 35 cents, I would jump on them with both feet .

[deejayoh]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

I would call them back, one more time, and ask them if they are low, medium or high duty firebrick. They may not even know that info, but they can tell you if they are sold for residential fireplaces. (Which, they most probably are) At 35 cents, I would jump on them with both feet .

Web page where I got that link says they are low duty, FWIW

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

yeah that link was directly from the webpage. I am going to be calling them again tomorrow to setup a time to pick them up so I will definitely be asking some more questions, what grade firebrick will definitely be 1 of them. I also plan to double check what the quality of their seconds are just to be sure. Anything else I should ask?


So now that it looks like I will be picking the brick up this week I need to start really getting things down on paper as to what I am going to do.

I have seen that the opening of the oven is suppose to be around 61% the height/width of the dome so for a 36" oven that would be 22" wide and 11" tall correct? I have seen a few people make an arch out of their opening so I assume that would be 11" at the tallest part of the arch correct?

I also am getting ready to break ground for the foundation so I need to know how big I am going to want the concrete top that the oven will sit on to be. So I am curious about insulation and such. I plan on using a vermiculite insulation over the brick but have found so many different reports when it comes to how much I need. I have heard anywhere from 2" to 8" which I think is just crazy. My plan is to do 2" of vermicrete underneath the cooking floor and then 3" on the outside of the dome for a total outside dome width of 51" unfinished. I think for the time being I am going to go for a stucco finish and then maybe in the future frame up some walls around the outside and give it a roof like many others have done. Do you see any problems with this amount of insulation? I definitely don't want to skimp on insulation but I don't want the oven to high such a high thermal mass that it takes hours to get up to temp either.

[deejayoh]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

A 36" oven will be 18-19 inches high - so you go for 60-65% of that. Eleven inches sounds about right - but you don't need to make the door a perfect half circle. It's easier to make it with one or more vertical bricks at the bottom. Think about the biggest pan you want to go in and size it so that it will fit. 22" may be good for a big roast or my favorite - a big paella pan. But it also might be overkill. Mine is 11.5 inches high and I think about 20 wide and fits most anything I want.

You'll need more than 2" of vermicrete. At least 4-6 inches. It's not the best insulator, but its cheap. So don't skimp. It will serve you well in the long run. And it doesn't add thermal mass. It keeps the heat in and makes your oven get to temp faster. And keeps it there so you can cook for days.

Pretty sure it is low-duty firebrick which is fine, even preferable in the minds of some builders. As for the quality - if they are chipped or mis-sized it won't matter that much if you are going to cut them in two anyway

Have you downloaded and read the plans from the parent site?

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

The pompeii oven plans? Yeah I have been looking through them. Hmm ok I always thought that the vermicrete added thermal mass. I'll do at least 4" around the dome then. I would assume 2" would be good enough underneath though being that its going to have several inches of concrete beneath that correct? Or should I just go ahead and do 4" underneath the cooking floor as well?


I really like your build Deehayoh and I would like to model mine after yours somewhat. What size platform did you end up building for your oven and enclosure?

[deejayoh]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

I'd do 4-6 underneath as well. Losing heat there is the worst thing, as it will affect your pizza cooking performance! You want that floor to stay hot.

Thanks for the compliment. My oven is 39" and IIRC, the base was 61" wide? 39 for the oven + 9 for the dome + 6 for insulation + 7 for the metal studs on the housing. I used CF blanket, so you can get away with less thickness than is required for vermiculite. Downside is the cost of the stuff.

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Fair enough I will have to take that into consideration when I decided how tall I want the oven floor to be.


Speaking of insulation would anyone happen to have a rough estimate of how many cubic feet of Vermicrete I will need to do a solid 4" covering over and under the entire dome?

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Heres another question I've got: I plan to do a brick chimney coming off the front entry to the oven for a 36" dome what dimensions should the chimney have? I.E how tall, wide, deep. Also could I make the chimney out of red clay solids or would it be wiser to make it out of firebrick?

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Alright so we went down and picked up some bricks from that place in Sacramento. We ended up only getting 200 because that is all we could fit in our Van without wrecking the poor thing, hahaha. Gonna need more for sure but I found out that the same place is willing to sell some seconds of their very nice Red Clay solids in their Monterey bay flashed finish for .45 cents so when I go back down to get the other hundred or so firebrick I will need I will grab 100 or so of those to do some decor work with. I'm pumped!


So we started drawing things out on paper and it looks like we are planning on doing a 56"x66" platform that the oven will sit on. That should give us and inch and a half on either side of the finished oven as well as an inch and a half in the back and about 6 in the front, plus we are going to do a small 3 inch curved counter levered overhang in the front for space to put a few utensils and such. We plan on making the top of the platform about 33" which should give a finished cooking floor height of about 40"


I also did some math and I guestimate needing about 12 Cubic feet of Vermiculite to do the entire thing. sound about right to you fellows?


Still throwing the ideas of the chimney around. I notice almost no one does a brick chimney, seems everyone goes with a round metal pipe instead. Is there a reason for this?


Anyway things are getting close, I am hoping to break ground sometime next week! Woot woot!

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Hey guys been awhile since I've heard from you guys but I've got another question for you. I was offered about 100 used insulation fire brick from a person who is taking down an old high heat kiln she used to run. Im curious if I could use these for my insulation layer underneath my cooking floor.As far an insulator goes How would these compare to doing a 4" layer of vermicrete? They are standard fire brick size so 9x2.5x4.5 so I could stack the brick on edge 4.5 thick or I could double up and do 2 layers of brick layed flat for a total of 5" thick.

So what do you think, should I take her up on that?

[deejayoh]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Yes. Those are great. Lay them on edge and you should have plenty of insulation. There's been at least one build here that did that.

here's an article that compares insulation performance
Refractories

[Randomsteve]

Re: Oven ideas, opinions, facts and experiences

Awesome I will take them up on their offer then and maybe use the extra vermicrete on top of the dome for some extra insulation there.

Looks like we are going to start on the base within the next few weeks weather permitting.