42'' or 48'' oven?

[Jan]

Hi!

I'm new here and first of all I would like to say that this site is realy a life saver. I couldn't get good info on WFO anywhere else.

now for the important part

1. I am going to build a WFO and would like to know if there is a big difference in the time needed to heat up a 42'' compared to a 48'' oven (if hypothetically they were built and insulated the same? (just a rough estimate maybe? are we talking about 5 or 30 minutes?)

2. In Europe the standard brick size is 25cm (10''). Shuld I cut the bricks in half (would that make too much thermal mass?)or would it be better to cut them in thirds and coat it with a layer of refractory mortar?

Thank you for your help.

[asudavew]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

My oven is a 42", and I have no experience with a 48".
My oven takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to reach proper pizza cooking temps.
Mine seems to be on the high end of the scale compared to others.
If mine was a 48", my best guess is I would require another 30-45 minutes.

Why the interest in a 48"? There are times I wish I would of built the 36". (For faster heat up times.)

But, let me tell you what I can fit in my oven.... at Thanksgiving, I had a turkey(17lb or so), a ham (10lbs), 2 dozen rolls (in muffin pans), an acorn squash, and a pan of dressing in my oven-- All at the same time!

These suckers are big!

I hope this helps some.

DAve

[Dutchoven]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Jan
48 inches really gets close to commercial sizes. If it is a backyard oven I feel the 42 inch would be the right size. The brick should be split in half at least...5 inches is not much more in the way of thermal mass than the 4.5 inches or so we would see in the US...you would also have the option of splitting it in thirds giving you just over 3 inches thickness...a thought!
Dutch

[gjbingham]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Are you considering a community oven? 48 inches is pretty large for a personal oven, at least in my opinion.

[asudavew]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Wut up George?

[dmun]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

I'm pretty euro-aware, and I had to look where Slovenia is. (It's the northern tip of the former Yugoslavia) Welcome.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but oven mass varies by the square of the diameter, so 42 to 48 is a pretty big jump. As folks have said, that's a commercial oven, hot all the time, so heat up from cold is not so much of an issue.

[Jan]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

42'' it is

[asudavew]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

42'' it is

Excellent choice!

[Inishta]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Hi Jan..............welcome to the Forno Bravo forum. My oven is 1.2 mtrs or 47.25 inches. I tend not to force heat up too fast as I'm aware that it is still curing even now. I can get it up to 'white dome' stage in about 2 hours but I imagine that with a 'scarey' fire it would be faster. Also my oven does not benefit from state of the art insulation. No cal-sil or refactory products which would probably reduce your heat-up times. It is very much a traditional Turkish build.

As far as size is concerned, unless you are catering for really large numbers a 42 would be ample. I have done a full meal for 30 in the oven with lots of room to spare. Dmun is correct...........a 1200 mm (47") oven is approx 25% larger in volume compared to a 1066mm (42")

I am not yet up to speed on pizza but I imagine that even a 42" would require a full time assistant

42" seems the sensible choice.

[Jan]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Now that the question of size is out of the way...
What do you think about the brick?
Do you think it would be better to have a 3'' brick (split it in thirds) and an aditional inch of refractory mortar or a 5'' brick?
Is 5'' to much, will it noticeabley afect the heating time?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the help.

[dmun]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

I think you are going to have a stronger oven if you go with the half brick. My oven is very thin, the bricks are laid up on edge, and I don't think it noticably reduces heat-up time.

Even 42" is pretty big for a home oven. The thicker shell will distribute forces better.

[gjbingham]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Jan,
What brick sizes are you speaking of? Length, width, height? Don't wan't to steer you wrong with a bad answer. Dmun is always right, but your question was a bit vague about 3 inch brick. I looked up Slovenia as well on Mapquest. I was thinking Slovakia, but quickly realized I was off course.

Dave! Glad to hear your voice. What's cooking bud?

[Jan]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Sorry about that, I forgot the most important info

The standard brick here is 6x10x25cm that would roughly be 2''x4''x10''.

About the Slovenia / Slovakia thing... Used to it, I travel all over the world and I would say that probably 80 or 90% of non-europeans make that mistake.

[gjbingham]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

Yup! Dmun's got it. Cut them in half!

[Frances]

Re: 42'' or 48'' oven?

I used European sized bricks and cut them in half. Works great!

I didn't put any cladding on the oven dome, so the thermal mass is probably about the same as on other ovens in the end.