The Teeny Tiny Oven Conundrum/Challenge

[mikesuttie]

Greetings everyone, it's been a while since I was on here. I previously built a 32" brick Pompei style oven, which was my pride and joy. But we have since moved into a place with a smaller garden.

I want/need another WFO.

But....

The only viable place for it to go, has very size limited, odd-shaped footprint. I might be able to get an oven capable of 2 small pizzas - which is fine. I'm thinking maybe barrel style or an odd egg-shaped dome.

Take a look at the available footprint......once you've finished laughing, I'd love to hear some suggestions or design ideas!

Many thanks to all in advance. I remember how eternally grateful I was for this forum with my last build.

[UtahBeehiver]

I would look at at David S threads, our cast expert. He builds small cast ovens commercially. With a cast oven you can get by with 2" walls of dense refractory. His ovens are in the mid 20 ID range and he has no problems cooking a couple pizzas. Smaller ovens means faster heat up and less wood. You don't say which way you the oven opening will face.

[david s]

Greetings everyone, it's been a while since I was on here. I previously built a 32" brick Pompei style oven, which was my pride and joy. But we have since moved into a place with a smaller garden.

I want/need another WFO.

But....

The only viable place for it to go, has very size limited, odd-shaped footprint. I might be able to get an oven capable of 2 small pizzas - which is fine. I'm thinking maybe barrel style or an odd egg-shaped dome.

Take a look at the available footprint......once you've finished laughing, I'd love to hear some suggestions or design ideas!

Many thanks to all in advance. I remember how eternally grateful I was for this forum with my last build.

Given that it takes longer to prep a pizza than it does to cook one, most folk only cook one pizza at a time anyhow. As you suggest, a barrel or oval oven could fit in that space. The advantage of a cast oven is that the walls can be be made thinner to save width. The usual thickness is 50mm but you could probably still safely go down to 35mm. My ovens are on a footprint of 910 x 910mm with an internal diameter of 540mm. Not sure about you constraints re space, but if the sides present problems of being able to work around the outside of the oven you might be able to save some space by building an enclosure rather than an igloo.

[mikesuttie]

Thanks for the suggestions, I was going to go for a cast oven for this reason. Also, I just don't like working with bricks after the last build!

The front is the 75cm edge. Going to get on CAD and see what I can produce.

Mike

[Petter]

Mine has a similar footprint of 60x100 cm. Have about 100 pizzas so far and works very well.

https://community.fornobravo.com/for...on-metal-stand

[MarkJerling]

Maybe you need an egg sort of shape?

[mikesuttie]

Hi Mark, thank you for the input! This is something I've also tried to design. The circle inside represents a 12" pizza! So it'll be a one at a time job.

I'm going to lay foundations and crack on. Failing to plan is planning to fail, but with this one I think a general idea followed by some tenacity might work.

[MarkJerling]

I can add some dimensions to the ellipse I've drawn. 2x 11" pizzas will work, but most of us only cook one pizza at a time anyway. I think, looking at your drawing, your entry arch need not be nearly so deep.

[Petter]

Sorry to say, but to me, it looks like a very close fit. At least I don't have the skills to rotate the pizzas a few cm from the coals and flame. The proximity will also burn the side facing the heat source. You need to place it further away or use a flame deflector.

[mikesuttie]

And so begins the micro oven project. I will update when the hearth is completed and decorated. Not leaving the decorating bit till last this time as I just never got round to it once the oven was functional!

Im also going to have a slight overhang on one section of the hearth to get a 75cm (exterior) dome in. It’ll be tight!

Obligatory photos of hole dug and concrete filled. I might start a new micro oven build thread to follow progress once the base is done. But this gives an idea of the space I’m limited to!

[w650gb500]

Are there local building codes which state how far you can build from an adjacent property? My concern with your placement would be how close to multiple combustible surfaces your oven will be and the type of oven you are building. From a liability standpoint, I would be careful with the heat it might generate, the proximity to the wood fences and certainly installing a spark arrestor in the chimney cap.

[mikesuttie]

Noted thank you!

[mikesuttie]

I’ve managed to get to the sandcastle stage ( build photos to come) but I’m having a slight issue with the dome dimensions.

The internal diameter is 62cm, I went with a 35cm dome height, 22cm opening height. I went with a disproportionate height as I thought reducing it to scale would not allow enough air to circulate the fire. However, after building the sand cast it looks way too high!

Sorry, the photo isn’t that clear! Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there a height-diameter formula (other than using radius for height as with a sphere)

[MarkJerling]

That looks good to me. 22cm opening height vs 35cm height sounds like a good mouth to height ratio of 65%.