We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Wow, what a nice looking job! I'm with Dmun on this one. You already have the entry walls there for a chimney! When I started my oven, I was most worried about constructing the vent and chimney- and you know, it wasn't that bad. If you've already done such a nice job on the rest, you can do a vent and chimney.

You will still get a little smoke out the front right at the beginning of a fire, but after that, it's all out the top of the chimney, not in your face! And less for the neighbor to worry over!

Thanks Elizabeth!

Off to research adding a chimney after-the-fact.

[egalecki]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Wow, what a nice looking job! I'm with Dmun on this one. You already have the entry walls there for a chimney! When I started my oven, I was most worried about constructing the vent and chimney- and you know, it wasn't that bad. If you've already done such a nice job on the rest, you can do a vent and chimney.

You will still get a little smoke out the front right at the beginning of a fire, but after that, it's all out the top of the chimney, not in your face! And less for the neighbor to worry over!

[dmun]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Part of my job is working with machine tools, and I have moved them around successfully. You can rent a lever dolly, sometimes called a "Johnson bar" which is a big pry bar with wheels at the bend. You lift up one side of the assembly with the lever, and slide lengths of 3/4 black gas pipe from HD under the base. It's pretty easy to move even extremely heavy things on a level surface with this method. You use three lengths in succession. When one pipe rolls out the back, you switch it around to the front. You use the Johnson bar to steer the thing, as well as lift it up and down. This is pretty much how they moved the blocks for the pyramids.

The folks who do this for a living, riggers, have a saying: "Gravity always wins." Be careful.

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

dmun, we would love to move it off the patio but the cart is not able to support it. Another prob is that we have a shared walkway and we'd have to (if able) move it into that area. Neighbor on one side is a nosey woman who enjoys complaining about things. (guess we should have thought about her when we got on this ride!)

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

I just went outside and surveyed the fiberglass panels covering the patio.

If you look here, you can see that the framework might allow for a panel to be cut out (upon moving) and replaced with something similar. There is a lot of areas that the panels have broken off so this isn't necessarily a high-end backyard covering. (I am still talking him into staying with the ship!)



I guess it might take buttering up the landlord...

[dmun]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Hey, if the thing was made to move, why not just move it off the patio on to some temporary footings? After you use it a few times, you are going to want to have even a short chimney to keep the smoke out of your face while you cook pizza. Happily, you already have the entry side walls in place to build it up from.

Thanks for the nice comments on the Geodesic. I have a whole bunch of photos about finishing the project that I should put up one of these days. I'm finally putting the ceder shingles on the second story exterior this fall.

[dusty]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

(husband says to say, "it almost feels like putting down a dog over here"

Don't make us cry. Tell him to cheer up and go for the chimney. Can't give up now!

dusty

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Wow, I feel so incredibly stupid right now. HA!!
I say door stop and then I don't get my own reference?

Anyway, yes the cart is being punished... and thanks for the compliment, it IS well built!! He did an awesome job on it (for his first one).

(husband says to say, "it almost feels like putting down a dog over here"

[dusty]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

You said "chimney or door stop".

I say, if not a chimney, then that could stop one heck of a door!

I feel your frustration, but I kinda feel sorry for that cart! That oven appears to be VERY well built.

dusty

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

well, hee hee. That was the plan, it was built on a cart, but it turned out to be too heavy for the "supposed" 1200 lb cart rating. (That cart is no way 1200 lb able, they lied!!).

sorry to be a rube, "stop a bad a$$ door" ??? help me...

[dusty]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

That looks like it could stop one bad a$% door!

Kinda looks moveable. Is it?
If so, the solution seems obvious.

dusty

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Just out of curiosity, are there some woods that smoke less than others? (not that it solves the problem, but just wondering)

...and thanks very much for the offer Dusty. Not sure what we will do (chimney or use it as a door stop?)

EDITED to add: Dmun, we just went through Part 1 & 2 of your geodesic oven, and needless to say we are, um, awestruck.

[mattieandG]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

For elizabeth, this is a pic of it last week in the early cure stage:

[dmun]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

Those "plastic" panels are fiberglass, and I don't think they make them any more. I'd be hesitant to bust one out on the idea of replacing it with something that matched.

You absolutely need a chimney. You can legally slant your chimney thirty degrees off vertical, and have two turns, if that will get you outside the patio enclosure. You need to think about clearance to combustibles: two feet with uninsulated stove pipe, two inches if you use the insulated chimney systems. Your chimney needs to be two feet above anything within ten feet.

You have to be careful here: your landlord's insurance in unlikely to pay for damage from any installation that isn't to code.

[egalecki]

Re: We need help; new WFO, smoke and troubles

I hate it when I push submit early.

Most ovens smoke a lot when you first cure them, by the way. They can still have a lot of moisture in them even when it's been a while since you used the wet stuff. Mine smokes a lot less now than it did at first. So maybe it'll get better anyway.