Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

[Lburou]

Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Happy to find this old thread!

My ratio is .759

Its high, but being an old Bell UH-1 helicopter pilot, my back hurts most all the time anyway....Why aggrevate it having to bend over to work/look in the oven? Arms are still strong, back is weak

My hearth height is 50 7/8 inches tall. At the current height of about 5' 7", (I used to be 5' 9") that oven floor height seems comfortable given my age and conditions

I'll make the oven landing a bit shallower and use long handled tools to compensate for the higher oven height.

[cvdukes]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

CJ's tall customer had a .61 ratio. And if I was using that Modena commercial it would be at .65, higher for shorter help!

It looks like we're running into an average ratio in the low .5's to the mid .6's so far.

What we need to hear from are unhappy customers....Is anyone willing to admit that their hearth height is too low or too high? What about ratio's below .5 or above .65?

Or are WFO users just so happy having a oven like me that they're glowing on cloud 9.

Just went out and measured my pizza oven hearth... Since I never planned for others to be cooking out there, I built it for me. The hearth is at 59 inches, which makes my ratio right at .75 One consideration I had in building it that high was that I wanted to make the smoker oven underneath it big enough for a full pig if I ever to the point of smoking one. It doesn't seem too high for me, I still have to bend slightly to see into the back of the oven.
Even though I planned to all the cooking, my wife ended up doing some of the pizzas at the last party, Ratio for her is .85!...i heard some griping from her, but the pizzas went in and came out okay.

[thebadger]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Right now I'm at 36 for the hearth

3.5" for instulation hearth
2" Iso
2.5" Brick

So that should get my oven height to ~44" I"m 5'10" so my ratio would be .62. At first I thought 40+ would be too tall for the opening but I think I'll like the higher height.

Dick

[Bacterium]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

broomstick....mmmmm yeah there has to be a simple way to it.....although a bit of science to verify

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

CJ's tall customer had a .61 ratio. And if I was using that Modena commercial it would be at .65, higher for shorter help!

It looks like we're running into an average ratio in the low .5's to the mid .6's so far.

What we need to hear from are unhappy customers....Is anyone willing to admit that their hearth height is too low or too high? What about ratio's below .5 or above .65?

Or are WFO users just so happy having a oven like me that they're glowing on cloud 9.

[gjbingham]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Is someone going to develop a questionnaire about Hearth Height/Operator Ratio ratio (HH/OR) and satisfaction with that height? Perhaps we can come up with an ideal HH/OR to shoot for when building.
(That's not whore, though it sounds the same )
G>

[RTflorida]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

44"/71" for me...works out to .62 which is right at my elbow.....I think that was my original goal, having read it somewhere on FB over a year ago.

RT

[CanuckJim]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Bacterium,

This is an interesting thread. I ask my customers to hold out a broomstick at a comfortable level, then work from there. Most hearth heights turn out to be around 44" for people of average height, although I did an install for a man who is 6'6", so the working height was close to 48". My own oven is around 42" at the hearth, and I sometimes wish it was a bit higher. It's interesting to note that the floor height on the Modena commercial ovens is just over
47". No adjustment without changing the stand.

Jim

[Bacterium]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

my ovens 38inches and I'm 69inches tall = .55 ratio
I'm pretty comfortable with it - can see the oven rear with out bending down and arms are at a comfortable level

Ideally you could try someone elses before you build yours. For me (at the time)I had some scrap strip steel floating about and used this to work it out. I gave it to Pete to work out his......opps I forgot to file some of the sharp edges though

[Acoma]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

RC, I am close.
36" with blocks
3" insulation board
2.5" bricks

Formula 41.5/ 72= .58

Sounds good for me. But my wife is 41.5/ 66= .63

[RCLake]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

My floor is at 39.5" so my ratio is .56, haven't started cooking yet so I can't tell you what it is like. Soon

[Frances]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Why thank you, George! Yours is in pretty good condition, too

Does you good to laugh, eh?

[gjbingham]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Funny Frances! I like your sense of humor.
G.

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

maybe I should have got an arts degree instead of a science degree eh?

[Frances]

Re: Hearth Height and operator ratio science!

Its the height of your hearth divided by your size - works in inches or cm and comes to 0.somethingorother, which gives us an exact number to compare.... (what with poeple's arms and elbows etc being of different lengths and in different places)

I don't think they will have taught this when you were at school though, because "Hearth Height and Operator Ratio Science" is a relatively new field of study as yet. But I think I can predict without much fear of contradiction that it will soon become one of the supporting pillars of future oven building research...