Pedicab Tricycle Oven

[pizzaholic]

Hey All!

So Ive been building wood fired ovens and doing wood fired pizza for several years now. We have a mobile wfo..steel domes..inspired and directed by this very forum! Well, its time to build another and instead of building another big oven I am thinking about building a light weight bicycle version.

I have a 30 inch steel dome that probably doesnt weigh more than 80 pounds. I dont think that much mass (if any) will be necessary because it is just for pizza. Ive heard about a vermiculite board or lightweight foam insulation that might be perfect to lay the hearth bricks on top of.

Im working with a bike manufacturer in the Seattle area that has built many a pedicab/rickshaw bikes. It isnt going to need to move too much..the idea is cheap mobile ovens that dont need a huge production to get from one spot to the other for insurance purposes and being in several spots at once..lower flow pizza production in several spots.

We are going to use an electrical assist to make sure it can get up hills if need be..of course I want to be able to load it in the back of a truck if need to be transport that way.

Im just beginning the design process and really trying to figure out if it makes sense to do this or just build another 48-62" hearth oven on a trailer.

Im going to post the progress and Id love any advice yall might have.

Mark

[david s]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

How do you plan on getting around the health and safety issues?
I'm thinking of sinks and moving a hot oven. Even with a steel dome there will be considerable weight involved with all the other paraphernalia including wood to fire the thing. Hope ther are no hills in your town. Bike brakes are usually a joke.

[hodgey1]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

If this plan comes together, I cant wait to watch the progress! Seems like there are alot of issues but please keep us posted.

[pizzaholic]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

Health and Safety issues? I'm not sure what you mean by that. Think about a pedicab in san francisco with 4 people coming down a hill..disc brakes is what I think they use..in terms of these logistical issues the bike company that I am working with has built many pedicabs and is confident the weight wont be an issue. 500-600lbs on a pedicab is not rare. They are built specifically for it. Weight seems to be big issue so I am accounting for every pound I can down to the dusting flour and peel.

For the dome I dont even think I will clad it. I think that I am going to do a perlite refractory and then maybe piece together aluminum or some other light weight metal on top of that. To keep heat in so that if someone comes up and touches the oven they dont burn themselves.

The idea is also that this oven can "live" at the drive in movie theatre and local pubs where wood storage is possible and where I can get water. Or I bring those things to the oven. I just need ovens that I can park that arent double axle trailers. I hope that I can bike one of these things 100 miles but that isnt the primary goal right now. I need more ovens, low overhead, style, that can be locked up and tucked away.

What is the name of the foam insulation board that people put their hearths on?

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

What about legal food handling requirements ?
Hand basin,temp control? etc.,

[pizzaholic]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

Im married to the head of the health department.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

That doesn't help the unsuspecting customers you may poison.

[Laurentius]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

Health and Safety issues? I'm not sure what you mean by that. Think about a pedicab in san francisco with 4 people coming down a hill..disc brakes is what I think they use..in terms of these logistical issues the bike company that I am working with has built many pedicabs and is confident the weight wont be an issue. 500-600lbs on a pedicab is not rare. They are built specifically for it. Weight seems to be big issue so I am accounting for every pound I can down to the dusting flour and peel.

For the dome I dont even think I will clad it. I think that I am going to do a perlite refractory and then maybe piece together aluminum or some other light weight metal on top of that. To keep heat in so that if someone comes up and touches the oven they dont burn themselves.

The idea is also that this oven can "live" at the drive in movie theatre and local pubs where wood storage is possible and where I can get water. Or I bring those things to the oven. I just need ovens that I can park that arent double axle trailers. I hope that I can bike one of these things 100 miles but that isnt the primary goal right now. I need more ovens, low overhead, style, that can be locked up and tucked away.

What is the name of the foam insulation board that people put their hearths on?

Ceramic Fiber board.

[david s]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

I'm enjoying this thread and want to hear more.

[pizzaholic]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

That doesn't help the unsuspecting customers you may poison.

Don't worry. I buy frozen pizza from Costco and bake it in my wood fired oven and then use tongs to serve it. I never touch the pizza and I bake at over 800 so I'd say its fairly safe..

[Tscarborough]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

That sounds like a lot of work for frozen pizza.

[david s]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

Im married to the head of the health department.

In Australia the handling of money before the handling of food is illegal, without hand washing in between. This would preclude taking money and prepping a pizza. Maybe things are different where you live, you should ask your wife, but it may mean you need two operators. Surely you'd need some kind of hand washing facility anyway.

[pizzaholic]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

Thanks for the concerns I got the pizza part of the equation nicely dialed at this point. I'm hoping for some ideas on....

How much if any mass should I use.

Firebricks vs soapstone floor. Soapstones high conductivity means less wood and potentially easier baking of pies but it may crack easier than firebrick..maybe use the thinner firebrick?

I plan on welding 4 posts to hold poles that are packed under the oven to make a small roof over oven and baker(s). I was thinking of making the structure with sail canvas or something similar. Any thoughts?

Any ideas on how to make it as lightweight as possible would be appreciated also!

[david s]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

I was concerned about weight when I designed my little 21" mobile oven as I wanted it to be able to roll on and off my trailer. I pinched weight fr om here and ther and managed to get the weight down from 250kg to 170kg excluding the trolley the oven sits on. By replacing heavy aggregates with lighter ones I was able to reduce the weight substantially. Unfortunately doing this also reduces strength and a mobile oven requires more strength than a stationary one because masonry does not like bumps and vibration. The weakest point in my build and the one that is creating the most trouble is the supporting slab which I used Hebel(AAC) for. It is 70 mm thick and contains 5mm steel rods cast into the centre of each panel. The idea was that this slab would serve as both structural and insulating thereby saving a heap of weight.The oven still fires ok and at around 5 years old has seen some pretty heavy work as I hire it out. But it is getting to the stage where it is not a good r epresentation of my product so it is due for a rebuild when I have the time.
I really think you would be better of staying away from refractory and making or buying a stainless steel oven, well insulated, with a thin firebrick floor. There are commercial ovens like this available and while they are no good for retained heat cooking they are ok for cooking high temp pizzas. I don't know the name of any of the commercial brands but try pizzamaking .com, there is some discussion about them there.

[pizzaholic]

Re: Pedicab Tricycle Oven

I'm going to weld a frame for the interior dome to attach to and I will use firebrick or soapstone on top of perlicrete or maybe some of this ceramic fiber board.

There will be a heavy gauge mesh or maybe some type of sheet metal on the bottom and sides of the hearth insulation to keep it all in. I've used hardibacker on other ovens but I don't think it'll be light enough or strong enough for this application.

Do you think I should use an inch or two crushed basalt for the mass or just wrap it in insulation and cover that with some light metal?