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Re: Do I really need an insulated door?
BSO, There have been a few posts on making doors and at least one on what not to do. I think the problem is that everyone that builds has a different inner entry to plug, so the doors always differ. This said, the materials that do best for the inner surface are, Steel and some Aluminum alloys. The reason for metal here is durability to survive the banging around that the doors get.
After this metal inner layer, the next layer is insulation. This insulation is sometimes loose vermiculite or stonewool or insulating blanket encapsulated inside a metal door. Sometimes vermicrete, or rigid insulating board is sandwiched between inner and outer door surfaces.
Then some outer surface is attached, this is often metal again. The problem with all of this is the weight and metals transfer heat. Some have tuned these doors by adding braided fiberglass rope to seal the door against the oven. The least amount of air movement in and out of the oven once the door is in place is best for heat retention.
Because of the weight two handles are attached most often by bolts through the door structure, these bolts of course create a conduit for heat migration but since the doors are heavy the handle connections need structure and running the bolts through the door gives the needed structure.
In my opinion, this is one area of the oven that needs re-thinking. I think that if the inner door and doorway were prefabricated the door could be hinged and a much cleaner, tighter more efficient seal could be created.
The logical place for this to happen first is in the modular home ovens. I envision a door or set of two doors that swing clear when the oven is in use and swing shut when we’re done. A real advantage would be that full or nearly full thermal isolation of the oven can be had and pizza temps day after day would not require nearly the fuel that is needed for current ovens.
I can imagine leaving the oven deck at 850F the night before and coming in the next night and having it at 750F. These sorts of thermal efficiencies would easily allow the normal household electrical system to maintain a pizza oven..
Chris
PS I need to really insert that I understand that the WFO Pizza oven cooks not only by the stored heat in the floor but also the by the affects of radiant and convection heating. An electric oven doesn’t completely emulate a WFO and it would really need some engineering to accomplish an electric oven that could compare.
BSO, There have been a few posts on making doors and at least one on what not to do. I think the problem is that everyone that builds has a different inner entry to plug, so the doors always differ. This said, the materials that do best for the inner surface are, Steel and some Aluminum alloys. The reason for metal here is durability to survive the banging around that the doors get.
After this metal inner layer, the next layer is insulation. This insulation is sometimes loose vermiculite or stonewool or insulating blanket encapsulated inside a metal door. Sometimes vermicrete, or rigid insulating board is sandwiched between inner and outer door surfaces.
Then some outer surface is attached, this is often metal again. The problem with all of this is the weight and metals transfer heat. Some have tuned these doors by adding braided fiberglass rope to seal the door against the oven. The least amount of air movement in and out of the oven once the door is in place is best for heat retention.
Because of the weight two handles are attached most often by bolts through the door structure, these bolts of course create a conduit for heat migration but since the doors are heavy the handle connections need structure and running the bolts through the door gives the needed structure.
In my opinion, this is one area of the oven that needs re-thinking. I think that if the inner door and doorway were prefabricated the door could be hinged and a much cleaner, tighter more efficient seal could be created.
The logical place for this to happen first is in the modular home ovens. I envision a door or set of two doors that swing clear when the oven is in use and swing shut when we’re done. A real advantage would be that full or nearly full thermal isolation of the oven can be had and pizza temps day after day would not require nearly the fuel that is needed for current ovens.
I can imagine leaving the oven deck at 850F the night before and coming in the next night and having it at 750F. These sorts of thermal efficiencies would easily allow the normal household electrical system to maintain a pizza oven..
Chris
PS I need to really insert that I understand that the WFO Pizza oven cooks not only by the stored heat in the floor but also the by the affects of radiant and convection heating. An electric oven doesn’t completely emulate a WFO and it would really need some engineering to accomplish an electric oven that could compare.
)
). When I need to replace my foil I will go with stainless foil, but that is about all I would change with mine. I have 3 screws embedded in the perlcrete, they don't conduct any appreciable heat since they are insulated inside the perlcrete.
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