Chip's 42 in Minnesota

[Ken524]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,
That is one gorgeous outdoor pizza kitchen. Wow.

...and you now have the most insulated door ever!

[brickie in oz]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Why didnt you use aluminium?
Its a lot lighter.

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

As a replacement for my temporary (somewhat destroyed) door, I decided to build a 4 inch insulated door using FB board.

This will be a door I use to retain heat overnight and for long periods of time. It is quite heavy but will serve the design purpose.

The biggest challenge of building this door was making sure it fit tight but not too tight. The notched pieces on the side panels made it relatively easy to adjust the fit. As I built the door I would put in a few rivets check the fit and move on to the next few rivets. Insulating board was inserted after putting on half of the metal that spans between inside and the outside.

The interior and sides are stainless steel riveted together with stainless rivets. The front is a sheet of aluminum with 2?2 inch sheets of FB board between the metal. I have yet to choose a handle set for the door and I still have not installed the gasket.

I hope to test it out tomorrow and see how it retains heat over the next several days. I ran out of stainless rivets so I need to go to the store and get some more.

I will be building a working insulated door and a final storm door for the outer decorative arch but I had the materials for this door so I decided that I would do it 1st.

I know this seems like a lot of metal for an insulated door and I may trim some of the metal out with a cutting wheel if it seems to be conducting to much heat to the outside but i will try it as is for now.

One thing is guaranteed -- This one will not burn up....

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

OOPS!!!

So I now need to build that insulated door.

I left the remains of a fire in the oven last night and put my temporary door on to smother the fire.

WELL... I guess the oven was a little hotter than i thought and I woke this morning to find a piece of Stainless, two brass brackets and 4 screws laying in the entrance to the oven.

Notice in picture 1 the insulating rope is still intact on the inner arch. It is so stiff it never lost it's shape and is standing in the arch on it's own.

Last 3 photos are of the acid washed brick and the door before the event....

Another lesson learned, and I was planning on baking some bread today.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Gene and John,

Thank you for your kind comments.

Chip

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,

What a great-looking custom pizza kitchen! Along with your intriguing dome history and the excellent brickwork, you're gonna make a lot of people happy handing them pies straight from the oven. Nice job.
John

[ggoose]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,

That is a beautiful outdoor kitchen! You are nearly dried in...a bit of flashing and you should be ready for winter. Nicely done!

gene

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Thought I would post a few more photos. Permanent roof is nearly complete. Standing seam panels are on.

Still need to complete ridge, flue flashing, sofit and facia.

Oven is fully insulated with exception of insulated door.

Of course the brick still needs acid washed and the prep and entry counters are awaiting their slabs. The patio in front of the oven still needs it's brickwork and on and on.... There seems to be no end to this project.

The vertical 4X4 with the holes is just holding up the temporary roof and is not part of the final design.

Chip

[SCChris]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Amazing devices these WFOs. The insulation is one of the keys and taking the time to saturate the oven really streches the cookable window.

Congrats to you!

Chris

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

I have been working on curing my oven for the last two weeks.

The curing is going well I've had to repair some cracks and have used and oscillating multi tool to grind out the mortar with a diamond curved blade. This worked much better than the 4 inch angle grinder because I could grind in at a right angle easily with the flat edge.

The thing I am most happy is the heat retention I had a fire on Friday night where we cooked up some salmon filets. And the next morning the oven was still 580?. It is now Tuesday morning and the oven is 200? since then. I cooked a turkey bread and rolls and two other dinners since then. And I have not added any fire.

The insulation was 2 inches of ceramic blanket on the sides an three on top with some perlite on the sides, so not ideally insulated but good.

Last night I added another 20 cu ft of perlite and put on the roof sheathing.

With the exception of an insulated door I am now fully insulated.

I am still experiencing heat through the floor slab and am seeing the wood box ceiling reaching 120 degrees. I guess the vermicrete is still a little wet.

I have 2.5 inches of vermicrete 7:1 and 2 inches of FB board in the floor.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hi Chip, I've been looking for more brick oven owners in Minnesota. I live in Glenwood and just completed my first oven a month ago. Still working on the finishing touches, but I have been using it.

You are quite a ways out, I am in Crystal.

Made a dome clearing fire tonight. The one crack that I have on the outside (zig zags from chain 4 to chain 9) I now can see from the inside. I will let the oven cool down and go in and fix it in a couple of days.

Outside crack fixes seem to be holding, I used caulk tube refractory mortar.

Ground out the cracks with my 4 inch angle grinder and filled with mortar. seems to be working.

Chip

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

I did leave about 1/8 inch on the side for expansion. I did not know how the metal would react to the heat

Thanks for the tips. I'm clueless regarding metal expansion rates and will probably err on the side of caution. My thoughts right now are to leave the firebrick underneath the stainless for two reasons: 1) the stored heat will provide a better warming/staging area for food 2) the stored heat should aid the oven in staying hotter longer. My entryway bricks (like yours) will have to have at least minimal contact and since conductive heat transfer rate is based partly on the variance of the two sides swapping heat, a hotter entryway should wick less heat from the oven than a colder entryway would. At least that's the way I think it works.

MCSE?

John

[Grozio]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hi Chip, I've been looking for more brick oven owners in Minnesota. I live in Glenwood and just completed my first oven a month ago. Still working on the finishing touches, but I have been using it.

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,
So how's the stainless entryway working out? I am planning on doing the same thing, and wondered what thickness you went with. Also, with insulation underneath the SS, does it not retain heat like the brick entryway? I was thinking of going with firebrick underneath, but that's a sure thing.

John

John,

Seems to be working fine, gets a little warm, not hot at all, near the oven and I may reduce the contact at the oven a little by removing even more of the flange. But it cleans up like a dream as expected. Because it is not hot nothing seems to stick.

It gets a little ash dust on it from wind blowing into the oven when the door is off so it does not look like a mirror all the time.

Had a little water come down the flue - horizontal rain storm. The water drops hit the stainless with black gunk in them and it cleaned right up. No problem with water on stainless

Gauge is 22 or .030 inch thick 304 SS

I do have fire brick at the decorative arch end, one row - 2 whole and one half brick. I did leave about 1/8 inch on the side for expansion. I did not know how the metal would react to the heat.

I think I would go a little thicker if you have the option because I think over time this thickness might dent but the price was right for this piece I traded it for an hour of consulting on a computer network issue.
Chip

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,
So how's the stainless entryway working out? I am planning on doing the same thing, and wondered what thickness you went with. Also, with insulation underneath the SS, does it not retain heat like the brick entryway? I was thinking of going with firebrick underneath, but that's a sure thing.

John