42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Yes I think you and I are talking the same place. The straight edge of your wood IT base left and right of that first brick it touches, so the inner circle is continuous and does not have the flat spot at each end.

Thermal break would do well at the other end of that brick your trimming .

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

OK got it...does it make any difference on how much space to leave? I was thinking of getting the ceramic fiber caulk and rope..shoving the rope into the gap and caulking the top.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Sounds good just make sure it's food safe. Not like food would ever touch it but you don't want it shedding on the food. That is my other do over.... the thermal break... so others would have a better opinion on what to use...or just do a search on the site and I'm sure it was discussed in length at some point in the past.

Don't need much space the big thing is that they are not touching.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

My guess is that the mdf is going to have to go after this weather.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

That's what I thought...just a 1/4-1/2" cut across the floor for the break.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

I fixed the flat spots on the entrance...cut another tier of bricks and laid just under half a row. Started fooling around with the entrance to prepare for the arch. I'm still confused about how to deal with that. I've been studying Dino's pictures. Dino said he had a 40 degree slope on the entryway bricks, but they don't look right to me.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

I also decided not to do a thermal break...sounds like too much trouble for not alot of benefit. If there are significant reasons for doing so, please tell me.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

That looks very nice. I know you will be happy not to have that catch there.

For a general purpose oven I think I would agree with you about the thermal break. My oven is built for bread so the thermal break would be nice because I have to use just the thermal mass for baking so I don't really know how much loss I have there.

[Gulf]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

I also decided not to do a thermal break...sounds like too much trouble for not alot of benefit. If there are significant reasons for doing so, please tell me.

Mirassou,
I'm sorry that I can't answer that question honestly, at the moment. I chose to include thermal breaks at every juntion. I am just one of those "wish I had of done that types". I think that heat breaks are a modern twist too the pompeii oven. They worked well for thousands of years without them. I think that you will have a great oven with or without. If fuel (wood) is a expensive to come by, I think that every attempt to conserve the heat is warranted. I don't have a problem finding "free" wood at the moment. That may change though, as I get older.

Just sayin'

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Gudday
I don't have a heat break and don't miss not having one. The brick surfaces of the chimney and entrance are pre heated by radiant heat from the oven and the flue gases which is lost to the oven anyway. You only feel a change in temp in the outside of the chimney only after the oven temp has dropped below usable temps (120C) which for a normal firing is 24 to 36 hrs later. If you need to use it again a small amount of wood will bring it bake to baking temps in say 1/2 hr
Regards dave

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

I've been trying to figure out how to do the arch transition and the thermal break just wasn't something that I wanted to mess with. I have a farm with a lifetime supply of wood. Faith's suggestion on cutting the corners of the entrance to the inside of the oven made perfect sense. I figure that today I'll cement the bricks on the sides of the transition, and then make the form for the arch.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Mira,

Here is a link showing how you use an IT to help make a tapered arch like yours.
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/oc...tml#post119582

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Thanks Russell! I'll try working with it. I set the bricks on the front landing to make the arch this morning, but when I did so, the chord height was like 4 1/8 and the wall height is 5 1/2 for a total height of 9 9/16. I understand that it should be 12-13". Hopefully this will give me a better height.
Paul

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Here are a couple pics to show you the shape of the tapered arch brick, BTW they are more than a half brick. I have seen several incidents where builders try and make a half brick work and it just does not. The IT pic show the tracing of the outer radius of the dome. Good luck.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Thanks! Here's what I'm working with. It's Dino's build.