Vent location

[Campmaki]

Gentleman and Ladies, Noticing a lot of different designs. One thing that I am looking at is vent construction. Some vents are built separate from the dome , while a few have been built together. In the latter, the domes arch top is used as the back support for the chimney, clay or metal. Is this good practice?

[wotavidone]

Re: Vent location

Either will work, and I reckon it would be a little stronger if everything - dome, inner and outer arch - was integrated.
However, it would possibly be better from a heat retention point of view if the outer arch that carries the flue/chimney is is thermally isolated from the dome itself.

But maybe not.

What stopped me building an entry that combined the inner arch, the smoke chamber, and outer arch/entry in one monolitic construction was that I wanted a reveal to put the inner door against, and that meant a fair bit of brick cutting of a sort that I didn't really have the equipment to do.
And, with the inner door fitted, you really do end up with a fair bit of uninsulated brick "wicking" heat out of the oven. If you had a damper in the flue, and an insulated outer door as well, that would be minmised ptretty well.

[stonecutter]

Re: Vent location

Gentleman and Ladies, Noticing a lot of different designs. One thing that I am looking at is vent construction. Some vents are built separate from the dome , while a few have been built together. In the latter, the domes arch top is used as the back support for the chimney, clay or metal. Is this good practice?

What is the concern?

[Greenman]

Re: Vent location

There are plenty of variations on the theme and the common denominator is that they all work. Mine has a thermal break of kinds and I am happy with it and the time it holds heat for but it depends if you are looking for a small suburban sedan or want the Veyron experience.

How they are constructed and how they look probably reflects the expectations of the builder.

[boerwarrior]

Re: Vent location

I went with the "together" (integrated) approach. It seemed to my engineering brain like this would be stronger and I do use the dome to support the back of my chimney.

But I agree with Steve - I think either approach is fine