pompeii oven construction

[hennessypd]

Hi all i wish to build a quick firing pizza oven 40 min can anyone advise about thickness of chamber walls, i wish to use the oven several days per week for general cooking as well as pizza cooking do i use refractory bricks or clay pavers i am looking at a dome of 550 mm and base of 1.1mt the quick firing and good heat retention are the main things i am looking for

[Novaslo]

Re: pompeii oven construction

Hi,
Take a look at the Forno Bravo kit and then try and copy those materials. There is a lot of reading to do.

You are embarking on a long cool journey.

Anything that has good heat retention will not heat up quickly. But that does not mean you can't cook relatively quickly.
Good luck.

[Greenman]

Re: pompeii oven construction

It is one thing or the other. Quick heat up or good heat retention. If you want to use it 5 days per week you would be better served with plenty of thermal mass and plenty of insulation. The initial saturation with heat might take a little longer but topping up the heat in an oven that is already warm/hot takes very little time.

Depending what you want to cook if you schedule your menu right you can get a few days cooking from one firing in a well made oven and like I said, it takes little to top them up.

Some reading on this forum will reveal a variety of materials used to build ovens. Personally I used firebricks that I located on Gumtree at the right price but others have used clay pavers that have been manufactured at high temps.

Good luck with your build and the more you read up and plan and ask questions the easier the job and the better the outcome. There are some oven builders in the far north. What part do you come from? On the Atherton Tablelands I know people who have used bricks from the now disused tobacco barns and further south there are kilns from now closed brickworks that would yield good bricks.

[david s]

Re: pompeii oven construction

2" thick walls using castable gives pretty good thermal mass for a small oven, but remember that a smaller oven has a smaller fire so the heat up time is still much the same.

[boerwarrior]

Re: pompeii oven construction

ditto on last 2 comments. If you are going to use your oven several times a week then it will never cool down if it is well insulated.... which is a good thing!

I have a 32 inch oven and if I start from cold it takes anywhere from 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to pizza cooking temperature. But If I start warm (2-3 days after my previous firing) then I can get there in 45 minutes. I have half brick thickness walls (4.5 inches) with lots of insulation

[hennessypd]

Re: pompeii oven construction

i am looking at using 3" thick alumina based firebricks to build a 42" diam base with dome 22" high door opening 12" high and 18" wide. i am still trying to hunt up suppliers here in OZ and may have found a local outlet for high allumina content firebricks for both the floor and the dome, awaiting a reply to my latest email

[david s]

Re: pompeii oven construction

So you've jumped from 21" diam design to 42". That's a big change in size. For an internal height of 22" you should really have a door height of 14"

[hennessypd]

Re: pompeii oven construction

Hi again 1.1m diameter is approx 43"/44" i was thinking of 14"-16" door height but wish to retain maximum heat so am looking at 12" i believe i can still fit a suckling pig through 12" height. will the smaller door height achieve better heat retention.

[Greenman]

Re: pompeii oven construction

I believe that the accepted door height is 63% of the height of the dome so a 1.1 m diameter dome would be approx .505 high which will give you an ideal door height of .320 or approx 13".

It is about getting the air flow and the smoke exit right and the door height is critical with that. Doors (of many kinds) keep the heat in.

[R290]

Re: pompeii oven construction

'm pretty good at conversion of mm to English.


But my brain is going to just guess, so 550 mm is just over a 1/2 meter which is just over a 1/2 yard which is 18" so best guess is 20" well turns out its just over 21 1/2"

Ok forgive me, but I'm going to use bricks, they only come in the sizes sold at the store. So my wall chamber will be just less then 100mm which is 1/2 brick

[Greenman]

Re: pompeii oven construction

Constant conversion from imperial to metric and back again will get you a result, probably similar to a migraine!

I have measuring tapes of both religions and one that has both. I built my oven using imperial since that was how the plans were and bricks are 9" and the home brew mortar works out fine in pints or litres.

The only ongoing problem I have is discussions about temperatures on the forum which typically are in Fahrenheit but my head is converted to Celsius. It can cause some confusion I recall asking my daughter to put a chicken on the Weber at 200 thinking it would be done when I got home only to find that she had set the Weber at 200 f. Temperatures in our house were discussed in Red or Black for some time (Red being C) and it remains something of a family joke.

Anyway, it all works but it does create less confusion if only one system is used on one project.