Can I reduce a 36" internal diameter to a 27" design?

[Superk]

hi all,
It appears I've built my stand and hearth a bit small (before i found FB). I've got a 1200mm square base (47inch). My question is
- can I continue with the Pompei design and just reduce the cooking space from 36" to 27"? or would i be better off looking for other ways to save space (ie reduce insulation thickness etc)?

Does anyone know if any good ideas? any comments would be very welcome

Thanks
Chris

[david s]

Better not to skimp on insulation. My oven is only 21" internal diam. How big is the oven in your kitchen? If you want to cook a whole pig you need a large oven, but even those folk with big ovens tend to only cook one pizza at a time because it will cook them faster than you can prep them. I can easily cook for a crowd of 50 for pizzas and my oven will do the family roast ok. We usually cook a turkey for Christmas, but because of the lower door height I can only fit in a 5 kg turkey. Frequently cook bread, but only a couple of loaves at a time, how much bread can a family eat before it's stale?
Remember that the ovens fuel consumption is roughly directly proportional to its volume, (roughly because an 8 litre V8 won't actually use 8 times the fuel of a one litre four cylinder),so the smaller oven uses way less fuel meaning you don't think twice about firing it up to only cook three pizzas or a couple of loaves of bread.
A 42" oven has double the diameter of a 21", but 8 times the volume.
A smaller oven also requires a smaller, lighter and cheaper stand to support it. There is also far less time required for the build.

[Spoon]

Hi David, I'm also thinking of building a smaller oven, maybe 21"-24" in size. What size opening would you recommend on these smaller ovens?

[UtahBeehiver]

A rule of thumb for the oven opening height is 62-65% of the internal dome ceiling height. IE if the oven ceiling height is 12" then the opening height is 12 X .65 =7.8 " using 65%. width is user choice within reason and dome diameter constraints.