2017- 36" pompeii oven construction in Sac California.

[jas0ny]

Hey folks, been lurking around this forum for quite some time. Love how this community has so much knowledge and information. Decided to finally start my first build topic as I have tons of questions and I understand there's countless information on here and feel overwhelmed! Thank you to all the folks that has been helping me out along the way so far!

[jas0ny]

Foundation

[jas0ny]

Stand

[jas0ny]

Support slab hearth

[jas0ny]

Question: I plan to start figuring out my template if you folks can have a look at the dimension. I am not sure if this is the correct way to lay the dome arch bricks. See image at red dwg. Is this the correct way?

[JRPizza]

I can't tell from your drawing, but the fore-aft placement of your arch needs to be such that the arch bricks intersect the dome at the top of the arch so you don't need to go out of round. I recommend either using a cad program like Freecad, or doing a full size layout on cardboard (I did both) to check this intersection. If you do the cardboard route, you can use an arch template to place a brick at the top, then measure from the center of the dome to make sure it fits.

[jas0ny]

I can't tell from your drawing, but the fore-aft placement of your arch needs to be such that the arch bricks intersect the dome at the top of the arch so you don't need to go out of round. I recommend either using a cad program like Freecad, or doing a full size layout on cardboard (I did both) to check this intersection. If you do the cardboard route, you can use an arch template to place a brick at the top, then measure from the center of the dome to make sure it fits.

I pretty much need to make an arch template, place a brick at the top, then measure from center of the cooking floor to make sure they intersect. I think i understand, how much does the dome need to intersect part of the arch? I see your picture on your post, seems like the dome hits part of the arch.

-36" dome with a 19" opening

[JRPizza]

There was a recent discussion on landing size, linked below, where I gave my thoughts on moving the arch towards or away from the center of the oven - let me know if this helps.

[jas0ny]

Getting ready to cut my cooking floor. Does the layout for the opening look correct to you guys?

[jas0ny]

Question about the arch dimension. Is there a hard set dimension where the dome arch has to be 4.5"? vent opening has to be needs to be 6"? This is a picture i used as someones build.

[deejayoh]

Question about the arch dimension. Is there a hard set dimension where the dome arch has to be 4.5"? vent opening has to be needs to be 6"? This is a picture i used as someones build.

Nope. Build it however you like. That design makes for a deep landing - many builders prefer a shallower one because you get better angles into the oven.
The vent just needs to be the same area (or larger) of your flue - and you need to have the arches on either side strong enough to hold up. But you can make it whatever dimension you like.

[jas0ny]

Nope. Build it however you like. That design makes for a deep landing - many builders prefer a shallower one because you get better angles into the oven.
The vent just needs to be the same area (or larger) of your flue - and you need to have the arches on either side strong enough to hold up. But you can make it whatever dimension you like.

thank you for your reply deejay, the landing is not going to be that deep I was just letting it run because I havent figured out the landing yet. Wish me luck!

[deejayoh]

thank you for your reply deejay, the landing is not going to be that deep I was just letting it run because I havent figured out the landing yet. Wish me luck!

No prob. To clarify my landing comment - I was referring to the depth of the dome arch in the photo from the post I replied to - which if you add all those numbers is ~16 inches. That is in my view, kind of deep. My arch is 12 inches deep - because I thought that would give me better angles into the oven. I'd do it that way again if (natch, probably when) I build another oven.

[UtahBeehiver]

To piggy back on DJ's comments. The area of a 6" ID round vent is 28.27 square inches so the brick vent opening area (which is rectangular) needs to be at more than 28.27 square inches, a rectangular or square vent shape is not a effective as a round shape so you should make the brick vent rectangular shape to have more area than the 6" circular vent if you are using a SS steel chimney.

[david s]

To piggy back on DJ's comments. The area of a 6" ID round vent is 28.27 square inches so the brick vent opening area (which is rectangular) needs to be at more than 28.27 square inches, a rectangular or square vent shape is not a effective as a round shape so you should make the brick vent rectangular shape to have more area than the 6" circular vent if you are using a SS steel chimney.

I don't entirely agree with that Russell. Because the power of the draw of a flue pipe or chimney comes from its volume, the cross sectional area it the most important. Then second is its height. If the rectangular bricked area at the base of the pipe is no smaller than around 30% less than the cross sectional area of the rest of the pipe or chimney then it acts as a Venturi and smoke at that point will travel at a faster speed, but not affect the overall draw. In other words, you can choke it off a bit without affecting the draw at all. There also needs to be some volume underneath this point for the smoke to collect so an inverted funnel form is best.