36” Storage heater brick oven in Northumberland

[MarkJerling]

You're going well. Looks good. All those neighbours will want to come round for pizza, which is all good.

[Baza]

Great Job!
Looking fantastic and glad to read you are a ponderer too!
I occasionally got into analysis paralysis and the good folk on this forum helped me get out of it! It is GOOD to think and rethink - because it is a bugger once you mortar the brick down only to have to break it up if too hasty on plans!

Keep having fun!
Will enjoy watching your build!
Barry

[Tintan28]

Finally managed to close in the dome. It’s not the neatest but hopefully it’ll do the job. I really enjoyed the process, just a bit intermittent as I’d preferred just to have built the dome over a weekend rather than a few weeks.

My son’s birthday is the 3rd of June. If I was to finish the outer dome & chimney by the end of the weekend, would I be pushing it to dry it out over a week & fire it in time to have a pizza party on the 3rd? I’d insulate it & finish afterwards if needs be.

[MarkJerling]

Finally managed to close in the dome. It’s not the neatest but hopefully it’ll do the job. I really enjoyed the process, just a bit intermittent as I’d preferred just to have built the dome over a weekend rather than a few weeks.

My son’s birthday is the 3rd of June. If I was to finish the outer dome & chimney by the end of the weekend, would I be pushing it to dry it out over a week & fire it in time to have a pizza party on the 3rd? I’d insulate it & finish afterwards if needs be.

Best advice is to insulate first and then start small curing fires. If you do that, there's no reason you can't have it sufficiently dry for pizzas on the 3rd. Obviously, make sure the insulation stays dry, but most experienced people here's advice is to insulate before heating the bricks as there tends to be more cracking when firing it up uninsulated.

[jjnevis]

Looking great David. The other advantage of insulating before curing is that you won't be able to see the cracks if they do appear (I've heard that a certain amount of cracking is inevitable), so you won't be stressed out by them! I guess insulating also slows down the thermal shock.
Jay

[Tintan28]

Outer arch & 1st stage of chimney fitted today. Saturday pizza nights will hopefully not be oven cooked soon!

[david s]

It looks like you have a clay flue tile for your chimney. It is vulnerable to cracking unless you insulate it before lighting any fires.

[Tintan28]

It looks like you have a clay flue tile for your chimney. It is vulnerable to cracking unless you insulate it before lighting any fires.

David,

Thanks for the advice, it’s much appreciated.

Yes it’s a clay airbrick sleeve, which I have 2 more that I was going to fit on top with some surplus refractory glue I have from a pumice liner job. Other than the home brew mortar, I’ve been trying to use reclaimed materials but I don’t want to ‘spoil the job for a ha’porth of tar’ so I’ll have to consider getting a stainless flue. I had just supposed it would work like a clay chimney pot but presumably it is the extra heat so close o the fire that may lead to it cracking?

Regards,

David

[david s]

No you don’t have to replace it with a stainless pipe, you just have to insulate around the outside. A 7:1 mix of cement and vermicrete about an inch or so will do nicely. If it’s a bit hard to apply add a little powdered clay. Once it’s properly dry you can render over it to protect it. You are correct about chimney pots being far enough away from the fire not to be affected by thermal shock.

[Tintan28]

No you don’t have to replace it with a stainless pipe, you just have to insulate around the outside. A 7:1 mix of cement and vermicrete about an inch or so will do nicely. If it’s a bit hard to apply add a little powdered clay. Once it’s properly dry you can render over it to protect it. You are correct about chimney pots being far enough away from the fire not to be affected by thermal shock.

I’ve bitten the bullet & decided to re-jig the chimney, especially as I found some old salvaged lengths of 5” SS pipe in my yard.

I’m wondering whether one length as in the picture is enough or should I add the 2nd. I guess I can just suck it & see.

I’ve also got some leftover Rockwool insulation which has a foil layer one side & mesh the other which must be 20 odd years old. It’s amazing what we have in our builders yard that my Dad has kept over the years. I’m going to fit before starting to fire tomorrow.

Regards,

David

[david s]

A 5" pipe is insufficient diameter for a 36" oven. I use a 5" pipe, but my ovens are only 21" diameter. Your chamber has 5 times the volume of mine. You should have a 6" pipe for adequate draw or you'll have smoke issues, particularly at start up and a black stained outer decorative arch.

[MannaO]

Hi David

Excellent looking build. I'm in the planning stages for WFO down in Dorset. Similar to yours, I wanted to use storage heater bricks. I've already managed to collect quite a few, including some nice thick one for the floor. Just wondering if you have a rough idea how many you used in the end.

Thanks

David

[MarkJerling]

MannaO Most heaters have 12 or 18 bricks but a few have 24. For my 42" oven I needed around 10 heaters bricks all up. The OP's 36" oven would have used less.