If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

[saskateam]

My oven came with my house, so I am extremely excited to have it. Having not built it myself there are a few things I would change. A bigger door opening would be top of the list, and taller is second, and larger is third. The door is 12 inches wide, I can barely get my pizza peel inside. I also like cooking and baking in the oven, however my pans just fit and sometimes they stick coming out because they expand. I have to bend over to do any cooking and that gets hard on the back when making pizza. I kneel down to do any other cooking in the oven to get stuff in and out. And bigger is always better. I can cook 1-2 pizzas at a time and I have had 3 dishes going at one time but I have to take the front ones out to get to the back ones. If I have to remake one, I will make these changes, however I will smile every time I use my oven because I have it and I never want to be without it.

[flatfourfan]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Actually......nothing. :-)

I joined this forum in 2016 and researched for about 3 years before doing anything. I saw what the common complaints were and ensured that I addressed them before I built.

• Don't buy a pre-made oven
• Height of the oven to allow for easy viewing and taking stuff in and out
• Walls are firebrick/ vermiculite/ thermal blanket/ plaster and tiles. Retains useable heat for around 48 hours after the last of the fire has gone out and the door is closed.
• I moved my oven off to the side of my BBQ area as under a roof the area around the front door gets stupid hot.
• Make it big enough to cook anything, but not too big that it takes 6 hours to heat up. - I have cooked Christmas dinner to 20 people (roast lamb, pork, beef, chicken and all the trimmings and the oven taste was amazing. Internal size is 1200mm x 800mm x 500mm.
• Make the door as small as possible to hold the heat in, but large enough to make a 40cm pizza. Or a large oven tray

I love this place. Been itching to share my build for a while.

[SableSprings]

So would you have preferred to do a custom vermiculite insulation layer about 4" thick or thicker fire board? Thx

Vermicrete or perlcrete provide about half the insulation value of ceramic board. So 4" of either of these mixes (@5:1) would be the equivalent of 2" of ceramic board. Ceramic board is much more expensive but prices have come down over the years & choices improved (new versions are available that are moisture resistant). I used 4" perlcrete under my cooking floor & it has served me very well for over 14 years. That said, if I did a new oven, I'd use 2" ceramic, water resistant board to save on the long drying time required by the insulating concrete options.

[aoteifa88]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

More insulation under the floor (4" instead of 2" ceramic board), a slightly lower door (12" max), and a bigger opening to vent smoke to the flue.

So would you have preferred to do a custom vermiculite insulation layer about 4" thick or thicker fire board? Thx

[stevef22]

Go with a halogen light. This is what I bought for my build, and high temp wire. https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/5-...xoCjbMQAvD_BwE

This is what I bought. Not installed yet. Stay tuned

[narcosi]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?



Most can - one will melt at 900 deg. All I am saying is that it would be very cool to have an internal light. Someone will do it on this forum, I am sure of that.

Les...

I am very much contemplating the internal light....: https://community.fornobravo.com/for...-oven-build-uk

all help appreciated!!

[shawnp]

re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Hi all
wouldn;t change much
pompei brick oven to forno plans everything is tried and proven ....right down to the herringbone patern of laying the hearth so the peel don't catch.
42 inch yes.... 3 pizza at once....good size entrance great for big pans could not see anything under 32 in being usefull
fire brick and ceramic insulation yes.....firebrick store a goodly amount of heat and ceramic keeps it in for longer usable slow cooking time.
Deep entrance yep.... Love having a area for an "ambient" fire in the front. 42 in has big opening so it makes no difference to operating the oven.
Igloo dome yes....just like the look
dome built on a plywwod guide....na would use the indespensable tool if theres a next time.
Stand with one entrance for stowage....no would have a entrance on either side for easy of access theres some wood down the back of mine thats been there since its been built!
Cut all the brick angles with a saw...no... Did it with bulster and diamond blade on grinder....works well enough and didn't take to much time and still produces a dome which is a strong structure itself.
Use the forum more.. Big yes...not a big computer user and never been in a forum theres heaps of information and some truely awsome builds in here.
[ATTACH]26384[/ATTACH]
regards dave
dave"s build australian section

this is lovely!!!

[fornax hominus]

It will be 10 years this fall that I built my oven ..
my rebuild wishes are
put in an electrical outlet .. you will be out there in the dark
put in a nice / cubbyhole to hold your beer , I have spilt lots of beer in 10 years
make your roof big enough to stand under in the rain , it will rain while you are pizza cooking
as to your vent, Mine SUCKS ..in a good way!
mine is 27”x9” and I don’t regret it.
10 years and 500 + heats and my arch is still pristine

[lventi]

Reading these makes me extremely excited about Dome Day - Saturday is the big build! Lots of people wish that their vent were larger. I just want to be sure that I'm using the same terminology...you (almost) all want the tunnel part that comes off of the dome to be larger, right? Wider or longer - you want it wider b/c it'd be easier to maneuver the pizza etc., or you want it longer/deeper so not as much heat escapes fromt he dome? And if you're not talking about the "tunnel," then are you talking about the chimney? I was told that for an approx 40" interior, to get a chimney pipe that's 8" across. My understanding is that the entry opening should be approx 66% of the internal oven height, so isn't the size of the vent opening sort of pre-determined by the oven height?
Thanks for any info,
ASP (Another Struggling Portlander)

[navyintel]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

First on my list would be oven door opening size. I calculated the height of the door and and tried to limit the width so that I would not have a lot of heat loss. This is on a 43 inch pompeii style oven from plans. I should have increased the width by about 1 inch total so that a full 18 inch commercial pan would fit instead of the 1/2 pans that I use. It is not much of a loss because I can get 3 1/2 pans in the oven at one time vs 1 full size pan. But still I would have liked the choice.

Also, I think that I would have put an additional 1/2 brick under the full brick floor, or instead of putting the 2 1/2 in thick side down, I could have put the brick on its side and made the floor 4 inches thick. For retained heat cooking, more floor mass it better, even if it takes a bit more wood.

[Campmaki]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Can't argue with a real brickie
Wikipedia has a nice drawing I copied showing the 6 different bricklaying positions. Having said that this forum seems to have a convention using chipsters description. The tower of babel was never finished because the builders didn't understand each other - nothing will stop the tower of pizza

From a veteran mason, a shiner is actually a brick laid with the face towards the back. Some face brick are hard to tell which is the face, till the wall is completed. Then you will see them here and there.

[david s]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Sorry for the late response. People say that when you have the insulation on the heat transfers more evenly, therefore less chance of heat spots = cracks.

I subscribe to this theory, but the drawback is that it is more difficult for the water to escape and also not possible to easily check for dome cracks. You would need to remove the blanket, inspect and replace it. I don't bother inspecting the outside of the dome, just the inside.

[V-wiz]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Sorry for the late response. People say that when you have the insulation on the heat transfers more evenly, therefore less chance of heat spots = cracks.

[kbartman]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm trying to do research on an oven build. what height would you go? or how high is yours now?

Pizzalover4ever,

A good start on your research is to download the free plans here:
Click here

I would make a smaller and lower dome. I find my 40inch to be huge and more than i need. I also would probably cure the oven with insulation on, i cured it without so i could find and repair cracks.

V-wiz,

I'm getting ready to cure now, and was thinking the same thing, not sure which way, on or off. What is the main reason for your conclusion?

[pizzalover4ever]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I'm trying to do research on an oven build. what height would you go? or how high is yours now? I should change this a little, it didn't appear where i thought it would in the thread... I was meaning the height of the oven floor. is there a rule like waist or higher or not? i didn't see it in the plans but might have missed.