advice needed on insulation

[aussie bricky]

please give me advice when building an oven is the insulation a necessity or could you use two or even three layers of brick instead,,, i like sharp lines and it seems when people use insulation you get a more fred flinstone look.. your advice will be appreciated,, i am a bricklayer by trade

[Bert]

Re: advice needed on insulation

Welcome Aussie Bricky!

Maggie Beer comments about the lack of insulation in her oven in the forward of Russell Jeavon's book "Your Wood Oven" and how hindsight is a wonderful thing.

From what I can see if it done right, fixing the FB insulation blanket appropriately with chicken wire will stop the "Flintstone Effect".

What type of oven are you building? Started yet?

Make sure you post plenty of pics to keep us up to date.

All the best with your build.

Bert

[brickie in oz]

Re: advice needed on insulation

i like sharp lines and it seems when people use insulation you get a more fred flinstone look.. your advice will be appreciated,, i am a bricklayer by trade

Yaba daba do Barney.

Heres one I prepared earlier.

Cheers, Fred

[benguilford]

Re: advice needed on insulation

Hi Aussie Brickie!

My dad in his wisdom decided to build a fairly rough-shod pizza oven, with no insulation for the hearth (solid pavers directly onto a suspended concrete slab) and a large volume of volcanic rock/glass/general detritus for insulation around the dome. The result? An oven that takes more than 4 hours to heat up, and only retains its heat for about 1.5 hours, needing a decent fire going the whole time just to cook pizzas! Tis a great shame. Pizzas still taste great though! Just a MASSIVE amount of effort required.

Remember, your fire bricks are only there to absorb and HOLD the heat from your fire. Without insulation, that heat will quickly escape from the fire bricks and you'll struggle to reach and maintain high temperatures.

Looking forward to seeing photos of your build!

[OscarA]

Re: advice needed on insulation

Insulation around the dome and under the heath stops all that heat escaping. Without the trapped heat you can't bake bread, roast, slow cooking etc etc.
Substituting insulation for more bricks all you are doing is making a thicker dome that will take forever to heat and once the fire is out it'll cool down quicky as it wont retain heat.
As the others have suggested follow the plans and you'll be right.