AZ Piazzalos Unite

[j0ew1120]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

I found that the pearlite at the nursery supply in north phoenix at $8 per bag was worth driving for vs the $30 bags of vermiculite from A&P - chaps my hide on the cost.

Wish I would of known that before today, but HD had the bags for 20$, still a big difference though. Its encouraging that there seems to be a good WFO scene here in the PHX metro.

[C5dad]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Nah, no corvettes in this house - im a truck kind of guy.

I live at greenfield and germann. You are not too far from where I used to live in Chandler (McQueen and Frey). Would be good to see the different ovens.

I found that the pearlite at the nursery supply in north phoenix at $8 per bag was worth driving for vs the $30 bags of vermiculite from A&P - chaps my hide on the cost.

[Modthyrth]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

We're at Gilbert and Ray, just about a mile from you! The oven looks gorgeous. Much prettier than my brickwork, but hey, mine works beautifully and that's the most important thing to me!

[j0ew1120]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the warm response, I am really excited to cook my bread in it as well as tons of everything else. My sourdough mother is only about 1yr old but it has a great flavor profile. I got a lot of work done today on the walls and started the cladding, here are some pics.

C5dad, I live at the cross streets of Cooper and Ray. Would love to see your oven some time. C5 huh? Is that to say you have a corvette then?

[IMG]

[C5dad]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Very nice. We will have to see how the oven cooks bread. I was really close to making one of the barrel vaults instead of a pompeii.

I also bought via inet a copy of Peter's book breadmakers apprentice. I cannot wait as I have a kickin sourdough culture going for the past few years!

BTW - where in Chandler? I am near the San Tan Mall

[azpizzanut]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hi JOew1120,

Wow, a barrel vault oven. Nice brick work. Your oven looks to be well thought out. Welcome aboard.

Cheers,

[j0ew1120]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hey fellow AZers, my name is joe and I am a couple weekends away from finishing my 1st WFO! I just need to clad the outside, build the chimney, and roof. I am located in the Chandler/Gilbert area and look forward to getting some good info from this forum and heck, maybe a pizza party or two

[IMG] [/IMG]

[azpizzanut]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hello All, C5Dad, Modthryth,

Thank you for clarifying the no-burn day exemption for me (and others). It took a few days to get a reply from Mar. Co. but here is the latest email reply to my specific question about No Burn Day cooking :

"Thank you for contacting the Maricopa County Air Quality Department.

Our residential wood burning ordinance allows you to grill/prepare food even on a No Burn Day. With that said, we appreciate you limiting the time if you are burning wood during that cook time. The purpose of our wood burning restrictions is to avoid adding more pollution to our air when we are expecting a bad air day. I appreciate you double checking on the regulation.

Please visit our air quality outreach website Clean Air Make More | Maricopa County | No Burn Day Resource at any time to learn if wood burning restrictions are in effect".



Although the employee from Mar. Co. did not give a regulatory cite I believe C5dad referenced the section specific to our interests. Thanks for that Chris.

Cheers,

[C5dad]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

That is a huge problem pretty much everywhere. The departments do not talk with each other very well.

I was working for a spin off of Honeywell in 2002/2003. We were looking at the construction of an R&D add on to the plant - moving into Chandler form Wisconsin. If we could not get the permits in quickly, we would loose the facility. Long story short, I had issues with every department down there. To top it off, my ombudsman was not very helpful at first - guess they did not think additional jobs were good or something and that closing down the facility would not affect them - uh 250 jobs...

Anyhow, I had to go to the vice mayor of Chandler and discuss it with him - he was also my barber. There I was, with half my hair cut in the chair and he was on the phone with the guys down at the planning office getting the thing moving again. So for $12 including tip, I got a multi-million dollar project back on track. Fortunately the county was easier to deal with at the time for the environmental permits.

[azatty]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Sounds like my experience at the City of Mesa when I was checking on permits. I got bounced between Permits and Zoning and Planning, but I got Permits to tell me that I didn't need a permit and that that the Mechanical Code didn't require my chimney to exceed roof height; and I got Zoning to tell me that I wasn't violating any zoning ordinance. Which set me up for a slam dunk approval with the HOA.

[C5dad]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Today's bread turned out well. In fact, I still have two extra loaves left over. YUM-O!

Being the environmental engineer to many large and small companies as an expensive consultant at one time in my life not too long ago, the exemption rule is Rule 314 section 303 (http://www.maricopa.gov/aq/divisions...edRules.aspx):

303 OPEN OUTDOOR FIRES NOT REQUIRED TO OBTAIN A BURN
PERMIT: The person conducting any type of fire listed in Section 303 of this
rule does not need to obtain a burn permit. However, the person conducting the
fire may be required to contact the Control Officer for permission to burn prior to
igniting the fire when specified below in Subsections 303.1 through 303.3.

303.1 Fires Allowed At Any Time of The Year in Maricopa County or Area A:
a. Cooking for immediate human consumption.

The reason this exemption exists is due to the county would cause problems for all the folks businesses who use fire to cook their food (BBQ's etc.) Also, they cannot stop folks from cooking and eating, where as comfort heating is another story. This is all because Maricopa County cannot meet the ambient air quality standards for particulate matter. This in turn causes no burn days since the inversion holds the particulate matter in the air. The thing is, the particulate matter is so small, that it will not settle out readily and gets trapped in the lungs, thus the regulation. If Maricopa county cannot figure out how to control the particulate (road paving, crazy construction rules, no burn days, etc) then they will loose highway funding - an expensive proposition. Gotta love the EPA.

[Modthyrth]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

I read those regulations carefully, too (I have a J.D. in my back pocket, in fact), and we called for clarification since cooking fires are NOT mentioned anywhere in that section. Not sure where their technical definition of "outdoor burning devices" is, but according to the good folks who actually enforce the regulation, that does NOT include wood fired grills (which they would categorize our pizza ovens under). It covers chimineas, outdoor fireplaces, and fire pits.

Further, they decided that we were exempt under section a, which states, " If the woodburning device is the sole source of heat or fuel for cooking in the residence." They chose to interpret that phrase to exempt any fire made for cooking. Yes, it's ambiguously worded. It might be interpreted as "the sole source of heat or the sole source of cooking fuel," but that's not how the language has been interpreted by the enforcement agency. Rather, think of simply removing one clause: you are exempt from the ban if the fire is "cooking fuel in the residence." The word "sole" only modifies the first clause.

I am an *extremely* law abiding citizen. I've never even been stopped for speeding (not just because I'm lucky, but because I'm the kind of annoying driver who actually comes to full and complete stops at stop signs). I dutifully read the materials, I called for clarification from the appropriate government office, I received unambiguous approval to go ahead. I do refrain from any other types of burns (not that we even have a fireplace ;-) ) on burn ban days, but I feel quite safe in running the occasional pizza fire. And yes, our neighbors are our biggest fans. ;-)

[azpizzanut]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hi Modthyrth,

Wow, those folks down at the Maricopa County offices sure have a sense of humor, don't they? Our wood fired ovens are described in the following regulation:

Residential Fireplaces and Burning - Maricopa County Air Quality Department

If the person you spoke to wasn't able to interpret this regulation then he did you a dis-service. Understandably, there are too few employees to enforce the regulation by driving around and looking for violators. Of course they want to come down on big violators, that's where the glory is. However, they do respond to complaints by neighbors, or others, who provide specific dates, times and address. Sorry about that, it's just the way it's done in our society.

On the bright side, the fines are minimal, only $50 to $250 if you get caught two times in one year, and it seems unlikely that you would get turned in if you're on good terms with your neighbors. I haven't heard of anyone doing time for a pizza oven conviction. LOL

Can you imagine this nightmare scenario?

Thug: Hey buddy, Whatcha doin' time for?

Buddy: (Trying to sound tough) Ummm, I'm a big time polluter, fired up my pizza oven in violation of the no-burn regulations. They got me in a sting operation as I walked out of the house with cheese topped pizzas.

Thug: Yah, too bad. I like mine "Chicago style".

Buddy: Ummm, ok, I'll remember that. You can stand back now.

Thug: I like your pink outfit.

Buddy: Ummm, yah.....a gift from Sheriff Joe. (Oh how I wish I were back in Kansas).

Cheers,

[Modthyrth]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

FYI, when I called the maricopa county for more information on the no-burn days, they pretty much laughed us off the phone. They said if you're cooking with the fire, it doesn't come under the no-burn ban. And even if it did, they wouldn't cite us for a small wood fire like that--they're only after people burning large quantities of trash.

[azpizzanut]

Re: AZ Piazzalos Unite

Hi Chris,

Check your PM's.

How did your WW bread turn out? I did another no-knead bread in the Dutch oven this morning. Yummy.

Pizza for dinner tonight, though we'll cook in the kitchen oven. Another "no-burn" day for the wfo. We're going to try making the dough with part semolina flour.

Cheers,