Christo's Cucina Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Christo's Cucina in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Shame to let all that heat go to waste. Actually was surpised how fast it got how with insulation on ...

[christo]

Shame to let all that heat go to waste.

Actually was surpised how fast it got how with insulation on it. Maybe it was the wrong idea to fire it up without insulation. That creates a much larger temperature difference between the inside of the oven and the outside. That's probably a question for a different thread.

Any how. I ran out to the store and bought a chunk of meat and some red potatoes and peppers. Got home and started looking up recipies for that chunk of meat I bought. Turns out it was pork and I thought it was beef....

Threw some more sticks in the oven and found a couple of recipies and combined them. By the time I got everything prepped the fire was coals. I put it all in the oven and went about finding something to make a door with - I had not yet burned my cardboard template for my first arch - of course it was a perfect fit!!! The picture shows the door with the temperature probe unit outside the the door (it sends temp readings about 50 ft to a unit inside the house!)

The boston butt turned out really well! the red potoatoes, onion pepper and herbs de provence (and maybe a bit of garlic) got a bit singed around the edges but good too!. Bread went in last and toasted quickly.

We have been eating the butt and potatoes for 3 days..... The wine, however, is long gone....

It is worth the wait!!!

Christo

[christo]

Well, The last fire burned alot of the soot off the top of the oven.

We saw that as an oppurtunity to give it a shot.

Results were great. The swirl of EVO over the top of freshly shredded mozzarella, basil, mushrooms, peperoni, and what ever else we had in the fridge turned out great.

Can't believe I'm that rusty - I did not make a round pizza on my first try.

I worked at Dominos in college - you would have thinked I learned someting!

Anticipation is one thing - tasting it is another!

We had a blast -thanks to all!!!

christo

[RTflorida]

That first pic is cool, very cool. A fire, a cooking pizza, and THE dome.

NICE!!!

[DrakeRemoray]

Congratulations!!! Looks great!
Drake

[james]

Way to go Chris. Everything looks great. Sounds like the dome is holding up well through the heat cycling -- that makes me feel good.

If you turn the pizza around, it sort of looks like Australia.

I can't image where the wine went.

Congratulations again.
James

[Hendo]

Chris,

Fantastic effort. I'm with RT - that first pic looks superb! You've certainly achieved a lot since that beer we had two weeks ago ...

Congratulations,
Paul.

[christo]

Looks like I can join Fio in the cracked flue tile department.

Was working on the roof of the oven and found the tile had a crack in it lengthwise down the backside.

It was sitting on top of my transistion piece - no stress at all - except thermal.

I have not had a big roaring fire in the oven yet. The two times I've made pizza have been slow gradual fires over the course of 3 or more hours.

I think now I may change plans to a 8x8 transistion to double wall stainless pipe. It doesn' thave the look I want but cracking is not a good thing, either.

Bummed -

[wlively]

Chris

Your experience is easing my mind. I went with the KS-4 and duravent and I was thinking I may have been too extravagant. The pipe is performing flawlessly though, after an hour of roaring fire you can easily touch the outside of the pipe. It also made me allot more comfortable with closing it in and forgetting it.

I also agree with you on firing with insulation. All the discussion got me thinking that insulated would be much less stress on the bricks and mortar. So I did not fire till I at least had the blankets in place. I took a good long look today before the first cooking fire and no cracks to be seen.

[christo]

Well, the flue is not all that has cracked.

I noticed during the last firing that I could see some hairline cracks around the hexes and pentagons. I was disapointed and attributed it to lighting drying fires without insulation. Upon cool down I could not see the cracks. Knowing that everything was a tapered fit, I was tempted to just leave the insulation on and proceed.

I didn't. I removed the ceramic blanket and put it in the garage. What I fouind underneath was that each hex and pentagon had cracked around the periphery.

When the oven heats up the brick face expands - I figure the inner was much hotter than the outer (with no insulation) and perhaps that's how I tweaked it.

Instead of slathering more refrax over the dome, I decided to make a series of interlocking tabs (foil on one side of the joint to create a slip plane). I'm also mixing some perlite and mortar to apply around the bottom ring to keep it in place.

I was tempted to keep my problem to myself - but you have all been such a great help. It would not be right to keep my failure to myself... I see it as a setback - We will get over it!!!

Christo

[maver]

Chris, your description suggests that the bricks are contracting with heat, which if I recall correctly is the expected performance of firebrick when heated. I'm not sure an outer buttress helps this (perlite mortar). Any evidence the cracks are allowing smoke to escape (smoke staining the thermal blanket)?