Morning After

[Xabia Jim]

What's your morning after temperature on the hearth?

I'm about 150 degrees F after a normal baking day

>>and wondering how much an insulated door will help over the steel door I have now>????

[Frances]

What is a normal baking day for you?

When I bake I usually have the oven at pizza temps in time for lunch and bake sometime around 3 and 5 in the evening... and then the oven is somehwere above 150 C (300 F) by lunchtime the next day.

So either you are baking earlier in the day than I am, or you put in less insulation, or the answer is yes, you need an insulated door...

So what does everybody else think?

[DrakeRemoray]

I will fire from 10-noon then cook pizza and then be ready for bread by 4 or 5 PM. The next day at noon my temps are right around 300F. I agree you need a better door!
Drake

[texassourdough]

Sounds like you have a serious heat loss that may not be easy to resolve.

When I fire for bread, I fire for about an hour and a half. The oven will usually clear in about 45-50 minutes and the extra 45-60 minutes is simply to load the oven with more heat. Surface oven temps will be fairly high - I haven't measured them in a long time. I usually am at baking temps in about an hour (around 500 degrees). Depending on how much baking I do, the next morning my oven will still typically be near 280 degrees.

When I do pizza the continuous fire loads the oven more (and is typically later in the day for we usually do pizza in the evening. Next morning I will usually be at 335 or so which is so perfect that I always strive to have something to put in the next morning!

I will usually still be 240 or so 24 hours later. Not ideal... but not too bad from what I hear. (Yeah, I think it is probably heat loss through the floor... Grrr!)


150 the next day feels really "leaky". I agree, I think a good insulated door could probably do you a lot of good. Uninsulated steel is a lot like having a single pane window on a room in Nome - cold will simply pour into the room (oven).n (Yes, I know it technically heat LEAKING out, but there will be a significant plume of cold air running down the steel door and cooling the floor of the oven.

A good test might be to use some blanket insulation to effectively insulate the door after you bake (i.e. use some batts to back up your door and put something nonflammable to hold it against the door) and see how much that helps hold the heat. Would probably give you better bread too!!!

Good Luck!
Jay

[james]

Jim,
Is this the Spanish oven kit you set up? Do you remember what the dome and floor insulation were like? What were they, how thick, etc?

Does your oven ever get hot to the touch on the outside or under the bottom?

You might be losing heat that way.

btw -- France and Drew built Pompeii ovens and Jay has an FB modular oven, and they seem pretty similar.

James
James

[Frances]

If you want a fast and not expensive way to see what an insulated oven door might do for you, you could try getting some aerated concrete... its ultry ugly, but just block the doorway with it and see what happens.

[dmun]

you could try getting some aerated concrete...

Sadly, AAC is an obscure specialty item in the US. As much as we jawbone about energy efficiency, it's rare that a builder will pay the premium for insulating concrete.

[carioca]

Originally Posted by Frances

If you want a fast and not expensive way to see what an insulated oven door might do for you, you could try getting some aerated concrete... its ultry ugly, but just block the doorway with it and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip, Frances - I'll have to try that myself! (Have heaps of AAC (Hebel) blocks left over from the big shed I built using this material (nice and cool in summer, temperate in winter...)

Cheers,

LMH

[Les]

Originally Posted by Xabia Jim

What's your morning after temperature on the hearth?

I'm about 150 degrees F after a normal baking day

>>and wondering how much an insulated door will help over the steel door I have now>????

Jim - without pouring through your build, how well did you insulate? I am able to cook something three days after the fire. I do have a fairly good door but it sounds like that might not be the magic bullet.

Les...

[Frances]

Originally Posted by dmun

Sadly, AAC is an obscure specialty item in the US. As much as we jawbone about energy efficiency, it's rare that a builder will pay the premium for insulating concrete.

Huh, well that's pretty ironic - AAC is about the only material mentioned on this site that I can simply go out and buy from the local DIY shop. You just wouldn't believe the things they don't sell...