Open Grill design ideas Traditional Grill Design Discuss Open Grill design ideas in the Outdoor Kitchens and Living Rooms forums; I have looked through here and not found any examples of an open grill. I have just poured a foundation ...

[michaewa]

I have looked through here and not found any examples of an open grill.

I have just poured a foundation for my WFO, and have enough space for a countertop adjacent to the oven location to form an 'L' shape.

I would like to have a recessed pit with an iron grate above so that I can transfer coals from the oven to the pit for grilling.

Does anyone have any suggestions, photos, designs that accomplish this? My initial questions are regarding the location of the grill - the heat it would transfer to the surrounding countertop (to be used as a prep surface) is a concern. Additionally, would you suggest having a chimney over the grill? Perhaps to tie in with the oven chimney?

Is the grill a poor idea?

Cheers!

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Mich,
I think the grill is a great idea... Im not sure but I think if you built the lining of the grill, Maybe even the floor only with firebrick, you wouldnt have to worry about heat loss as you do with an oven, In an oven you are cooking with reatined heat, In your grill you would be cooking with the hot coals as your heat source, As we know many grills are built of lightweight metals and still cook well, as far as heat transfer you can insulate with vermicerete to control that in areas you feel it is necessary,,, If you go to the photos section look up ACHILES oven, he built a rotisserie right next to his oven, Ive spoke to him and he doesnt seem to be having any heat transfer problems,, My only recommendation would be to use metal studs for your base,,, Good luck and keep us posted
Mark

[Archena]

I'm planning on an open grill. My plan is to recess it with a staggered step system for controlling the grate height. As long as it's low enough and the counter isn't a good heat conductor (steel is out) it shouldn't overheat the surround.

Mind you, I plan to try a small scale version first to make sure.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

pour yourself a concrete couter top....

[michaewa]

Thanks for the replies! I will be going with concrete countertops for sure. I'm starting to think of building a small fireplace with a staggered step like Archena's, so I could use it just as a fireplace, or as a grill as needed.

I need to do a little research on chimney options, but any reason why you couldn't share a chimney between the two (e.g. single smoke stack out the top)?

Cheers!

[dmun]

I need to do a little research on chimney options, but any reason why you couldn't share a chimney between the two (e.g. single smoke stack out the top)?

If you're pulling a building permit, it's a non-starter. You can't vent two solid fuel appliances through the same flue. Now depending on how much you wanted to grill at any one time, I could see a recess in the floor of the oven entry where you could rake coals forward to do some grilling. It wouldn't be very big, and it would be some trouble to use both at once, but they would essentially be the same unit and could share a vent.

It would be a lot less trouble to use the tuscan grill for occasional grilling, or have a dedicated grill separate from the pizza oven. It's worth noting that most grills don't have chimneys anyway.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Residential chimneys generally fall into two categories: 1) chimneys serving fireplaces, and 2) chimneys serving appliances. While there are dissimilarities between the two types, they both serve the same basic functions. It is worthwhile, therefore, to consider their similarities. Both are constructed of similar materials and must meet the same building code requirements. Even though they may convey different combustion by-products at different velocities, they both must be designed and constructed to discharge these by-products at a rate that does not adversely affect the combustion process and to release the discharged material at a height and location that provides fire safety.

Flues may slope to join with other flues so as to discharge through a common flue, or to achieve the desired location of the chimney. The maximum allowable slope is 30 deg from vertical. When combining flues the main discharge flue should be sized for the maximum combined flow from the smaller flues. Combining flues of dissimilar systems or fuels. i.e., appliances and fireplaces, is not allowed by many building codes. Separate flues may be incorporated into one chimney so long as minimum wall thickness requirements are met and a full wythe of brick is laid between them and bonded to the chimney walls.

You can find more info here 19b Hope this helps and not too much mumbo jumbo,,,,

[dmun]

Flues may slope to join with other flues so as to discharge through a common flue

Is this true? I thought that two gas appliances (e.g. a boiler and a hot water heater) could vent to a common flue, but that two solid fuel appliances could not. I looked in the IBC but I couldn't find this bit.

In any event, your building inspector is the final arbitrator of all code questions.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

19bDavid, Here is a link to where I obtained this info... THere is also a disclaimer that of course all final rulings are determined by your local building dept..... THeres a lot of useful info there if you can sort thru it all

Mark

[Archena]

dmun, your link does mention it. By pure dumb luck I happened to see it.

2113.15 Flue area (appliance). Chimney flues shall not be smaller in area than the area of the connector from the appliance. Chimneyfluesconnectedtomorethanone appliance shall notbeless thantheareaofthe largest connector plus50 percent of the areas of additional chimney connectors.

Exceptions:

1. Chimneyfluesservingoil-firedappliancessizedin accordance with NFPA 31.

2. Chimneyfluesservinggas-firedappliancessizedin accordance with theInternational Fuel Gas Code.

The typos are theirs. Evidently they were running out of blank spaces...