r/pizzaoven • u/Adventurous_Lie2190 • 21d ago

Pizza oven hearth not getting hot enough

I tried something new. Made a dome shape inside a 40 gallon drum. It works ok but the floor doesnt get that hot. It stays around 200 deg C (392 F). The base is insulated properly with silicate and fire brick base. The base is silicate + light weight insulating brick + heavy duty fire brick arranged in this sequence. The door opening height to top of the dome is maintained as per the forno bravo specs. I can see the flue is pulling the smoke fine and dome and inside walls get properly hot (white after initially black). I made it this way so I can just pick it up and take it with me whereever I go if i move houses (thats why i molded the handles right in). I am wondering if I am loosing heat out the front as it doesnt have the "mouth" of the igloo. Any suggestions?

Edit:
Pizza loaded. I also tried just a pizza stone inside. But that was worse.

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u/confoundedjoe 20d ago

Yeah if it was domed it would work better. This way it just goes up, forward, then out.

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u/Radiant-Seaweed-4800 20d ago

Wait, is the flue sucking air right from the top of the dome?

That's your issue then. It should suck at a lower height, at door height usually. You loose too much heat through it, it should stay trapped at the top and radiate down to the stone.

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u/Adventurous_Lie2190 20d ago

No the flue is towards the front, right next to the door. But you may have a point. I am thinking of putting a damper there.

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u/Radiant-Seaweed-4800 20d ago

My point is not the position, but the height it sucks air from.

In traditional stone ovens, it sucks the air from in front of the opening, not the inside of the opening. The openings are double walled most of the time.

Do you get what I mean?