A friend has recently built himself a pizza oven in his garden and was telling me that he needs a door for it to help retain the heat from one day to the next.

I was amazed to hear that it can operate with an internal heat of c.600 degrees Celsius!

I keenly offered to help fabricate said door, thinking a card template of the opening could easily be used to make one from 3mm sheet steel, and could be double skinned with some insulation in between.

But I am wondering how the operating temperatures might affect the door? I don't want to crack his oven when the door expands in the face of that kind of heat!!

get yourself over to https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/ someone on there will know.

Hi,

There are calculators online for estimating the expansion and contraction of steel, just add door dimensions, rest and working temp and it will tell you how much it will expand. Should ease the cracking worries.

And 3mm would be sufficient in my opinion, average BBQ's and fire pit liners are usually less than 3mm and seem to do the trick.

J

You should be able to find what you want on here

https://community.fornobravo.com/

something like this
https://community.fornobravo.com/forum/good-background-information/brick-oven-photos/15732-my-36-build-in-southern-cape-sa/page2?t=18134

look at post 17.

I made a cob oven some time ago now (luckily clay is free in my garden)

coboven
I does get incredibly hot so a metal door on the inside is a must with a layer of insulation between layers but the outer can be anything.
The face of the insulation against the metal is going to get as hot as the inside of the oven so insulation material needs to be flame proof so use vermiculite or even crushed glass if you want to be free. I used beer bottles for the base of my oven which meant i unfortunately had to empty them all.

It also good if its tight fitting as you can then get it really hot put the door in which kills the flames due to lack of air then put you hog roast in and door back on and then just wait for a great bit of juicy meat.

Hope this helps



Cheers Pete

The metal bowl of my kids fit pit is 1mm thick at most and suffers not issues with a fire in it. We've had charcoal in it before now as well without any issue. Provided you get the expansion calculations right 3mm sheet steel for the door should be man enough.

I'd add some form of heat proof handle(s) to it as well so the users can remove it without burning themselves. A length of round steel stock with a bit of wooden broom handle over it should do the job.

Thanks all, I knew you'd have some views!

Pete- that cob oven looks great, and I didn't know crushed glass was an insulation option - I will definitely look at that.

I'll add some pics back if I end up making it.