Keramicalia Pizza Ovens (available in kit format) Commercial and Home Versions

Contents: Principles of Keramicalia pizza ovens, Pricing details, Construction Instructions, Cross section of oven, Material specifications.

Principles
Home use​

We supply kits to make you own pizza oven, these are completely portable and water resistant. Our pizza and/or chicken ovens are wood burning ensuring the genuine flavor we have come to know and love. A home oven takes twenty minutes to heat up after which it should take two to four minutes to cook up to three pizzas at a time!
The dome is made from a lightweight refractory material that radiates heat effectively. While the outside remains cool enough to touch. The floor is made of  a dense , hard smooth refectory with high heat retention.

The Basics​Pizza ovens cook by radiant heat from above, and conducted heat from the floor. The air sucked over the pizzas through the mouth towards the fire is cold, dry air. Electric ovens cook in hot, damp air. The flame must be drawn over the roof, so the smoke offtake must be near the door. The fire must be at the back of the oven. The roof must be an insulating material, so that it heats up rapidly and radiates the heat into the floor. The floor must be a dense, heat retaining material, because once the pizza is on it, it receives no additional heat. We supply Keratuff 2 for the roof. It is light, with a density of 0,8kg/litre. A home pizza oven typically uses 45kg. It is fibre reinforced, but will still crack. It has to be coated with roof paint and scrim, an open weave textile, to keep it together.

We supply pizza oven floor mix for the surface of the floor. Use between 15kg and 25kg, just over the area inside the dome and mouth. It is hard, and if you cast it upside down onto "Formica" gives a very smooth surface. Behind it, cast Keralite 2 to keep the heat inside the floor. Turn the floor casting upside down, with the hard face upwards and place it in position at a height of about 1,1 meters. Glue the dome onto it with Kerasil Mortar.

The floor will crack if not supported properly. Leave an air gap under it and support it around the edges. This leaves the hard floor under compression and it will not crack.

To run it in, place a layer of 3mm of sand onto the floor, and then start the fire. Without this protection, the dense layer builds up steam and explodes.

Pricing Details – Commercial Ovens

These are supplied in kit form, with a hemispherical dome 1,2m inside diameter or 1,4m inside diameter. We do not install them, but can refer you to experienced contractors. We sell them for cash in banknotes only.1,2m is R27 920.00 and 1,4m is R36 695.00

The kit is for the working parts only and does not include the exterior,

Finish. The oven is a. fuel efficient, rapid heating, wood fired oven.

The interior surfaces will develop cracks, but will not fall in. You must cost into your budget; Bricks, cement, sand, concrete, shuttering or corrugated iron for slabs or lintels, subcontractors price for demolition, building, removing rubble.
Instructions for assembly are issued with the kit. Allow one day to prepare the platform.

Allow an extra day for concrete to harden if lintels are not used. Allow one day for assembling the kit. Allow one day for completing the outside and connections.

The floor tiles are usually prefired, so you can start cooking immediately.

CONSTRUCTION.

Please read all the instructions before starting.

ASSEMBLY​1. Choose location;
You will need an area of 1,5 metres square.
Consider the following points in choosing the position;
It is strongly advisable to display the oven mouth, where it adds to the atmosphere, and where it can attract the attention of passers-by.
Where kitchen space is limited, the body of the oven can be built outside, with only the mouth open to the kitchen.
It helps if the chimney can be simple and straight up.
Remember that the cook will be using a long paddle, and will need free space behind him. 2. Build a platform1,5 x 1,5 metres wide, at a height of 1,1 to 1,15 metres high. The space below the platform can be used as a wood store. A brick arch over the wood store to match the oven mouth       looks attractive.

3. Lay the first course of bricks

4. Mix the Kerapour with water and pour it onto the platform.  It horizontal surface. It must be 50mm thick to bring the floor tiles level with the mouth.

5. When the Kerapour has stopped flowing, place the floor tiles onto it. The tiles may need to be trimmed on a brick cutter or angle grinder.6. Place the firebrick arch (mouth) in position. Place the dome behind the arch with the bottom of the opening touching the arch. Mark the outline of the dome on the floor tiles. Remove the dome.

7. Now draw a circle inside the marked outline of the dome, 50mm smaller. This marks the position of the inside edge of the firebrick skirt.

8. Lay one course of firebrick using Kerasil mortar, along the line marked. (For the 1,4m dome, lay two courses of firebrick).   The  firebrick skirt, is to protect the dome from logs thrown into the oven. If small pieces of wood are placed in the oven with the tongs provided, then a skirt is not required.
    Note; When ordering the kit specify whether or not you are going to build a skirt. (The smoke offtake piece differs.)

9. Place the dome on top of the firebrick skirt. We suggest you do not glue it on with Kerasil mortar.

10. Cement the arch into position with Kerasil mortar.

11. Cement the smoke offtake between the arch and the dome with Kerasil mortar.

12. Cement the damper block onto the top of the smoke offtake. 15. Cement the chimney pipe onto the smoke offtake.

13. Mix Keratuff 2 with water, 5 litres per 10kg bag. Plaster over the dome. 20 bags are provided.

14. The pizza oven is now completed. It may be covered with. plaster painted with roof paint, tiled, bricked over, thickened with layers of mineral wool and finishing plaster, left as is, or whatever suits your decor. The easiest finish is simply to build a brick box around it. Make provision to operate the damper if you build a brick box around the, oven.15. Star- with the damper fully open the plate pushed right in if the draught is too strong and the heat and wood consumption too high, pull the damper forward to choke the flow

LEADING THE CHIMNEY OUTSIDE:

This must be done with careful forethought. It is the commonest source of operating problems. If the chimney can go straight up through the roof, there is no problem, just see that it is not touching or very close to wooden beams, and support the ducting from above, do not place too much weight on the dome. The function of the chimney pipe is  merely to facilitate connection of the oven to the ducting

If the ducting has to travel horizontally try to keep it sloping upwards, otherwise it is difficult to establish draught on light-up. When combining the ducting with other offtakes note that fat/oil and smoke can combine to make tar-like deposits which can choke the ducting. The undiluted heat from the chimney can damage extractor fans. Excessive draught can cause intense heating in the oven and poor fuel economy.

If any operating problems arise look first at your extraction system.

Tell the customer that the dome WILL crack, but it is not a problem, as the dome is covered over with Keratuff 2.

Cross section of 1.6m Pizza oven

Material Specification

Pizza Oven Floor Mix

This is a high density thermal shock resistant mix designed to store heat
It can withstand repeated heating to 10000C and quenching in water.
The high density results in high thermal mass, and the material has found a number of applications for heat storage and others for heat dissipation.

Density;
Maximum service temperature; 11000 C.
Maximum particle size;             6mm.
Water addition;                      +9%
Packaging;                            15kg plastic bags.

Contact Us To Place an Order

Home Pizza Ovens​ 

You can now buy your own pizza oven which is small enough for home use.​It is portable and weather resistant and, can be placed outside in your braai area. It is a genuine pizza oven, with a wood fire inside, giving genuine pizza flavor.​A pizza bake is much more entertaining than a braai. Everyone makes their own pizza of their design and no two pizzas are identical!​Don’t worry about the dough, you can buy ordinary bread dough from the bakery or pre-made pizza bases . All the recipes are in the handbook.

 The oven takes 20minutes to heat up, and cooks 2 pizzas at a time, faster than you can prepare them. Takes 4 minutes to cook. The dome is a lightweight refractory material which radiates heat well. The outside remains cool enough to touch. The floor is made of a dense, hard smooth refractory with high heat retention.​Installation: Put it down anywhere outside at a floor height close to 1,1 metres and start cooking .Place spaces (bits of tile will do) under each corner so that the base is raised off the floor. Make a fire in the back of the oven and run it for 20minutes before you start cooking. Keep a flame going all the time you are cooking

Price: R12 353.00 + VAT includes paddle, tongs cutter and recipe book. ​

Dimensions:     

Base: 820mm wide by 920mm long. Inside area: 840mm deep by 695mm wide. Height: 700mm