Multi-Opening Ovens
Wood Stone has been building multiple opening ovens since 1993. Multiple openings are currently available in the following configurations:
Show vs. Performance: Striking a Balance
There can be advantages to multiple door or window options, more theater for the customers is a commonly mentioned benefit, but make no mistake there are also pitfalls which affect performance. It's important to understand these challenges before buying or specifying a multiple opening oven.
With each additional opening in the oven you take out critical thermal mass from the dome. The dome's mass stores heat and reradiates it down on the oven floor. When you remove dome mass you actually effect floor heat retention. Another problem is a new path for heat to escape from the oven is created. Also, the area around the doorway is cooler than the inside of the oven, so by having a second doorway you reduce your usable cooking area.
These challenges are not unique to Wood Stone. Any manufacturer, whether they be Australian, Italian, or American, must address these problems. High-volume restaurants cannot produce 200+ pizzas an hour, any hour of the day, with ovens that have reduced performance. For some markets and segments, however, there are fewer customers who require such a high level of performance. Therefore we offer several multiple opening oven solutions.
Sizing: As a general rule we have found a second opening impacts about 20-30% of the cooking area. We suggest if you're considering a second opening you should go up one size. If you were originally going to have a 5' Mt. Adams with 15 square feet of cooking surface, instead go with the 6' Mt. Baker with 22 square feet and you'll be assured to have the production capacity you need.
Infra-Red Burner Option
The most important performance aspect of a stone-hearth oven is how it maintains floor heat. It is harder to maintain temperature in multiple door ovens. Wood Stone offers a unique solution not available from other manufacturers: the underfloor infra-red burner. The Infra-Red burner, or 'IR' as we call it, should be a standard on any multiple opening oven. Other ovens that offer multiple doors do not have the option of an IR burner. This is an important and unique Wood Stone Solution.
Air-Cooled Viewing Window
Air-Cooled Viewing Windows: Wood Stone now offers a safe and attractive viewing window option for most of our ovens. The Air-Cooled Viewing Window incorporates a multi-layer design that helps to cool the outer glass surface. The viewing window assembly allows for the installation of a facade wall, by others, in a similar fashion to our other facade extension options. The durable and heat resistant ceramic-glass sections can be removed for cleaning. While the temperatures found on the outer surface will usually be safe enough to touch, we do recommend that the oven be installed in such a manner that the window is not located where it is within easy reach of curious customers.
