How important is the damper to an occasional user of the Barile Grande oven? With all the work I don’t want to shortchange anything but also don’t want to spend money that won’t be that productive. Do most builders include the damper up front? Do many add it later? Do the majority have the damper at all?
I read that one user built his chimney with parts from Menards. I’ve no doubt the stainless steel is a better product but since his chimney appeared much less expensive I wonder if is this a good alternative. Will it hold up in the long run?
The damper is completely unnecessary for the hot blazing pizza oven environment. It comes into play when you want to have a more controlled and even temperature maintained in your oven. Think roasting a turkey or baking bread.
Many builders purchase the DuraTech chimney kit (and whether or not your locality requires it you should always have a chimney vent with a cap and spark arrestor). A damper is optional.
This is an outdoor-facing, unprotected part of your core oven, so you should install the best quality vent you can. The advantages to the DuraTech kit that BrickWood offera are that it is a very high quality kit; and if you were to want a damper later once you have experience with the oven, DuraTech custom-fabricates them for brickwood and it’s a simple installation.
Completely your call for your build. Just don’t skip it altogether.
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My initial use is as a pizza oven as the name implies but I also want to use it as a smoker and bread baker. So it sounds like I will eventually need the damper. It’s good to know it can be added at any time.
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Adding the DuraTech Damper takes about 30 seconds…
Simply twist-off the DuraTech Chimney Cap, then twist-on the DuraTech Damper. Then attach the Chimney Cap to the top of the Damper.
Be careful with Galvanized chimney pipes. Sure - they are less expensive, but when the Galvanized pipes reach temps above 600° (which you oven surely will), the Galvanization starts to breakdown and release TOXIC chemicals which can make you and your family super-sick (tons of Google articles about this).
This is one of the MANY reasons we recommend & sell Stainless Steel exhaust kits by DuraTech. And as you mentioned, you can purchase and add the Damper at anytime.
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Just so.
One other thing to keep in mind is that the DuraTech damper is not a standard part of DuraTech’s line. BrickWood orders a fabrication run whenever demand warrants, and so they are not always in stock.
If you think you’ll want the damper, and it’s available, it’s a good idea to just go ahead and order it.
BrickWood is good about sending email notices to us when they have them in stock, but you might wait a while if the dampers are between fabrication runs.
Good luck with your build, and let us know what you decide!