cracked stones

[blavis]

We just added our dine-in with gameroom,salad bar, hot bar,going good. my question is i have a blodgett 951 with stones on top oven, bottom oven has slates in it.? they cracked tonight, why? are they not durable or what did i do wrong? all help would be appreciated. thanks… :roll: :roll:

 

[Pizza_of_the_Month]

Was this the first time you used them? Did you cool them to fast?
If you change the temp. of the stones to quickly they can crack.

 

[NicksPizza]

I did a quick look at the Blodgett 951 spec sheet, and it is a 38,000 BTU, steel deck baking oven. It was not made for commercial pizza. I cannot speak specifically to why your stones cracked today, but they are “after market” whatever they are. I could not tell from your message if the slates or the stones cracked.

Can you tell us more about what cracked and what the materials are? PizzOfTheMonth is right on that rapid temp changes (like pouring cold water on) can fracture whatever stone-like material is in the ovens. Did anything unusual happen the night the cracks appeared? Use frozen sheeted dough for crust?

On a side note, do you find that your ovens cannot keep up when volume increases? My Blodgett 981 unit is 50K BTU for two decks, and it is struggling more and more often. Yours is 30% less muscle, but only one baking chamber. Also, do you have the standard 200F-500F thermostat (or wish-o-stat) in play? What temps are you baking at for your pies . . . and how are you measuring temps.?

 

[blavis]

It was the second time i used them, nothing drastic as far as temps. go. oven set at 475-500 deg. they just popped. I have stones in top oven they are ok. the bottom is slate, they cracked in a couple of places. And also found out they can’t keep up with the demand, don’t know what to do, replace $$ slates with stones or try again or buy bigger ovens. Maybe cut my losses and move on up and go back to conveyors.??? help please… thanks :?: :?:

 

[George_Mills]

Hi Blavis.

I think Nick has your ovens pegged correctly.

I also do not think they were intended to be pizza ovens.

You have very little BTU to bake with and will not achieve a great deal of production.

If the stone, slate or whatever people put down for a deck to bake on is not of the proper consistency and materials they stand a good chance of cracking or developing some other problems.

I suggest you up grade your ovens with some units that can give you all the production capacity you require now and in the future.

My selection is always conveyors. Others may differ.

George Mills