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The steel flue pipe rising from the top of a pizza oven, seen from below.

Clearances, the hearth under it, the flue and the fuel

Installation and setup
guides.

Keeping a pizza oven clear of walls, eaves and anything that burns, the hearth and stand it sits on, how its flue is run, and the gas and power a pizzeria oven needs.

(844) 747-3662

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

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or call (844) 747-3662

Installation and setup,
guide by guide.

A good share of the pizza oven problems we are called about were built in on installation day. A dome set on a slab with no insulation beneath the floor, a stand framed in wood, a chimney that stops below the roofline, a countertop gas oven slid under an eave, a deck oven plumbed onto a gas line that sags every time the fryers fire: none of these is a broken part, and none of them is cured by replacing one.

All 18 guides
A newly finished domed wood-fired pizza oven on a gray concrete-block stand with a thick slab top in an open backyard, the pizza oven set well away from a brick house wall and a wooden fence, a straight steel chimney with a rain cap and open sky above, a stone apron in front of the pizza oven's mouth.
6-minute read

Clearances and the hearth under a pizza oven: walls, roofs and the insulated floor

Why each maker publishes its own distances, what counts as outdoors under a patio roof, the stand and insulation beneath a dome, the counter under a gas oven and the floor under a deck oven.

A domed wood-fired pizza oven built under the edge of a covered patio roof, its tall double-wall steel chimney rising straight up through the roof and ending well above the roofline with a rain cap, a small clean fire at the back of the pizza oven's stone floor and only a faint heat shimmer above the cap.
5-minute read

Venting a pizza oven: chimney height, offsets, hoods and makeup air

When the supplied stack is enough, what changes under a roof, how deck and conveyor ovens are vented under a hood or through the roof, wood fires indoors and the signs of a weak draft.

A pizzeria's two stacked stainless deck pizza ovens against a tiled wall after closing, the pizza oven doors shut, a yellow-handled gas shutoff valve on the rigid line behind each pizza oven and a gray electrical disconnect box on the wall beside them, a steel exhaust canopy overhead, an empty clean floor.
5-minute read

Gas and power for a pizzeria oven: what the rating plate asks of the building

Manifold pressures, shutoffs and restrained connectors for gas decks, three-phase supplies and disconnects for electric conveyors, start-up tests and who handles each part of the hookup.

Clearances, the hearth under it, the flue and the fuel.

The guides in this section follow what the installer does, step by step, as the makers' installation manuals describe it: the distances to walls, roofs and anything that burns, the stand and the layers under the hearth, the flue and the exhaust hood, and the gas and power a pizzeria oven asks of the building. They are written so you can read a quote, ask the right questions and recognize a shortcut.

They are not do-it-yourself instructions. Running a gas line, opening a fitting, wiring a disconnect, cutting a chimney through a roof and lifting a refractory dome belong to a gas fitter, an electrician, a mason or chimney professional and the oven's own installer, working to local codes and, where required, a permit. Each guide ends with the point where an owner steps back.

Read this section before you order an oven, when you are planning a patio or a pizzeria layout, or when an oven that bakes well in one season starts smoking, drifting or tripping breakers after something around it changed. It is also worth a look when an oven moves with you to a new house or a new kitchen.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerClearances and the hearth under a pizza oven: walls, roofs and the insulated floor

Pizza oven clearances come from each maker's installation manual and differ widely: Kalamazoo asks 6 inches at the sides and back of its gas oven, Chicago Brick Oven 10 inches around its dome and 36 inches in front of the door, Coyote 36 inches to combustibles.

The short answerVenting a pizza oven: chimney height, offsets, hoods and makeup air

Pizza oven venting follows the maker's manual and the fire codes.

The short answerGas and power for a pizzeria oven: what the rating plate asks of the building

Commercial pizza oven gas and electrical requirements are printed on the rating plate.

When reading
is not enough.

If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop.

What repairs cost
  1. 01Gas, power and draft come first
  2. 02The cause, and its cost
  3. 03Parts that ride along
  4. 04Fired up before we go

The problems
these answer.

Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking.

All 17 problems
Close view of the cold stone floor inside a wood-fired pizza oven, a wide crack running across two cooking tiles with one edge lifted slightly above the other, a light dusting of flour and ash, the curve of the pizza oven dome at the top of the frame. Problem

Pizza Oven Floor Cracked: Split Tiles, Lifted Bricks, Crumbling Stone

6 causes, cheapest first

 The outside of a stucco-covered domed wood-fired pizza oven in a garden after rain, a jagged crack running down the side of the dome with a dark damp stain around it, the arched mouth of the pizza oven open and its stone floor cold. Problem

Pizza Oven Dome Cracked Inside or Out After Rain or a Big Fire

6 causes, cheapest first

 A domed wood-fired pizza oven in a backyard on an overcast day, a small smoky fire of dark damp logs at the back of the pizza oven stone floor, the inside of the dome still black with soot, a pale raw pizza waiting on a peel resting on the ledge. Problem

Pizza Oven Not Getting Hot Enough to Bake a Crisp Crust

7 causes, cheapest first

 Close view inside a cold commercial deck pizza oven burner compartment below the stone floor, a small weak yellow pilot flame barely touching the tip of a thermocouple beside a long burner tube, a light dusting of flour on the metal. Problem

Pizza Oven Pilot Won't Stay Lit Once the Knob Is Released

6 causes, cheapest first
A family sliding a pizza into a wood-fired pizza oven on a sunny patio.
For the heart of your home.

Questions about
installation and setup.

Can I install a pizza oven myself?
The assembly steps a maker assigns to the owner, yes. Gas connections, wiring, chimneys through a roof and indoor ventilation are for qualified professionals, and Chicago Brick Oven says so for its own modular kits.
Who sets how far a pizza oven must stand from the house?
The maker's installation manual for that model, together with local building and fire rules. Published distances to combustibles run from about an inch to 36 inches, so never copy another oven's numbers.
Does a pizza oven under a covered patio need a different chimney?
Usually. Alfa, for example, calls for a listed double-wall chimney once anything is overhead, extending at least 3 feet above the roof it passes through.
What should I have ready before a pizzeria oven is delivered?
A photo of the rating plate, the gas type and pressure it needs, a matching electrical supply with its own disconnect, a hood or flue plan and a clear path to the final spot.

The other
sections.

Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns.

All guides
A pizza oven's stone floor with one scorched patch beside a pale one, seen close.
What the fire and the floor are telling you

Common problems

A hand holding the knob of a pizza oven's gas valve in the off position.
Safe checks with the oven cold

Troubleshooting

A long brass brush resting on the cold stone floor of a pizza oven.
Habits that keep an oven baking evenly

Maintenance and prevention

A thermometer gun pointed at the stone floor of a pizza oven.
Gas, flame, smoke and safe bake temperatures

Gas, fire, smoke and food

A gas pizza oven and a wood-fired pizza oven side by side on one patio.
Wood or gas, deck or conveyor, fix or retire

Choosing and comparing

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your pizza oven working again.

Three short steps online, or one call. Tell us what you are seeing and pick a window that works.

Schedule a repair Call (844) 747-3662
(844) 747-3662 Schedule a repair