Deck Ovens

Deck ovens have one or more baking chambers allowing large volumes of food to bake simultaneously, and are a popular choice in commercial baking. Each baking chamber in a single oven has its own deck (floor) at the bottom of the chamber and the heat, typically is supplied through a heating element above and beneath the deck. The food products are placed directly on the floor of the heated chamber. The design of the oven ceiling, floor, and walls is to absorb heat quickly and radiate that heat back slowly and evenly. To accomplish this, the deck is often made of ceramic material, steel, brick, or a type of composite material. Deck ovens are typically double-stacked, with many varying configurations that can directly affect cooking performance and efficiency. This project assesses the energy efficiency level of the Revent modular deck oven to determine an appliance baseline and a minimum energy efficiency level in order to qualify for the food service qualifying product list. This project also assesses the energy input rate, amount of energy consumed during oven preheating, idle energy rate, production rate, and the level of energy efficiency during cook time. Testing was performed at the Southern California Edison Foodservice Technology Center (FTC) in Irwindale, CA. The test data provides key information to help determine the operation costs and the percentage of total kitchen productivity a single appliance can deliver. The heavy-load testing began after the deck oven was preheated and stabilized at 475° Fahrenheit (F) for one hour. Once the oven door opened, pizzas were loaded from rear to front and from left to right in every square foot of the oven. Six pizzas were cooked for the heavy-load pizza test. The cook time determination and heavy-load cook time was 8 minutes and 30 seconds. It was concluded that the Revent modular deck oven is able to cook 56.32 pizzas per hour per deck at the manufacturer's recommended settings while demonstrating a heavy-load cooking energy efficiency of 63.4%. The cook time for heavy-load testing was 8 minutes and 30 seconds to cook the pizzas to a temperature of 195 ± 3°F. It is predicted that the double-deck Revent modular deck oven will have an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) production capacity of 168.96 pizzas per hour, with both decks operating at their maximum capacity.