old harvic pizza oven

[pizzafireman]

 i bought a counter top harvic(went outta business years ago from what ive been able to find)  it works great,,,temps accurate,,its a double deck and can accomodate 2 16" pies at once,,nice stone cooking surface,,,well seasoned(no sticking involved),,,tried  it at highest setting 700degrees,,,,burnt pizza bottom,in 3 minutes,,not a char but a burn,,,second attempt was at 550 for 6 minutes,,looked underdone so i left in for 2 more minutes and then the it was burning the toppings and the bottom had some slight charring,,,intersting but not there
 also note im a newbie so i was using store bought dough and sauce,,,,i have read everything here and think that i was able to make ny dough(lehmanns) and a decent sauce,,,tough time tracking down ingredients,,but i weighed everything on wifes postal scale
have 2 dough balls proofing in fridge and will follow techs to get them"oven ready"
        question is,,,what would be best way to find out ovens quirks without spending the "rent money" making pies,,,should i start at a 550 and work my way up with temp or go and extend time,,,,,
         thats what im asking,,,,beings how i can hit a high temp thats accurate what would be ideal temp time to bake 16" pie at,,,,need a start point as far as temp time ratio!!! any help would be greatly appreciated

[pftaylor]

pizzafireman,
Great question. I'm not sure there is a cheap answer to your question. There are members here who have invested in an infra-red temperature gun which shoots a beam at any spot you want to measure. That way you can find out where the hot and cold spots are.

I went through a few months of experimentation to determine how to get relative equal heat for the top and bottom of my grilled pizza. It all came down to positioning the pizza high enough off the grates to properly cook at equal heat.

[pizzafireman]

harborfreight.com  item #991778 has laser thermometer for 50 bucks,,,have one for work to find hotspots,,,oven is right on the money as far as temps go ,,getting deck temp at 700 themo setting ,,at about 740,,,rear walls at 680 ,,,side walls 710,,,so its pretty accurate,,,,its brick lined(ouch on the shipping) so it holds temp well
             just wondering if anyone could give me starting point as far as temp/time ratio goes cooking 2 16" pies at once and wanted to know at what temp would it take x amount of minutes,,,just need a starting point,,,plus this question,,,use of pizza screens???  i bought some aluminum pans for table use and friend tells me they use to bake pies on them(pans not screens),,,ive always seen them just throw pie onto deck not in a pan so i dont know what hes talking about,,,maybee a screen,,,wanna try alotta different techs and might get screen soon,,,,but needed the time/temp question answered  so the wife doesnt give me grief when i make grilled cheese and soup for dinner after burning the pies up!!!!!!!!

[pftaylor]

pizzafireman,
I'm sure others will chime in but here is my experience.

I preheat my grill for up to 30 minutes and fully bake a pie in just under 3 minutes. In discussions with the manufacturer, TEC, they have measured the grill temperature at the grate level to be exactly 800 degrees.

Another member here cooks at slightly higher temps, 825 I believe, and his bake time is just about 2 minutes 20 seconds.

I hope this helps...