Why we use quartz infrared tubes in pizza ovens
Ever tried to bake a thick pizza and ended up with a burnt crust but a raw, doughy center? It’s a nightmare. Most ovens rely on hot air, but air is honestly pretty bad at moving heat. That’s where quartz infrared (IR) tubes come in. Instead of waiting for air to warm up the dough, IR uses electromagnetic waves. Think of it like the sun hitting your skin on a summer day. It doesn’t just warm the surface; it sinks in. Getting the heat where it matters Because the quartz lets those IR waves pass right through, the heat actually penetrates the dough. It happens all at once. The moisture inside the dough turns into steam and pushes outward while the outside sears. That’s the secret to that perfect contrast—a crunch you can hear, but a center that’s still soft and airy. The gear behind the heat We use high-purity fused quartz for these tubes because the stuff is tough. I mean, it can go from room temperature to 800°C in a heartbeat without cracking. Most glass would just shatter. But you have to be smart about the wattage. If you cram too many watts into a small space, you get “hot spots.” You’ll end up with charred pepperoni and a base that’s still cold. We spend a lot of time balancing the power so the heat is spread evenly across the whole oven. The catch (and how to handle it) Setting these up is pretty straightforward. They usually just drop right into the heating array and connect to a PID controller to keep things steady. But here’s the thing: quartz is fragile. If a glob of grease or a piece of cheese splashes onto a red-hot tube, the sudden temperature shift can make the quartz snap. It’s a pain. To stop your tubes from burning out early, you’ve got to keep the environment clean or build a protective shield into the oven housing. It’s a small trade-off for a much better pizza.