Fire the oven to keep it dry in rain?

[JOSHUAFINANCIAL]

New wfo owner - thanks very very much to everyone on the FB forums for the great information.

Right now we just have a naked Casa80 (I'm just a foodie... nobody would confuse me with a builder.)

We're expecting some light rain tonight - so something occurred to me -

Does anybody fire their oven and close the door specifically to keep the oven dry in light rain or snow? (My uninsulated casa80 was hot to the touch at the outside top half of the dome for about 20 hours after a full-on pizza firing).

My first thought was that it might work. But my second thought is that the outside of the dome from the midpoint down to the hearth don't heat up much...

Hate to tarp it and leave it alone - we just got it seasoned and made our first pizzas the other night. Worth all the hard work, $ and wait...

[SCChris]

Re: Fire the oven to keep it dry in rain?

I'd cover it untill you can get some permanent coverage..

Best..

Chris

[JOSHUAFINANCIAL]

Re: Fire the oven to keep it dry in rain?

This worked great for us to keep our under-construction oven dry.

I found this a lot less time consuming and more fun that the original curing. I really don't ever want to go through a 5-day curing again if I can help it.

Of course we also cooked pizza, pumpkin seeds, roasted veggies, and had a great time staying warm and dry in the wild weather.

We had a lot of wind and rain over the past two weeks. Our first fall chill.

Although we extended a large tarp high above (like a roof), plenty of rain blowing underneath.

First I should mention:
* We oriented our oven build so that the most common winds on our property wouldn't be blowing into the opening.
* We have a Casa80 and the flue is designed to stand outside of the oven dome. So when the door is closed, the fire is contained before it reaches the flue.

So with that design in mind, once the door is closed, there's very little opportunity for hot sparks to escape the oven. That, combined with the wet weather, we felt was low risk.


1) Fully fired the oven before the rain started, and every evening after until weather broke (3-4 days)
2) Placed 8-10 standard bricks in the oven to absorb heat during firing
3) Removed hot bricks and placed around outside of oven on concrete hearth, close to mortar/fb insulating board on all sides and front of oven (landing area/brick surround is not yet built - just a concrete shelf jutting from the hearth)
4) Pushed fire to back edges corresponding to the weather side
5) Closed oven with FB metal door at full heat with burning wood inside.
6) Placed additional bricks around edges of door to
a) ensure door would not open accidentally
b) prevent wind/rain from blowing in

I watched the raindrops evaporate on the oven dome surface. The hot bricks similarly dried the moisture that wet the hearth. Of course, those bricks cooled quickly relative to the oven itself. But they were helpful to be sure. After those bricks cooled, the hot floor of the oven kept moisture from coming in from underneath through the FB insulating board.

Every evening we'd still have hot coals in the oven. With dry logs, a fireplace bellows and a firestarter, we easily got the oven fired up again.

[HeidiL2011]

Re: Fire the oven to keep it dry in rain?

You should keep it covered until the oven is finished and sealed.

Thanks,
Heidi