Fire and Cracks

[CoyoteVB]

I can see the glow of fire in a small crack about 1/16" wide and about 3 inches long. I hit 700 degrees yesterday on my curing schedule and the crack appeared. The entire thin crack goes from top to bottom. The insulating blanket shows signs of smoke. My home brew mortar was about 1/4" where the crack appeared. I am not concerned about structure issues. The tapered bricks, dry fit test would keep the dome structurally sound. So, should I mix up a batch of home brew and increase the thickness on the dome to address the crack?. Will the crack reappear with the addition of mortar?

[Les]

Re: Fire and Cracks

Don't bother to patch the cracks - they will most likely reappear. For the record, I have seen a crack 5/8 inch wide and the oven performed just fine.

[CoyoteVB]

Re: Fire and Cracks

Thanks. I was planning a 800 degree cure tonight. I also planned to use the heat to cook my first pizza. Only hit 700 but the pizza was still good. Afterwards, I checked the crack and it was smaller and I could not see the glow of fire from the inside. Expecting a lot of rain the next couple of days. Time to cover and protect.

[CoyoteVB]

Re: Fire and Cracks

A picture is worth a thousand words. I can see the glow of fire in a section of this crack.

[CoyoteVB]

Re: Fire and Cracks

I have added 4" of ceramic blanket insulation. Here is my theory on how I got the cracks. I followed the slow cure/dry cycle. The dome hit 800+ degrees twice. I wanted pizza. On the 3rd firing I moved the fire to the side. The side and dome cleared. During curing the dome slowly hit 800+ degrees. The side only hit 275-300 degrees. Moving the coals/fire to the side was too much....which created the cracks. I used the oven on Christmas for both Pizza and turkey. Both were great and the oven gets better with each firing.