Firing the oven

[ogodt]

Hi all,

I are having some trouble getting my oven warm enough, first off all, it has not been covered for the winter, if that has anything to do with it.

It's a homemade oven - but good build :-)

I usually use about 12 pieces (10 inch long and about 1-1½ wide wood) and 6 pieces ( 10 inch long and 4-5 inch wide) to start the fire, the fire starts perfectly, but I am not
sure when to put more wood on and how much, I think that after 1 - 1½ hour I can measure it to aprox. 620 Fahrenheit and then I can make about 2 pizza's and it's dropped to about 390 and because it only
get to 620 F. the pizza take long time to cook.

I have some pictures that shows a little.

I hope there is someone who have an idea of what to do. ?

thx.

[UtahBeehiver]

Sounds like wet oven insulation. May require a recure.

[deejayoh]

From the 2nd picture it doesn't look like you are getting the oven hot enough before you start cooking. All of the carbon/soot should be burnt off the dome ("clear") before you start cooking. You probably need to build a couple of bigger fires until the oven is dried out and then you'll be good to go. I don't think you need any lengthy curing sequence. Just more wood.

[dakzaag]

More heat, your opening is pretty big and the pictures don't really show the vent, I think you are loosing a lot of heat out the front. Also you mention it is well built, but not how much insulation and where. If you have a lot of mass to heat up, then it is going to take a while longer. Burn that thing like your trying to destroy it and get the dome to clear from soot. Then see how long it takes to cook a pizza.

[ogodt]

Hi all,

thank you for your comments and sorry for the late reply.

okay, I will try to "burn it like I'm trying to destroy it", do you put al the wood on from beginning or start small and then a lot of wood.

I have attached a picture of the hole oven, the internal measurement is approx. 90 cm x 70 cm

[UtahBeehiver]

Gradual heating of the oven is best especially if the insulation is wet, so start with a small fire to get draft going the work your way up. As DJ noted, the inside of your oven should "clear" once the oven is heated high enough.With the floor temp dropping so quickly after two pizzas means something is sucking the floor heat away quickly. Without knowing a little more about your build it is hard to pin point what is the culprit. Give us some info on your insulation, construction, etc.