Oven Curing

[davidw]

Re: Oven Curing

I have just purchased a primavera 60 and blew it during curing..I have cracks inside and a few holes and forgo bravo is closed for the weekend,,, I am devastasted...is there any hope this can be fixed...david

[r_doke]

Re: Oven Curing

I bought my oven (casa 40") five months ago and I'm finally getting to the curing process (please don't ask why, I've been busy). Couple of questions: Did my oven cure while sitting unused during this time? If not, when using an IR thermometer, where do I point it to gauge the 100 degree increase each day (the dome? fire? floor?). Thanks.

[peterthewolf]

Re: Oven Curing

Hey all-

I'm following your thread and send good wishes on curing.

For those of you who may have read my thread a few months ago about having to demo and correct our oven that was built for us - *not* to FB plans as asked... we have had to wait to clean up some medical/surgical stuff (all good news)... once I get back onto this surgical knee we will do it and keep you posted. Thank you - again - for all your help. Then later... (we too) will be entering the curing process!

Best of luck!
Peter

[david s]

Re: Oven Curing

I have just purchased a primavera 60 and blew it during curing..I have cracks inside and a few holes and forgo bravo is closed for the weekend,,, I am devastasted...is there any hope this can be fixed...david

You should have read the instructions. If the thing is still holding together, that's is it hasn't collapsed, you can probably still fire it ok and it should still perform normally.

[Cheesehead]

Heat gun curing

I just finished my dome and exterior arch, and have a layer of vermicrete over the top. Chimney not on yet, that will go on tomorrow or day next.

I'm using a 1500W heat gun to dry out the oven. I've got the entrance blocked with extra fire brick with a hole for the heat gun to go in.

After a half hour the temp of the air inside by the door (measured with a digital thermometer stuck through the bricks) is about 150 F, about 10 degrees higher after another half hour. The air coming out feels like a sauna it's so humid. Of course, there was probably 20 - 30 gallons (or more) of water in the vermicrete so this might take a while.

[david s]

Re: Oven Curing

If you can bear to be patient and wait for a couple of weeks you can let the weather do much of the drying out for you. Can you expose the oven to sun and wind? But don't get rain on it. This will help lots. Also do a calculation of how much water you've added, as about 1/3 of the volume of a vermicrete layer is water. I find doing the vermicrete layer in stages (one inch then wait a week for it to dry somewhat) helps enormously.

[Grunt44]

Re: Oven Curing

Hi James
Just a quick question re the curing fires , the temps that you have quoted ,are these Floor or Air Temps
Regards
Grant

[FiredupinNH]

Re: Oven Curing

Question on curing. I let the oven sit for 3 weeks before the first fire. Started low temp fire on day one and noticed some very fine cracks in several places after it had cooled overnight. Is this a problem? After day two there were no new cracks. I have not installed the arch yet. Do I need to set small fires to cure the refractory mortar on in too

[HeidiL2011]

Re: Oven Curing

Hi FiredupinNH,

Small hair line cracks are normal, they generally never get any bigger, and will not effect your oven in any way.
Normally people install the arch before the curing process, I would suggest doing a slow, low fire after you attach your arch.

Please call me at 1-800-407-5119 ext 14 if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Heidi

[Markoo]

Re: Oven Curing

Can you help me please?
I just purchased the Primavera60 and got it yesterday. I have got to all the oven curing is see that. I live in Michigan and I am concerned about the winter cold, snow and ice. I was hoping I could cook some during the winter and use the oven, after reading all of this I worry about cracking?

Should I be concerned? Please help and thank you kindly in advance for your help!
Mark

[dmun]

Re: Oven Curing

Even in Michigan it shouldn't be freezing yet. Cure the oven to schedule, fire it to temperature half a dozen times, and most important, make sure your enclosure is completely waterproof, and you should be able to use it all winter without problems. The main problem is water. Keep it dry, tarp it when not in use, or build a completely waterproof enclosure, and you're good to go.

[Markoo]

Re: Oven Curing

I will follow this to a T and Thank you so much!

[HeidiL2011]

Re: Oven Curing

Hello Markoo,

A wood-fired oven would work very well in cold climates, and it won’t have any trouble with snow and very cold temperatures. A modern wood oven is installed using high tech insulation, which holds the heat in when the oven is cooking and keeps the cold out. We have a number of photographs of ovens working in the snow on Fornobravo.com, and the because of the insulation, the snow never even melts on the outside of the oven enclosure.

Please let me know if we can answer any other questions.

Heidi
FB

[stonylake]

Re: Oven Curing

Markoo, i live in GR and finished (sort of) my oven last fall. it's stuccoed, and between the stucco, chimney and door some moisture always gets in. i occasionally light a charcoal fire in the oven just to keep it dry... used it all winter last year

[david s]

Re: Oven Curing

We've just had a 12 ft3 electric kiln installed at our school and part of the running in instructions require the kiln to be fired slowly(empty) to within 10- 20% of operating temperature over a two to three day period. It has been on for over 24 hrs now and is sitting on 550 C. There are two small pools of water that have appeared at the base of the kiln. This is water which is being driven out of the kiln materials. At 400 C I could see a drop of water actually falling out of the bottom of the kiln. Although its manufacture uses very little water because (compared to a WFO) it's made of insulating firebrick and dry insulation, it still contains considerable water. My point is that it takes way longer than you would think to remove all the water. Even after initial drying fires i reckon it usually takes about 10 decent cooking fires to eliminate all the water. Everyone seems to report that their ovens continue to improve in performance well after the curing fires, which indicates that moisture is still present. So take it slow, if you do the curing too fast you risk damage, but you can't do it too slow.