!5 year old oven, lived in 2 states and 3 homes. Time for rebuild or destroy, advice?

[horrocks007]

I've had my wood over for a while now and it takes hours and hours to heat up properly. I am pretty sure moisture migrates into the oven floor and possibly parts of the dome and the moisture inside prevents it from heating up. Once the moisture essentially cooks out, the oven performs pretty well.

I know my oven is a bit unorthodox, but it's worked well for so far. At this point I am wondering if I should rebuild or replace it all together.


To replace, it's still a big chunk of cash for me, so I would rather not if I can avoid it. Although I admit the newer ovens have come a long way!

If I re-build it, I am considering either a complete tear down of the stucco exterior, or essentially layering over the top - but to be honest I just don't know what to do!

Also my concrete around the base of the oven needs to be rebuilt, I am pretty sure the is the source of the moisture going into the floor. That is an easier issue for me, but the inside of the oven with the cracking and the exterior oven is slowly cracking apart.

I've gone a full year now without lighting it, and would love to use it more, but the hassle of burning in there for so long prevents me from enjoying it.

I've had this for over 15 years, and had it moved from NJ to IL and back in that time, and I think the moves have done a number on it, and yes it's built on a wood cart with rock bard over the top.

Here's some pics of what I got.

[david s]

Once moisture gets in, it tends to stay there because insulation is very hygroscopic, so preventing its entry in the first place is paramount. Common entry points are around the base of the flue pipe, the base of the outer shell where it meets the supporting slab and where driving rain enters the oven mouth only to accumulate in the underfloor insulation. If you haven't already got weep holes in the supporting slab, about three 1/2" holes can can be drilled from underneath until you hit the underfloor insulation. Cracks on the dome can be left as is until low long fires drive all the moisture out from both under the floor and in the dome insulation, Then seal up any cracks in the outer dome shell.

I've performed this operation on a number of ovens to restore normal function and it's very successful. One recently was caused because the boyfriend decided to clean the oven floor out with water, an almost certain cause of wet oven performance.

[horrocks007]

Thank you David! This is some great input.