Damp oven

[Ecklburg]

Hello all, my name is David. I recently completed an diy wood fired pizza oven. It is constructed of concrete and perlite mixture with a fire brick floor. We have used it about 10 times in the last 2 1/2 months. I recently had a 2 week hospital stay with pneumonia. So during this time the oven had set closed up. We have also had a lot of rain this summer/thunderstorm season. The last 2 times we used it was a bear to get the fire really going good and up to temperature. I noticed the other day after using it the night before. I went to clean out the ashes and found them to be damp. It has been hot and humid lately, but.... It does have a vent on the door that I keep open and the damper in the flue is also kept open when not in use (thoughts that this would keep air flow to keep dry). Thank Are there any tips to keeping the oven dryer inside between uses? Thank you very much in advance for any tips.

[Gulf]

Hi David,

Welcome to the forum. I'm very sorry about your recent health issues and the oven problems. I'm moving your topic to Other Type Ovens. That section has lately became a dumping ground for the type oven that you are describing. That being an oven with the oven chamber being formed with what is traditonally been used as insulation material. You may read up on a few of those in that section. They have no heat bank. Without pictures of your oven, my advice to keep firing it until it is dry, find some way to keep it dry, but don't expect any meaningful heat retention.

[Ecklburg]

Evening Gulf,

I understand that the perlite and concrete is an ugly word to enthusiasts. I have watch and read hundreds of post and videos before deciding to go the route I did. Also it worked flawlessly until the last 2 times I'd fired it. I am posting some pictures of the oven so you can view it.

[Ecklburg]

[fox]

I live on a very humid island and my oven fire bricks suck up moister, refractory products are prone to do so and is something i have to live with.
Over the winter I stuff my oven with crumpled newspaper snd cover it over with a breathable tarp.
If I dont use my oven for a couple of weeks during the humid summer, i always lite a 15 minute fire a couple of hours before I lite the main cooking fire.

[Gulf]

David,

Thanks for the pics. Your cooking surface appears to be at the same level as the support slab. insulated or not, that creates a recess that can trap water under the floor tile/brick. I can't tell if you have a flue cap. There is much advice on this forum about building to prevent water/moisture intrusion. However, the best after the fact advice that I can give is to build a roof over the oven to shed water off of the exposed door and hearth. Build it with some overhang and it will increase the number of days per year that you can comfortably operate the oven. Again, keep firing the oven until it is dry and do your best to keep it dry.

[Ecklburg]

Gulf,
Thanks for the advice. I had planned on a cover/roof over it tied into the deck. Future plans... The fire brick floor is only about 1/2 inch above the surrounding concrete floor. That floor is about 3 inches thick and in over a recycled tin roof metal (like around the base, which is my wood storage). Again thanks for the advise.

[Ecklburg]

Fox

Thanks for the tip of newspapers to trap moisture. I will try that as well as the tarp until I get cover built.