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Re: Common Mistakes, Pizza Disasters
I have no problem with having a smaller fire for days if one has the time and ability. It will work but the fire does need to be big enough to push heat into the outer refractory and cladding to be of benefit.
The purpose of closing the door is to reduce heat loss from convection and radiation so that more of the heat in the refractory around the oven cavity will be pushed deeper into the refractory and drive out more water.
As the water vapor in the refractory is heated it tends to migrate to the cooler parts of the oven and to condense - which is in part why the exterior of the dome gets hot when you have a wet oven.
You don't particularly want to close the door after small fires but once you are building big fires with the temp on the hearth and dome in excess of 800 degrees for extended periods, closing the door can in my experience push the heat deeper into the refractory and cladding and aid in drying the outer refractory and cladding. Unfortunately drying out my oven is an experience I have far too often - I will be roofing my oven this fall to create a drier environment.
Jay
I have no problem with having a smaller fire for days if one has the time and ability. It will work but the fire does need to be big enough to push heat into the outer refractory and cladding to be of benefit.
The purpose of closing the door is to reduce heat loss from convection and radiation so that more of the heat in the refractory around the oven cavity will be pushed deeper into the refractory and drive out more water.
As the water vapor in the refractory is heated it tends to migrate to the cooler parts of the oven and to condense - which is in part why the exterior of the dome gets hot when you have a wet oven.
You don't particularly want to close the door after small fires but once you are building big fires with the temp on the hearth and dome in excess of 800 degrees for extended periods, closing the door can in my experience push the heat deeper into the refractory and cladding and aid in drying the outer refractory and cladding. Unfortunately drying out my oven is an experience I have far too often - I will be roofing my oven this fall to create a drier environment.
Jay
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a few hours after the coals had died down I decided that I'd try my hand at 'kiln drying' my new split wood logs to maybe enhance their effectiveness. So I pretty much filled my oven to the top with as many split logs as I could fit and bricked it up. Last night I went to take the logs out..........no logs but plenty of ash! There must have been some lit coals remaining in the oven as the whole lot is now burnt to ash!! I nearly cried!
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