Can't get to "Pizza Hot"

[lwood]

@ Drake - Unexpanded perlite because couldn't find expanded perlite here in the Philippines.
@ Jay/Drake - I think your right on the money, bigger fires. Will try it tomorrow and let you know.

[GotRocks]

I got to ask what type of wood you are using, and what the moisture content of that wood is?
If the wood you are using for fuel is not dry enough, you will never realize and decent heat out of it. The moisture in the wood ascts as a huge heatsink, most of your potential energy is used up by trying to evaporate the water out of it.

Here is what you can do to know moisture content.
Bang 2 pieces of wood together, it should sound like a baseball bat being hit on concrete with a high-pitched ringing sound if has low enough mositure content to burn properly.
If it makes a dull thud, it is too moist to burn.
Or purchase a wood-moisture meter, and verify total moisture is under 22% you better off at 18%, Any drier than that and you also do not realize full heating potential because the wood gives up its smoke too early to gain secondary combustion of the smoke.

Think of smoke as a fuel which is similar to propane, if you do not have enough air mixed in with that smoke, it will not light, burn, and produce heat. (wood gassification theory)

Do a little reading on how to operate a wood-burning stove for home heating, it will get you pointed in the right direction to meet your goals

[Neil2]

"You need a big fire - flames rolling and swirling in the top of the dome. "

Think about the "plasma god" from star wars. For a 60 inch I would use about two cubic feet of fire wood. Put it in all at once. Leave the door off.

[lwood]

Success....Built a big fire in the middle of the floor. Kept the flames going the entire time. Left the door off the entire time (ha ha what a dummy I was). Took about 1 1/2 hours and about two cubic feet of wood. Got the fire going and walked away... an hour later it was above 600 F which is the top of the scale of my thermometer and continued to peg that thermometer for another 150 degrees. Amazing, clearly got plasma effect Scotty....she can't take much more captain she's about to blow... the dome is white hot. Yep even cleared the dome. I'm happy now. Thanks everyone...

[lwood]

The oven settled back down to about 500 F after I let the flames die down and stayed there for 4 or 5 hours cause it was still there when I went to bed. And the outside dome didn't even get warm this time. Amazing how beautiful the glow of the dome is when it is at 600 to 700 degrees. What an incredible experience. Thanks everyone.

[texassourdough]

Glad we were able to help!

Bake On!
Jay

[GotRocks]

Originally Posted by lwood

The oven settled back down to about 500 F after I let the flames die down and stayed there for 4 or 5 hours cause it was still there when I went to bed. And the outside dome didn't even get warm this time. Amazing how beautiful the glow of the dome is when it is at 600 to 700 degrees. What an incredible experience. Thanks everyone.

Congrats, the part where you say "The outside of the oven didn't even get warm" leads me to believe you still had too much moisture in the oven during your previous firings, and that was the steam escaping causing the exterior to get warm.

You can get an infrared thermometer to test deck temps in different spots, they sell them at the F-B store, and the ones i really like come from thermoworks, they have combo IR thermocouple units that are a little pricey, but fast & accurate.

[lwood]

Yes, I need a good thermometer badly. Will order one from FB, thanks.