Firing my oven in the east where it is cold

[barney4069]

Question, does any know about firing a oven where it has been 20-25 degrees for several months. I would imagine that by bringing the oven up slowly like normal that I would be ok not to crack anything. Thanks for your help.

[dmun]

If your oven is well cured, and been kept dry, you can fire it up as usual in freezing weather.

[RTflorida]

I agree with dmun, moisture would be the enemy at below freezing temps. Thermal shock on dry refractories is negligible. A 20 to 50 degree temp variation is nothing when you think about it (firing up to or over 1000 degrees). As long as its dry and you are not dousing it in liquid nitrogen (-320 degrees), you are good to go.

RT

[timo]

Here in the Midwest, we've been pretty cold and I ran out of bread, so I fired the oven up. Moisture is the enemy, as was mentioned. Moisture not only in the oven itself, but the underlying structure as well. I had a problem with moisture getting into the stand which eventually made it into he oven. Fire away!

[Neil2]

I would start with a smaller fire first and not "shock" it with a large fire all at once.