Vault Oven Firing Methods

[gummz]

Hi Vault WFO owners / users,

I've currently started to cure my oven and been following the FB recommendatation of starting at 100DegF and going up in 100's.

I've hit 300/400DegF (measured at the top of the dome ceiling, above/close to the tip of the fire),, but noticing that the other walls and hearth are pretty much "slightly warm".

What am i doing wrong and how do you guys fire it to cure the entire dome??

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by gummz

how do you guys fire it to cure the entire dome??

Slowly.

The moisture may take weeks to drive out, while its still moist it wont heat up properly.

[gummz]

Hi Brickie in OZ,

I've done a few fires, each fire spans i'd say 30~40cm in width.

I'm finding that the temp in very close proximity of the fire is getting to the temp i want (~400DegF) but the temps everywhere else and even the side walls are only around 200DegF. I've been starting the fires in different locations so see if it changes anything, kinda found fires along side of the wall seem to light up better and completely open enterance burns better and less smoke.

How are vault oveners supposed to cure to the schedule layed out by James ?? (e.g. 100, 200, 300 .. etc)???? Do we need to light say 4 fires in each corner????

Also how hot can u get it until insulation becomes a priority??

Sorry for all the questions, I've just start to learn some characteristic of my oven

Cheers,

Gummz

[dmun]

Barrel vault ovens are high mass ovens. They may take much longer to dry out. If your oven isn't getting hot, my guess is that it's still wet.

[david s]

Heat beads are great for drying out the oven, they provide a gentle prolonged heat without that sudden burst of flame that you get with wood. It also won't hurt to leave the oven for a few days to let the excess moisture from the bottom migrate up the walls a bit, then get into it again. I've found it takes about 10 fires after the initial curing fires before the oven is really dry. You will notice the oven performance improving as you get to this point.

[dmun]

For those above the equator: heat beads = charcoal briquettes.

[C5dad]

Originally Posted by dmun

For those above the equator: heat beads = charcoal briquettes.

Thank you Master Jedi! I was about to use the Universal Translator for that - Google.

[Erniegarcia76]

I know how you are feeling. It felt like it took forever to reach the oven temps that I wanted, and I think it was all just two major things.

First, the oven was wet as the others have said. It just takes time.

Second, to reach high temps, you really need to get a pretty good fire going. Doing "controlled firings" at first is very tricky as you are always worried to get it too hot, but you really need to increase the size of your fire significatly as you try to reach higher and higher temps. Put a good fire together, get it down to glowing coals, and close your door. The heat in there will stay pretty constant for hours, and really dry things out. Keep trying! Its worth the hard work...

[Gef]

In place of a door I have been using stacked bricks. This has thrown the heat to the back of the oven, which had been the only cold spot from outside. It really heated up well after I added the bricks. As I don't have a flue I figure this should be a workable alternative.

...Gef

(Ed. removed questions more appropriate for a new thread elsewhere. ...Gef)