Using the oven in the rain

[vitoduke]

Hi James---Is their anything different we need to do when using the oven once it starts raining? Do we need to slowly heat the oven up, or would we just do it as we normally would? THANKS---Mel

[paulages]

i've been dealing with my oven getting rained on while finishing up the exterior for a few weeks now. ideally, it should have protection against the rain, either in the form of a roofed structure or a fished coat over the igloo. in my climate, this simply wouldn't work, without water at least soaking the entranceway floor bricks, due to the fact that it rains 9 months out of the year.

i started firing it up the few times it was in drizzle without a covering, to try and evaporate the moisture as it landed on it. it worked to a degree, but the result of everything already being wet was a cool fire, and i think this would be the case until it is completely dry again.

i could be wrong, but i don't believe there is the same concern with cracking, as there is when it is first curing. the materials have all cured, they will have just drawn moisture again.

[james]

Hi Mel,

We are firing our outdoor Casa today for some visitors right now -- though it was fired yesterday, so it's easy to get it back to full heat. You might want to start the fire a little slower and allow for a little more heat up time to give the oven time to get the damp out of the oven. It might take a little more wood to get it where you want it. But it shouldn't be a big deal. If you haven't cooked for a long time and it's really been wet, you will need to give your oven more time to heat up, and might run a moderate fire the day before you really want to use it.

This is your first winter, so you might want to check that your stucco is sheating water, and not absorbing it. If you ever get water in the oven (perhaps through leaky stucco or through the front door in a rain storm, you should take care to bring the oven to heat slowly, or even over multiple days, depending on how set it is.

James

[vitoduke]

Thanks Paul and James---We did use a waterproof stucco for the final coat, and it looks like it did not absorb any moisture. I'm going to use the oven on Friday and will just heat it up slower. THANKS---Mel