ceramic heaters for first firing?

[gtofani]

Has anyone tried to use the small electric ceramic space heaters for the first firing of your oven? I am wondering if the unit could withstand the 200 degree temperature of the first firing. I figure if its placed in the landing it could at least be used as a preliminary drying out before the first fire.

[GianniFocaccia]

A number of builders have reported success in initial drying, if not actual curing of their ovens using heaters and high-wattage work lights. Your ceramic heater should work well.

[mrchipster]

Originally Posted by gtofani

Has anyone tried to use the small electric ceramic space heaters for the first firing of your oven? I am wondering if the unit could withstand the 200 degree temperature of the first firing. I figure if its placed in the landing it could at least be used as a preliminary drying out before the first fire.

John,

I tried it for a few days and found that I could not get it to stay on very much, They are set for safety and do not stay on much over 85 degrees. I found that the High watt work light with a small fan to blow the air around worked much better. I put the light in near the internal arch and put the fan inside the oven about 2 ft.

Chip

[Ken524]

Burning small wood fires to cure your wood-fired oven works quite well.

[SCChris]

I like the worklight, it's what I used. In my opinion, a slow steady increase in heating, during curing is desirable. I like long controlled burns that saturate the bricks evenly throughout the structure. The long even heat helps to get the water moving out of the dome and keep it moving. I also believe that insulating early, after running the worklight and allowing air to move humidity out of the oven structure, helps to minimize cracking later because the oven unit will heat more evenly.
Again this is only my opinion.

Chris

[gtofani]

How about a heat lamp bulb for keeping young chickens warm?
I am not talking about my first firing, just a way to slowly remove moisture prior to my fire curing.

[SCChris]

Give it a go and see where it takes you. Ideally this passive curing will take you up to and past 150F. I don't think you'll get there with a brooding lamp. The 212F 100C mark is a big deal. One part water takes up 1000 times more space as steam. If you can bring the whole oven up slowly to this point then you have less chance of cracking due to the remaining water.

The other part that plays into cracking is the stress due to the uneven expansion of the oven. When you have one part of the oven dry and another still holding a bit of water, the dry part will get hotter faster than the wet part. Water soaks up the calories until it changes into steam.

Back to your question, as long as you have enough power to soak the bricks well over the ambient air temps of your area, and you're circulating air, you’ll be drying the structure much faster than you would otherwise.

Chris

[Pompeii Nate]

I learned a lot from drseward's build thread about this very idea. I have yet to figure out how to bypass the thermometer but I have some friends who might help me with that. Anyway, check out his build thread (post #13) and see if that helps. It gave me a good idea.

Good luck!

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/co...en-7630-2.html (Colorado oven)

Nate

[SCChris]

If the heater can bring the oven up into the mid hundereds and hold it there, you're yards ahead.

Chris

[tablecloth]

yes it's okay with wood...