Insulation problem

[Matt916]

I just recently insulated my oven after curing it, and was excited to see how it would hold heat, so i decided to try cooking in it yesterday. About an hour after ignition i noticed that there was smoke coming off the top of the insulation. I know that I already had a couple cracks in the dome, but it was nothing major, i sealed them up anyway with more heatstop before i put the insulation on anyway. Any way, upon further inspection i noticed that it was not smoke that was wafting up but steam. i touched the blanket to make sure, and my hand came away slightly damp. I was just wondering if this is normal. It did rain last week after i wrapped my oven, and it is possible that the tarp i used to cover it leaked water. Does having wet insulation neutralize its heat holding ability?

The thing that worried me was that even after 3 layers of insulation, the outside of the insulation mesured 133 degrees in some spots. I do not know whether the fact that my oven MAY have been wet was the cause. I was under the inpression that it would feel cool to the touch.

I was able to cook a pretty fantastic pizza last night by the way, but i didn't notice that big of a difference in heat holding ability. After the fire died out, the oven went cold pretty quickly. I made sure that there were at least 3 inches of blanket around the whole dome, and four inches under the floor. The only reason i can see for my loss of heat is that i don't have a door yet. Is having a door imperative to maintaining heat for days like i heard is possible?

lol, sorry for the long winded questions, i just want to make sure that my oven will work properly.

[Neil2]

"I was just wondering if this is normal."

Perfectly normal. There is a lot of moisture in a new oven. Take your time curing it .

[dusty]

Normal, for sure, and the rain likely got into the insulation - no worries.

But...a door in mandatory for retaining the heat that we all talk about. An insulated door is even better.

Congrads on finishig your oven.

dusty

[Matt916]

Thanks for the replies. I was really worried that the rain would mess up the insulation and i would have to buy more, but when I came home from work yesterday night, the bricks were still hot even though the oven wasn't at any sort of a cooking temp. So it has to be working to keep the heat in the bricks at least.

Dusty, how did you build your door. I was thinking of using FB board to keep the heat in, i just don't know what i would encase it in so that it wouldnt just be a loose piece insulation.
by the way, do you have any pics of your oven up? it would be cool to see another sacramento builders oven

[dusty]

Matt,
I used fb board to insulate my door. Basically, I encased the board in metal and put a handle on it. I will try to post a picture of it but believe me, it is nothing fancy. Works great though.

I posted pics of my build as I built it, but I never got a photo page-thing together. I think most of my pics are on my thread "dusty dome is 4" tall", but if you really want to see it, come by the house!

dusty