Just finishing the pompeii project

[navyintel]

I just finished the hardest portions of the project and have started to heat up the oven.

I have ramped it up to 800 without a problem and dragged out the coals and sealed it up at 650 at the top.

Does anyone have any info on what to expect on the heat retention of the oven? My door temp at zero hour was 450 (inside is about 50 degrees hotter) and at 13 hours it was 300 at the door and 350 inside. At 23 hours it was 295 inside taken with an infrared thermometer.

Does anyone have similar data? Or should it hold heat longer?

I will ramp it up to full temp next week and monitor the temp.

I threw some garlic heads with olive oil and some onions in - no sense wasting a good fire!

Anyone with comments on heat retention experiences would be appreciated.