Hi
I just completed my brick oven on 2/25/2024 . Im in the process of slowly curing the oven.
Today is my second day of curing. So far, it’s taking a long time to heat up.
Would it be wise to open or drill a small hole in the back or side of the oven to allow oxygen flow?
Urbanbonehead@yahoo.com
Hi, and welcome to the BrickWood forum!
On your second day of curing, it is entirely normal for the oven to take a long time to heat up. Even though the mortar, firebrick, etc. may look dry when you’ve finished building, there’s a lot of moisture stored up there. It takes time to drive all that out, and it takes longer to heat up water than it does to heat up dry brick. (In principle that’s why wet wood takes much longer to produce heat from a fire than dry wood—the energy of combustion is going into evaporating water.)
Thinking both short and long term, do not open a small hole in the back of your oven. While you may be thinking of creating a nice cross-draft end to end, you will be defeating the oven’s basic design—to convect heat up, across the arch, and back down again. The oven mouth is more than sufficient to bring in enough oxygen to sustain combustion, and the chimney hole has been placed with care to draw smoke out without being in the middle of that convective flow.
I can’t go without commenting on how nicely your oven came out! I like the doors (both top and bottom), which all look like custom work.
Best of luck in concluding your curing fires…keep it low and slow and once the oven is completely cured you’ll have more heat than you can use!
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