12
THE FIRST FIRES
The fresh paint on your oven needs to be cured to preserve its quality. Once the fuel charge is properly ignited, only burn small
fi
res in your oven for the
fi
rst four hours of operation. Never open the air control more than necessary to achieve a medium burn rate.
Make sure that there’s enough air circulation while curing the oven. The odors may be smelled during the
fi
rst 3 or 4
fi
res. During
curing people and animals with lung problems should take caution.
IGNITION
Aft er making sure t
hat the oven air intake controls are fully open (completely slide to the right), place several rumpled sheets of
paper in the center of the combustion chamber. Place 8 to 10 pieces of small dry kindling wood over the paper in the form of a tent.
You may also place a few pieces of cooking wood, but choose the smaller ones. No chemical product should be used to light the
fi
re.
Before igniting the paper and kindling wood, it is recommended that you warm up the chimney. This is done in order to avoid
back draft problems often due to negative pressure in the house. If such is the case, open a window slightly near the oven and twist
together a few sheets of newspaper into a torch. Light up this paper torch and hold it as close as possible to the back of the combustion
chamber to warm up the chimney. Once the updraft movement is initiated, you are ready to ignite the oven by lighting the paper and
kindling wood inside the combustion chamber.
When you have achieved a good bed of hot embers, we recommend the following burn procedures:
COOKING
Controlled combustion is the most ef
fi
cient technique for wood cooking because it enables you to select the type of combustion
you want for each given situation. The wood will burn slowly if the combustion air intake control is adjusted to reduce the oxygen
supply in the combustion chamber to a minimum. On the other hand, wood will burn quickly if the air control is adjusted to admit a
larger quantity of oxygen in the combustion chamber. Real operating conditions may give very different results than those obtained
during testing according to the species of wood used, its moisture content, the size and density of the pieces, the length of the chimney,
altitude, and outside air temperature.
DAMPERS
The oven has two air control dampers. The lower damper controls the Primary combustion air into the combustion chamber. The
upper air damper controls the air wash across the combustion chamber window as well as allowing additional combustion air to enter
the
fi
rebox. It is recommended that the air wash damper be adjusted so that the window remains free of soot buildup. Then, adjust
the primary air damper to control the
fi
re.
CAUTION: Never alter the damper slide or the adjustment range to increase
fi
ring for any reason. Doing so could result
in oven damage and will void your warranty.
