--- title: "Gas, fire, smoke and food — Pizza Oven Guides" description: "What to do about a gas smell at the pizza oven, fire escaping the mouth or burning in the chimney, smoke filling the room, and how hot toppings must get before…" url: "https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/safety-and-food/" --- Gas, flame, smoke and safe bake temperatures # Gas, fire, smoke and food guides. What to do about a gas smell at the pizza oven, fire escaping the mouth or burning in the chimney, smoke filling the room, and how hot toppings must get before a pie is safe to serve. ## Gas, fire, smoke and food, guide by guide. A pizza oven keeps a gas supply, an open fire several hundred degrees hot and a flue within a few steps of the people waiting to eat. Most nights all three behave. This section is for the evenings when one of them does not: a smell of gas at the counter, flame showing at the chimney cap, smoke rolling back under the patio roof or into the dining room, or a fire that will not burn clean because of the wood feeding it. [All 18 guides](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/) 6-minute read ### [A gas smell at the pizza oven: burners off, supply closed, everyone back](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/a-gas-smell-at-the-pizza-oven/) Why a working oven can still leak, the four moves the makers print for outdoor ovens, the stricter rules inside a pizzeria, and what has to happen before anyone lights it again. 6-minute read ### [Chimney fire or smoke in the room: closing the door on a pizza oven flue](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/a-chimney-fire-or-smoke-in-the-room/) Telling overfiring from a burning flue, starving the fire of air without water, smoke spilling under a patio roof or into a dining room, and the inspection that comes before the next bake. 6-minute read ### [Burning the right wood in a pizza oven: dry hardwood, under 20 percent](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/burning-the-right-wood/) How to tell seasoned wood by color, weight and sound, the hardwoods the makers name, what never goes on the fire, where to stack it, and how wet wood shows up as smoke and soot. ## Gas, flame, smoke and safe bake temperatures. The guides here come before any repair talk because the first minutes decide how the evening ends. Each one gives the order of moves the makers print in their own manuals, from shutting the gas at the tank or valve to closing the oven door on a fire that has climbed into the flue, and marks the point where the next call goes to the gas utility or 911 rather than to us. The advice is taken from the pizza oven makers' manuals, NFPA and USFA fire safety guidance and EPA Burn Wise pages on wood smoke and firewood, and each guide links the pages it relies on. Where two makers disagree, as they do on charcoal or on how far an oven must stand from a wall, the guide says so and sends you to the manual for your own model. Food safety sits in this section too. A pizza oven cooks fast, and a blistered crust can hide a topping that never got hot enough in the middle. The temperatures quoted on this site are the FDA's safe minimum internal temperatures, read with a food thermometer, not a guess from the color of the cheese. [Not sure where to start?](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/#start-here) ### The short answer A gas smell at the pizza oven: burners off, supply closed, everyone back A pizza oven gas smell means turning every burner off, closing the gas at the tank or shutoff valve, putting out any flame and opening or removing the oven door. ### The short answer Chimney fire or smoke in the room: closing the door on a pizza oven flue A pizza oven chimney fire is creosote burning inside the flue. ### The short answer Burning the right wood in a pizza oven: dry hardwood, under 20 percent The best wood for a pizza oven is split hardwood such as oak, maple, ash, hickory or fruitwood, seasoned or kiln-dried to under 20 percent moisture. ## When reading is not enough. If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop. [What repairs cost](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/cost/) 1. 01 Gas, power and draft come first 2. 02 The cause, and its cost 3. 03 Parts that ride along 4. 04 Fired up before we go ## The problems these answer. Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking. [All 17 problems](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/problems/) Gas, fire or smoke at the oven ### Pizza Oven Gas Smell Near the Burner or Supply Line: Act First 6 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Gas Pizza Oven Won't Light: Clicks, Gas Hiss, Still No Flame 7 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Pizza Oven Pilot Won't Stay Lit Once the Knob Is Released 6 causes, cheapest first Gas, fire or smoke at the oven ### Flames Rolling Out of the Pizza Oven Mouth or Chimney 6 causes, cheapest first For the heart of your home. ## Questions about gas, fire, smoke and food. ### Someone smells gas near the pizza oven. What happens first? Knobs to off, the cylinder or line valve closed, no flame nearby and the oven door open. An odor that lingers after that means clearing the area and phoning the gas utility or 911 from well away. ### Is it safe to put water on a fire in a wood-fired pizza oven? No. Coyote tells owners never to use water on the bricks or the flame. Close the door so the fire runs out of air, and call 911 if flame leaves the chimney cap or reaches anything nearby. ### How hot do pizza toppings need to get? The FDA lists 165°F for poultry and leftovers, 160°F for ground meat and 145°F for fin fish, measured with a food thermometer. Toppings that go onto the pie raw, such as chicken or fresh sausage, need the thermometer most. ### How long can leftover pizza sit out after the party? The FDA says to refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours of cooking, or within 1 hour when it is above 90°F outside. On a hot patio evening, box the leftovers before the last pie comes out. ## The other sections. Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns. [All guides](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/) What the fire and the floor are telling you ### [Common problems](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/common-problems/) - [Why a pizza oven will not heat: short preheats, cold cylinders and wet masonry](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/why-a-pizza-oven-will-not-heat/) - [Why the bottom burns and the top stays pale, and which heat to turn up](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/why-the-bottom-burns-and-the-top-stays-pale/) - [Why a dome cracks: normal crazing, trapped steam and fires too big](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/why-a-dome-cracks/) Safe checks with the oven cold ### [Troubleshooting](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/troubleshooting/) - [Pizza oven troubleshooting in half an hour, with the fire out](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/pizza-oven-checks-before-booking/) - [When the pilot will not stay lit after you let go of the button](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/when-the-pilot-will-not-stay-lit/) - [Find the pizza oven rating plate: under the tray, round the back or behind the panel](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/find-the-pizza-oven-rating-plate/) Habits that keep an oven baking evenly ### [Maintenance and prevention](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/maintenance-and-prevention/) - [Curing a New Pizza Oven: Slow First Fires on the Maker's Schedule](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/curing-a-new-pizza-oven/) - [Cleaning the Pizza Oven Floor and Chimney Without Water on Hot Stone](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/cleaning-the-floor-and-the-chimney/) - [Keeping a Deck Oven Baking Even: Dampers, Stone Care and Where the Pies Land](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/keeping-a-deck-oven-baking-even/) Wood or gas, deck or conveyor, fix or retire ### [Choosing and comparing](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/choosing-and-comparing/) - [Wood, Gas or Electric Pizza Oven: How Each Heats the Stone and What It Asks of You](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/wood-gas-or-electric-pizza-oven/) - [Deck or Conveyor for a Pizzeria: Stone, Moving Air and the Upkeep Behind Each](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/deck-or-conveyor-for-a-pizzeria/) - [Fix It or Start Over: Weighing a Tired Pizza Oven Part by Part](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/repair-or-replace-a-pizza-oven/) Clearances, the hearth under it, the flue and the fuel ### [Installation and setup](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/installation-and-setup/) - [Clearances and the hearth under a pizza oven: walls, roofs and the insulated floor](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/clearances-and-the-hearth-under-an-oven/) - [Venting a pizza oven: chimney height, offsets, hoods and makeup air](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/venting-a-pizza-oven/) - [Gas and power for a pizzeria oven: what the rating plate asks of the building](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/gas-and-power-for-a-pizzeria-oven/) Not sure which section? ### Start from your question The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it. 18 guides Where to start Where to start --- **[Read on the site: Gas, fire, smoke and food — Pizza Oven Guides](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/guides/safety-and-food/)** **[Book a visit with PizzaOvenRepair.center](https://pizzaovenrepair.center/schedule/)**