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A thermometer gun pointed at the stone floor of a pizza oven.

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.

(844) 747-3662

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

Book a visit

Three short steps, about a minute.

or call (844) 747-3662

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
A cold stainless outdoor gas pizza oven standing alone on a stone patio counter in soft daylight, the pizza oven's door lifted off and set on the ground beside the counter, its dark empty stone floor visible through the open mouth, the gas shutoff valve on the line below turned closed, patio chairs pushed back.
6-minute read

A gas smell at the pizza oven: burners off, supply closed, everyone back

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.

A domed wood-fired pizza oven alone on an open stone patio at dusk, the pizza oven's metal door closed over the mouth, a thick column of dark smoke and a few sparks rising from the steel chimney cap on top of the dome, a faint orange glow at the door seam, patio chairs and a table pushed well back.
6-minute read

Chimney fire or smoke in the room: closing the door on a pizza oven flue

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.

A neat stack of split, seasoned oak on a raised rack under a small roof beside a domed wood-fired pizza oven on a stone patio, a bright clean fire burning at the back of the pizza oven's stone floor with no smoke at the chimney cap, a long-handled peel leaning against the stand.
6-minute read

Burning the right wood in a pizza oven: dry hardwood, under 20 percent

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?

The short answerA 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 answerChimney 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 answerBurning 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
  1. 01Gas, power and draft come first
  2. 02The cause, and its cost
  3. 03Parts that ride along
  4. 04Fired 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
A stainless outdoor gas pizza oven standing alone on a counter at dusk, its door off and its stone floor cold and dark, the cabinet below open to show a propane tank with its valve closed. Gas, fire or smoke at the oven

Pizza Oven Gas Smell Near the Burner or Supply Line: Act First

6 causes, cheapest first

 A stainless outdoor gas pizza oven on a patio counter in plain afternoon light, its door off and the pizza oven stone floor cold and empty, the burner channel along the back dark with no flame, the knob at the front. Problem

Gas Pizza Oven Won't Light: Clicks, Gas Hiss, Still No Flame

7 causes, cheapest first

 Close view inside a cold commercial deck pizza oven burner compartment below the stone floor, a small weak yellow pilot flame barely touching the tip of a thermocouple beside a long burner tube, a light dusting of flour on the metal. Problem

Pizza Oven Pilot Won't Stay Lit Once the Knob Is Released

6 causes, cheapest first

 A domed wood-fired pizza oven on an empty stone terrace at night, a tall orange flame curling out of its arched mouth and smoke rising toward a wooden pergola beam above, the fire on the pizza oven stone floor behind it. Gas, fire or smoke at the oven

Flames Rolling Out of the Pizza Oven Mouth or Chimney

6 causes, cheapest first
A family sliding a pizza into a wood-fired pizza oven on a sunny patio.
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
A pizza oven's stone floor with one scorched patch beside a pale one, seen close.
What the fire and the floor are telling you

Common problems

A hand holding the knob of a pizza oven's gas valve in the off position.
Safe checks with the oven cold

Troubleshooting

A long brass brush resting on the cold stone floor of a pizza oven.
Habits that keep an oven baking evenly

Maintenance and prevention

A gas pizza oven and a wood-fired pizza oven side by side on one patio.
Wood or gas, deck or conveyor, fix or retire

Choosing and comparing

The steel flue pipe rising from the top of a pizza oven, seen from below.
Clearances, the hearth under it, the flue and the fuel

Installation and setup

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your pizza oven working again.

Three short steps online, or one call. Tell us what you are seeing and pick a window that works.

Schedule a repair Call (844) 747-3662
(844) 747-3662 Schedule a repair