Maintaining Your Oven Following these maintenance and operating tips will help keep your oven at its peak performance. The inside of the oven is self–cleaning. If cheese from a pizza or sauce from a roast spills onto the bottom tiles, simply push some glowing coals over the spills and they will disappear. Sweeping the flue once a year is recommended and is an easy, do–it–yourself project. Always use dry wood (dried for at least two years). If you see moisture coming from the logs while they are on the fire, the wood is not dry. Using wood that‚Äôs not dry will cause the oven to throw off a considerable amount of smoke and can also cause damage to the oven because of the high moisture content. If the outdoor temperature is cold or below freezing, take extra time to slowly heat your oven. You do not want to “shock” your oven by taking it from freezing to 600°F in a matter of minutes; the fire should be built–up over at least one hour. Start with a small fire and carefully add more firewood to gradually bring up the temperature.