Yeah, ours was the one with the 'locker'. And yes, we also are the ones who used the "fireboard" as insulation. This is based on the fact that "Fireboard" is the primary insulation used in most "gun-safes" to so-called (protect) your firearms from a housefire type situation.
They also use that stuff as the primary insulation in most of the "home document safes" and whatnot. So, we thought we were doing the right thing, and it truly fit with my budget at the time. So I will say, that yeah, it did 'work', sorta. Work being the figurative word.
We are seriously contemplating dismantling the unit, and pulling out the fireboard and replacing it with the actual "Spun & Compressed Insulation" that is/can also be wrapped in that tin-foil type stuff. Obviously, the name of the stuff evades me at the moment, but the point is, over time, (say about forty-five minutes to an hour) you CANNOT touch the outside of the oven. Ergo, that is simply Heat Loss, and I don't see that as practical, logical, or prudent.
Only thing about that re-do is, having to undo everything we had done to assemble it, re-fit it with the new insulation (and support the inner box) and then re-fit it all back together. At the moment, there are only about eleventy other tasks that seem to be more important at the moment. I just don't like looking at something, and knowing it could be done better, with this hindsight. How to put more hours in the day?
So everyone, learn from others mistakes. That PID really IS the cats-ass, and the oven really does work really good. Hell, it excels at the job. One just can't touch the outside after a while. For the job it does, it works. The outcome of the product though is what matters.
Hope that helps. Oh yeah. We don't use any kind of "circulating fan" either.
