why does my oven slow down?

[meatlover]

I'm making great pizza, but my oven's making me slow! I preheat my oven to 550F for 1-2 hours, but the steel only reaches about 500F.
After the first pie, the oven temperature crashes by 50F and takes 20-30 minutes to recover.
Is my oven simply too weak to maintain the heat, or is there a technique I'm missing?
is my oven broken? how can I troubleshoot this temperature drop to make multiple pizzas quickly for a party?

 

[Alan]

My kitchen oven struggled too. It’s normal for temps to crash after the first pizza. I learned to rotate pies quickly and keep the oven closed as much as possible. Less heat loss, faster recovery

 

[Aar0n]

@meatlover your oven probably isn't broken, it just needs a little help with thermal mass.
try moving your steel to the top rack and turning on the broiler for 5–10 minutes before you launch the pizza
this supercharges the steel surface beyond the ambient temp.

once the first pie is out, keep that broiler on for 2–3 minutes to flash the steel back up to temp. It usually cuts recovery time in half