Oven Temperature Fluctuations

You might post over at rec.food.equipment. Someone over there will probably know if there is an industry standard. My opinion would be that the oven shouldn't vary more than about 25F +/- the set point.

Mate....I don't think its worth worrying and expecting someone from the net can sort your equipment problem.. If I have that problem...I will immediately contact a qualified oven technician or I will throw that piece of junk and get a new one.

Its less stressful that way

You might find out that your temperature controller - wherever it may be, or whatever it may look like - has had the biscuit. I had a gas oven that constantly cooked far quicker than any cookbook guide said food should cook (poultry in particular). The new gas oven seems to be spot on for cooking times. I suspect it is just that the controller in the new range is a lot more accurate.

H.

I have a Maytag electric range that is about 10 years old. I measured the temperature using a Fluke meter with thermocouple. At 350 F , it fluctuates

• and - 50 degrees from the setpoint of 350 F (once it is heated up). Since the oven is not a convection oven, this is probably pretty good behavior.

Yours sounds real bad but it could be due to having something in the oven that interferes with the hot air coming in contact with the temperature probe, such as ceramic tile on the bottom for bread baking. A convection oven should be much better for temperature control since it uses a fan.

Mike D

I've been keeping an thermometer in my oven for the past year, because I too was having oven problems. I have a double oven and switched to the bottom oven when the top one got too crazy. So, when it was working properly it varied by 25F +/- the set point like Vox had suggested. This was acceptable and baked things properly. When it started varying 50F+/- things were not baked properly. I am currently setting here at home waiting for my new double oven to be delivered and installed. The old one was so out of date it wasn't worth the money they wanted to repair it.

Lynne

What oven did you get?

"Bob Giel" wrote in news:YXTtf.4933$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:

Buy a good thermometer, not one of those cheapies at 99 cents only. Next go to a hardware store and get a non-glazed floor tile, measure your oven first to get the proper size, either one large one or several small ones. The tile will help even out your oven as the temperature will most likely vary depending on locations in your oven. My oven was horrible, one $5 tile later I love my oven. The temperature is now even and I can bake consistently. An added benefit is it makes a nice pizza stone.

Sorry, I missed last of thje link when I copied it.

I got a GE Profile. I've baked several things already and I'm very impressed with the convection oven. I baked 3 sheets of chocolate chip cookies at the same time and every sheet was equally cooked. I've never been able to cook more than one and have it cook properly. I've done 2 sheets and switched them halfway and they are never quite right. I baked 2 loads of 3 sheets of cookies and had thirty-six 3 1/2 inch cookies done in under 30 minutes. That would have taken me over an hour in the past.

I'm amazed that the oven takes up about 2 inches less room on the outside of the cabinet it's in and yet the ovens are bigger on the inside than my previous ovens. I kept one pan that was too big for the previous ovens. It was a favorite bread stick pan and I just didn't want to get rid of it. I put it in the new oven and it clears the sides by about 2 inches.

Lynne

I'm glad to hear that your oven is satisfactory. I find that the convection setting is great for bread, pies, and biscuits also. Have fun experimenting. I'm sure you will be happy with the results when roasting meat and poultry.

Maverick - people who made the oven thermometer i used until the thermocouple died - said it's normal for the temperature to fluctuate up to

15% during use, and that their (reasonably good) digital oven thermometer thus averages the temperature readings it gives you. Which is totally valid.

Anecdotally - A good friend of mine was working for a semiconductor company when they developed a laboratory grade electric oven controller that was far cheaper than any that had come before - back in the early 80's

- so they decided to market it for use in high-end home ovens.

It was capable of regulating the temperature inside the oven to within

+/- 1 degree Celsius, and no oven made with it was ever worth a damn.

Nothing that came out of them was ever cooked properly. Every recipe had to be adjusted. People hated them. It was a total flop.

The engineers determined that since baking methods have evolved over time with these temperature fluctuations as a constant, they were actually required for proper baking without reformulation.

WOW thanks for this link !!!!!!!!

Howdy,

With respect, I don't buy it...

I used (for about 20 years) a Garland commercial gas oven that fluctuated by about 40F at any setting.

I eventually replaced it with Bongard electric oven that holds its temperature within a degree or two.

The results from the Bongard are far superior.

I would like to learn more about the ways that the fluctuations could possibly be of benefit.

All the best,

I think I would agree with Kenneth. When I bought my first house in '87, I bought a Magic Chef gas range. (Gas was out of vogue at the time, so I had to go to my gas Utility to find a gas range.)

It used to cook much faster - like a turkey that should take 5 hours to cook at 325 F would take maybe 3 hours at 325 in that range. Then I bought a new home in 200, and got a new Sears gas range. This thing has a much more accurate temperature controller, and actually takes the time that cook books say it should. I find the meat more moist and tender, and less dried out.

I was just thinking that the new controller is a recent development. And I approve. With the anecdote, I'm not certain that I'm buying into this theory, either.

Oh, well...

H.

And I didn't know that Sears has been around since 200! ;)

Have you seen some of the "fashion" they sell? :-) Graham

This is a really awful story, but I will tell it anyway. I worked at an office that leased space inside a Sear store. We had an employee in our central office with some sort of deformity that made him limp rather noticeable. One day he was in our office, and upon seeing him make his way toward the door to leave, someone said, "See, that's what happens when you buy your shoes at Sears."

All the Barbarians got their stuff there.

Boron

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