underperforming oven

meaboater · #1 (**permalink**) 11-19-2003

Anybody have poor experiences with the performance of their ovens? If I set mine to its highest setting, the temperature may rise to appoximately 200 degrees. Is there a fix? New oven?

joub · #2 (**permalink**) 11-19-2003

If your oven is 5 to 10 years old, a good suspect is the thermostat. These devices tend to deteriorate in time and lose their calibration. i.e. you may select 450 degrees, but it shuts off the gas at 200. I guess you could test it by placing an oven thermometer in the oven and see what temp(as shown on the new thermometer) the oven gas shuts down. If it isn''t up to the selected temp the thermostat is probably defective. On the other hand, if the gas keeps burning for an extended period of time trying to reach the selected temp but can''t, the oven burner probably needs adjustment or replacement.

joub · #3 (**permalink**) 11-19-2003

WHOOSH · #4 (**permalink**) 11-20-2003

Mea, it''s pretty tough to be helpful when you don''t even tell us what type of stove you are using. LPG? Kerosene? CNG?

Most ovens have no thermostat so consider whether that applies to your stove or not. If LPG fueled, a very common issue is the slow constriction of crud that occurs in the orifice of the burner. (Not all LPG is spotlessly clean, and sometimes it is ladeled with compressor oil from a tired compressor). Consider removing the orifice and running a very thin needle thru it to ream it out. If you have manual, it will dissuade you from doing this since the tendency is for folks to enlarge the hole dimensions. Bigger hole, poorer performance. But with care, I haven''t found this to create a problem the several times I''ve had to do it.

Jack

meaboater · #5 (**permalink**) 11-25-2003

Sorry Whoosh,

The oven is LPG. I do not know the manufacturer. And,as I view the oven while operating, the flame appears to be flowing well. Without a thermostat, how do these ovens regulate their temperatures?