Oven thermostats

[rainymonday]

Is there a BS for oven thermostats covering variable temperature. I have been told by the oven manufacturer that this is so and the temp can vary by up to plus or minus 30 degrees but cannot find any proof on line - having great difficulty cooking!!!!!

 

[Pete999]

They are trying it on, get an oven stat and an oven thermometer fit the stat and test operation using the thermometer, did this many time during my time as a Maintenance Electrician for the DOE/PSA, simple job 30 mins to fit another hour to test for correct operation, spade connections easy peasy. job done.

 

[James]

Range & Wall Oven - Oven Temperature Fluctuation / Cycling On and Off

products.geappliances.com

looks like it is fairly standard.
surprised me a bit.

 

[rainymonday]

Yes I appreciate it does cycle, but this is a case of not reaching say 180 degrees, only getting to between 150-160.

 

[James]

EN60335-2-6 is the standard for electric ovens

 

[Pete999]

Yes I appreciate it does cycle, but this is a case of not reaching say 180 degrees, only getting to between 150-160.

May not be the oven thermostat, could be faulty door seals causing the discrepancy, in heat readings. I.E. readings taken and a leaky seal, it's not that easy to get the exact readings, sometimes appreciation of these readings and some experience will be required, no good asking an experienced Mechanic if your car is running as it should if you aint qualified to understand the results, is it?

 

[snowhead]

Is this a brand new oven?
Has the thermostat been changed to fix this issue and the issue still exists?
Is the oven twin element?
Is it a fan oven?
Has the wiring to the element and thermostat been checked.?

 

[rainymonday]

Yes I agree. It is a brand new oven and the engineer says there is nothing wrong with it. I have now had a month of soggy cakes, under done roast potatoes etc (having to increase temperature by 20+ degrees to get anything brown and cooked). When I spoke to Customer services yet again I was told that the British standard allows for that variation. It is the fact that it does not reach 180 degrees in the first place or if set to 200 it is only reaching 170-180. I really just wanted to find proof that there is a BS saying this and if this is the case I will just have to accept it I guess. The reviews for the oven are all good with no mention of this variation so I do wonder if the thermostat t is faulty.

 

[James]

if they are referring to a standard, ask them what british standard it is.

I think they are confusing the deadband of the thermostat with the tolerance of the thermostat.

however when talking to most call centers and many "engineers" they don't understand the difference.

 

[Pete999]

Yes I agree. It is a brand new oven and the engineer says there is nothing wrong with it. I have now had a month of soggy cakes, under done roast potatoes etc (having to increase temperature by 20+ degrees to get anything brown and cooked). When I spoke to Customer services yet again I was told that the British standard allows for that variation. It is the fact that it does not reach 180 degrees in the first place or if set to 200 it is only reaching 170-180. I really just wanted to find proof that there is a BS saying this and if this is the case I will just have to accept it I guess. The reviews for the oven are all good with no mention of this variation so I do wonder if the thermostat t is faulty.

Poor appreciation of results , poor instrumentation, all points to poor overall understanding.

 

[rainymonday]

Thank you for that helpful comments. The engineer actually came out to test it, and said there was nothing wrong - and it was my cooking . Only been doing it for 62 years and have a Cordon Bleu certificate, I was not impressed. However I will ask for the BS Number as you suggest. Yes it is a brand new oven, and no the thermostat hasn't been replaced. I am working on that and have asked for it to be done but I was promised a call back last Thursday and still waiting, they are saying it meets the BS. Yes it is a fan oven and there are two ovens so presumably two elements - not sure of the set up there. I've used many different ovens over the years and have never had a problem like this. Very frustrating.

 

[telectrix]

as snow. twin element oven coyld cause problems either way. i had one last year where the bottom element had failed. this caused food to burn from top element as the stat.
was at the bottom and not sensing the temperature at the top.

 

[James]

I suspect that the thermostat is not correctly calibrated.
if indeed they are expecting an error of +/- 30 degrees then it should at least average to around the set temperature.
if it is averaging a temperature 20 degrees lower than expected then I would say that although the thermostat may not be considered faulty under there description, it is unfit for purpose and should be replaced

 

[Marvo]

Assuming it's a mechanical type I'd expect the actual temp of an oven to be somewhere between the switch on and switch off point of the thermostat after giving it half an hour run time to stabilise. If it's not there's usually at least one calibration screw where you can adjust the hysteresis.

 

[rainymonday]

View attachment 55251
I suspect that the thermostat is not correctly calibrated.
if indeed they are expecting an error of +/- 30 degrees then it should at least average to around the set temperature.
if it is averaging a temperature 20 degrees lower than expected then I would say that although the thermostat may not be considered faulty under there description, it is unfit for purpose and should be replaced

At last I have a result! Although the oven manufacturers say there is no fault with the thermostat and they will not replace it, they surprised me by offering to fit a brand new oven which they are putting through all the tests they can before doing so. That is far more than I had asked for so I will watch developments with interest.

 

[Midwest]

Let us know the make, so we can avoid. Heavens soggy bottoms.