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Using baking stone in electric oven

jgosline's picture
jgosline

Using baking stone in electric oven

My question is:  Has anyone ever heard that baking stones block the oven from heating up and ruin the range?

We recently moved to a new home that already had an electric range (Kenmore).  I have a 7/8" baking stone that is a tile from a kiln.  Very heavy.  I have beeen using it for 20+ years in both gas and electric ovens.  The existing oven in the house is an unknown number of years old, but certainly not new.  Within 2 weeks, the oven stopped heating to temperature.  The sellers of the house threw in a 1 year home warranty, so we contacted the insurance company and they sent out a contractor.  Initially we were told the range needed a new motherboard.  It's a long story, but bottom line is he told us that using the baking stone had ruined the range which he claimed was the worst damage he had ever seen in his 25 years as a contractor.  In 2 weeks?  Seriously?  I might note that one of the stovetop elements is also defective.  Obviously, I want a new range but if this one can be fixed, I'd rather wait.

Any comments are welcome.

 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I can't say it is untrue but I've never heard of that. I've used baking stones in electric stoves for years and never experienced any problems from it.

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

"Has anyone ever heard that baking stones block the oven from heating up and ruin the range?"

Yes. A few years ago, I researched this and bought some travertine tile and some natural granite flooring tile.  I also spent a couple hundred dollars on cast iron griddles, pans, skillets, etc. I bought a cheapy $10 angle grinder from Harbor Freight, and a very nice Hitachi $21 ceramic cutting wheel from Lowes to trim the tiles.

From what I read, it is very likely to damage the oven if the stone or steel or griddle/pan is too close to one or more walls of the oven.

You want space on all four sides of the stone. I've read  1.75" average all around, with  1" minimum on any given side.

Of course, a round stone or steel is much less likely to cause a problem. The danger is with rectangular stones/steels.

Without sufficient clearance, air circulation is restricted and the heat is trapped below    the stone, and then the  built-in thermometer probe,  which is located in the upper portion, stays cooler, so the oven thinks its too cool and doesn't turn off the lower element. By the time the upper part of the oven above the stone reaches the set temp, the lower portion below the stone could reach 700-800 F, and the  damage is done.

And so you get heat damage on the floor and on the walls near the stone, and the lower element eventually burns out from being on so long all at once.

Here is a company that makes custom baking stones, and they can tell you what their official rules of wall-clearance are:   https://bakingstone.com/

Their FAQ page, item 4,  says a 1" minimum all around. https://bakingstone.com/faq/

--

Convection ovens with forced air can get by with less clearance because the fan forces the air circulation. But it still needs at least some clearance between wall and stone for air to get by.

jgosline's picture
jgosline

My baking stone is 15"x15" and there is well over 1.75" clearance all around, closer to 4".  As much as that may be a concern, I guess what really jammed me was his stating uncategorically, that I had ruined an oven in 2 weeks that had been in use for several years and does show signs of age, including a faulty stovetop burner.

Rock's picture
Rock

I agree that you do need clearance all around the stone. I've found that to be true with gas or electric ovens.

I have a 1" thick and about 15.5" X 14.5" pizza stone that I bought in 1984 as a kit from Carl Oshinsky "The Pizza Gourmet". Mostly used in electric ovens, and for the last 30 years exclusively in electric. I have about 2" clearance in the front and back and 4.5" side to side. It's not a huge stone but handles two hearth loaves well and it always stays in the oven.

My home ovens haven't overheated and you can see the bottom element turning on and off regularly. Most electric ovens, depending on the heat setting will also have the top element turn on and off during a cooking cycle, although not usually at very high temperature. You can verify this by unplugging the lower element (or having it burn out once in my case). The top element will try to heat extra hard all on it's own The only real problem I've run into burning out elements is dropping an errant piece of tin foil onto the element. I suppose that other debris being dropped onto the element can cause problems too.  I have a "backstop" of sorts that came with my pizza kit that keeps corn meal from spilling over when I load the stone. Keeps things very clean.

Pic of "backstop".

Just for fun.

Dave

 

jgosline's picture
jgosline

Looks exaactly like mine, except the cool icon!  I also have @4" clearance.

jgosline's picture
jgosline

The insurance company fired the contractor and is sending out a new one before I even sent my complaint email to them!

Rock's picture
Rock

Glad to hear you're getting more help.

I helped a friend put a new mother board in her oven a few years ago. Pretty easy to do, and I think the only reason it failed was she had blocked the vent to add steam to her baking environment. The moisture had to go somewhere and it went to the control panel.

One thing I've found is that the more expensive model ovens tend to be harder to get parts for and can require a bit more disassembly to fix. If you're not in an urban area where repairmen are abundant, shop carefully for a new oven.

Let us know how it works out and good luck!

Dave

 

 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Glad to hear it wasn't the stone's fault.  

If you're still curious, google the oven's make/model and see what reviews or customer experiences are out there. Those might give some clue.  For instance, failure of the thermostat probe could have been the culprit.  Or maybe some splatter got on the probe, and interfered with a proper reading.

I hope your replacement gets there before the holiday.   Good luck, amigo.

And, I forgot..... Welcome to TFL!     Please take advantage of the blog feature and blog/share your bakes.  I hope you have time to stick around and contribute.

 

gavinc's picture
gavinc

As others have said, baking stones are great as long as there is room around the sides. My oven make supplies a stone to suit. 

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Just chiming in to say that if the next contractor tells you something similar, ask him to explain exactly what went bad, and how the stone caused it.   I agree there is a possibility that an oversized baking stone would prevent heat circulation, as a result, if the bake element were on, the area below the stone would heat up, and if the sensor were above the stone, in a cooler area, it would continue to call for more heat, such that the bottom area would get hotter than the upper area.  But that is only part one.  I guess if the stone was exactly the same size as the oven, and there was no transfer of heat, and the bottom element was very powerful, there could be a great variation between the temp above the stone and the temp below the stone.  Don't forget that the stone transmits heat through it,  so even if there is no airflow, some of the heat would get into the upper area -  decreasing the spread in temperature.  Likewise, any airspace would decrease the temp difference.  More critically, where is the motherboard - how did he determine that it died of overheating?  If the motherboard was below the floor of the oven, then possibly it got more heat than designed. OTOH,  if it an oven with a self clean function -  they often heat to 900F,  and I would be surprised if an oven was set at 400F and a stone blocking airflow would cause the part below the stone to heat to 900F .   If the motherboard were above the oven , or located on the back wall of the oven higher than the stone, then the whole theory falls apart.   As Rock says,  yes steam can fry a motherboard located above it if vents are blocked off, and that can happen in a short time, but I have trouble with the entire stone theory.  Is it possible that all the stars aligned and that caused it - yes,  but far more likely that if it was the control board, it died of old age. 

BernardH's picture
BernardH

I agree with Barry that most likely the control board died of old age. Gavinc's oven, above, looks identical to mine - mine came with a solid baking sheet that slides into the runners on the sides, so hardly any space at all there for air circulation. Maybe much does depend on the design of each particular oven, but as the OP's baking stone had getting on for 4" clearance I can't believe air circulation was a problem

jgosline's picture
jgosline

My stone obviously has ample room to allow for air circulation.  And I've been here for 2 weeks!  Even I can't destroy an oven in 2 weeks!  Probably 4" all around.  I am finding that the previous owners were obviously not into cooking/baking and this range was not well maintained.  One of the burners is defective and there was caked on grease.  I'm seriously considering just buying a new range.  Thanks all for your input!