The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Oven or the thermometer on the blink?

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Oven or the thermometer on the blink?

I've suspected for awhile that my oven doesn't keep even temps. So, I bought a thermometer and after awhile, it would get to the right temp, but I never checked it much. But cakes tend to take longer than they should, but not ALWAYS and things like chicken and turkey baking is very erratic, but I can't "catch" it being erratic.

Right now I have my oven set to 500 degrees and the thermometer on the stone in the middle of the oven is reading just over 450 (and the oven has been at 500 for 15 minutes. When I had it set at 450 it was registering closer to the door at 350, so I moved the thermometer.

How do I know which is not working properly? How weird is it to buy a second thermometer to check it's accuracy? and is there a way to adjust/fine tune an oven's temp? We inherited this stove with the house, so I don't have a manual. It's no more than 7 years old.

I'm going to check the temp again, right now... 460.

Not cool.

 

Pablo's picture
Pablo

I had similar symptoms with my stove, but more erratic, like it simply would not go over 400 no matter what I set the temp to and anything from 300 - 350 and back down again when set to 425, stuff like that.  I had worried about it for some time until I bought a thermometer, like you did.  I think ovens take a while to heat, also if it's not convection then different areas show different temps.  Yours doesn't sound too bad to me from your description.  If it's only 7 years old it might be worth getting it serviced and calibrated.  Mine was a dinosaur.  I hated not being able to rely on the temperature settings, so I am very sympathetic.  You might be able to find a manual online if you search with your oven make and model.  Good luck!

Paul