Question about oven vents

[blurby]

I just moved into a new apartment and the first thing I did was take the oven's temperature. It consistantly runs about 25 colder than it says it is.

Today I noticed that when I switched on the oven's internal light I can see straightinto the inside of the oven through the vent pipe right underneath the back-left burner.

I know all ovens have something to vent the air inside, but I've never seen one so... exposed. I can see right in! Isn't this horribly inefficient? It certainly heats my kitchen up quickly. Is there anything I can/should do? I don't want to just plug it up as that is surely a fire hazard.

[DerekW]

A small pan of sauce will simmer nicely if placed over such a vent while the oven is running moderately warm.

And congratulations on getting an oven which is consistent in its error - our loathsome coil stove [now replaced with gas, Yay!] used to be too hot at cool temperatures, and decidedly under temperature at 'high' levels. No doubt there was a point in the middle where it was 'just right' but I never seemed to need to cook at that temperature.

[tsquare]

My old green monster range had a similar vent system, but the vent itself had a small hood over it - I don't recall if it vented to the side or down. I'd wager there is a piece missing. Something should keep stuff from falling into the oven. I can see you baking a cake and having a pot of water boil over - or a splash of tomato sauce hit the hole just right.

Grat place to soften butter though.

Edited July 22, 2007 by tsquare (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

Grat place to soften butter though.

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Or plastic utensils. Or plastic grocery bags.

[DCP]

Grat place to soften butter though.

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Or plastic utensils. Or plastic grocery bags.

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And it's a lovely place for a metal spoon rest - learned that the hard way.

[blurby]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I checked out the owner's manual and wasn't able to find anything about resetting the calibration for the oven's thermometer.

I checked out how the probe is mounted and found that it pokes through a hole in the back wall, protruding about 2 inches into the interior. The base of the probe is slightly off-center and so presses against the lip of the hole. Do you think the contact with the (metal) wall might be throwing it off? I could take off the back of the oven and try to center it better.

Also, the manual says over and over not to plug the hole with foil. Is there a huge risk to this? I just want a non-fluctuating, acurate oven! If I keep a close eye on things do I really run a huge risk if I travel into the transgressive alluminum plug territory?

[MarkIsCooking]

You can put me in the "simply minded, low tech solution" category, but how about justing setting the oven 25 degrees warmer than every recipe calls for?

I have an oven at our family's summer cabin and it's the same there (always colder than the setting). I keep an oven thermometer in the oven and - since it's NOT reliably off - adjust the temp each time.

If I took an oven apart, it would be like one of those cartoon scenes where the whole place explodes and I'm left sitting in rubble with black hair.

-Mark-

[RobertCollins]

Often one can pull the Temp setting Knob off its stem. Behind the knob is a little adjustment mechanism. In my experience this is a curved slotted piece of metal with one or two small phillips screw(s).

Heat oven to a normal use temp setting- I use 350. Loosen this screw and turn the setting mechanism so that the Knob reads the same as the oven temp. Re tighten screw, put knob back on.

Hope this works for that oven.

Edited July 24, 2007 by RobertCollins (log)