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Anova Precision Oven: Features, Accessories, Troubleshooting, and "Should I Buy One?"

FauxPas

By FauxPas
in Kitchen Consumer

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KAD

KAD

Posted
Posted

Does anyone here use their APO for proofing dough or for making yogurt.

I notice that when I set to 82F (in SousVide mode, 0 steam, Bottom heat, low fan) the temperature swings quite a lot and definitely not close to their 1 degree precision claim. Matter of fact, if I don't keep the door open, it reaches 87-90 very easily.

Do I have another bum unit?

 

  • Confused 2
palo

palo

Posted
Posted

I queried Anova about their Anova skill for Amazon's Alexa, here's their response:

 

 

Yes it should work. It's quite new so let me know if it isn't working for you or if you find any bugs.

Cheers,

David Liu
Customer Success Associate
Anova Culinary

 

I like the phrasing "Yes it should work",

then again maybe not, your mileage may vary 👅

 

I appreciate this skill is quite new (perhaps not tested fully), and they do not promote or advertise it. Anyone trying it is on their own as a beta tester

 

Just so you know.

 

p

  • Like 1
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

My oven's descale light has come on.  Has anyone attempted the descale procedure?

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

BostonVelociraptor

BostonVelociraptor

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2021 at 8:10 PM, KAD said:

Does anyone here use their APO for proofing dough or for making yogurt.

I notice that when I set to 82F (in SousVide mode, 0 steam, Bottom heat, low fan) the temperature swings quite a lot and definitely not close to their 1 degree precision claim. Matter of fact, if I don't keep the door open, it reaches 87-90 very easily.

Do I have another bum unit?

 

It's a known issue, the workaround is to turn off the fan. There have been a couple of threads about it in the CombiSteamOven community on Reddit. Holding low temp in APO: Turn fan off and APO temperature swing and Bread proof temperature fail? I set the temperature at 77F but it went up to 87F are the ones I found.

  • Like 1
BostonVelociraptor

BostonVelociraptor

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2021 at 7:30 AM, palo said:

Interesting/concerning event - I was baking something @ 450 for 20 minutes no steam manually

Huge amounts of steam expelled from bottom right corner and condensation forming in water tank.

 

Should I worry?

 

p 

Maybe. That sounds a) like a defect and b) specifically like a problem someone on Reddit had, although in their case it was accompanied by the oven itself not getting up to temperature. Is yours also like that?

kayb

kayb

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

My oven's descale light has come on.  Has anyone attempted the descale procedure?

 

Doesn't it seem like that was pretty quick? You've had it, what, less than two months?

 

Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

jimb0

jimb0

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, kayb said:

Doesn't it seem like that was pretty quick? You've had it, what, less than two months?

 

 

i don't have an APO but frequency will depend on how hard your water is. once in two months is not often at all imo for descaling.

palo

palo

Posted
Posted

More on supplied pan warping:

I contacted support as it happened to me, here is their response:

 

" Thank you for contacting the support team!
The pan warping under high temperatures is normal especially when food is not evenly distributed on the pan. The pan will return to its normal shape after it is cooled. Also, we are coming up with a pan with better heat resistance. More on this soon."

 

"Is normal"?

 

Well yes, if the pan is sub-standard.

 

"More on this soon" ?

 

How soon?

 

p

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kayb said:

Doesn't it seem like that was pretty quick? You've had it, what, less than two months?

 

 

Over three months now, how time flies!

 

During which it's seen nothing but Whole Foods distilled water, and not much of that -- about two gallons.

 

  • Like 2

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

palo

palo

Posted
Posted

From my experience (couple times a week and not necessarily with steam) it would probably work out to 6 months as opposed to someone who used it more frequently.

 

p

KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Over three months now, how time flies!

 

During which it's seen nothing but Whole Foods distilled water, and not much of that -- about two gallons.

 

If you're using distilled water, it should never need descaling.  How does it know it needs it?  Is it just based on hours of steam usage (like a timer)?  Based on this, I'd assume so...

rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

Ive forgotten :

 

what sort of water does Anova recommend ?

 

I use Brita'd water in the CSO

 

 

 

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Over three months now, how time flies!

 

During which it's seen nothing but Whole Foods distilled water, and not much of that -- about two gallons.

 

Might want to boil down that water and see if there's residue...

 

Can light get to the reservoir to let algae grow?

  • Thanks 1
rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

@gfweb 

 

are you suggesting , politely 

 

WF ' distilled water '

 

might be WF ' asparagus water '  that they discontinued

 

but kept ' in the back ' and re-branded , w/o the Asp. ?

 

JB used to be very clever .  now ?

 

Rockets Rockets etc

 

this is a Family Forum , no need to go into what

 

spending so much money ( vs Musk ) on what Rockets represent .

 

the algae issue is real .

 

I use a folded over TeaTowel on my CSO

 

the reservoir get some sun.

 

 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, KennethT said:

If you're using distilled water, it should never need descaling.  How does it know it needs it?  Is it just based on hours of steam usage (like a timer)?  Based on this, I'd assume so...

 

I've no idea whatsoever.  Having the light come on does not seem to affect operation.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, rotuts said:

Ive forgotten :

 

what sort of water does Anova recommend ?

 

I use Brita'd water in the CSO

 

 

 

 

Anova recommends distilled.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, gfweb said:

Might want to boil down that water and see if there's residue...

 

Can light get to the reservoir to let algae grow?

 

Yes, light can get to the reservoir to let algae grow.  But so far nothing has.  Unlike the CSO.  Possibly distilled water is less conducive to proliferation of flora and fauna.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

BostonVelociraptor

BostonVelociraptor

Posted
Posted
On 1/10/2021 at 2:48 PM, jimb0 said:

 

i don't have an APO but frequency will depend on how hard your water is. once in two months is not often at all imo for descaling.

The descale light is time-based. I think they even say as much in the documentation.

  • Like 2
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BostonVelociraptor

BostonVelociraptor

Posted
Posted
On 1/10/2021 at 2:59 PM, palo said:

More on supplied pan warping:

I contacted support as it happened to me, here is their response:

 

" Thank you for contacting the support team!
The pan warping under high temperatures is normal especially when food is not evenly distributed on the pan. The pan will return to its normal shape after it is cooled. Also, we are coming up with a pan with better heat resistance. More on this soon."

 

"Is normal"?

 

Well yes, if the pan is sub-standard.

 

"More on this soon" ?

 

How soon?

 

p

Hey, at least you got a pan with yours! Some people in early batches received ovens with no pans or even no racks.

BostonVelociraptor

BostonVelociraptor

Posted
Posted
Just now, BostonVelociraptor said:

Hey, at least you got a pan with yours! Some people in early batches received ovens with no pans or even no racks.

Whoops, should have added an emoji or something to indicate that I was joking about an unacceptable situation, not suggesting that you should actually be glad. The communal wisdom over on Reddit seems to be to get an aluminum jelly roll pan (10" x 15") for high heat cooking and some third party stainless steel pans that just happen to exactly fit on the racks for low heat cooking. The racks the APO ships with sure seem to be repurposed wire grids of the size that goes inside half sheet pans. They have a tendency to jam in the rack supports. Some people have found other half sheet pan wire grids that slide more smoothly while not being so small that they come out of the rack supports when there's something heavy on the rack and the oven temperature is high.

jimb0

jimb0

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, BostonVelociraptor said:

The descale light is time-based. I think they even say as much in the documentation.

 

sure that doesn't surprise me; that's pretty common in appliances. but also doesn't change my point that frequency of need will depend on how hard your water is, or that once in two months is any kind of quick.

KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Yes, light can get to the reservoir to let algae grow.  But so far nothing has.  Unlike the CSO.  Possibly distilled water is less conducive to proliferation of flora and fauna.

 

Algae need some kind of nutrient in order to proliferate - so, distilled water should theoretically be algae free.

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