CADCO , small UNOX combi ovens

[rotuts]

I stumbled on to CADCO ovens

 

from the Unox thread I started.

 

I called them.

 

they have two small ovens   

 

1/2 sheet pan   , x 3

 

one is digital ;  XAFT - 115 and one mania :  XAF-113

 

http://cadco-ltd.com/products/types/convection-ovens/

 

the digital requires 220V for some reason , but the manual 120 v.

 

of note  they both do steam  the digital is set in 20 % increments , and the manual as far as I can tell

 

from talking to the rep   by eyeball  but you can get 100 % humidity.

 

there is an external pump that you place in a water container and it pulls the water out of that

 

and into the oven.  you can use a bucket or whatever you like.

 

you use de-calcified water , which a Brita filter system will provide for you.

 

I asked about a drain for the condensed water

 

if you have used a Cuisinard Steam oven , you know all about that.

 

these do not have drains , but a fan that sends the moisture out into the kitchen

 

at least thats what I take from talking to them.

 

I have no idea on craftsmanship , or reliablilty

 

2 K fior the manual , 2.5 K for the digital.

 

shame the digital is not 120 v.

 

hope the Anova Team get back from Bora-Bora in my lifetime.

 

 

[Barrytm]

I have an older non humidity Cadco Unox, and it is a nice convection oven.  As to the models you referenced, since you are familiar with the CSO, you might want to ask the Cadco whether their models have a boiler, or steam injection, or whether the humidity button just adds room temperature water.  I know that some ovens add moisture to the oven by just  pumping a stream of room temp water into the oven , as opposed to injecting  water that has already been heated to steam.  If there is no boiler, then the humidity function would not be very unlike putting a small copper tube into a vent in your home oven and slowly dribbling in water.  Not trying to discourage you, but wanted to be sure which one you would be getting. 

[rotuts]

@Barrytm

 

many thanks for your contribution.

 

after looking into this a bit more

 

these ovens have a minimum temp of 175 F

 

as far as I can tell

 

Id be very much interested in an oven of this size

 

that had features for Proofing Bread , at a temp of my choice and humidity of my choice

 

and steam injection for bread at the beginning 

 

and lower temps for SV.

 

Im asking for a lot

 

and I can't understand why something like this isn't made for the Home Kitchen

 

Miele has a 30 "  induction top / electric oven 

 

which you can plumb in for steam for baking

 

but its not a full Combi-oven

 

which seems a software issue

 

etc.

 

its expensive

 

but the appliance mart that sells it has stuff that's way more expensive 

 

and very old school.

[Barrytm]

Yes,  I went looking for something designed for home bakers, and was not all that thrilled with what I found.  I did get a true combi, but the downside is that it does not have a bake mode, only a convection bake, so although I can add steam at the beginning, it is blowing air over the bread the whole time, and  I would prefer something that just used heat and not a fan.  The other end of the spectrum is the Rofco .  https://pleasanthillgrain.com/rofco-electric-stone-oven-b20-bread-oven   Fairly pricey, and is, in essence ,  just a big dutch oven.  It does have optional steam, but many users seem to just fill it with dough, and the moisture from cooking keeps the steam inside until you open the vents.  Unfortunately,  not only is it pricey, the smallest one uses only 1300 watts -  so if it were wired for 120 volts, it could easily plug into an ordinary US outlet. Since the element is 240,  you need a special line run to operate it.  I actually considered it, but was turned off by the long preheat times -  1 1/2 to 2 hours according to some posts.

[chromedome]

Surely it wouldn't be too hard to tweak the wiring and put a toggle or push-button switch to engage/disengage the fan. 

 

...unless there's a warranty issue involved, I guess. Never mind. 

[rotuts]

@Barrytm

 

interesting stuff

 

thanks for that link .

[Barrytm]

 

Surely it wouldn't be too hard to tweak the wiring and put a toggle or push-button switch to engage/disengage the fan.   

 

Actually, it is pretty simple to cut off the fan, but the heating element in the combi  ( and in the Cadco - Unox ) is not actually in the heating chamber, and is in a coil behind the chamber, and the fan is needed to push the heat into the heating chamber.   What I could do, is load either oven with a lot of stone, and make it work like the Rofco -  or even a wood fired oven -  by a very long preheat, and turn off the oven entirely, and let the bread bake from stored heat.  For the Cadco that would actually  work, though there is a vent in the rear that would have to be covered.  For the combi, even when you shut it off,  the fan runs to cool the oven down, so I would have to switch the circuit breaker.  Seems like a lot of work to me, so I am instead thinking of making a Forneau style to go in the oven -  basically a combo cooker for something other than boules  https://www.fourneauoven.com/   

[Franci]

On 1/15/2018 at 7:18 AM, Barrytm said:

 

Surely it wouldn't be too hard to tweak the wiring and put a toggle or push-button switch to engage/disengage the fan.   

 

Actually, it is pretty simple to cut off the fan, but the heating element in the combi  ( and in the Cadco - Unox ) is not actually in the heating chamber, and is in a coil behind the chamber, and the fan is needed to push the heat into the heating chamber.   What I could do, is load either oven with a lot of stone, and make it work like the Rofco -  or even a wood fired oven -  by a very long preheat, and turn off the oven entirely, and let the bread bake from stored heat.  For the Cadco that would actually  work, though there is a vent in the rear that would have to be covered.  For the combi, even when you shut it off,  the fan runs to cool the oven down, so I would have to switch the circuit breaker.  Seems like a lot of work to me, so I am instead thinking of making a Forneau style to go in the oven -  basically a combo cooker for something other than boules  https://www.fourneauoven.com/   

 

 

So funny, looking for an oven for me, I bumped into this old post. How did it go with your oven @Barrytm. Do you know that you could Have purchase a disc to put on top of the Cadco oven fan to make the air less strong? I know because, I used this oven for long time for baking cakes and the disc made a huge difference! 

[Barrytm]

Franci, yes ,  I made the disk,  the cost seemed pretty high for a piece of metal with some holes, and it cut the air some, but it was still constantly moving air, and for cakes the disc is probably a great improvement, but for bread,  I think the air was still crusting too quickly.  I found another Cadco that was not working on ebay, and am trying to convert it to bake mode  ( removed the convection element and replaced it with a bake element ) but have not made as much progress as I had hoped.  While it seems like it would be easy to seal the oven, actually it is a challenge in that the door does not firmly press against the existing seal, or the seal itself is a bit worn out.