Oven temp confusion

[TetsuSan]

https://furrion.com/products/21-rv-3-burner-gas-oven-range-with-die-cast-grates

Above is the stove that I have in my RV. I had an issue with the pilot light not wanting to stay on and had a tech come to the house to fix this issue. Once it was fixed the oven was good to go for "cooking". This oven can go way over 400 degrees as it says on the dial. I tried cooking a regular pizza that of course is frozen. I get it that its not a traditional oven and what not but normally when I do cook a pizza it typically takes about a good 20 mins to cook it. Now cooking the same type a pizza "frozen" in the oven that states it can go way over 400 degrees takes an hour to cook. The tech has told me that this stove / oven can't cook food like a normal stove and that it requires the pizza to be thawed out to cook properly. I have a countertop oven that can cook a pizza faster than the oven that came with the RV. So my question is what the tech is telling me is true that this oven is more like a campfire than anything else?

 

[Kevin Cooper]

Light a burner on the stove and turn it all the way up. Shut it off. Turn your gas valve on the tank off, and try to light a burner on the stove. When the gas stops, then open the gas valve on the tank very slowly. Light the stove burner again and turn it all the way up. Is there more flame than before? If so, light your oven pilot and crank it up. See if your over gets hotter.
Reason, tanks have valves that stop or slow gas flow if it senses too much flow. Like possible if you open the valve quickly. Hopefully, it is that simple.

 

[spoon059]

I'd be willing to bet that when your oven dial reads 400 degrees, it's not actually 400 degrees. We bought a little oven thermometer so I can read the ACTUAL temp, not what the dial says. We use our oven for cooking, it works like a regular oven just smaller.

Sounds like your RV tech might be telling you a tall tale...

 

[Lonetraveler]

Have the same type of oven too. There’s a learning curve to these ovens. I bought an oven thermometer too and keep it in the oven all the time. The oven temperature dial isn’t accurate. I cook frozen pizzas in mine and it takes longer as well. Same for biscuits. Definitely a knack in using an RV oven.

 

[Etsee]

Along with the above advice....buy a pizza stone to put in the bottom of the oven. It will distribute the heat more evenly, and you will have much better results.
We use our RV oven often. It works just as well as our oven at home, once you learn a few tricks about using it.

 

[Grumpy]

400 degrees is 400 degrees. I'll bet the dial is off and from what I understand some have reported as much as 30/40 degrees. I would get an oven thermometer and check it that way and adjust accordingly. The older brand ovens were adjustable, but I've heard the Furrion is not.

 

[Lonetraveler]

Along with the above advice....buy a pizza stone to put in the bottom of the oven. It will distribute the heat more evenly, and you will have much better results.
We use our RV oven often. It works just as well as our oven at home, once you learn a few tricks about using it.

You put the stone at the very bottom of the oven or between the burner and your food? My oven is small with limited space.

 

[Jagiven]

I have never cooked a frozen pizza in our oven (different model). But cooking in an RV oven is a learning experience.

As for the temperature ours seams to be to hot. The food in the center over the burner cooks to fast and the outer edges are not done.

Lot of people put a ceramic pizza like pan above the burner to distribute and even out the heat. Me, I just use a simple metal baking sheet. It has warped and tarnished up good. But it works nicely for us.

I would recommend getting an oven thermometer and place it in a few spots in the oven. But expect over the burner to be way hotter than the edges.

 

[Etsee]

"I would recommend getting an oven thermometer and place it in a few spots in the oven. But expect over the burner to be way hotter than the edges."

An oven thermometer is certainly helpful.


The pizza stone helps to distribute the heat more evenly.

Place the pizza stone on the metal shelf over the burner, but under the oven rack.
Helpful to measure the metal shelf and buy the correct size stone. You don't want to cover the round holes around the edges with the stone.

I baked cinnamon rolls on our last trip. They baked perfectly.
__________________

 

[TetsuSan]

So I placed a oven thermometer in the oven and did 20 minute intervals 5 different times and it gets up to 345 degrees when I placed the dial at 400. Seems like there is an issue. I'm sure if I did have food in the oven it would also give me a different reading.

 

[PapaJean]

"I would recommend getting an oven thermometer and place it in a few spots in the oven. But expect over the burner to be way hotter than the edges."

An oven thermometer is certainly helpful.


The pizza stone helps to distribute the heat more evenly.

Place the pizza stone on the metal shelf over the burner, but under the oven rack.
Helpful to measure the metal shelf and buy the correct size stone. You don't want to cover the round holes around the edges with the stone.

I baked cinnamon rolls on our last trip. They baked perfectly.
__________________

We do exactly the same thing….I never trust the dial to set the temp. I always set the temp higher and monitor with the oven thermometer.

 

[JudyK-JAY22rb]

Along with the above advice....buy a pizza stone to put in the bottom of the oven. It will distribute the heat more evenly, and you will have much better results.
We use our RV oven often. It works just as well as our oven at home, once you learn a few tricks about using it.

I have some quarry tiles left over from my restaurant build (10 years ago) I took and lined the bottom of my oven with them. I learned this trick from someone out there who does a lot of RV oven cooking. Just take the time to preheat it, well.

 

[Lonetraveler]

We do exactly the same thing….I never trust the dial to set the temp. I always set the temp higher and monitor with the oven thermometer.

Same here. It’s what I’ve learned to do with my oven as well. It does stay the same temperature with food cooking.

 

[Taftcoach]

Do you happen to have a convection oven at home? That could also account for the cook time difference.

We use a metal pan to eliminate the hot and cold spots. I also found I need to rotate the food for more even cooking. Also the oven isn't insulated very well and with the small space will come down rapidly when the door is opened.

We use our oven multiple times per week with excellent results, but there is a learning curve.

 

[Tunce the traveler]

Just take the time to preheat it, well.

What he said X2

Even though the oven temperature is reading 400deg. your pizza stone is not up to 400deg. yet and that’s the secret

 

[Russc25]

The tech's blowing smoke up somewhere because he can't fix it and doesn't know why.

It works the same as a regular oven, just smaller. Being smaller, there's less thermal mass and the burner's very close to the food. That leads to the hot/cold spots you all mention. Hot by the flame, cold away. Preheating so the whole oven's hot will help a little, the pan or stone in between will help more by spreading the heat more evenly.

That's also why they "run hot": it's to compensate for the cold food you stuck in the oven. There isn't enough thermal mass to keep the oven at the set temp with your frozen pizza in there (sucking all the heat up) other than to ramp up the heat. Burner turns on, temp spikes. thermostat turns the burner off, temp plummets. thermostat turns the burner on, temp spikes.

The ceramic pizza stone or soapstone/fire brick lining the bottom both add thermal mass so that when the burner kicks on, there's more material to heat up so the temperature takes longer to rise and doesn't spike as high before turning the burner off and gives off heat when the burner's off so the temp doesn't plummet as low before it kicks back on.

 

[hjets]

2 things I would do

1: Buy one of these. Wait until they go on sale. Usually less than $20.
https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...ers/121-infrared-laser-thermometer-63985.html.


2. Get a Pizza stone that fits in the oven and heat it before you throw the pizza in the oven.