Inaccurate Oven Temperature
 

Three weeks ago we moved to a different house. The house was built about 1989-1991 and the stove/oven is original with the house. I baked some cookies that normally bake in 17 minutes. By about 12-13 minutes the cookies were burning. The second batch I watched more carefully and at 11:00 minutes they were fine. The third batch I had to take out at 8:00 minutes. This morning I made an apple pie which normally bakes in 40-50 minutes. I took it out at 30 minutes because it was browning on top. I baked chicken the other night and it was done in about 20 minutes.

Obviously the temperature is not correct. Does anyone have suggestions on how to adapt cooking times to this?

Thanks,

I have a similiar problem, my oven runs on the cool side. I've learned to increase the heat-if it calls for 350*, I set it for 375*

You can call a professional in to adjust it, or convince the family you need a new oven for the holidays.

Good luck,

not only is your oven temp off, but with appliances that old, your electric bill is probably higher. could not believe the difference in our electric bill. i really pinch my pennies. lots of times, i don't buy anything until the old one dies. suddenly last yr all my appliances started dying. and when we were done, my electric bill was less than half what it had been. we went from a $280 dollar electric bill, and higher in the summer months down to an average of $80. we had replaced everything, and i mean everything electrical in my house last yr.

You can get a oven thermometer to check and see how off you are, they are cheap under $10. If you aren't too far off then you can easily adjust your temps when turning on the oven.

If it is way off, it can probably be repaired or calibrated. But, as has already been mentioned, this might be a good excuse to shop for a new stove. In my case, I had the coolest 1965 stove in my house (same frigidaire stove as in the old Bewitched show, google it!) and it worked great. But we remodeled and I decided I wanted to go more modern with my appliances. Its amazing how much the power useage dropped with a new fridge and stove in my all electric house.

I had purchased the extended warrantee on my 12 year old Kenmore stove and had the guy come for maintenance last week. I baked a cake before he came so he could see that one side cooks faster than the other side of the oven. It was obvious it's uneven heat flow. However, he said it's just the way some stoves are and nothing can be done about it. I always have to rotate cakes or cookie sheets half way through to have even cooking.

Problem with your cooking too fast is that stuff is browned faster on the outside but not fully cooked inside. I agree on getting a thermometer to figure out what the temperature really is and then set it accordingly. Might be worth having it checked out, or as others say, get yourself a more efficient new one.

Like GrandmaNewt suggested, go and get an oven thermometer.

I did Google it and OMG, I have that oven's sister!!! My burners line up in a row and have a butcher block in the front but it slides out of sight when not in use. I love having the the 2 ovens at eye level.

piney

I agree about the oven thermometer, but if it's electric you might be able to replace the elements (coils). They just pull and push in and out....unless your oven is so old that isn't possible. If it's gas, I have no idea -- LOL.

I had problems with my oven just the past few days. Made some cookies the other day and lower rack browned as usual but upper rack didn't. Wednesday I made the pies for Thanksgiving diner and had to bake them longer than usual to brown and apple pie bubble up in the slits . When we had the applepie last night the bottom crust wan't fully uncooked but the rest of the pie was fine.

Yesterday the turkey did fine on the bottom rack but the corn casserole on the top rack took almost twice as long to firm up and brown. I've has the range just a few years and it has a new quartz countertop around it so replacement isn't the first way for me to go. Will get an over guage and see what happens.

my old oven (just replaced 6 mo ago) was 400º in the front and 300º in the back...could never bake anything, sure am enjoying the new one LOL

The oven in this house was scary. There is/was a grill below. The flame was huge when running the oven. We replaced the oven. It was the safest approach and satisfactory. I don't think one can regard electrical/gas as safe in the house, something you can dicker with.

I would replace that appliance if at all possible. It's already at least 20 years old, probably not worth investing in a service call.

This is what we always did.

I think its very simple as oven is cooking very early because of an high temprature. So, you need to set a temprature lower than the normal required time. As this is the only way you can get your food cookwell and avoid from burning it.

This would make me very nervous about cooking poultry and other salmonella hazards. I'd either get it fixed or replace it.

This website is pretty helpful when it comes to DIY diagnosing and repairing appliances.

http://www.repairclinic.com/

Try lowering the oven temp. by 25 degrees and baking something. If it cooks too fast still, lower the temp some more, maybe 10 degrees at a time. Good luck.

I am surprised that so many of us have to make do with such an important piece of equipment. I think that the workman was wrong in what he said about some stoves just being that way and there was nothing that could be done about it. Wrong! Something could be done but he would not do it. Whether out of laziness or something else, I don't know. I had my oven off 75 degrees. The first workman said he could not do anything, but I called the Sears folks again and they sent someone who actually figured out the problem. They didn't like sending someone out for such a "minor problem," but it wasn't "minor" to me. This is just another example of incompetent workmen working on inferior but highly priced equipment that seems to be forced on us more and more. What ever happened to quality products that worked? Maybe we should start a movement to demand good equipment and workmen/women who know what the heck they are doing.

Sometimes I wonder if it really is engineered obsolescence or just lazy repair work.

Last year at Thanksgiving my cheesecake did not set and I had to trash it. Not sure what the problem was, since I have made the same recipe for 50 yrs. So this year, thinking it could be my oven temperature was off, I bought an oven thermometer. I found out that instead of pre-heating in 10 minutes, it took 12 and sometimes my temp was lower than I had dialed for. I used the thermometer to adjust for other things I cooked for Thanksgiving. Since it is a gas stove, I will not attempt any calibration on my own, but since I don't use it that much, will probably put off calling in a repairman for now.

When we moved into our place 5 years ago, I ruined some dinner and baked goods until I invested in an oven thermometer. Turns our my oven is 50 degrees hotter than the dial says. Now I adjust for that and keep the oven thermometer in place to double check. All has been fine since.
Yes, it's electric, too.

I second getting an oven thermometer - I think mine cost less than $5, and I found out my oven runs consistently 25 degrees hot. So I turn it down 25 degrees lower than the recipe says, and everything is fine. Now, if you find your oven is not off by any consistent number, or that it's off by a huge margin, then I'd call the repair guy or look into buying a new one. Depends on your budget, I guess.

IMHO, there is nothing worse than an unreliable oven. The first thing i did when we purchased this home was to buy an oven thermometer and check the oven, even though it was a recently-purchased stove by the previous owner. Luckily, the oven temperature was exactly right. Had it not been, I would have checked the warranty, but whether in or out of warranty, a repairman would have been called and the oven fixed or the stove replaced, if at all financially feasible.

I have had 3 second hand electric stoves in 15 years. A new one is not in the budget. With each one I have had to adjust my baking temps and times a bit.

I do have an oven thermometer and my current oven is 25 degrees hot. I adjust the dial to be at the right temp.

I have always rotated what ever was in the oven. Even when we had a convection oven that moved the hot air around.

It's a far-out possibility but are the oven off-on switch and temperature dial separate? The gauge might have been popped off for cleaning and replaced incorrectly. If gas, the thermocouple may need replaced.....the stove wouldn't know when the desired temp. was achieved and just keep heating.