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Jan 3, 2017 at 19:36 comment added rumtscho I don't have my sources here, but they should be from the 2010s, roughly. Certainly not 1970s. Of course, who knows when the authors updated their knowledge... I am quite certain I have seen this discussed in Cookwise, and I know Cooking for geeks has something on the topic, although not 100% sure it also mentions thermostatlessness. You have to also take into account geographic differences, I was shocked to hear that US ovens don't allow people to turn the bottom and top heater elements separately, and that's before we consider gas or solid-fuel ovens, which are still the norm in some areas.
Jan 3, 2017 at 18:52 comment added Chris H With respect to the conclusion, that's spot on - is within rounding error and all depends on doneness. But once the OP gets a feel for it they may choose to delay the first time you open the oven, whether to turn food over or (especially) to inspect cake,
Jan 3, 2017 at 18:48 comment added Chris H There was room for interpretation, certainly, and perhaps I spend too much time thinking about control loops. But on another note: how old is your source talking about timers? The only electric oven I've come across that didn't use a thermostat was built in about the 70s and had a clockwork preheat timer to run flat out for a few minutes. This was in the UK.
Jan 3, 2017 at 17:28 comment added rumtscho @ChrisH yes, any form of temperature control, including a primitive one such as a timer, can be calibrated. And those of ovens I have worked with have usually been poorly calibrated, settling at a temperature far away from that shown on the knob. I have read books also discussing that this is a common problem. I can see why you were focused on thinking of calibrating a thermostat, but calibrating something else is also possible. Anyway, glad that we could clear the whole matter up.
Jan 3, 2017 at 17:22 comment added Chris H You say (or did at the time of my comment) that the oven doesn't control the temperature (it can't if it doesn't have a thermostat), then discuss the poor calibration of the temperature control.
Jan 3, 2017 at 16:39 comment added rumtscho OK, changed the claim that ovens don't use thermostats.
Jan 3, 2017 at 16:39 history edited rumtscho CC BY-SA 3.0
removed claim that ovens don't use thermostats
Jan 3, 2017 at 16:36 comment added Jason C Fwiw, I further confirmed with Frigidaire (maker of my oven) that the majority of their consumer grade freestanding ranges use temperature probes rather than timers. As for the contradiction that @Chris mentioned I also do not see it readily. As far as I can tell, only the first sentence is incorrect, and forgivably so. The rest of that paragraph seems to apply fine for both timers and thermostats. When I said "can confirm above comment" I was only thinking about the timer vs thermostat sentence.
Jan 2, 2017 at 11:19 comment added rumtscho I admit I never tested that about the thermostat myself. I read about ovens not having a thermostat in Cookwise, so assumed it is the norm. Maybe it is not as widespread, or maybe it has changed in the meantime. Out of curiosity, what would the self-contradiction be in my first paragraph? I can't see it.
Jan 2, 2017 at 1:33 vote accept Jason C
Jan 2, 2017 at 1:26 comment added Jason C Can confirm above comment. My oven has a thermostat, behavior when opening door confirms, and also I can actually buy a replacement sensor. But it is really poorly calibrated, in the past I've observed this oven holds at about 85% of its set point. PS off topic I've found leaving a large cast iron pan in the oven stabilizes the temperature swings slightly.
Jan 1, 2017 at 22:51 comment added Chris H Your first paragraph is self-contradictory, probably because your first sentence is wrong. The thermostat might not be very good but it's definitely a thermostat (unlike on an electric hotplate). It's easy to test that this is true; open the door for a few minutes and the element will come on continuously until it's back up to temperature. After that you're right - the calibration isn't up to much and is the average air temperature (though it's not much like sinusoidal as the element can deliver heat much faster than the oven cools with it off.
Jan 1, 2017 at 19:08 history answered rumtscho CC BY-SA 3.0