Most oven owners have one time or the other faced various challenges with their ovens. While some of these challenges might be pretty simple and require just minor fixes, others turn out to be more complicated than expected. One of such problems is having your oven temperature fluctuate. Ever wondered what do you do when you have your oven temperature off by 50 degrees?
This is a very common challenge. To fix your oven temperature, you first need to use an oven thermometer to test its temperature while you keep regulating. Then you need to look into its possible causes we have listed below.
This article will discuss what can cause an oven temperature to be off, how you can check if your oven temperature is off and easy fixes for this problem.
Also Read:
What Can Make Oven Temperature Off by 50 Degrees?
There are a few reasons why your oven could be 50 degrees off in temperature.
Let us reviews some of the more common reasons.
1. The Oven is Perfectly Functional
Most ovens usually have threshold that keeps it from dropping too low or rising too high. Usually, ovens don’t maintain the same temperature throughout. If you have set your oven to 350°. Your oven might likely rise up to 400° before it begins to drop.
It might also drop till about 300° before it begins to rise again. The means that your oven rotates between a lower and a higher temperature.
The average is usually what you have set your oven to. So an oven temperature being off by 25°-50° might be perfectly natural for the oven.
You will likely discover that ovens do not give a perfect temperature to correlate with what has been set, except you take measures towards regulating the oven temperature as well as exercise some patience to ensure that the temperature is perfectly suited for your meal.
While your oven temperature might not be due to any underlying problem, there are other causes that might result in your oven temperature dropping or rising beyond what you have set.
To Fix This Problem
To fix this issue, you need to regulate the temperature controls based on the temperature in the oven.
To know the oven temperature, ensure that you have an oven thermometer at home.
Preheat your oven at least 20 minutes before use
Check the oven temperature with a thermometer to see how off it is.
If it is off by less than 50° it shouldn’t be much of a problem, you can just leave it as it is
If it is off by more than 100°, you might need to call a technician
If it is between 50-100°, you might need to check your oven thermostat sensor. It is usually located at the back of the oven. If you realize that it is not properly balanced or its leaning on the oven wall, it might be one of the causes.
Check if this problem can be fixed by tightening the screws holding the sensor in place.
Once this is done, check the oven temperature again and compare it to the display to see if it is still inaccurate
Take out the temperature controls, loosen the screws and adjust the numbers. Once you rotate, depending on your oven measurement and the direction you rotate in, the numbers will be adjusted. Test the oven again
If you feel something is wrong at this point, you might have to use the services of a technician
2. Calibration Issue
Most oven are required to be properly calibrated to function optimally.
In fact, when you make a new purchase, there are likely instructions in the oven manual that will help you get the best out of your oven calibration
To Fix This Problem
To fix, hold down the oven calibration button. Once the temperature comes on and the oven is preheated, compare it to that of your oven and adjust accordingly. If it is on 0°, you might need to wait for about 30 minutes to be sure of the right temperature to calibrate.
If your oven is an old one or you can’t seem to figure out how to calibrate, you might need the services of a technician.
Also Read: Why does my gas oven make a popping sound?
3. Bad Oven Temperature Sensor
The oven temperature sensor is the part of the oven that is responsible for the heating of the oven. Sometimes, your oven sensor might be bad and this can cause it not to heat up properly.
This fault manifests as the oven not heating up properly. It could also be overheating. In this situation, your meals could also come out imperfect. Either under baked or burnt
To Fix This Problem
Shut off your oven power to ensure that there is no risk of electric shock
Take out the screws connecting the sensors and detach the wires
Replace the oven sensors and screw back into place.
Turn on the oven again and take a temperature reading with your kitchen thermometer, it should be properly fixed
4. Faulty Heating Elements
If you’re sure that your oven sensor is not bad or the calibration not faulty. The heating element might be broken or faulty.
To check if this is the case,
Preheat your oven for at about 30 minutes and look through your oven door to see if your oven heating element is very hot. It glows red hot when it is at the peak of its function.
If it is not glowing, it is likely faulty and you might need to replace it.
To Fix This Problem
Turn of the oven and allow to cool completely if still hot
Take out the outer panels
Remove the screws from the heating element and replace. Once this is done, your oven should be functional and the heating element should be back in perfect working condition.
5. Damaged Knob Selector
If you have a manual oven, then the problem could simply be with your knob selector and knob shaft.
If either of the two are misaligned, lose, or broken, they may not be positioned at the right temperature setting.
To Fix This Problem
Look for visible damages on the knob selector or on the knob shaft.
Furthermore, if you face any difficulty turning the knob or if you feel the knob is loose, then that could be the culprit.
A Word of Caution
Fixing broken parts of an oven particularly the sensor or the heating elements require technical skills.
Therefore, if you have visible spotted a damage and you are unsure about how to fix or if you lack confidence with repairs, then it is highly advisable that you call a repair person.
In any case, when a damage is spotted, particularly in the oven chamber or on the heating elements, you should disconnect your oven from electricity or gas and wait until it is repaired.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned how you can check if you have your oven temperature off by 50 degrees and what to do to fix this problem at home without the help of a technician.
It is important to know that having your oven temperature lower or higher than you have set it is a really common problem and might not be due to a fault that has occurred in your oven.
In conclusion, always use an oven thermometer to check the internal temperature of your oven. This will help you decide on the next line of action, especially if the rise or drop in the temperature is due to some fault that the oven has developed.
FAQs:
1. What do I do if my oven temperature is off?
If you think your oven temperature is off, the best thing to do is test it with a thermometer. Place the thermometer in the center of the oven and set it to 350 degrees. The oven temperature should be within 5 degrees of the reading on the thermometer. If your oven is off by more than 5 degrees, you may need to adjust the calibration.
2. How many degrees should an oven fluctuate?
As the oven cycles continue to go on and off for a total of 60 degrees, the temperature may vary by a maximum of 30 degrees and down by 30 degrees. For our ovens, this fluctuation is normal. Some more, some less. Some more. How and where to measure the temperature in the oven will change the temperature swing.
3. How do I know if my oven temperature sensor is bad?
Symptoms of a bad Oven Temperature Sensor
1. The Normal Cooking Times Longer than Usual.
2. Foods are undercooked.
3. Uneven Cook on your foods.
4. Issues of overheating.
5. Failure of the Oven-Board.
4. Does a dirty oven affect temperature?
A dirty oven interior may effectively avoid the heating of the radiant part, which is why it cooks unfairly. Service experts advise avoiding the self-cleaning feature of the oven. The self-cleaning cycle may have internal temperatures of up to 1.000 degrees F.
5. Why is my oven not getting up to temperature?
Problem: The oven is not heating for the right temperature.
Cause: If the temperature sensor inside the oven is ineffective, the oven will not heat to the right temperature. Cause: A defective temperature sensor or a temperature sensor on the oven wall can trigger this.