Debugging Atwood oven temperature problem

[jhughes75]

I have an Atwood Wedgewood Vision oven/stovetop.

The oven lights fine, but will not increase above the minimum temperature.  I adjust the dial and I see no visible change in the flame intensity.

The stovetop works great, and I can run all 3 on high and kick the furnace on, so the main regulator is fine.

Am wondering what part(s) to replace first with this issue: thermostat, safety valve, or the regulator in the oven if there is one?

* I have not been able to find their official website to see if they have a support contact.  The first 5 pages of search results do not have the manufacturer anywhere.  Kind of frustrating.

 

[UTTransplant]

I think my last propane stove was an Atwood, but I might be wrong, in mine, the flame was either all on or all off (except for pilot light). Temperature adjusted with flame time, not flame intensity. Have you put an oven thermometer in to see if the temperature increases after 10 minutes or so? Note that mind took a LONG time to come up to a high temperature like 450. It took 15 minutes or more to come to 350.

 

[John From Detroit]

I think my last propane stove was an Atwood, but I might be wrong, in mine, the flame was either all on or all off (except for pilot light). Temperature adjusted with flame time, not flame intensity.

I have cooked with Gas ovens all my life. from about 10 years old to i'm now in late 60's

THEY ALL WORK THAT WAY  on and off. Same for most electrics. Though I could design an electric range controller that would hold the temp to within half a degree by adjusting the pwoer level. they are ON/OFF devices as well.  Why spend 100 on a proportional controller when you can spend 10 bucks on a simple switch?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Yeap - that's how most any thermostatically controlled heating device works.  Temperature control is via burn time rather than flame size.  Same with an air conditioner or refrigerator, by the way.

There are a very few appliances that have 2 or 3 stage heaters and can run at low or high intensity, but even those are not continuously variable. They just select either low burner or high burner.  For example, Atwood makes a dual stage furnace that is found in some high end RVs (the Atwood Excaliber 2334).

 

[Gizmo100]

So based on the above comments. What are the expected wait times to preheat a oven to say 400 degrees?
We have not used our yet.

 

[Rene T]

So based on the above comments. What are the expected wait times to preheat a oven to say 400 degrees?
We have not used our yet.

It would be somewhere in the 20 minute range.

 

[Gizmo100]

It would be somewhere in the 20 minute range.

Thanks
I'll pass that on to the wife...She doesn't allow me in the kitchen...LOL
We may have to do a test run.

 

[UTTransplant]

Umm, I thought I replied but I must have done something wrong, my stove took more like 30 minutes to get to 400, but you need an oven thermometer to know for sure. You need one anyway because the propane ovens are notorious for having miscalibrwted thermostats. Mine consistently read 50 degrees less than I set it for. They can be adjusted, but it was easier for me to adjust the temperature setting and confirm with the thermometer.

 

[Gizmo100]

Umm, I thought I replied but I must have done something wrong, my stove took more like 30 minutes to get to 400, but you need an oven thermometer to know for sure. You need one anyway because the propane ovens are notorious for having miscalibrwted thermostats. Mine consistently read 50 degrees less than I set it for. They can be adjusted, but it was easier for me to adjust the temperature setting and confirm with the thermometer.

Thinking we will do a test run with a thermometer in then oven. A little wasted gas, as opposed to a ruined dinner.

 

[jhughes75]

I don't have an oven thermometer, will have to get one.  But it seems to never get hot.  Takes an hour to bake french fries, even after a 15 minute pre-heat.  I have to double the cooking time of about everything, some even more.

 

[John From Detroit]

Mine is way cooler than the knob suggests it should be You really need the thermometer since the calibration on the knob is way off.

 

[grashley]

A while back, I asked how one of our members liked their convection microwave, as we have not tried to use that feature yet.  His response was basically that the gas oven was a bad joke.  They used the CONVECTION function on the microwave exclusively for any oven needs.

Just a thought.

 

[kdbgoat]

DW loves our convection microwaves. Couldn't stand propane oven except for storage.

 

[jhughes75]

After 30 minutes of preheat, the oven thermometer reads about 210.  After another 60 minutes of baking some sweet potatoes slices, still at 210.

Exactly how much heat should be coming out of the back vent?  Seems to be quite a lot.

I would definitely go for a convection microwave, but would have to rework a lot of the framing to get one to fit.

 

[John From Detroit]

As with any propane stove the vent is also the exhaust for the burner so yes a lot of heat does come out of it..  I found the dial calibration on my Atwood/Wedgewood was off by 50 Degrees at 350 so I use a thermometer and adjust accordingly (Add 50 degrees to what is called for).

Do turn on the exhaust fan in the range hood when baking

 

[jhughes75]

Sorry should have clarified, this was with the dial set at 450.

 

[grashley]

Get a countertop toaster oven.

 

[ArdraF]

I wonder what happens if you set the temperature for, say, 450 degrees.  Does it still stay around 210?  If so, there probably is something wrong.  We have a Wedgewood now but had Atwoods previously and one thing I've learned is to ignore the pilot light.  When you first turn it on, don't set it to Pilot.  Go right to the desired temperature and see what happens.  By the way, I have two thermometers by different manufacturers in my oven and use them to see how close it is to the desired temperature. I get it pretty close.  These propane ovens aren't perfect but I sometimes use it and the convection at the same time so they suit my needs.  Each to their own!

ArdraF

 

[jhughes75]

I have a small countertop toaster oven.  You can't fit anything of any size in one except say, toast.  Any larger one would not fit anywhere except sitting on the floor.