Cooker

Nicki23

I have recently had a new kitchen fitted, costing a fortune! The new cooker (hotpoint class 5), does not seem to be heating up enough. I have Googled how to tell and used the sugar trick, the sugar does not melt. I have put a meat probe (not ideal I know) in and that is reading 20c less than the oven is set for. Food is taking at least 10-15 minutes more than the packet or recipe says. 
The kitchen supplier (independent) are not being helpful and are saying I need to register it with hotpoint.
I am clueless with this, could have it have been fitted wrong or have I been given a faulty product 
Thanks in advance. 

EssexExile

The kitchen fitter won't know about how ovens work, if you think it's faulty then get in touch with Hotpoint. I never worked on ovens, just most other appliances, but colleagues who have tell me that usually it's just a matter of getting used to a different appliance.

FreeBear

Melting point of sugar = 186°C

If you set the oven at 220°, does the sugar melt ?

What about 200°C ?

Domestic ovens are not a precision device, and I doubt that they are even loosely calibrated during manufacture. There may some form of adjustment on the thermostat. Often, this is little more than a screw behind the knob that allows you to rotate the dial a smidgen either way. To calibrate an oven effectively requires a good quality thermocouple thermometer. Few people will have one of these, so use sugar as its melting point is fairly consistent.

TELLIT01

You can get oven thermometers for under a fiver.  They just hang from the shelf.  I was starting to thing there was a problem with my oven and the thermometer has confirmed it.  With the oven set at 180, the temperature will vary between 150 and 200! plus the temperature indicator light will go out at almost random temperatures.  I'm going to contact the supplier while it's still under warranty.

EssexExile

TELLIT01 said:

You can get oven thermometers for under a fiver.  They just hang from the shelf.  I was starting to thing there was a problem with my oven and the thermometer has confirmed it.  With the oven set at 180, the temperature will vary between 150 and 200! plus the temperature indicator light will go out at almost random temperatures.  I'm going to contact the supplier while it's still under warranty.

You'll probably find that's well within the specification.

Nicki23

Thanks for the replies. I did the sugar test at 200c, it didn't melt at all. I increased the oven temperature to 220 and put same sugar back in, it barely melted. The photograph is at the end of the half hour. 

FreeBear

Nicki23 said: I did the sugar test at 200c, it didn't melt at all. I increased the oven temperature to 220 and put same sugar back in, it barely melted.

OK. So it looks like the dial is reading ~40°C over what it should. Either pin a note to the oven as a reminder, or contact Hotpoint and ask if there is any adjustments that can be made.

But should point out that this sugar test has only shown the temperature is off at one setting. On full blast or very low settings, the temperature may be spot on. It is also worth noting that most oven thermometers are inaccurate, some to the point of being useless. A half decent digital one from somewhere like Lakeland should be within 5°C or so.

ElephantBoy57

Nicki23 said:

Thanks for the replies. I did the sugar test at 200c, it didn't melt at all. I increased the oven temperature to 220 and put same sugar back in, it barely melted. The photograph is at the end of the half hour. 

What is the brand/model number of the cooker?

Nicki23

It is a hotpoint built in class 5 double oven. The top oven melted the sugar!