New gas oven temperature

July 23, 2017 5:02 AM

So we've just got a gas oven for the first time ever. It works in gas marks. I realise there are conversions available. Still, I'm finding it a faff to use the analog oven thermometer we have you park on an oven shelf. I have to bend down to read it and it's tricky to read through the glass.

Is there a digital thermometer I could buy which I could permanently mount in the oven which would give me an accurate temperature readout for the oven? Most of the digital oven thermometers I can see on eBay are designed to be stuck into your roast/joint or whatever. I'd really like this to be a reliable permanent fixture that gives me a temperature readout for the oven cavity itself. Thanks!!

posted by dance to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

I made a magnet with the conversions specific to my oven, highlighting my most often used temperatures and stuck it close by the oven so I didn't have to keep mentally converting. It shortcuts my brain.

I would be concerned about attaching anything permanently to an oven door other than by magnets or clips because of heat on solvents or breaking the seal on the oven cavity.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:25 AM on July 23, 2017

I've got an oven thermometer that hangs from the oven rack. I bought it last year to double check when I thought my oven temp readout might not be accurate. It's been a year and it's still in there, and still works. I think it was $10 at most from Amazon. This is it.
posted by COD at 6:37 AM on July 23, 2017

Put the oven thermometer in the oven and turn the oven on to one flame, or whatever the first mark is. Wait until the temperature stabilizes and record that temp. Repeat with every mark and you will have the temperature for each setting. Test every once in a while if cooking times seem off.
posted by plastic_animals at 6:39 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: plastic_animals. That's a good suggestion.

I was really after a digital thermometer, I have an analog one.

I will try your suggestion plastic_animals.

Thanks
posted by dance at 7:20 AM on July 23, 2017

Thermoworks makes a wide variety of excellent digital thermometers. They are designed as probes you stick in meat, but they work just fine in ambient air too. My first thought is the DOT, which is very simple and relatively inexpensive. It reads up to 300C / 570F, which is about as hot as your oven is likely to get. They explicitly sell a "grill clip" accessory that holds the probe in the ambient air. Stick the probe on the oven rack, thread the cable through the oven door, stick the DOT electronic device
somewhere outside.

The biggest problem with this setup is the cable might melt over time. DOT's are designed to handle up to 700F (for outdoor grills), so I'm guessing it'll last a good long while.

Don't forget that ovens don't have consistent temperatures inside the space. You'll get different readings high and low, front and back, etc.

Thermoworks sells direct, they don't sell via Amazon. But their fulfillment is pretty good.
posted by Nelson at 7:42 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Look under grilling/smoking supplies. There's a bunch of things like this out there. I have that one, it has two probes, and either one will work in meat or for ambient temperature. Plus you get a remote display you could put wheverer. They either come with, or you can buy, a clip to hold the probe on the rack.
posted by mrgoat at 7:46 AM on July 23, 2017

I have the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm but the DOT that Nelson mentions above looks perfect. I have been happy with ThermoWorks quality and service and would happily recommend their products. Also: the cable can be replaced separately, as shown at Nelson's link.
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 8:06 AM on July 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

You could get an infrared thermometer like this one.
Instant read and you can point it at wherever without bending. It will only register surface heat, so you can't check a roast with it, and you have to be careful to not point it at the gas burner directly.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 5:19 PM on July 23, 2017