Sharp R-1850 Convection Oven not Hot Enough

[jbenalpine]

Perhaps someone else can shed some light on this or perhaps this write-up may be of interest to others.My wife said the oven in our 2000 Alpine 36’ FDS is not hot enough; never has been hot enough in the 3 yrs we have had it.Like cakes would not really bake when following the recipe’s temperature.I hate to disappoint my wife as she’s a world class cookie, cake, and dessert maker.I looked in the forum but didn’t see this exact problem.So I dug into it and looked at the various temperatures in the convection mode at various times up to 30 minutes at each temperature.For example when set to 275 degrees, it would read 240 deg. on a manual analog oven thermometer on the turntable. With the oven set to 450 deg. would read 375 deg. on the thermometer after 30 minutes of heating.Everywhere I found the actual temp to be 20-75 deg. below the set point.I found online a Sharp service manual which pointed out a couple of things to check with the thermistor the most likely cause.Removing it from the circuit it read about 200k ohms which is normal at a warm room temp, but it was tough to get good contact with my ohm meter for a steady reading.I also looked at the heating element, but it also read a normal 9.9 ohms.The other item checked, the dampener, seemed to work normally it stayed closed during the convection cycle and then opened during cool down. With no other ideas and the service manual’s recommendation, I purchased a new thermistor from Sears for $31, installed it and reinstalled the oven.The drum roll please……there’s absolutely no change and it still comes in 30-75 degrees below the set point, so the thermistor was a waste.
So for now we have decided to live with it and put sticker on the oven that says the oven is approximately 50 degrees too low in convection mode (egIf you want 350 degrees set it to 400 deg)….Anyone else had or have this problem and know a fix?

[Dave Fernandez]

You might want to have to the propane regulator check for proper pressure. Only a certified technician in propane can inspect and adjust the regulator. That may be the cause of low heat in the oven.

[wolfe10]

I believe they are referring to their Sharp convection microwave oven (i.e. 120 VAC only).

But, Dave is correct if issues with any propane appliance, checking propane regulator is a very good idea.

[Jeff and Cheryl]

A couple of things to consider. In our S&B house we have a convection oven. Directions with the oven say when using convection mode, set the temp 25 degrees below what you would use for regular baking. So... a temp of 325 when set for 350 would make sense because most folks don't have experience with a convection oven and would not know to set the temp lower.
My wife tells me that it is a waste of time to try to go above 375, above that takes forever. Hope this helps.