Kitchen repairs
Feb. 22nd, 2009 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnridleyA week or so ago, apparently I didn't confirm the bread machine was properly sitting on the counter and it walked off the edge while kneeding the dough, smashing to the floor and breaking a big chunk out of the plastic control panel and bending the steel chassis. I bent the steel back, and yesterday a combination of super glue on the surfaces, masking tape to hold pieces in place, and J-B Weld to back up the pieces and to fill in the gaps put it back together again.
Then I decided to get around to the oven. I've been getting reports that it was 50 degrees hotter than advertised for years and have been a bad boy in not fixing it for all this time. Well, I tested it and that 50*F off seemed about right, but then I tested (with boiling water) the thermometer (a cheap $4 dial indicator) and it was off by about 35 degrees, so it seems the oven is more like 80 degrees hotter than it should be.
While we were out, I picked up a digital remote-read thermometer and tested that. It's exactly spot on; in water at a rolling boil at our ~1000 ft above sea level, it varies between reading 211 and 212 degrees F. I couldn't really calibrate with a dial thermometer anyway since I'd have to open it up to check, and besides, it doesn't respond fast enough or read precisely enough.
There was some adjustment in the knob itself but only about 25 degrees. So I had to pick out the sealing compound from the center of the shaft, then none of my small screwdrivers would reach the adjustment screw within the shaft, so I made a flat blade screwdriver by grinding down an 8d nail.
It's pretty much spot on now. Temp varies from -25 to +8 around the desired temp. I can bump that back up on the knob on front since it's more easily adjustable.
BTW, Joe-Bob says oven calibration is about the easiest DIY project around, though it takes some time and patience - you have to let it run for 20 minutes to get equalized, then just stand there and watch the temp go up and down for 10 minutes, writing the min/max down for several cycles, then make a change and repeat, then move to a different temp. I also returned to the same temps several times to make sure there wasn't some randomness in the controls. I figured 350*F was most critical, because as they say, "when in doubt, 350" but luckily after calibrating at 350, 300 and 250 were both pretty good too. If they hadn't been, it'd probably be time for a new thermostat.
Then I decided to get around to the oven. I've been getting reports that it was 50 degrees hotter than advertised for years and have been a bad boy in not fixing it for all this time. Well, I tested it and that 50*F off seemed about right, but then I tested (with boiling water) the thermometer (a cheap $4 dial indicator) and it was off by about 35 degrees, so it seems the oven is more like 80 degrees hotter than it should be.
While we were out, I picked up a digital remote-read thermometer and tested that. It's exactly spot on; in water at a rolling boil at our ~1000 ft above sea level, it varies between reading 211 and 212 degrees F. I couldn't really calibrate with a dial thermometer anyway since I'd have to open it up to check, and besides, it doesn't respond fast enough or read precisely enough.
There was some adjustment in the knob itself but only about 25 degrees. So I had to pick out the sealing compound from the center of the shaft, then none of my small screwdrivers would reach the adjustment screw within the shaft, so I made a flat blade screwdriver by grinding down an 8d nail.
It's pretty much spot on now. Temp varies from -25 to +8 around the desired temp. I can bump that back up on the knob on front since it's more easily adjustable.
BTW, Joe-Bob says oven calibration is about the easiest DIY project around, though it takes some time and patience - you have to let it run for 20 minutes to get equalized, then just stand there and watch the temp go up and down for 10 minutes, writing the min/max down for several cycles, then make a change and repeat, then move to a different temp. I also returned to the same temps several times to make sure there wasn't some randomness in the controls. I figured 350*F was most critical, because as they say, "when in doubt, 350" but luckily after calibrating at 350, 300 and 250 were both pretty good too. If they hadn't been, it'd probably be time for a new thermostat.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-23 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-23 01:09 pm (UTC)Given that you have to stop us all from eating the dough, I suspect they'll get eaten.
We'll just have to make a lot of cookies for a few weeks to make sure we know what we're doing.