Name: BBQ Repair Doctor
Price range: $$

What to do when your Commercial Oven needs repair:

When you have a restaurant or a bakery it’s very important to keep your oven in top shape. But when oven is used a lot problems may arise no mater how well you take care of it. Let us give you some commercial oven repair tips that can help you figure out what is going on with your oven. There are four common problems that often arise.

The pilot won’t stay lit.
The oven won’t get hot enough.
The oven gets too hot.
The oven does not cook evenly.

When working on any type of gas equipment always remember to shut off the gas!

The pilot won’t stay lit:

This is the most common problem of all. Usually it is caused by thermocouple. Thermocouple needs to be placed just right. If the thermocouple is not directly in the flame it can not get hot enough to allow it to open the safety valve. If it is directly in the flame and it won’t stay lit. In second instance thermocouple is probably defective and needs to be replaced. Some safety valves have the thermocouple permanently attached so the entire valve must be replaced.

If you’ve replaced the thermocouple and attempt to light the pilot and it still will not stay lit then the safety valve is defective. Don’t forget to check the type of safety valve because you have to get the correct replacement.

The oven won’t get hot enough:

This is usually a problem with thermostat. When you set the thermostat at a set temperature and it does not reach that point it may be one of two problems:

The thermostat may be defective.
The thermostat is out of calibration. In order to check this you have to get thermostat that is accurate and put it in the oven. Then set the thermostat to 250º. Open the kick plate below the oven door and watch the burner flame. If you see that frame goes off before the oven reaches 250º you may be able to calibrate it.

To calibrate a thermostat remove the knob and check to see what type of thermostat you have. The thermostat is either a type with a round disk that has two screws holding it in place or it will have a D shaft with a small screw in the center of it. In either case only turn the disc or screw a fraction of a turn at a time and no more than a quarter turn either direction.

If you reach that quarter of a turn point and the burner does not come back on, the thermostat is defective and must be replaced. If the burner comes back on, watch the temperature of the oven and if it gets to within 5 or 10° of the preset temperature, you are good to go. It may take several tries to get it properly calibrated.

If calibration does not work, you need to replace the thermostat. Factory presets all thermostat so that they should not require calibration when installed.

We recommend www.a1service.com or www.webstaurantstore.com for commercial oven repair parts and in particular thermostats.

The oven gets too hot:

This is thermostat problem as well. Follow the same steps as you did for oven not getting hot enough. If you can’t get it to calibrate, replace thermostat and the oven will start working fine.

The oven does not cook evenly:

This problem often happens when a new thermostat has been installed. All the thermostats have a capillary tube with a bulb attached to the end of it. This is the part that senses the temperature in the oven. The bulb is attached to clips inside the oven. If the bulb is not put back in the same place, i.e. it’s just stuck in the oven cavity and left hanging, then the thermostat will run “wild,” meaning the oven cooks unevenly.

It is very hard to get this part to work properly and you may need help of a professional.