Commercial Pizza Oven Repair and Installation in Chapel Hill, Durham and Raliegh

There are a lot of different types of commercial ovens, and each type has its own set of specific maintenance needs. The owners’ manual is the place to check for specific upkeep practices, but here are a few quick tips for each commercial oven category.

• Combination Ovens. Combination ovens are like a regular oven, steamer and convection oven all in one unit, so they will need to be maintained like each of these individual units. The steam generator (if it has one) should be emptied daily, and the unit should be delimed monthly. The convection fan should be removed and cleaned every month, too. Some combination ovens come with a spray-down hose which makes cleaning the interior every day a little easier.

• Pizza Deck Ovens. Regularly scrape ash or food debris off of the bake decks using a pizza oven brush.  At the end of the day, turn the heat up to maximum for 30 minutes to cook any remaining food debris to ash and scrape the ash off using the brush.  Never use water or liquid to clean the bake deck in a pizza deck oven; this will cause the stone to crack.

• Conveyor Ovens.Remove crumb trays below the conveyor belt every night and clean them. The draft diverters, or impinger fingers, in the top of the commercial conveyor oven should be removed and cleaned daily, too. The conveyor belt itself should be removed and thoroughly cleaned every two to three months. Finally, do not place utensils on the belt because utensils can become jammed and damage the belt. Clean crumb pans, conveyor belt and impinger fingers weekly to clean.

• Convection ovens. Be sure to remove and clean the intake fan of your commercial convection oven on a weekly basis. Check the flue where the fan attaches, too, and clean any food debris for unobstructed airflow. Also, if the fan requires oil, this should be done on a yearly basis. This tip also applies for ranges with a convection oven base.

What could go wrong?

• The pilot won’t stay lit.
• The oven won’t get up to temperature.
• The oven gets too hot.
• The oven does not cook evenly.

Problem number one is probably the most common. Usually it’s the thermocouple that causes this problem.  When lighting the pilot, 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 then the thermocouple is probably defective and needs to be replaced,  Keep in mind that some safety valves have the thermocouple permanently attached so the entire valve must be replaced.

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

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

1. The thermostat may be defective.
2. The thermostat may be out of calibration.  To check the calibration get a thermometer that you know is accurate.  Put it in the oven and set the thermostat to 250º.  Open the kick plate below the oven door and watch the burner flame, if it 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.

Continue to turn the disc or screw a fraction of a turn each time until you see the burner come back on.   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 you still can not get it calibrated within the temperature range, you need to replace the thermostat.  All thermostats are preset from the factory and should not require calibration when installed.  If you find that the new thermostat does require calibrating, follow the previous instructions.

Number three is also a thermostat problem.  Follow the same procedure to calibrate as you did for the oven not getting to temperature.  Again, if you can’t get it to calibrate, replace it and the oven should heat to the correct temperature.

Number four is a common problem after 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.