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Has anyone been hearing that ovens with hidden bake elements take a longer time to preheat and cook then those that had exposed elements? Anyone know of any double ovens that still have exposed elements? It seems most, if not all, have hidden.
Depending on manufacturer & model, I usually found the pre-heat cycle to take between 10-20 minutes. Besides the bake element, most ovens also use the broil element & if applicable, convection fan element, or in some cases, a pre-heat element. If your oven is a convection oven, which I would suspect, and its taking much longer to pre-heat. I would think you have a problem with one of the other elements I mentioned.
Engineers have become or were adept at the placement of the heat sensor to ring the bell for preheat. I suspect no oven actually preheats in the time it says correctly , meaning the entire cell being heated to 350 degrees.Again , it has been a ploy to get people to think the entire oven is preheated properly. I would also suggest if done properly the hidden element more than likely is accurate for preheat.The problem over the years has been trying to make it easy to sell and somehow fidgeting with the process. Just like CFM ,BTU’s and DB’s , you name it , sales people want to one up the competition on something very difficult to do. Do you really think some engineer can preheat something faster from one company to the next ? Hell , most of the decent engineers have worked for most of the companies at one time or another.Then some of the engineers had and continue to have no idea what is going on in an oven even though they will brag about what they did.Where have all the good engineers gone ? So don’t get too carried away on how any company brags about preheat or anything else.
You’d be surprise how many warranty service calls I used to have, just for this pre-heat issue. When ever a consumer has now a different appliance from his previous one, especially if its a different manufacturer, you would run into this problem. Example….people that used to own dishwashers with the exposed drying heating elements mounted atop of tub and now owned dishwashers with the hidden in-line heaters. This inline heater is what accounts for the great cleaning & sanitizing process. But because they do not dry the dishes, as the exposed heater their previous washer had. Consumers hate them The technology of the inline heater is so efficient. that it inspired the tankless water heater………….Same thing is happening with the hidden bake elements on their ovens. Out of all the service calls that I went on for this problem. There were only 2 cases, that there was actually a bad heating element. Thats why it’s good to have some sort of time frame in mind.
I am not surprised at all. This quick to preheat race has produced ovens that say they are preheated and have ambient cell temperatures in the low 200’s. Thank God most people take longer to put their food in the oven. It goes back to what the sales pitch has to be.
Hiding or concealing the bake element may sound trivial, but this small electric range feature is big on consumer appeal. No more spills that are difficult to remove from the bake element and it’s easier to clean the oven without its surface presence. There’s also something to be said for the look of a clean, element-free oven bottom.
However, there is a slight downside to a hidden bake element besides a little higher purchase cost for the range. It takes longer to preheat the oven and baking time required may be just slightly longer than with a traditional bake element. Replacing the element will also be more difficult and you may require an appliance technician to effect the repair. But clean wins and a hidden bake element is a wonderful convenience feature.
I would suspect that the lower priced electric wall ovens might still have the exposed baking element.
Bob Nathan
Isnt ironic. That alot of the innovations in the appliance world that are to appease consumer appeal, are mainly more for looks & style, instead of function. And its what the customer is demanding, so you cant blame the manufacturer for alot of the impractical designs. But I love how the consumer who loved the concept of the hidden bake element upon purchasing. But when they have it in their home and its not performing as well as their previous oven. And when it needs servicing, now the whole oven needs to be pulled out from wall because unlike the oven-mounted element, WHICH WAS A 15 minute, INEXPENSIVE REPAIR. Besides the time needed to remove oven out, you also had to now remove the rear service panel, which usually were held in place with dozens of screws. So from quick & easy 15 min repair, we are talking a much labor intensive 90 plus minute repair, in which the customer is now furious of having to pay.
Some of the most expensive dual fuel ranges have exposed elements for a reason, better performance. The leading cosumer que in the oven is “hidden bake” but that also means the elimination of radiant heat coming off the bake element. Radiant heat on dark pans has a completely different end result when using butter, shortening or lard. Pie crusts are not the same as the owners “old range” regardless of the temperature set in the oven. So….if you have a “real baker” coming in to buy a new oven, sell her an exposed element or it may come back….
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