Fixing Your Commercial Oven: What You Need to Know

Let’s start this off the same way you would start work on your oven: disconnect your gas supply to your oven! Before you go nosing around in and behind your kitchen equipment, it is absolutely, 100% crucial for your safety, for the safety of others, and for the safety of your restaurant that you disconnect your gas supply before anything bad happens. We know you’re competent; we're just reminding you.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about your commercial oven. We know how much it means to restaurant owners to have your oven in peak operation. No oven means no food. No food means no customers. No customers means no restaurant; it’s really that simple.

So when your oven starts acting strangely or performing poorly, it’s important to identify the problem quickly so that you can solve the problem quickly. The better your oven works, the better your business works.

One of the first things (after you turn off the gas supply, of course!) to check out when your oven isn’t working is to see if the burners are working. Burners are fairly simple so they should be able to be looked at pretty easily. You will want to look at the safety valve to see if voltage is getting to it. This can be done with your standard multimeter. If the valve appears to be getting voltage, the problem probably lies in the valve itself.

Starting with these two issues will eliminate hours that would be otherwise wasted poking around, looking for more complicated problems.

If you’ve looked at the valve and it appears to be working properly, the problem may be a little deeper. The thermocouple in your oven may not be working properly or, in a wave of good fortune, your equipment may just be a little dirtier than it should be. A new thermocouple is an easy enough fix and your kitchen might need a good, thorough clean anyway.

The important issue to keep in mind through all of this is safety. If you are not entirely sure how to change a part, don’t do it. It might be best to look into oven repair services and let an expert give you a hand. The last thing you want for yourself, your employees, or your restaurant is to put anyone’s well being in jeopardy. Safety first, working ovens second. If you have questions, go ahead and contact us. We’re there for you every step of the way.