Another Rofco thread - Bottom deck hot spots
Here is yet another thread regarding Rofco B40 usage. I know everyone has their own tricks and every Rofco seems to be different from each other, but the one problem I have yet to overcome after using this oven for 5 months, is the hot spots on the bottom deck.
None of the three decks heat up the same--the bottom always taking the longest to get to temp. When the bottom is finally ready to use the heat across the entire stone is extremely inconsistent. The far back of the stone is always around 50 degrees hotter than the front of the stone. I've tried everything from lifting the entire stone up; only lifting the back of the stone up so it's like a ramp; pull all of the stones to front as much as I can, leaving a gap in the back for air circulation; I've baked with the bottom 10 - 20 degrees cooler; and nothing seems to work. When I bake with the bottom cooler, then I won't get the oven spring I'm looking for in the front of the bottom deck or the middle deck. And when I bake at the temp needed for good oven spring in the front of the bottom deck and the middle deck, the loaves in the back of the bottom deck get scorched. I've even shortened my steam time to 15 minutes instead of 20 minutes so I can rotate the loaves on the bottom--but that comes with other issues.
Does anyone else have this same issue and have found a way to deal with this other than upgrading to a better oven with more control?
Given your issue, it may be worth checking:
The door seal - is it actually sealing down the bottom...It may not be a damaged seal, it could be the seal is sagging or the door has buckled or twisted. The other thing to check is if the hinge mechanism has come out of alignment.
Is there an issue with the bottom heating element? You may need a thermal camera to check it is heating all the way along the element and is working as per the other elements.
I think the clue to solving your problem is the uneven temp across the bottom deck. WIth the stone's mass, you would expect most element or thermostat issues would still have a fairly consistent temp across the deck. Those sorts of issues would more likely create differences between the decks.
P.S. one of the advantages of the Rofcos being so simple is that it is possible to track down issues by basic elimination.