Thetford oven
- Thread starter tony.finon
- Start date
Welcome to the Forum, what caravan do you own? . Could you expand please on what the problem is as your post gives absolutely no idea.
Hi am a total novice to using this forum not sure how to access and navigate around.
It can help a great deal if you can include make model, and year of the appliance, and caravan. Also please remember we cannot see particular features you may be discussing, so some photographs can help to clarify points you wish to emphasise.
Until you can provide us with more information about what's happened, we can only offer some general advice.
If you have only recently purchased the caravan from a dealer, then you should have some warranty cover from that dealer. It would be worth phoning the dealer to discuss it.
Until you can provide us with more information about what's happened, we can only offer some general advice.
If you have only recently purchased the caravan from a dealer, then you should have some warranty cover from that dealer. It would be worth phoning the dealer to discuss it.
hi been away for a few days. let's try again.
we have a Bailey Phoenix 420 year 2019. with a Thetford, Oven Caprice mark 3 serial number e 305v6000625.
While touring ( nothing stored in oven )the inner glass door exploded We have never used the oven from the day we bought the van from new.
I am a retired heating and gas engineer / gas assessor with qualifications for LPG caravans mobile homes etc. etc
I thought replacing the inner glass easy job clean all debris .order correct replacement inner glass , slip it in. supplied via Prima.
On closer inspection, the glass sits within a stainless steel housing with no cushioning or gasket to stop a metal-to-glass contact in the vertical movement. or horizontal
so with each bump the glass can lift and fall onto the stainless steel.
Been onto Thetford directly they say thats the design. can not help out of warranty
Has anyone come across this problem I do have some ideas
ps been on to the dealer he checked new models and they are the same
Sorry to hear of your problem..not clued up on your model of oven..if the glass panel is only "trapped" in place I wondered if exhaust system sealer may help retain...from experience I know it works on ex manifold to down pipe ...good luck p.s sealer is in cartridge ..Gary
As you have worked in the gas systems sector, you will know that gas appliances have to be type approved, and thus the only spares you can legally fit to an appliance also have to spares are be in accordance with the original type approval (or manufacturer's approved modifications ) for the appliance. In this case the glass in the door should be the same design as the original.
To be fair to Thetford, they have been making ovens for recreational vehicles for some time, and generally we don't get to hear of lots of failures, so whilst we may think the glass is not protected, it seems it must in general be rugged enough in most cases.
Whilst you and I personally might think there should be some cushioning, it's just possible the design might use the looseness of the fitting to allow some air in for the secondary combustion phase of the flame.
The glass shattering is quite common on Thetford ovens in addition to the glass over the hob shattering for no rhyme or reason. However by "common" this generally applies to the glass over the hob however not so long ago there was someone who had the glass on the oven part of he Thetford shatter. I will see if I cna find it.
If you do a Google there will probably be other instances of the glass shattering as it has been reported on other caravan forums.
If you do a Google there will probably be other instances of the glass shattering as it has been reported on other caravan forums.
The OP was very specific about it being an Oven door glass. This is entirely different to the glass lid over the hob, and causes of failure are very different. The fact is oven door glass failure are infrequent, and thus not common.
Apologies if once again you misunderstood my post as I clearly posted that when using the word "common" I was referring to the glass over the hob. If the same issue occurs more then twice then I regard it as a "common" fault and this also applies to the glass in the oven door.
“ twice” in a sizeable population with a spread of ages hardly meets the definition of “ common”
Having been on this Forum for many years it’s the first time I’ve read of the problem as described by the OP.
It has cropped up in the past on other forums although I admit not very often. I read about the issue with the oven door quite recently, but unsure where I came across it.
Found it and poster states;
Had an issue on our last trip out with our oven. A Thetford model number SCK23878. The inner glass door of the oven simply shattered. Happened when the oven was heating up. No injuries, the door is safety glass so just shattered rather like a car windscreen. The van isn’t new to us, and we’d used the oven previously.
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Hi Thanks
have obtained a high-temperature silicon sealant of 300 degrees, and bedded glass on the bottom edge. It stopped movement just. off to Cambridge with the van will see if it holds AF
Only issue we have had to date with our Thetford is the totally useless grill. You starve to death before the piece of dried out bread is ready! 
Years ago my grill was feeble.Only issue we have had to date with our Thetford is the totally useless grill. You starve to death before the piece of dried out bread is ready!
Two problems.
The gas pipe to the jet and burner was internally rusted causing a partial blockage. New pipe fixed that.
I found out via Thetford and other Forums different size gas jets can be fitted. I opted for the largest jet within the approved range.
Brilliant!
Note the centre part of the burners do not out flame as far as those at the two ends. A deliberate design but why??
Burner designs are often designed to produce asymmetric flame patterns to enable ignition and flame detection.
Especially where the flame size is variable under control of a thermostatically controlled vale as in ovens part of the flame may need to be made to be bigger to ensure it still impinges on the thermocouple when the gas rate has been regulated down.
On some variable gas rate burners you will also note the igniter spark probe will be at one end of a burner and the flame detection at the other, this ensures the flame has spread along the whole of the burner.
Especially where the flame size is variable under control of a thermostatically controlled vale as in ovens part of the flame may need to be made to be bigger to ensure it still impinges on the thermocouple when the gas rate has been regulated down.
On some variable gas rate burners you will also note the igniter spark probe will be at one end of a burner and the flame detection at the other, this ensures the flame has spread along the whole of the burner.
Looking at the grill burner, the flame ignition , gas valve , jet are all at the rear.
I’ve never understood why the centre flames are so poor? Any thoughts Prof?
I’ve never understood why the centre flames are so poor? Any thoughts Prof?
The quality of the flames look OK (no yellowing) so I have to presume the gas air mixture is correctly mixing. But looking at the burner bar, the centre section does have a different form to the ends that corresponds with the change of flame size. I have to presume the manufacturer has designed it to produce this type of flame pattern.
From a practical point of view, the centre section of a grill benefits from receiving additional heat from the adjacent ends, so I'd guess the manufacturer has tested the heating capability and found that having equal flame sizes, too much heating takes place in the centre, so the reduced flame size provides a more evenly spread heat distribution.
My grill flame was very similar to that shown in Dusty's picture, and once warmed through was quite effective.
That’s correct Prof. The centre part of the burner has been that way for as long asI have had a Thetford Spinflo unit.
Realistically I cannot see the reason for the lesser flame burn in the centre. A piece of bread for example will be lesser browned in the centre?
The matter has been raised many times on various forums, yet it is still an unknown Holy Grail🙃.
Your supposition is credible yet still leaves me and others wondering🤔.
I don’t suppose you know anyone at Thetford??👍👍
Realistically I cannot see the reason for the lesser flame burn in the centre. A piece of bread for example will be lesser browned in the centre?
The matter has been raised many times on various forums, yet it is still an unknown Holy Grail🙃.
Your supposition is credible yet still leaves me and others wondering🤔.
I don’t suppose you know anyone at Thetford??👍👍
Not necessarily,
Burning gas correctly produces a blue flame and hot gasses. It does not produce a great deal of radiant heat. The flame on a hob bathes the underside of a pan with the hot gasses which heats the pan, but a grill requires radiant heat, so simply burning a blue gas fame above food will barely warm it.
If a flame starts to burn with yellowing tips, the level of radiant heat produced increases. That's why candles and paraffin lamps lights seem to feel warmer and heat up nearby surfaces so much more.
The trick with a gas grill is to burn the flame under a mesh which picks up the heat (just like a pan on the hob). Provided it gets hot enough it will begin to radiate the heat in the form of Infrared radiation. It's the radiation that heats the food. When the mesh radiates it does so in all directions, so some radiation from will heat food that is just to the side of being directly under the filament of the mesh. If the mesh were heated perfectly evenly all over you, there would be stronger radiated energy arriving at food directly under the centre of the mesh, due to addition of energy arriving from the sides of the mesh. Therefore to compensate for this if less heat is produced in the centre of the burner, the grills heating effect can be tailored to produce a more even radiated output at the food being heated.
As for naming contacts in companies, it's not ethically correct to name or provide direct contact details in public forums without their or their companies permission, and most of my contacts like myself, have to be conscious of sensitive confidentiality issues.
I was hoping for an off the record explanation of the burner design , not breaching anyone’s confidentiality.
I understand radiated energy but not in the grill context? The toast test says it all.
I understand radiated energy but not in the grill context? The toast test says it all.
I have given some of the considerations which might affect the design, I did not say the manufacturer got it right!
But have you considered you might not be using the correct bread?
We tried one or two times with the grill. We raised the grid so that it was closer to the actual heat, but it did not seem to make much difference and toast took just as long and was unpleasant to eat. Tried sausage and bacon and same result so have not used it again in the past 6 years.
We now use a proper toaster for the bread and a George Foreman for sausages and bacon. However recently we tried a Tower air fryer from Tesco and were very pleased with the results when cooking the sausage and bacon.
We now use a proper toaster for the bread and a George Foreman for sausages and bacon. However recently we tried a Tower air fryer from Tesco and were very pleased with the results when cooking the sausage and bacon.
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