Microwaves weren't the first cook-it-fast devices. Convection ovens have been around for many years, offering the advantage over microwave ovens of browning foods. That's because convection ovens cook from the outside in rather than from the inside out as microwaves do. Meats, especially, look like they were cooked in a conventional oven, only faster--unless the oven doesn't work.

How Does It Work?

A convection oven is a standard oven with a circulation fan to bake and roast food.

A convection oven is an appliance for baking and roasting food. It works like a conventional oven but includes a fan that circulates hot air around the food allowing it to cook faster than in a conventional oven and more evenly than in a microwave. Hybrid ovens combine the advantages of both a convection oven and a microwave oven in one unit.

Convection ovens use a motor-driven circulating fan that's mounted between the unit's inner and outer housings. A timer controls the fan and the heating element. Additional controls are located inside the front control panel. Convection ovens are sometimes combined with conventional or microwave ovens.

What Can Go Wrong?

The electrical cord may need replacing. The timer, selector switch, temperature control shaded-pole motor, heating element, fan thermostat, or thermal cutoff may fail.

Caution!

A convection oven uses lots of electrical current, so it should be on a household circuit dedicated to it--just as your refrigerator or stove should be. Otherwise, the convection oven may trip a circuit breaker or blow a fuse.