The fan oven ensures a faster and homogenous cooking leaving food out fragrant and more humid inside. The static oven, instead, produces a slower and more delicate cooking, ideal for obtaining well cooked and dry even inside dishes.
A static oven works by conduction and radiation: The heat comes from an electrical resistance that is located at a specific point in the oven, usually at the top or bottom – or both. The baking is slow, and the distribution of heat is uneven without air circulation.
Top/Bottom heating is the most effective setting to use when you are baking or roasting on a single level. The heat is emitted evenly from above and below, making it ideal for baking cakes.
The difference between a conventional or static setting and a fan-forced setting is: a conventional setting uses the heating elements in the top and base of your oven with no fan while a fan-forced setting uses the fan at the back of your oven plus the heating element around it.
The fan works inside the oven to circulate and distribute heat efficiently, this both heats up the oven quickly, cooks food in a shorter amount of time and eliminates cold or hot spots in your oven.
Drawbacks to fan ovens include that they don't produce as much heat as a traditional oven, and they may not be as effective at cooking certain types of food.
Fan forced ovens are quicker to cook due to the hot air circulating and often brown faster, hence why there are food types or cooking styles better suited to conventional that need the slow and steady temperature to cook the whole way through.
The temperatures shown in our recipes are for conventional oven temperatures. Please note that ovens do vary but as a general guideline, drop the temperature by 20 degrees for fan ovens. For example, if a recipe calls for 200 degrees, reduce this to 180 degrees for a fan oven.
Most professional chefs enjoy using a convection oven, but it depends on the meal they are cooking. Convection ovens cook food faster and more evenly, but they don't work well for everything. So they may have multiple ovens or a convection oven where the fan can be switched on or off.
The most energy efficient electric ovens are fan-assisted ovens. A fan-assisted oven will reduce energy consumption by 20% as they heat and cool the oven faster than conventional electric models (and they'll cook more evenly, too).
So you can save on energy while cooking. A fan-assisted oven also has a fan at the back of the oven's compartment. What makes it different from the fan oven are the additional heating elements at the top and bottom. Because of this, you can cook either with a fan or without it.
Yes, it is normal to hear your oven fan running when you turn on the oven including during preheat. The fan helps circulate the oven temperatures and will come on and off during the baking process. The fan may stay on after you have finished baking and turned the oven off.
Why are fan oven temperatures lower? Due to the nature of fan ovens which circulate hot air around the oven, they will cook your food much faster than a conventional oven. For this reason, we always recommend setting your fan oven temperature to 20 degrees cooler for the same recipe.
Fan assisted ovens are convection appliances fixed with interior fans at the top and/or bottom, and a fan at the back to circulate the air round the interior which as a result keeps temperatures consistent when cooking.
It's true that using both ovens all the time uses more energy, but hopefully, you're not cooking multi-course meals for large groups every day. In the case of a regular meal or just a few people for dinner, use the smaller, top oven that requires less energy to heat.
Fan-forced ovens are upgraded with an additional heating element inside the fans, which allows for even heat distribution and faster cooking times. This means you are less likely to experience pockets of cold air.
"If in doubt - and as a very general rule - 180 degrees celsius conventional or 160 degrees celsius fan-forced, is a good place to start for most baked goods." For most roasting and browning, Christine recommends starting at around 220 conventional or 200 fan–forced.
At its most basic, the difference between a fan oven and a conventional oven is simple and almost self-explanatory. Also known as convection ovens, fan-assisted ovens are – as the name suggests – equipped with a fan inside which forces hot air to circulate around the oven.
Save this answer. Show activity on this post. 180 fan is 180 degrees Centigrade with the fan on. The general advice when converting from a fan to a non fan oven is increase temperature 15-20 degrees, so the range you are looking for is between 383 and 392 degrees Fahrenheit.
A fan oven is less hot and it depends on the fan to circulate the heat throughout the oven chamber. If the fan is removed or not working, the oven will be a lot less hot and food will take forever to cook.
A convection oven has a fan with a heating element around it. A small fan circulates the air in the cooking chamber.
The constant airflow of the fan can also dry some food out, so keep an eye on cakes and bread. If they look like they're starting to dry, switch to the top and bottom heat, nudge the heat up, and pop them in the middle of the oven.
Gas ovens are ideal for baking and keeping recipes like roasts juicy on the inside. This fuel type also typically yields fast cooking times and can preheat slightly faster than electric models.