Do You Need A Thermometer For Ooni Pizza Oven? 2022
Last updated on September 11th, 2023 at 02:10 pm
When using a pizza oven, one must know the right temperature within the oven chambers.
The reason is that the temperature of the range has a lot of effects on the outcome of the pizza.
Great pizzas are best made at optimal temperature, and most pizzas are made best at a specific temperature.
When using an Ooni pizza oven, the thermometer is a must-have piece of equipment. The use of a thermometer helps to detect the range of temperature present within the enclosure of the Ooni pizza oven. The chambers can be too hot for an individual pizza; you can assess this by deploying a temperature tool.
Does Ooni Require a Thermometer?
The Ooni pizza oven requires a thermometer to achieve the best result with the pizza.
You see, the pizza oven combines different mechanisms of heat transfer to generate and sustain heat within its chambers.
The thermometer ensures that adequate heat is supplied and circulated across the entire breadth of the oven chambers.
Most ovens are majorly made to enclose heat; the heat source is usually determined and chosen by the operator.
This design makes the generation of heat uneven from different sources. Most households and operators prefer burning wood as a source of heat.
The amount of heat from an additional energy source varies in time.
Other sources of heat energy include coal, gas, and even electricity.
The need to measure the temperature arises from the disparity in the heat produced by these substances at different times.
The energy derived from a gas-powered pizza oven is higher than that produced by burning wood simultaneously.
Therefore, a thermometer detects whether the heat generated by different substances is optimal for preparing the pizza.
What is a Good Infrared Thermometer?
A good infrared thermometer used in an Ooni pizza oven must have a good distance-to-spot ratio and a perfect emissivity.
In choosing an infrared thermometer, one must consider the distance from the heat and the ability of the thermometer to measure accurately from such a distance.
A reasonable distance to spot ratio is the size of the area being measured concerning the length of the thermometer from the spot.
Simply put, the D:S ratio of an infrared thermometer is the ability of the thermometer to measure temperature from a long distance while covering a large area.
This feature is essential as a cold and a hot spot usually exists within an oven chamber; hence a good thermometer must accurately measure both the complex and desirable area.
The cold and hot spots are temperature differences within an oven chamber that arise due to the positioning of the fire source.
This disparity significantly affects the atmospheric and surface heat of the oven chamber.
Before buying an infrared thermometer, one must be assured of the ability of the thermometer to cover a wide range of areas within the oven chamber.
The infrared thermometer should be able to measure temperature both at cold and hot spots from a safe distance without putting the user in harm’s way.
Most infrared thermometers carry a D:S ratio of 8:1, and they usually measure temperature within 48 inches most accurately.
This means that objects or temperature ranges outside this distance would be included, and an average of these temperatures would be taken.
Another good quality of an Infrared thermometer is its emissivity. Emissivity is the ability of an object to emit infrared energy.
The infrared thermometer measures temperature by a lens that radiates the infrared thermal reflections to a micro detector.
These infrared radiations fall on the measured object and then get reflected in the thermometer.
This radiation is then displayed after converting it to an electric signal read as the temperature.
The more infrared energy emitted by the thermometer, the higher the degree of accuracy.
Though most thermometers come with a fixed emissivity constant of 0.9, other thermometers can adjust the emissivity level.
These thermometers allow you to more accurately adjust the emissivity to accommodate the amount of infrared radiation it can absorb.
How Accurate Is the Ooni Thermometer?
Though the accuracy level varies, most infrared thermometers measure accurately within a range of 2 degrees Celsius.
The Ooni infrared thermometer is an accurate thermometer for measuring temperature accurately.
An accuracy test is carried out to measure the accuracy of an infrared thermometer.
To perform this test, the thermometer’s distance spot ratio and the emissivity constant must be in mind.
This test is carried out by filling a glass cup with ice, adding only water to fill the gaps between the ice, allowing it to rest for one or two minutes, then stirring vigorously to achieve uniformity.
Hold the infrared thermometer to a distance of about three inches from the surface of the glass cup.
The thermometer lens must be placed at 90 degrees angle, and the laser pointed at the center of the water’s surface.
When the reading on the thermometer is taken, the infrared thermometer should read 32.0 degrees Celsius with an accuracy of two more or less.
The range most accurate thermometers would get would be between 30 – 34 degrees Celsius.
Another factor that affects the accuracy of an infrared thermometer that you must notice before usage is the state of the lens or infrared sensor.
That part of the thermometer must be kept clean to free it from dirt, debris, grime, or condensation.
To keep clean always, a soft cotton swab and alcohol are used to wipe the lens before each usage gently.
How to Measure Ooni Temperature?
To measure the temperature of a pizza oven using an infrared thermometer, the thermometer is pointed at the oven chamber, and the button on the surface of the thermometer is pressed.
The thermometer has a small display screen showing the measured temperature.
Once the thermometer is pointed at the oven chamber and the button is pressed, some figure instantly appears on the display screen.
These figures can be taken as the temperature within the oven chamber.
The chamber that encloses an oven can present with varying temperatures, and this is because the oven sometimes presents with hot and cold spots.
When using the infrared thermometer, ensure that the thermometer covers a wide range of areas.
This range allows the thermometer to measure the cold and hot spots to give an average of these temperatures.
Is There a Way to Measure the Temperature of an Oven Without a Thermometer?
You can measure the temperature of an oven without using a thermometer or other equipment.
You can do this by heating the oven to the desired temperature with material whose melting point is placed in the chamber and left for a set time.
When the heat within the chamber surpasses the material’s melting point, the material will melt within the set time.
When the oven’s heat is below the material’s melting point, then the material may remain unchanged.
A common material used in this system of temperature check without a thermometer is table sugar.
Pour four tablespoons of granulated sugar into an oven-proof dish.
Place the sugar in a preheated oven with an unknown temperature, either in an oven-proof dish or on the floor of the oven.
Leave the granulated sugar for up to 15 minutes in the pre-heated chamber.
After 15 minutes, if the sugar melts, the heat in the chamber may be above 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
If, after 15 minutes, the sugar in the chamber does not melt, then the temperature enclosed in the oven chamber is less than 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Conclusion
The Ooni pizza oven requires a thermometer to make the best pizzas.
Doing this requires using a thermometer that can take temperatures accurately while ensuring safety.
A good infrared thermometer used in the pizza oven must have a good distance spot ratio, a perfect emissivity constant, and be accurate to the nearest degree of two Celsius.
In the absence of an infrared thermometer, the temperature of the oven chamber can be estimated using the melting point of known substances.
