Mug oven recommendations. Single or double fan…

[rachaelxx182]

Hi Gary. Sorry its the one from neil brothers 70L. Doesn't seem to have a brand name on it! The instructions suggest 13 mins at 180 but not clear if that's from when it reaches temp as when I put the mugs in the temp drops for quite a bit. I got blurry images on this setting. I kept the fan on setting 3 but it is not mentioned at all in the manual.

[garysub]

Hi Gary. Sorry its the one from neil brothers 70L. Doesn't seem to have a brand name on it! The instructions suggest 13 mins at 180 but not clear if that's from when it reaches temp as when I put the mugs in the temp drops for quite a bit. I got blurry images on this setting. I kept the fan on setting 3 but it is not mentioned at all in the manual.

I don't own one of those ovens but "heat is heat", I guess. I can't imagine you would ever want the fan switched off when in use, so I'd just keep it on.

13 mins at 180 seems a bit short to me, as you say the temperature will drop when you first put them in. My oven drops to something in the range 140-150 when the mugs first go in. It gets back to 170C after about 7 minutes so maybe the 13 minutes is designed to be from when it gets back to "full temperature".

I'd try 20 mins (from start to finish) at 170C. I find that the slightly lower temperature produces more consistent results and time becomes a slightly secondary issue so long as they have had enough (i.e. a bit too long doesn't cause much of an issue).

[rachaelxx182]

Thanks Gary, how many mugs are you putting in for 20 mins at 170?

[pcwizme]

I use 170 for 21 min for my oven (same as the lf 70l) and it always comes out well, (except the time the oven cooled far more than I realised when emptying and reloading, I opened one, wasnt happy so I restarted it for another 12 mins as it wasnt hot as I wanted)

[rachaelxx182]

Thanks Gary, I have just tried 170 for 20 mins and got perfect results! This makes me happy as I have been pressing up to 80 mugs in a night sometimes on a single press.

[rachaelxx182]

What should I look out for in terms of if its cooled too much? Is there a temp what I should look out for if that happens. Any tips on loading quickly? I saw someone else mentioned they'd had some baskets made so they could load them into the baskets before they go in the oven and then the basket is put in the oven.

[pcwizme]

Mine managed to drop to 92 degrees on loading as I had other mugs in and one got stuck to the bars (the metal clap got tangled). Normally it goes down to about 150 ish when I unload and change then goes back up fairly quickly

[rachaelxx182]

Hi all, regarding the neil brothers 70L oven, I have had this for a few weeks now and last night it became erratic. It was set to 170 and the mugs were in. It shot up to 178 then dropped to 155 within the space of 2 minutes. It did not get back up past 160 for the rest of the cook time which was usually 20 mins in total. I have tried it again today and took 50 mins to get to 160 with no mugs in. Then once the mugs were in again it took a further 26 mins to get to 170. I have contacted the neil brothers and they said they need to get advice from their chinese supplier. Has anyone had any experience with this type of issue and I am looking at a faulty oven? I have used the neil brothers a lot but never had to return anything and wonder how difficult this may be

[theweesparrow]

I've been soldiering away with a single mug press but looking to upgrade to an oven. Looks like I wouldn't go wrong with either the Blizzard or Neil Brothers oven... does that still stand? What about silicon wraps versus heat shrink bags... are they both as good as each other?

[Justin]

We run 2 Blizzards, can't fault them. Green wraps.