[Mypsi]

I've been wondering about this, too. Our oven is close to 20 years old, and was around long before I started using it. There are 5 thermocouples, but only 4 give readings. They go into a switch box, then to a thermometer, and all the wires are a little shaky, so it's a balancing act of fiddling with wires to get good readings. I suspect that they are reading low, because I picked up a cheap dial oven thermometer to put inside, and it actually reads around 50 F higher than the thermocouples (that's not right, is it?).

So I have a few questions:

What happens when a thermocouple goes bad? Does it just stop reading, or does it get less accurate?

mr.jim, can you explain a little more how they would be replaced? I've got these wires coming out the front of the brick, that I imagine were placed during construction, and are snaking through inches or feet of brick. Some notes from a previous baker seem to imply that at least one might be in the back of the oven. Are you saying that I should be able to pull this out, replace it, and feed it back in?

If I replace the outside wiring, what kind of wire should I use? Right now it is a thick single strand that seems kind of brittle, and I think I could get a better connection with a thinner, braided wire.