Oven versus microwave in Carthago 143 Tourer

[Pixie21]

Thinking of replacing a pretty useless ‘smeg’ oven in our Carthago 143 tourer with a Dometic microwave. Has anyone done this?

 

[Pausim]

The small gas ovens are not great but at least they work off grid without needing a big inverter.

 

[Brains]

Each to their own.
We use our oven both in the van and at home on a regular basis.

We have a microwave at home that often goes weeks without being used, we don't miss not having one in the van.

British vans tend to have an oven by default, but no one else does.
Italian vans have a coffee maker by default, but no one else does.
All depends on your chosen cuisine.

 

[Lenny HB]

We have a TecTower oven everyone moans about them but they work quite well with a couple of simple mods.

We have a van on order without an oven I don't like the way Carthago fit them.

Wouldn't have a microwave in a van hardly use the one at home.

 

[Pixie21]

Thanks for your comments. The 2023 models now have a larger oven/grill with the loss of the top drawer above it, so Carthago have recognised the limitations of the small oven. May check this out. We like to cook!

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[Dolmen]

Thanks for your comments. The 2023 models now have a larger oven/grill with the loss of the top drawer above it, so Carthago have recognised the limitations of the small oven. May check this out. We like to cook!

Think this is the way to go, personally wouldn't be without the oven even though I like to eat out as often as possible, however, winter trips and dark early nights the oven comes into its own.

 

[Guigsy]

Standard procedure is to arrive at a site after work, pitch up and throw a pizza in the oven.

 

[Lenny HB]

Thanks for your comments. The 2023 models now have a larger oven/grill with the loss of the top drawer above it, so Carthago have recognised the limitations of the small oven. May check this out. We like to cook!

In the Compactline (have one on order) didn't like the way it was fitted below the cutlery draw and they don't vent it to the outside world so only good for very occasional use.

I decided the 1000 quid would be better spent going towards a Lithium install and get one of those air fryer ovens.

 

[Pixie21]

Yep. Good for pizzas! Is it a free standing air fryer oven Lenny?

 

[DangerMousy]

I love to cook, both at home and away in the MH, but in the MH we've gradually worked our way down from the huge Thetford hob/grill/oven fitted in the Bailey, to the slightly smaller under-counter one in the Rapido, to the tiny one Tec Tower one above the fridge in the Carthago. And of the 3, my favourite is the Tec Tower one - I'd be more than happy to have one in any future MH. I love the placement of the Tec Tower oven above the fridge because it means we don't lose any under-counter storage. I know some people feel its too high, but its fine for me....maybe if I wasn't tall then I'd feel differently.

The Bailey oven worked fine (as far as I remember) and you could cook on two shelves at the same time which was convenient. Of course it took longer than a domestic oven, but that's to be expected. The Rapido one really struggled though: you had to put the shelf right at the top if you wanted things to crisp up, no chance of cooking anything properly on a lower shelf. The grill worked fine though - better than the separate one on the Bailey (which used to blow out when you took the toast out). Of the three, the Carthago oven seems to get the hottest by far and you have to be careful not to burn things (not a problem I had with either of the two previous ovens). I've also not had any issues with the grill either. The only thing I can't do in the Carthago oven is bake a full-sized loaf of bread....but that's because of the size of it rather than the oven performance (rolls would probably be fine).

I think if I was spec'ing a new MH the Tec Tower would be my first choice, but if that wasn't available then I'd not bother with an under-counter one. Instead I'd look at things like a pizza oven or a gas BBQ that can also function as an oven.

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[Lenny HB]

Yep. Good for pizzas! Is it a free standing air fryer oven Lenny?

Thinking about one of these I think its £89 in Rober Dyas, Nija do one but its heavy and higher power & expensive, Dawoo have one lower power but larger and heavier, depends what room we have in the van if it ever comes.

 

[scotzsue]

This is our first van without an oven, do we miss it, yes a bit, but get round it with use of cadac off grid and remoska when we have hook up, it does have a microwave/bread store, retrofitted before we bought it, would much rather have had the cupboard space. last van had full cooker and a retrofit microwave, which we had removed, was put into the garage for next owner, if they wanted it.
have used the microwave a couple of times, but only for speed could cook/reheat the food in other ways.

 

[Lenny HB]

my favourite is the Tec Tower one - I'd be more than happy to have one in any future MH. I love the placement of the Tec Tower oven above the fridge because it means we don't lose any under-counter storage. I know some people feel its too high, but its fine for me....maybe if I wasn't tall then I'd feel differently.

We ordered our current van with the Thetford cooker then changed our minds & had the TecTower as we didn't want to lose the storage space. My wife is 4' 10" and just copes with it. Works well since I did a couple of mods, had 3 vans with the TecTower now.

 

[DangerMousy]

We ordered our current van with the Thetford cooker then changed our minds & had the TecTower as we didn't want to lose the storage space. My wife is 4' 10" and just copes with it. Works well since I did a couple of mods, had 3 vans with the TecTower now.

Must admit that I was curious to see how it performed because I'd read so much about how many people dislike it, but it wasn't clear whether it was the oven's performance they didn't like or just the placement. And being 6' I didn't think that was going to be an issue for me in fact I find it much more ergonomic than an undercounter one.

Just out of interest, what mods did you make?

 

[TinaLes]

What Tec Tower Oven mods did you do Lenny HB?
I remember having to use a Pyrex dish to raise the grill pan to make toast in The Thetford caravan oven, but that was a long time ago, and yes The Thetford oven overall was crap, I think that's why they fit microwave ovens also as a back up.
LES

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[Lenny HB]

What Tec Tower Oven mods did you do Lenny HB?
I remember having to use a Pyrex dish to raise the grill pan to make toast in The Thetford caravan oven, but that was a long time ago, and yes The Thetford oven overall was crap, I think that's why they fit microwave ovens also as a back up.
LES

Just out of interest, what mods did you make?

Never use the grill as that is totally naff.
Faux ceramic insulation above the oven and spaying the hinges once or twice a year with ceramic grease.
Surprising what a difference it makes greasing the hinges, it makes sure the door closes properly and they don't go stiff and need replacing every year like they do if you don't.

 

[TinaLes]

Thanks Lenny HB, I need to find some Faux Ceramic Insulation sheet, as there is too much heat above the Tec tower oven, which is why there is just a space above it with a velcro fixed panel.
Reading your oven mods brought a smile to my face, as I will always remember two things that the sales manager told me when we picked up our new top of the range Swift Caravan in 2015.
When I asked about The Thetford oven performance, his reply was "just remember this is not like your oven at home, its a camping style oven" he then mentioned the large Dometic fridge/Freezer, he said again "its not like your big fridge at home, its a camping fridge/freezer, dont put too much stuff in it, and don't put heavy bottles of milk, or pop in the door shelves, cos they will just break"

He then gave advice on keeping all the locks, latches, hinges in the van working correctly, his answer to this was "Use Cheap Furniture Polish, not the dear stuff"
I now know, that what he was not mentioning was that cheap furniture polish is mostly silicon based, apposed the the dear stuff that actually has some proper Bees wax/polish in it.

I always admired the way he told it as it should be, dont expect van stuff to last or perform like home appliances, and I know he was being truthful.
LES

 

[Folkranger]

This van has the full Thetford oven and hob. Would rather have had a tec tower to maximise storage space.

First van we've had that doesn't have an extractor. What it does have, (don't laugh) is an automatic fan that cools the oven and vents to inside the van. Cooking (frozen pizza) was a nightmare in Italy, had to stay outside until the oven stopped pushing superheated air inside.

Have no use for a microwave, though use one at home (mainly for defrosting).

 

[Lenny HB]

I need to find some Faux Ceramic Insulation sheet

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Pardon our interruption...

 

[Roger S]

We have just collected our new T 149, we ordered that without an oven. we do use a microwave a fair amount for heating Mrs S's precooked meals etc and there is a drawer under the fridge freezer which comes out nicely and I will pop our microwave in there.

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[Pixie21]

Thanks Roger. Would you need an inverter if on EHU? Presuming a 500-700 watt microwave

 

[Pausim]

Thanks Roger. Would you need an inverter if on EHU? Presuming a 500-700 watt microwave

I can’t see why you would need an inverter when on most EHUs, a 5 Amp EHU might not be enough. However Remember a 700 Watt microwave needs a bigger power supply than 700 Watts, which is the heat output not the electrical input. My home 900 Watt microwave needs a minimum of 1380 Watts to power it.

 

[Roby2008]

Never had either in the old MH and not in the new one either, if we need hot then its a one pan meal when out in the wild or a small electric grill and air fryer for EHU, we are in Germany so it´s not the norm to have an oven or MW but we never missed them in the first 10 yrs and probably won´t in the next.
90% of our travel is somewhere warm and the only thing in the freezer is ice for the Gin (or whatever the drink of the day is)....
So overall a pointless answer to the question, but I am bored.

 

[Ray-Vic]

Thinking about one of these I think its £89 in Rober Dyas, Nija do one but its heavy and higher power & expensive, Dawoo have one lower power but larger and heavier, depends what room we have in the van if it ever comes.

We have one of those and take it with us when we go away, it's excellent. The 2 shelves make it much more versatile than most of the ones we've seen with the single drawer.

 

[Pablo19]

We have no oven in our latest MH and don't really miss it at all. We do have a small 4l Daewoo air fryer which fits nicely under the spare seat and we tend to have EHU when we can due to having to recharge ebikes. When we are off grid we can easily plan a meal with the 3 gas burners or Cadac if it's warm outside. We wouldn't want to sacrifice the space any more and wouldn't go back to an under counter oven.

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[Roger S]

Thanks Roger. Would you need an inverter if on EHU? Presuming a 500-700 watt microwave

You only will need an inverter if not connected to the mains. We have a 1500w inverter with a 230a Fogstar Lithium battery works perfectly for us. We bought the microwave from Microwave Service Company near Ashford, they sell a reduced power machine and it works fine.