[Sca-cooks] renting convection ovens?

[Stefan li Rous]

Urtatim replied to me with:
  ====
Stefan li Rous wrote:
 > You can *rent* a convection oven? How big is such a thing...

As i said, it held four half-sheet pans... exactly. A sheet pan is a
standard commercial cooking pan - it's rectangular and flat with low
raised edges. A half-sheet pan is, well, half the size of a sheet
pan. Adamantius probably know the exact size. A sheet pan will not
fit into a standard home oven, but a half sheet pan will.
====

sigh. I'm not that experienced in this institutional cooking stuff.  
That description doesn't help me much. But I think Adamantius  
answered this question with more details.

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I'd guess that the monster was not quite as big as a home oven,
divorced from the rest of the stove. It was awkward to carry (i
couldn't cuz i'm small and my arms couldn't go around it), but it
wasn't horribly heavy.
====

Okay. This is closer but is more about the inside size that the total  
size. It sounds though that the walls of the convection oven are  
about the same thickness as a standard oven. I didn't know if they  
had special venting or extra electronics for the fan(s) or just what.

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 > I assume these are strictly electric

Is there any other kind of convection oven? I don't know... Were you
hoping for propane?
=====

I assume that there are natural gas powered convection ovens which  
have an electric fan for moving the hot air around. Not too likely  
for a rental unit, but I slipped into thinking about convection ovens  
in general and not just about whether a rental one was useful for  
feasts.

When we needed to replace my 20 year old Amana microwave, I did  
briefly look at some convection/microwave models. I can see some  
advantages in the combo since the microwave often won't brown food on  
its own. The microwave I bought, although highly rated by Consumers  
Reports, suffers from the problem of randomly bursting into flame  
behind the grill in the non-cooking area. Maybe I'll have to  
reconsider this convection oven/microwave combo. Or I may just back  
up and use my mom's 25 year old, non-electronic, Amana microwave.

So, either in commercial kitchens for a feast or for home use, what  
are the advantages/disadvantages of a convection oven?

Thanks,
   Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****