Why we swapped resistance wires for infrared in our bread ovens
Think about how a standard resistance wire works. It heats the air, and then that hot air—hopefully—heats the bread. It’s a slow, clunky process. Half the heat just vanishes into the oven walls before it ever touches the crust. That’s why we moved to infrared (IR) for reheating. Instead of warming up the whole room, IR sends energy straight to the bread via radiation. It’s a direct hit. The win for your wallet Most ovens waste a ton of power just trying to get the cavity up to temperature. With IR, you aren’t fighting the air. The heat penetrates the bread almost instantly. The result? Your electricity bills actually drop. You aren’t sitting around waiting for the oven to warm up, and you spend way less time idling. It’s fast. Really fast. The nitty-gritty stuff We usually go with quartz-encased IR lamps. Why? Because bread ovens are messy. Between the flour dust and the steam, you need something that protects the filament. You get a lot more heat packed into a much smaller space compared to those old coils. But here is the catch: IR reacts instantly. If you’re using a PID controller that was tuned for slow, sluggish wires, you’re going to have a problem. You’ll overshoot your target temp and end up with charred bread. You have to tweak your duty cycle to handle that speed, or you’ll be throwing away a lot of product. Getting it running on the floor Actually installing these is pretty easy. If your voltage matches, they usually just slide right into the old heating banks. Just a tip: use high-temp leads. If you don’t, the insulation will melt the second things get hot near the tubes. Now, there is a trade-off. Quartz is fragile. If someone bangs into them or they get a sudden shock of cold water, they can crack. Also, keep them clean. If flour builds up on the glass, it blocks the IR waves. The element then has to work twice as hard to hit the temp, which burns out the filament way faster. Keep the glass clear, and they’ll last.