We use our Anova in a metal pot, insulated in a styrofoam case, and we can’t seem to gain and even losing temperature. We heat the water, place the food into the pot, may lose some temperature, but never gain it again. For example, we started the water at 168 deg, put the room temperature chicken bag in, and the water dropped to 140 and never regained after an hour or so. Does this mean our device isn’t working? We just can’t seem to maintain or gain temperature. Could it be the styrofoam box?
Not sure I’m getting what you are describing.
You say you “start the water” at 168 degrees. Then you add the bagged chicken and it drops to 140.
So the Anova heated the water to 168 initially? Then you drop the bag of chicken in and it drops to 140 - and stays at that temp from then on?
Sorry to ask for more detail, but what you describe seems so strange to me that I really would need the “step by step” in detail to hazard a guess at what is going on!
That seems rather odd. I suggest you start the anova with the food already in the bath. That way there won’t be a sudden drop in temperature with the introduction of (relatively) cold food.
Do not start with the food in the water bath, this will not solve the problem. If the water bath isn’t regaining heat when it is already at temperature then there is something obviously wrong.
How are you gaining temperature initially? Are you using warm water to fill your cooking vessel or are you using the Anova to heat it?
How are you setting temperature, manually with the wheel on the head of the unit or via app control?
When you add food to your water bath does the red ‘Play’ light come on or remain dim?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but as @Mirozen says, there is a need to ascertain exactly what is happening here.
Firstly, it is not the vessel or the insulation at fault here. There could be an issue with the unit’s thermostat or, forgive me for saying this, it could simply user error.
Probably the best thing to do would be to hit up Anova Support. If you call them you can actually explain what is going on and they will be able to advise clearly the steps to take to troubleshoot the situation. Doing it by phone would be preferable to email in this instance, I think.
So I think we figured out that its not working.
Our process: We warm the water in the pot on the stove to get the temperature up, then put the pot into a styrofoam case with a hole in the lid for the sous vide device. From there, we put the vacuum packed meat in the water which dropped the temperature. But the water was never able to gain temperature to where it needed to be, and even lost temperature.
We did a test last night without any meat, and without the styrofoam container, and again no temperature gain. We even wrapped the top with foil and tried to insulate. We don’t think its working.
Thanks so much for responding and helping think through this! It did work once, and made the most amazing steaks!
Good that you’ve made progress in diagnosing the problem! I guess you’ll have to get in touch with the support team. Hopefully your issue can be resolved easily.