A conventional oven has temperature controlled by a thermostat and is designed to give an even heat.
A wood burning oven takes some practice to control the heat, but gives a pleasant slight smoky flavour to the food, and cooks quickly with a radiant heat. With the right set-up, the oven base of stone gives a good crispiness to the Pizza base.
A conventional oven cooks your food with out air circulation. Where as a convection oven has a fan which allows the air to flow around and cooks your food faster and more evenly.
A fan oven or convection oven uses a fan to circulate hot air within the oven; this moving air strips away a thin layer of air which isn't moving surrounding the food being cooked, cooking it more quickly and evenly.
For temperature times with a fan oven, you need to subtract about 10 degrees from the conventional oven time given. So, for 160 degrees F in a conventional oven, you would set a fan oven at 150 degrees F.
You can do this in either a conventional or a convection oven. If you use a conventional oven, I would rotate the roasting pan half way through the cooking process to compensate for any hot spots in the oven. If you use a convection oven (with the fan), cooking is more even because the fan blows the hot air around the food, but you have to remember to reduce cooking temperatures 50 degrees if you leave the convection function on.
180oc in a conventional oven, 160oc in a fan assisted oven.
The primary difference between the conventional and convection ovens can probably be summed up by saying one thing: A convection oven is a conventional oven with a fan inside the oven cavity to circulate the hot air. The addition of the fan promotes the movement of heat by convection, and this reduces cooking time. Convection already occurs in the conventional oven, but on a limited basis. The fan kicks the process up several notches. Convection in this case is the transfer of heat from the heat source to the food item by the moving air. Air atoms and molecules pick up heat from the heating elements and carry it around in the oven cavity. The air will then transfer that heat to whatever is in there that is cooler than the heated air. The air then returns to the heat source to repeat the cycle. When thinking this through, it becomes clear that the addition of the fan gives the oven's performance a big lift. There are units on the market what include microwave capability as well, and they add another step of complexity. Microwave cooking to augment conventional thermal cooking adds another dimension to the cooking performance of the appliance.
Convection ovens have a fan in order to move the heat inside providing faster and more even cooking.
A fan assisted oven, called a convection oven, is quicker than a normal oven because it ensures that the heat is distributed more evenly throughout the oven's cavity. They are not hotter than normal ovens, as 350 F is 350 F however you look at it. They may take some time to get used to at first, since the cooking time for a recipe designed for a conventional oven would have to be slightly reduced.
A convection oven is made from the same materials as a conventional oven but with the addition of a fan to circulate the heated air during cooking. The advantage is more uniform cooking temperature and faster cooking time.
160 degrees Celsius in a fan assisted oven is equivalent to about 180 degrees Celsius in a conventional oven. In a fan assisted oven, you typically reduce the temperature by about 20 degrees from the conventional oven temperature to achieve the same result due to the circulating hot air providing more even heat distribution.
Conventional ovens come in both electric and gas models. When manufacturers use the word 'conventional', they are stating that the oven doesn't utilize convection technology. Using a very short description, convection cooking involves a fan or fans that distribute air throughout an oven for faster cooking times and more even temperatures.
The "conventional oven" dates to prehistory, used in many early civilizations. The food is heated by radiation from the walls and contact with the heated air.The convection oven is a relatively newer concept which circulates heated air rather than allowing it to "sit" -- a much faster method of cooking. One of the first retail fan-forced ovens was built in 1967.