Slow cookercrockpot temperatures

I recently acquired a West Bend 3-1-2 qt. Crockery Cooker to replace my ancient cooker, the brand of which I don't recall.

I've had some problem with overcooking even though I prefer to cook for long periods (8-10 hours) on LOW.

A chicken stew I cooked for 9 hours, following West Bend's own recipe, tasted fine, but the chicken was mushy, although the potatoes and carrots were fine.

A small pork roast cooked on LOW had an internal temperature of 170 after 5 hours. According to my thermometer instructions, that's cooked! I should have taken the roast out then, but I left it in another 4 hours. It was very tasty and tender, but was dry and clearly overcooked.

Some "country ribs" were tasty and tender, but really overcooked after 8 hours.

So, I found some tests for slow cookers online and tried one, but I'm not positive what the results mean because I don't know what the temperatures for LOW and HIGH should be except that temperatures below 140 aren't safe.

Anyway, following the test instructions, I put 2 quarts of 70F water into the slow cooker and turned it on LOW. I have two meat thermometers, a digital and a dial type.

Times and temperatures for LOW: 3-1-2 hours 185 7-1-2 hours 190 8-1-2 hours 190

For HIGH: 2 hours 192 4 hours 199 7-1-2 hours 203

It seems to me that the maximum temperatures for LOW and for HIGH are awfully close to each other.

I can adjust cooking times easily enough, but I wonder if anyone has or can lead me to authoratative information about what the temperatures ought to be. In the meantime I'm e-mailing West Bend and asking them. If I get a response I'll post it here.

Thanks,

-Len