Stove Explodes

[countryguy]

My ex's sister-in-law bought a new Frigidaire stove with self cleaning oven (I don't know the model) a year ago and used the self clean feature for the first time about a month ago.  The stove exploded.  Fortunately she was not in the kitchen and no one was injured however the kitchen was a disaster and had to be done over.  The glass from the oven door landed everywhere due to the explosion and because the glass was so hot, anything that it touched just melted.  She and her family had to live in a hotel for a month whle the kitchen was repaired and moved back into the home on Christmas Eve.

 

Has anyone ever heard of a self cleaning stove exploding?  I'm guessing that it was a defect?

 

Gary

 

[tomturbomatic]

I am sorry for your family's misfortune

Are you saying that the glass window alone failed or was the range fueled by gas and something related to the fuel exploded? I am glad there was no injury or loss of life. Hope the manufacturer was sued by the insurance co. for the cost.

 

[countryguy]

I believe that it was an electric, not gas, stove.  All I know is that the woman turned on the self clean feature, then went down into the basement to do some chores.  A short while later there was an explosion (no fire) and there were shards of glass everywhere.  I would hope that the insurance company is going after Frigidaire. 

 

Gary

 

[mixfinder]

Common Thread

Following the Pyrex glass faults we are finding this happening in more than just Pyrex. Same thing happened to a friend with Kenmore (Frigidaire) range. She was roasting the turkey when the glass ruptured and showered the kitchen. The heat wasn't an issue because she was only roasting but the Kenmore tech told her it has happened more often than he wanted to consider.

 

[bajaespuma]

Most of the manufacturer's of pyrolitic self-cleaning ovens warn the user to remove pools of grease and oil and other stuff from the bottom of the oven before using the clean cycle. If there was a lot of grease in that oven it could have vaporized and then either spontaneously combusted or some other event could have set it off. When you said she went downstairs to do some chores I had to wonder because there would have been a lot of thick smoke beforehand.

 

[countryguy]

I'm not sure but I think she did say that there was a lot of smoke when she went upstairs after the explosion.

 

Gary

 

[frigilux]

I have two 2002 Frigidaire ranges, one gas and one electric, and run the self-clean cycles every couple of months. I try not to let the ovens get too dirty before cleaning, as I hate the resulting smoke/fumes. No problems so far. The electric range was involved in a recall a few years back, when steam escaping from boiling pans on the rear burners was getting into and shorting the controls, causing the burner to turn itself on HI and creating a fire hazard.

I'm glad to hear no one was injured in the explosion, and hope this isn't a sign that Frigidaire is joining the exploding appliance club. Keep us posted if they're able to determine what caused the failure!

 

[tomturbomatic]

I would imagine a large part of the damage was from the smoke after the window burst and the oxygen-rich air hit the hot oven soil. The control on the amount & speed of incineration that goes on in a pyrolitic oven cleaning is the amount of oxygen that comes in through a gap on the underside of the oven door which is regulated by the amount of air rising through an electric oven's small vent. If the oven was dirty and at the beginning of the cleaning process, there was probably quite a rapid incineration when the air hit the hot soil. It almost makes me wish for a video. I still would like to put a closed container of gasoline in a self cleaning wall oven, chain the door shut and turn it on to see how well it would handle the explosion.

I used to take the storage drawer out of my GE ranges when I used the self-cleaning feature so that I could look in under the oven door through the gap and see the little flames on the oven floor. All of these oven wisely had a shutter that covered the window during cleaning. When I blew air in, the flames got bigger. I wonder if you blew in some oxygen if you could get blue flames to shoot out of the oven vent like out of those trucks at races.

 

[DADoES]

 
I've read several accounts of oven door windows shattering.  Thermal stress coupled with mechanical stress caused by inherent flaws in the glass is the cause.

I've heard glass referred to as a super-cooled liquid.  It can exhibit flaky structural integrity.

Some years ago I hand-washed a small glass item (either a bowl or a drinking glass) at my grandmother's house, placed it in the cupboard.  A few mins later there was a loud POP and the item had exploded inside the cabinet.

 

[countryguy]

When I was a kid I remember one of my mom's friends had a self cleaning oven.  There were shutters on the window that closed when the self clean cycle was on.  Why don't modern stoves have this feature?  I would think it would help greatly with the safety factor?

 

Gary

 

[mixfinder]

More Recent

Dadoes best describes the properties of the glass and stress in self cleaning ovens. The shattered glass stories I have been involved with all are ranges made in recent years. I dropped water on the glass door of my 90's GE drop in range in the days of "artisan" bread baking when it was super heated to 500 degrees and directed to pour a cup of cold water into a cast iron pan on the oven floor. Some cold water dripped on the glass which cracked but did not shatter. I have watched fires of oil residue burning on the floor of the self cleaning oven through the glass window but combusting at lower temperatures than the self cleaning cycle I have paid it no attention and after cleaning there was no sign of the flame. Likely no man on the face of the earth has cleaned more ovens manually or automtically than I have. You cannot believe the amount of stuff I have packed into the shelves of the self cleaning cycle as well. Cleaning the racks is the worst part of oven cleaning so I leave them in. Glass, corning, aluminum and cast iron have come through the self cleaning oven for me with no problems.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Easy way to clean oven racks

This has to be done in the sun warm weather.

Use a black trash bag into which the shelves will fit. Put the shelves in the bag, slightly offset from each other, dirtiest side up. Spray them thoroughly with oven cleaner, fold to close the bag and let them sit for several hours in the sun. The hard baked on grease turns into soft brown soap in the heat and the bag holds in the moisture. Minimal scrubbing is all that's needed to have wonderfully clean racks. Solar energy harnessed to speed the chemical reaction!

 

[DADoES]

 
Granny did that with her racks, but used ammonia in the bag instead of oven cleaner.

 

[frigilux]

Isn't the coating on the oven cavity of a self-cleaning oven a type of glass? As per recipe directions, I once sprayed water onto the floor of my gas Maytag range while baking loaves of French bread. The oven floor suddenly looked like a super-thin pane of shattered glass, which never cleaned well after that.

What exactly is a pyrolytic coating? (Update #1: I'm asking the question incorrectly; see Glenn's post below.)

Update #2: Ya gotta love the internet. OK, here's what I found: The interior of a pyrolitic (self-cleaning) oven is made of higher quality enamel which will withstand the high heat of the cleaning cycle, reducing fats, etc. to ash.

Enamel is a glassy substance applied to metal. That would explain the 'shattered' appearance when I sprayed water onto the floor of a very hot oven.[this post was last edited: 1/4/2013-11:19]

 

[DADoES]

 
Pyrolytic refers to the self-cleaning process -- pyro = high heat, lytic = disintegration, oxidizing, burning -- not to a coating or finish on the oven interior.  Self-cleaning oven interiors are standard porcelain*.

Granny's previous range was a self-cleaning gas unit.  The self-clean cycle was run once, when it was already several years old.  She was careful about keeping the oven clean.  Just happened that the thermostat went bad during the self-clean cycle and it seriously overheated.  The bottom of the oven liner caught a crazed/crackled finish as a result.

*Although perhaps to a higher quality, as you found noted.

 

[aegokocarat]

There was a report on a money saving tips forum about a De-Dietrich (sp?) built in oven nearly catching fire when it was used on its PRYOkleen cleaning cycle, so its not just limited to US ovens.
Tom

 

[oldskool]

That's Enough

My train already runs more so on the cautious track in life, typically avoiding things that could produce negative outcomes. And then there's the whole 2-3 hour thing of the self-cleaning feature producing smoke/fumes/excessive heat in the kitchen. While I've not had anything explode, hearing of this causes concern for me. At this point "no-fume" Easy Off followed by paper towels to remove the gunk, seems to be the lesser of evils IMHO.

 

[DADoES]

 
Majority of the reports I've read, glass explosion occurred during normal baking/broiling.  Avoiding self-cleaning may help lessen the chances but is not a guarantee.

 

[jeffg]

I'm amazed at the poor design quality of today's appliances in general. A friend has one of those cheap radiant heat ranges with the smooth-as-glass tops, the thing is a house fire waiting to happen. One errant flick of the wrist and your pan goes flying off the top of the stove. Oh and don't spill any sugary foods on the top because it'll stain forever. Just abysmally stupid design.

 

[danemodsandy]

GE Oven Window Shutter

GE dropped the shutter because consumers didn't want to be bothered with it. They re-engineered their door to accommodate that preference.

However, today's self-cleaners are not engineered to anything like the safety margin that '60s and '70s units were. Insulation used to be much heavier, and even then, installation instructions often called for asbestos or cementitious board to be used on walls and cabinet sides that were directly next to the range.

 

[danemodsandy]

Oldskool:

Actually, oven cleaner is the greater of two evils - the can, the propellant and the caustic cleaner itself are all environmental problems.

A self-cleaner cleans without chemicals, and on older units, the heavier insulation makes them cheaper to bake in, using less electricity.

A new self-cleaner is not the equal of an older one, but then, you're here because you're interested in vintage stuff, right? So get yourself a nice older GE with P*7 self-cleaning, and enjoy convenience and environmental benefits!

 

[norgeway]

Re Exploding oven!!!

My boss said when he was a kid his dad got drunk and put a big canned ham in there new wall oven..this would have been about 1962 or so, turned it on and about thirty minutes later he said there was a terrific BANG, he ran in to see the whole kitchen covered in grease and shreds of ham, and the oven door swinging down by one hinge!His Mother came home about that time and was NOT amused!!!

 

[whirlcool]

Our 2008 Maytag gas stove get super hot when self cleaning. We've only had to use the self clean feature one time. But the stove gave off so much heat it made the control panel of the microwave above it soft and on a cold day with windows open it raised the temp of the kitchen to nearly 90F. And that was only after 1 hour! But it did do a good job of cleaning.

We had a GE P7 oven before and they really do a good job of cleaning. All you have in the end is just a little dust to wipe off with a damp paper towel. And the P7 doesn't heat up your entire house either!

 

[oldskool]

@ Sandy -

Thanks for your perspective and comments. However, I differ in opinion. After considering the fact that while using the SC feature, the windows must be opened with the attic fan running at least the first 30 minutes to ventilate the now noxious indoor air resulting from the fumes produced by an unvented indoor incinerator, thus costing more to heat/cool, not to mention the added use of electricity to power both the HVAC system and the oven (incinerator), which by the way is produced in Kansas City via a non-environmentally friendly coal burning process, at .10 per KWH, accompanied by the experience of a previous wall oven unit that prematurely self-destructed the electronic controls because of using the SC feature, I believe both the environment and my pocket are coming out better with the Easy Off. Yes Vintage is great, but I haven't seen many vintage 30" double wall ovens - P7 or otherwise in the CL postings, or none yet that I would see as viable daily drivers that were reasonably accessible. The wall ovens currently in place (GE) were installed in 2009 by my home warranty company, because the previous unit's electronics were NLA. My vintage interests seem to find more application in the laundry arena, but that could change.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Sorry for the misadventure.
I recall of an acquinatance telling me her electric oven  door exploded injuring the cat....(cat survived).
I can just say that stuff is no longer made like it used to be and these are the rseults, built in hurry with cheap  components, no attention to important matters and materials used,   without counting that  they're 100 times less functional than appliances of the past, and this lasting just few years of course.
All they care  in thse days are those electronic trinkets, but this is what attracts modern people addicted to advertisement and fashions without caring anymore of what is the real Quality on everything.
I think that situations like this will increase in the future if they keeps doing things  this way.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Now wait a minute. You don't run the cleaning when the ac is being used so that does not figure in your argument. There are nice fall and spring days for oven cleaning when the windows can be opened, but I do understand that the newer ovens do not have the good smoke eliminators that the older ones used. The cleaning, at least in the old GE process, used the units on 115 volts so as not to damage the porcelain so it does not use even as much electricity as the price of a can of oven cleaner which is not friendly to the environment either. Having said that, I mostly manually clean my ovens and don't find it too horrible a chore. Except for the micro-thermal combination, I keep foil under the bake elements to catch stuff so that it does not get on the oven floor.

 

[mixfinder]

Environmental Impact

I am totally in agreement with Sandy regarding the cost and environmental impact of cleaning ovens manually. Unless I have loaded the oven with junk store finds that are filthy there isn't an odor. Just a normal oven cleaning uses 2 hours and no smell or smoke.

 

[danemodsandy]

Oldskool:

As I tried to point out, vintage self-cleaners were a totally different animal than today's lightly built, shoddily engineered versions.

It used to be that Consumer Reports recommended self-cleaners because their heavier insulation kept kitchens cooler, which would reduce the range's effect on HVAC systems. And they also noted that the heavier insulation reduced operating costs during normal oven cooking to an extent that would pay back the cost of the self-cleaning feature in a few years.

Older self-cleaners were not as prone to creating smoke and noxious vapors, because they had better catalytic capability in the oven exhaust - essentially a small catalytic converter screen functioning on the same principle as the catalytic converter in your car. Today's units are not as well-designed from that standpoint.

If you ever decide to look into self-cleaners, I would recommend a unit from the '70s or before; the Great Cheapening began in the '80s, as I well remember.

 

[DADoES]

 
I haven't had hands-on use of any other specimens for comparison ... but my 2004 GE Profile electric self-cleaner seems to have a nice amount of insulation.

 

[oldskool]

Help, I'm an Environmental Sinner!

As the ovens seldom require cleaning, and typically it's just a specific area, it's made more sense to clean that area manually with the spray and a paper towel. One can of oven cleaner provides multiple cleanings and lasts many months - at minimal cost. As the ovens are 2009 models, Tom's point regarding smoke eliminators not being the same as in older units probably accounts for most of the smoke concern. However, if peach cobbler spills over in the oven during July 4th preparations, waiting for cooler weather to clean it could be months with our 90+ temps coupled with 90% humidity summers. My AC ran into November this year - too long for a dirty oven. After seeing a perfectly good double oven unit (that I preferred over the current model) destroyed by using the SC process, and reading of the ongoing diminishing quality of modern appliances - I want these to last as the next replacements may be worse.

As for the environmental aspect, I confess - I'm a sinner. There's a stubborn part of me that won't convert to the 2 cups of water consumption dishwashers or the 1 gallon front load washers. For me the new toilets that have to be flushed repeatedly have proven the environmentalist engineers and the government regulators are either eternally constipated, have nasty bathrooms or simply hypocrites. And as for the new CF light bulbs (which I do use), I'm not crazy about the quality or the price. Recently one of the CF bulbs (that are guaranteed to last for 6-10 years - yeah right) exploded sending mercury saturated glass particles all over the room. How friendly is that? Some of us have our vices and environmental issues are probably just one of my many.

 

Sorry fellas, I'm done ranting and I truly appreciate everyone's knowledge, perspective and insight. I've learned so much from everyone at AWorg and value each of you more than my limited vocabulary would ever communicate.