Stove Explodes

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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.
 
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!
 
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!!!
 
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!
 
@ 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
I love how off topic this has gotten.
Here in Seattle, we've had several television reports about FRIGIDAIRE stoves glass fronts breaking. In one instance, no-one was home and they came home to find the glass front had exploded all over the kitchen!
Our local ABC affiliate KOMOTV was contacted by the owners who had been getting a big run-around from Frig/Lux. Frig/Lux was denying anything was wrong...Anyway, after being contacted by the Press, Frig/Lux backpedaled and replaced the door for FREE! And while they wouldn't admitted that their glassfronts were at fault, they hinted to the reporter that this wasn't the first glassfront they'd replaced for a homeowner-be it under warranty or not!

Also, Thermador also had the sliding metal shield in their ovens and they did away with it when Schott glass took over the manufactuering of the glass they used in their ovens.
 
Oldskool:

Please understand - no one here is trying to tell you that you're wrong in what you're doing, just trying to clear up some issues surrounding self-cleaners vs. oven cleaning sprays.

I'm with you on use of vintage appliances - they may sometimes use more resources per cycle, but they can be used conservatively to minimize their impact. My own Maytag 806 washer and dryer use more water than a new front-loader, true - but I run about three loads per week, one of them a small load on the lowest water setting. Should I cause tons more iron ore, more precious metals, more oil and more silica to be wrested from the Earth in the interest of saving a very modest amount of water? I don't think that's wise.

To give you an idea of how much more conservative appliance engineers used to be than they are today, General Electric pioneered self-cleaning ranges with the introduction of P*7 self-cleaning for the 1963 model year. They did not offer a windowed oven door on P*7 models until 1967 - and even then, they put a sliding guard over the window for about ten years after that. Big difference to today's flimsy glass-doored wonders.
 
Newer

I had a GE Profile smooth top with convection, new in 2007. The single best range I have ever owned and my son and his family now use it. It's convection bake is superb and cleans flawlessly. I bought a new Maytag for the Bellevue house and I am not pleased with it's oven performance on any level including the self cleaner but it does not get overly hot when cleaning. I agree with a lot of what John is saying and the best way to clean anything is to keep it tht way. If I have time to wipe out the oven before reusing it the gook doesn't burn on as hard. A paint scraper is a wonderful gadget to have for getting up the blackened spots.
Kelly
 
For gob sake, how can you NOT put a sheet of foil under something suspected of boiling over? Note, do not coat an entire shelf with foil, uneven heating and damaging concentration result. But a sheet under the utensil catches the slobbers.

A 2-inch-high broiling chimney can catch broil splatters and retain meat juices otherwise burned black by spreading out unconfined. Upward splatters incinerate on the element in real time.

I've used this oven 5 years and only cleaned it once. To remove what the apartment cleaner left and the broil splatter from before I invented the chimney. Used 409 and Bon Ami. A little more rubbing but completely nontoxic and cost virtually nothing.
 
Our gas GE Profile slide-in (no back splash) range has a fan that comes on when the oven gets hot just to keep the front-mounted electronic controls from frying. The fan is noisy with lots of vibration, and the heat it kicks out can warm our large great room. It runs continuously during the cleaning cycle, so we wait until cold weather to clean the oven.
 
That brought to mind of a redneck manual equivalent of a self cleaning oven-open the oven door & use a propane or acetylene torch to burn off anything that has accumulated on the various interior surfaces. -probably not recommended.
 

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