16 replies to this topic

[nickfixit]

It happens every year...

It's a day or two before a Major Holiday and the oven is looking a little crusty. So you decide to run the self-clean cycle. When you return to what you hoped would be a clean oven, you find a locked oven door and an error code on the display. Even if you can get a technician to your home before thanksgiving, it's likely he will not have the needed part. Your holiday dinner is now seriously screwed.

It is very common for a stove to fail during a clean cycle. The self-clean cycles generate interior temperatures in the range of 850 degrees F. That why the doors lock, if you were to open the door at 850 F, you would burn your eyebrows off. The clean cycle also uses parts and circuits that are seldom used. When you add the severe heat, you are subjecting the oven to the highest stresses it ever sees.

My rule is this..

If it is less than 2 weeks before a major holiday, do not use the clean cycle.

Tell your all friends.

Nick


You don't want to be microwaving Hotpockets for your holiday meal

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Excellent advice, Nick! It is the wise grasshopper who heeds your counsel. :touched:

[bigger hammer]

hahaha   how many times have you heard:

....but this is only the second time ive used the self clean the whole year (or since we bought it)

[WayneSB]

Because I work in an appliance store, I absolutely hate the week before Thanksgiving. Every idiot under the sun runs the self-clean cycle so relatives don't see that it hasn't been cleaned in a while. Then of course it's always an emergency and we can never get anyone out in time, because service is already booked on all the range repairs that have been put off for months.

I really hate the week before Thanksgiving.

[Heimhenge]

Speaking of which, I suppose if just using my oven sets off my smoke detectors, that would mean it's due for a cleaning.  Weird thing is, it doesn't really look dirty.  Maybe my smoke detectors are too sensitive?  The closest one to the oven is like 6 ft away.

By the way ...we'll be BBQing out for the 4th, not using the oven.  Happy F.O.J. to you all!

[rozello]

Thanks for all the great advice about not running the clean cycle before a major holiday.

Wayne58, most people who run the clean cycle are not idiots.  They are regular people who naively believe that their oven is well designed and will do what it is supposed to do.

Thanks to you great repair men and women the word is getting out!

Rob

[jahjahbinks]

what is self clean? i know the theory but after you bake your home for 3+ hrs dont you still have to hand clean the oven anyway?

[Pegi]

Not with my WP gas range, just have to wipe out the fine white ash......

[WayneSB]

Idiot... naive. Close enough. :)

[megadan66]

I love thanksgiving and chrismas I call it ignitor season.

[General123]

I haven't made many posts here but I had to chime in on this one.

I run a small appliance repair company in Los Angeles and every Thanksgiving we get dozens of "I can't get my turkey out of the oven" calls.

Like some of the posts above, I would stress not using your self-clean feature, or first learning how to use your oven, any time close to a major holiday. The parts needed to fix most self-clean repairs are expensive, non-universal, and therefore rarely stocked.

We get so many calls demanding we simply come over and get the door open that we have a handful of technicians that work on Turkey Day doing just that. Half of the customers will order the parts and fix their ovens but many simply pay us to get their food out and spend the weekend shopping for a new oven.

Be safe, be careful, be smart.

The General

[nickfixit]

Read the posts and take the advice

[jahjahbinks]

SELF CLEAN .... Just what it says clean it your self / or (e.g) don`t be a messsy slob!

i live for the holidays and no mercy.

[Econo Appliance]

"self-destruct"

 

 :burning:

[ctdahle]

Query: Is the self cleaning circuitry more likely to fail if it is only used a couple of times a year, or if it is used frequently?

We use the oven for bread, cookies and for covered dishes that just don't make much mess, so it doesn't need a serious cleaning very often, but we did end up replacing our (ancient...like 30 year old) Magic Chef range a few years back because I couldn't get it to unlatch after running the cleaning cycle. The unit itself was pretty darn clean, but I figured that since it was so old, and I was unaware of this place, it was ready for replacement. I replaced it with a second hand Kenmore, (ca. 1985, and 25 bucks at a thrift shop) which I am hoping will last until we are ready to remodel the kitchen in the next year or so.

Are we courting failure because we rarely use the self cleaning function?

Either way, if the latch does freeze up, is there a standard procedure for getting the latch to release?

[ratherbfishin]

, it's the extreme heat and length of the self clean cycle that causes the problems.  frequency does'nt matter......   latches can be locked with a spring device or with a cam.  if you can reach the hook on the latch assembly if your lucky you can take tension off and open the door.....  it depends on the mfg design .

[nickfixit]

Tell your friends