Willie Mae Truesdale was in her kitchen when she heard a sudden, loud blast. To her surprise, she discovered pieces of her oven door scattered across the floor. “It was like something out of a movie. Glass shattered everywhere,” she recalled. What made it even scarier was the fact that her oven wasn’t even turned on at the time. And she’s not alone in experiencing this terrifying ordeal.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Cheryl, a suburban mom, had a similar shocking encounter. As she attempted to bake brownies, there was a hole in the middle of the batch. She later found out that her oven was malfunctioning, running about 25 degrees hotter than the set temperature, despite being only three months old. After finishing her quarantine, she called a professional to fix her oven. But just as the cleaning mode was about to complete, there was a sudden explosion, with shattered glass flying from inside the oven door.
Michelle Wheat also had her oven door unexpectedly explode, showering glass shards all over her kitchen. Like Truesdale, her three-year-old Frigidaire oven wasn’t even in use at the time. Fortunately, none of her four young children were hurt. Complaints about glass doors exploding have also been made for other oven brands besides Frigidaire. In fact, since 2019, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received around 450 reports of similar incidents.
What’s even more disheartening is the lack of support from the oven manufacturers following these events. Even though Truesdale’s oven was still under warranty, Frigidaire blamed her family for the explosion and refused to provide a replacement door. Cheryl, on the other hand, reached out to Bosch, who kindly replaced her oven after NBC contacted them. Since Wheat’s oven was no longer under warranty, she had to pay $100 for a technician to assess the damage and an additional $314 to fix it. Frigidaire advised Wheat to purchase an extended protection plan in case such an incident occurred again. “This should never have happened,” expressed the frustrated mother of six. “That’s what I wanted to tell them.”
Why do oven doors shatter?
According to Mark Meshulam of Chicago Window Expert, there are two possible reasons why oven glass can break spontaneously. One type is soda lime glass, similar to window glass, which is heated and cooled rapidly to become tempered. This type of glass is commonly used in oven doors. The other type is borosilicate glass, often found in laboratory glassware or traditional Pyrex. Borosilicate glass can withstand extreme temperatures more effectively. The shift towards soda lime glass has resulted in an increase in these breakages because it is less tolerant of the thermal cycles that oven glass goes through.
Another potential cause of these explosions is a small flaw in the glass known as a nickel sulfide inclusion. Meshulam describes it as a tiny ball with a diameter of about a tenth of a millimeter that possesses peculiar properties. Over time, it can build up pressure and seek to escape, with a high-heat event like oven cleaning finally triggering its spontaneous failure.
Meshulam reassures people that the self-cleaning feature of ovens is generally safe. He believes that most individuals will go their whole lives without encountering this issue while using the self-cleaning function. However, he does note that ovens can explode even when not in use due to tiny chips and flaws. The most concerning aspect is that the door could break long after the initial damage has occurred.
Tips for Prevention
While homeowners can’t always prevent these incidents from happening, there are steps they can take to keep their homes safe. Some everyday actions can unintentionally cause small chips or scratches on the glass. This includes using harsh cleaning methods or applying too much physical stress on the oven door. By being aware of these potential causes and being gentle with oven care, homeowners can reduce the risk of an exploding oven door and maintain a safer kitchen environment.
