Now I realize this is going to sound like one of those bogus emails that you get every once in a while. But this actually did happen to us just about a year ago. I decided to post it here even though it has nothing to do with gardening as I have just learned that this is not isolated to ovens and frankly I am getting tired of looking at my oven. Check out some of the links at the end of this post or do a google search on “exploding oven”. I am not the only one this has happened to. This could be VERY dangerous to little ones should they be in the vicinity.
On the afternoon of July 5, 2004 we heard a crash in the kitchen. When I got to the kitchen I found that the black glass panel in our oven door had exploded. The 1/4″ glass pieces were as far as 5 feet from the oven on one side and several feet on the other. Strangely there wasn’t much glass directly in front of the oven and the inner window was intact. The oven hadn’t been on in several days and the stove hadn’t been on in several hours. Thankfully nobody had been in the kitchen when this occurred. Imagine what could have happened to a child.
I contacted GE via their web form asking if I could replace the glass panel with a metal one and explaining what had happened to the glass panel we had. Here was the reply I rec’d:
From: ANSWERCTR@exchange.appl.ge.com
Subject: AT20040718_0000000064 Voicing a concern about an appliance or an experience with GE
Date: Mon 19 Jul 2004 12:44:18 EDTDear Kerry,
Thank you for contacting us. I am sorry to hear of your situation.
There is not a panel that can fit the same space as the glass.
It will have to be replaced with another piece of glass.You can contact GE Service at 1.800.432.2737 to schedule an appointment,
or if you prefer, you may schedule online by visiting the site
below:http://www.geappliances.com/geac/schdl_rpr/index.htm
Should you need any further assistance or have any other questions,
please don’t hesitate to let us know.Sincerely,
Jennifer
GE Internet Response Team
Great so my option is yet another glass panel… On July 19, 2004 I replied to Jennifer’s message with the following:
Jennifer,
What assurances does GE give that a replacement piece of glass won’t explode like the first one? Alternately, is there a replacement door for this oven that does not use the glass?
Kerry
Strangely I never received a reply to my second message.
So a year later here is where we are… I can pay to have my oven fixed with yet more exploding glass? As a result this is what our oven still looks like. While it still works, the door has to be held down by a second person when you take something out of the oven. It seems the weight of the glass helped to hold it open. Eventually when there is money to spare I’ll replace the oven with a non GE product without the glass.
It seems it is not only the ovens with this problem but glass top ranges and microwaves may have the same issue.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/ge_ranges.htm
http://www.epinions.com/pr-GE_JGP636_Cooktop/display_~reviews
I can’t find the link now but some appliance place had/has a page online that says the glass only breaks after being weakened by something hitting it (such as a broom falling into it) . Oh that makes it all better. Glass in a home appliance should not shatter like that for ANY reason and especially not with a force to send it a couple of yards out. Is it just me????
Kerry, thanks for posting this. I had never heard of this problem. Is it only GE appliances that are affected? Our Maytag range has a glass oven door and a glass cooktop (which I hate, but that’s another story).
I did a quick check using google and found the following
Maytag cooktop exploded after user placed a hot lid on it.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/maytag_oven.html
There was a recall on some Maytag’s but not for exploding glass.
http://topics-az.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=7896
This one lists a Frigidaire FGC36C4 Gas Cooktop that exploded. http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Topics-All-Large_Appliances-Cooktops/show_~recent_content/express_~y/surveys_~
The way I understand it there is something in the production process that causes the glass to be under pressure. Possibly because of the heat it has to withstand. Over time (or within a week in the case of the Frididaire user) stresses weaken the surface of the glass and at some point it goes. My guess is that all of the glass is probably manufactured the same way so personally I will never have another appliance with glass other than the small window in the oven door. The idea that the glass is safety glass so it won’t hurt anything doesn’t make much sense if it flies in someones face with enough force. Safety glass or not I wouldn’t want it in my eyes.
To be on the safe side I would never let the little ones around your oven. Ours blew when the oven wasn’t even being used.
I don’t have glass in my oven door thank goodness. The only thing that I have ever exploded were some potatoes that I was baking in the oven and forgot about. I was mortified because we were entertaining a friend from my then husband’s office. Fortunately, he was very nice about it and we all had a good laugh about it.
Thank you, Kerry, for finding those links for me. I wish I could afford to get rid of this range and go back to electric coil burners and a metal oven door front.
OldRoses,
Glad your guests were good natured about your exploding potatoes. That is one of those stories that you tell your grandkids. My mom used to tell the story about when she was living with her sister many years ago. Its seems there was a rather loud windup clock that kept my mom awake. One night she set it in the oven so she couldn’t hear it as she slept one the couch. She went to work the next morning and forgot to remove the clock from the oven. When my aunt got up later she turned on the oven to make toast (this was before toasters) and within a few minutes hears PING POP BOING SNAP as the alarm clock ticked it’s last tock.
Sabine
I am still using the ‘oven without a front’ for the same reason. I just can’t afford another one right now. My mom had an oven with ceramic burners and I don’t like them either. Its not a safety issue but I just don’t like the way they heat. Personally I prefer the control you have with gas but we can’t get gas here so it will be a coil type burner for me AFTER we replace the fridge which is next on the list.
(Found your blog thanks to a google search for “Gardening Blog”.)
I just realized that my parents, in their home, have that exact stove. Hasn’t exploded yet, but then with all of the kids out of the house, they refuse to cook.
Thank goodness for my apartment’s throwback to the 70s. All metal. No window at all. But even that has caught fire twice.
I remember there was a run of tempered glass patio table tops exploding a couple of years ago… apparently this shattering effect when it breaks, is just intrinsic to regular tempered glass rather than safety glass like you have in car windshields… but then, you don’t expect tempered glass to break for no reason, in the first place! Of course, it could be those pesky aliens again, too.
My GE Microwave Glass front exploded across our Kitchen, into our living room, and all over the floor, wee pieces everywhere. Te differenc was it happened when my daughter shut the door, while we were out enjoying a dinner party…..she swears she shut it gently, but never pursued a replacement through GE. Now I am hearing of other such cases! hmm
Anyone who has experienced the explosion of a GE oven range door please go to the website http://www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org and complete the contact information form. These are not isloated incidents and we are accumulating documentation from consumers who have experienced this frightening situation. We also accept complaints on other GE appliance problems.
Cathy,
I’ve filled out the form. I do hope they end up recalling these at it is way to dangerous to have in homes.
I had something similar on our JTP85. The oven had not been used for a while, but the glass door spontaneously exploded at night. After it exploded, the glass was making snapping and popping noises like a bowl of rice krispies. Parts of the glass were up on the counter, in addition to being widely scattered across the kitchen. There was some glass still in the door connecting from top to bottom. Both sides were blown out. The pattern of the remaining glass was symmetrical in both directions forming a squat hourglass shape.
Not good.
Richard,
Scary isn’t it? I am glad nobody was hurt.
I am continually amazed that they are still selling (and are allowed to) the glass inserts for these ovens with no concern what so ever. I’ll never have another one that is for sure.
My oven door shattered intoa billion pieces the other day. After 15 years of faithful use, our 16 year old was playing around in the kitchen swinging a can opener when the darn thing let go from the padded handle. The opener flew acorss the room, and smashed int othe windon on the over, and the resultng mess took hours to clean up.
Having worked in glass for a long time, I am sure that the shattered glass panels are from some sort of trama to the glass. I am not at all saying that your children are attacking the doors like Chuck Norris, as my child did, but it could have been using the back of your foot to lift the door as your walking away with hot food in your hands. This could also occur during assembly, or while the thing is sitting in the store room at the appliance store.
I certainly hope NO ONE has been hurt. I did get a sliver of glass in my big toe the other night, while helping get the door off, but that was the little pieces that we forced out of the glass’ groove. I ordered a panel from GE at 9 PM on Tuesday, and the Customer service person was VERY nice. Expecially considering at that moment I was contiplating homicide!
Bea,
I am glad your daughter wasn’t hurt and hope your toe heals quickly.
Personally I refuse to put another glass panel in mine. I have no small children and don’t know of anything that would have caused it to break, no canopeners running rampant here 😉 I did get the oven used but had it almost 5 years when it blew. That being said, even if you are correct about a trauma, the WAY the glass breaks, exploding all over the room at some unknown time in the future, is totally unacceptable in a household setting. If an oven door can’t take normal wear and tear without exploding, GE needs to rethink putting glass in them. Sooner or later someone WILL be seriously hurt and given the height of the oven it will more than likely be a small child.
Last evening (Monday, 3/20/06) whilst cooking a pizza in my 2-week old GE electric range (the pizza had been cooking at 400 degrees for approximately 15 minutes), I heard a loud noise come from the kitchen and went to investigate. To my shock, I saw that the interior glass on the oven door had completely shattered. Although it did not explode outwards (thank God!), after calling GE warranty phone line and being informed they couldnt get a repairman to my house for 5 days, I had to open the oven door and throw out the pizza. This then caused about half t he glass to fall inwards inside the oven itself.
I had never even HEARD of such a thing happening, much less experienced anything like this before. This caused me to search on the internet to see if others had experienced similar events.
We are a retired couple, no children living at home now. No ‘trauma’ happened to the door. Nothing was hit agaisnt it, dropped on it, etc. It was merely (as I thought) almost through cooking a pizza at 400 degrees.
I have registered this experience on one consumer website and will also register it on the website you suggest.
Angela,
I am very glad nobody was hurt. Since your oven is so new GE should fix it no questions asked.
Does your oven also have a glass front panel (not a window but an entire panel?). I’ve never heard of the little window shattering, mine didn’t when the front panel blew. So now I have to wait for that one to go to I suppose? Sheesh, where does it end?
MICROWAVE FIRE: Massive 2-Condo Fire in Mtn View California 7/06
Apparently my neighbor’s countertop MicroWave spontaneously exploded and/or went ablaze—when not in use. One Total condo gone, plus death of 2 dogs,& 2 parrots—plus My nextdoor Condo also uninhabitable and 2 birds dead. Fire Marshall is investigating and we are in a world of hurt. If not for fabulous PD and FD, and neighbors, my 3 cats would have also died and other Units would have caught fire.
PLEASE ADVISE ME and Neighbor who is now HOMELESS– has anyone else been victim of a spontaneous Microwave oven Fire? Model #? Maker?
Was it a SpaceSaver type?
What sort of claim was filed?
Product Liability?
Personal Injury?
Where was the item purchased (State, store?).? How much did local Fire inspectors and others become involved. We are LUCKY no humans were killed. I have heard rumors about GE Microwaves made by Samsung in China and sold at Walmart—Under GE label–being a combustion problem. Any Insights???
THANKS
We are collecting data and reports on oven doors that suddenly and violently explode and microwave ovens that turn themselves on and run until they catch on fire. We are intersted in the microwave fire mentioned in the above post of July 9th from Linda. We are aware of what causes some of these fires. Please contact me at our website http://www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org. Thanks
We live in Australia and our 14 years old gas oven glass door has just exploded. Sending shattered glass everywhere. This one is made by Westinghouse, not sure if it is the same manufacturer as GE. It was quite scary as the oven was used the day before. We thought we forgot to turn off the gas or something. But it was just the glass shattered. Weird and spooky!
Kerry:
My husband and I just experienced the “exploding oven” on 8/28/06. He was at the kitchen table, abount 4:30am in the morning, getting ready to leave for work, and the glass in the oven door exploded, shattering in a million pieces. While it was on the floor, it was still breaking into small pieces, sounding like “Rice Krispies”. The oven was not on, and the manufacturer was not “GE”, but “Amana”. We have had this oven approximately eleven years, with no problems. Thank God, that no one was hurt. We took pictures just in case, and decided to go and purchase another oven. Sooner or later, someone may be hurt…..
I just got a rather disturbing phone call at work this morning. My wife was in the living room when she heard an explosion in the kitchen. She went in to find the glass surface of our GE Profile gas range had shattered in a million pieces. The stove top was not being used at the time. It had not been turned on all day.
At first we suspected a gas leak and subsequent explosion and called out the gas company, but they could find no leak. Now that I’ve read through a number of the reports above, it seems like these fine GE products simply detonate at random. How nice. Didn’t notice that little tidbit in the user’s manual.
My two-year-old and two-month-old were thankfully in their bedrooms at the time. I’m not particularly fond of the idea of my kids being rushed to emergency rooms due to GE shrapnel.
Not sure what I can do about it (GE doesn’t seem overly helpful) other than to make sure all my friends and family, most of whom are in the “appliance-buying” phase of life, know about these little GE design features.
We have a condo that we had not been to in a couple of months. On our last trip, we walked into the kitchen and noticed the glass of our GE oven was broken in pieces, much like you described, all over the floor. This oven had not been used in months as nobody has been there. I have mentioned this event to a few friends and they have never heard of such a thing. We couldn’t figure out what happened until I found your website. I guess we will not expect too much help from GE.
Thanks for the post.
Wow! I thought I was an original until I found your website. A similar thing happened to me this past weekend. I was cooking spaghetti on my GE glass cooktop when I went out on my porch to call my kids in for dinner. While I was out there, a loud explosion came from our house. People outside were able to hear it as well, I ran in to see what the noise was and there was glass sprayed all over our kitchen. The glass cooktop completely exploded and shattered. The pot of spaghetti was still sitting on the burner, cooking away. I am so thankful that I left the kitchen before it exploded and especially thankful that my family was safely outside. I am not looking forward to calling GE, so I am getting my facts together before I call. Hope it helps!
As a followup, I called GE and they said this is a one-in-a-million occurance. They were nice but only offered to have me call their service department to get it repaired.
Kerry,
My glass oven door exploded on Oct. 4, 2006. No one was in the room and the oven and stove had not been on for hours. I heard a sound, I thought my daughter’s beaded door had fallen from its hook and was shocked to find a million pieces of glass all over my kitchen floor. The oven was a 15-year-old Caloric and I also noticed several pieces of glass were snapping. The inner door was intact and the oven is still useable.
About an hour later, a storm came through the area. My husband thought maybe the pressure from the storm might have had an effect.
The oven was working fine although it did heat up higher than the setting – by 50 degrees. There wasn’t any fractures in the glass or hard hits to the door. I was surprised to find that other people have had similar experiences.
Cheryl
My Whirlpool double oven glass (top oven) just exploded as I was walking right past it. It hadn’t been on for 18 hours. I was just walking right next to it and it exploded right onto me. I hadn’t even touched it. Scarry!
Frigidaire : FEF364F
My glass oven door exploded on Oct. 19, 2006. No one was in the room and the oven and stove had not been on for hours.
The oven in my apartment (Classique brand) exploded today. Hasn’t been used for weveral weeks but I did clean it on Tuesday. I have e-mailed the manufacturers of the cleaning product, because my landlord is trying to say I am liable to pay for the damage as I shouldn’t have used the oven cleaner on the glass door.
My 2 year old was in the bathroom at the time, thank goodness. glass right across the room.
Kerry, I want to thank you for publishing this. I live on my own, and in the middle of the night last night i woke to hear glass shattering in the kitchen. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep but sat up all night starring at my bedroom door until I fell asleep, trying to convince myself that it was the ice machine just being loud. I woke up and slowly walked into the kitchen to find that the glass from my oven door had shattered and was all over the floor. After seeing this i was freaked out that somone had been in my house last night but just wanted to scare me (I know, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense), so i jumped online to see if this had happened to anyone else, if a oven could just do that, because it seemed a little strange that it would just shatter on it’s own. And that is when i found this entry, and it has managed to settle my nerves, and helped me to feel safe in my house again. So thank you for sharing your story. It was a huge help.
Regarding the exploding oven door. It happened to me, sometime today (11/6/06), while I was at work. My mother (who had met a repariman at my house for an unrelated problem) walked into the kitchen and discovered that the glass panel on the oven door had exploded and spewed glass all over my kitchen. I have an Amana oven and it is 3, maybe 4 years old. I have used the oven exactly once, and it sure wasn’t recently. I am grateful that no one was there when it happened, however, given that the oven is now several years old I have no doubt that if Amana is willing to do anything at all it will be on my dime. In the meantime, my oven looks much like the one in the picture. Had I but known…
An addendum to the Nov. 6th blog. As it turns out Maytag (the maker of Amana ovens) was more than willing to have the glass replaced on their dime. They admitted that the glass blowing out does happen, albiet rarely. I would have preferred a different (metal) door but unfortunately, they don’t have one to fit that type of range and I don’t want to purchase a brand new range so I will take my chances with a new glass front.
I am beyond upset right now. This morning i was cooking for my work a shepards pie, i had put it in the oven at 400deg, i went out of the kitchen to the bathroom to get ready. All of a sudden i heard a loud “POP” i had no idea what it was, not even to think to look at the oven. I was then getting ready to leave and all i needed to do was get the food out of the oven. To my surprise i opened the oven and the glass from the inside was completly shattered and as i was opening it it all came falling out into the food.
I have now called GE and i have not had this for more than 2months. they said they cant send a tech out till Mid December, so there it goes My Holidays are ruined, I was supposed to cook thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and now, it is all runied. I am pissed off.
I have had my glass top range for approx 2 months. Last night while cooking dinner it exploded. Luckly for me after reading all the other horror storys, it was the inner glass door. I am not cleaning it up. The repair man can do that. Thanksgiving is now ruined for 23 people. Thanks GE
Hi, I bought a new GE Double Oven (JT955wfww) in August 2006 and within 3 weeks of installation the inside glasss of the upper convection overn exploded while my wife was cooking a holiday meal. Glass shattered all over the oven and we had to throw out a large meal. After the usual GE service dance (documented many times above), a service person came and replaced the inner glasss. We had no problems for about 2 months until last week when the bottom oven door inner glass popped and exploded exactly the same way – in this instance only the oven exhaust fan was on as we had just finished cooking some pizza.
GE replaced this glass as well. We’ll see what happens next!
december 5, 2006 maytag gemini electric lower oven door exploded.
at 12:50 pm today, while my 11 month old grandson was sitting two feet in front of the stove, the entire lower oven door exploded. this was not ‘safety glass’ , but glass shards. the pattern of the glass was more to the sides as much as 5 feet and little to the front.
jim
jimatrubyck@shaw.ca
p.s. neither oven was being used.
I have a GE glass cooktop range under 1year old. Last week, I was cooking some chicken nuggets at 350. I was in the next room with our baby and I heard an explosion from the kitchen. The glass in the oven had exploded!!! My husband called GE the next day. He was treated so poorly. They admitted this has happened before but it wasn’t enough for a recall. The man was so rude. When my husband asked to speak to his supervisor, the guy said he answered to noone and hung up on my husband! He was supposed to overnight us the piece of glass. 3 days later-no glass. The guy is being a jerk. We are deciding on our next course of action. We do not feel safe with this oven.
My Amana glass-front exploded on Thanksgiving Eve as well. When I e-mailed Maytag, they sent a form letter back. To Susan who got a positive response from them, how did you do it? What do I need to do to get them to replace it?
December 15, 2006 at 6:45 p.m.
I was preparing food for company and had placed a dish in the oven at 475 and than turned down to 400. Walked over to the end of my kitchen and a few minutes later heard a loud pop. My husband thought my mom had dropped something upstairs..but no it was the interior glass door of my oven!!! The oven is a GE and less than 6 months old!! Repairman will be out on Monday! Something is wrong for these doors to burst like this. Needless to say the food was ruined with little specks of glass everywhere. I left the pan in the oven as I am not cleaning up this mess!
To Susan R.
Call 1-800-628-5782. You’ll need the serial number and model number which can be found on the side of the bottom storage drawer underneath the oven. I called the 800 number, told them what happened, and somebody from headquarters called me back, arranged for a local repair person to come out free of charge and fix it.
Good luck!
Susan,
Thanks so much. I’ll give it a try. Happy holiday everyone!
Hi,
Well, my oven door exploded today. I just bought this unit from Sears less than 4 months ago. I haven’t used the oven since yesterday and when I came home from shopping today and thought I would cook me a little something, I opened the door to the oven to take out the broiler pan (that’s where I always keep it) and glass fell out thru the bottom all over the floor and into the base storage drawer. It must have exploded while I was gone. Nice….My thoughts? What the ****?!?!? I won’t even bother contacting GE to get this fixed after reading about the delays in gettng these units fixed, and the many problems people have had with thses units. I don’t just want the door fixed…. I don’t want it to happen again-not for as much money as I paid for this thing. I will however, contact GE and let them know what has happened and what I plan to do. Thank God this unit exploded within the warranty time frame. Instead, I have contacted Sears and asked if I can exchange the unit for a different brand. I will do my homework this time and check into potential problems before I get another unit. Hopefully Sears can help, we’ll see!
Much to my suprise…my oven door glass exploded last night. Mine is a Whirlpool brand and is about 7 years old. I tried to call Whirlpool today, but no customer service reps on weekends. I guess I will try again on Monday. The really scarry part is that my 10 month old daughter plays in front of the oven all the time (when it is not on of course), she likes the rug that I have there. Anyway, the real sticker is that our house is for sale and I was moving out when it happened. Now I have to pay for a new oven and not even get to use it. They want $176 to replace the glass, but it is a coil stove so I figured I would upgrade to a glass top…maybe not after reading these posts. Maybe I will just put a $500 range allowance on the house and let the buyer do whatever they want? Anyway, the door glass was in millions of pieces and (like an earlier post) it was popping like rice krispies…weird. I thought it was due to winter and the dry air.
I forgot to mention…the range hadn’t been used at all in about 2 weeks.
So exploding oven glass has been going on for more than a year and still no solution? Making ovens without glass is no big deal. What gives here?
Today, my GE microwave oven door exploded FOR THE SECOND TIME!!! in less than 1 year. The first time it happened, I was certain, that I must have done something to cause it, because I had just finished using the oven & had just shut the door 5 seconds earlier. This time, there was no one near the unit & no one had touched the unit for more than 6 hours. I was standing in my Dinette, with my back towards the oven, when a loud crackling sound startled me & I turned around to find the shards of glass scattered around my kitchen, thru the dinette & into my formal dining room. My daughter was standing 10 feet away, with no shoes or socks on and no where to go.
I am now extremely PISSED OFF & since it’s a Sunday afternoon, I don’t have anyone at GE customer service that I can get ahold of to VENT. My unit was 13 months old when the 1st breakage occured, so it was no longer under warranty & I had to pay for a new glass door & the cost of the service tech to do the install. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for another one that breaks within 6 moths of it being installed.
Hi
This is amazing to read all this about exploding oven doors. I was cleaning my oven on the final day house moving last Dec, and was sliding the door out from the frame to clean and it exploded in my hands. It left me stunned and just holding the handle. Its a Chef Select, supposedly around 5-6 years old. The glass went bang and exploded left and right and went clear across the width of the kitchen and into the hall way. It was a rented property and owners say that this was my fault???? Also here in Australia, this is covered under home owners insurance. I was taking the door in no way different to what the electrician did, when he refitted the thermostat and fan into the oven, and what I had done previously when cleaning it. I was so glad I was wearing rubber gloves and shoes. Seems this happens on lot more than we know!!!!
now if an outside glass panel of the oven breaks, what is the proper procedure to replacing or fixing it?
Whirlpool Gold mod GMC305 inside glass on door cracked for no apparent reason. Oven is 4 yrs old and not abused. FYI
Tonight, March 3, 2007 our oven door glass shattered sending glass across the kitchen floor. Unexpected, no one using the oven or even in the kitchen. Strange. How is the manufaturer responding to all these claims?
GE profile model JVM1090WW001
My 7-year old GE profile microwave/convection oven nearly exploded last night. I was 2 minutes into the process of defrosting something when I heard some crackling. I thought that was strange, stopped the mic, took the food out, gave it another look, “no metal in here.” Then I noticed a slight burning smell. The mic is always kept clean, I couldn’t figure it out until I noticed the crackles in the glass and a small black spot where the glass may have first popped/burned. I shut the door and left it alone, the glass continued to crackle for some time.
Strange, huh?! The mic wasn’t the least bit hot.
52 responses on this entry. Think we have a problem?
I do believe there a lawsuit about this. If you haven’t stopped by http://www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org check it out for more info. I haven’t been keeping up on this so I may be wrong but I know at one time they were gathering names of individuals that have had this experience.
The middle glass on my Maytag oven cracked and fell to pieces only after using it 4 times. The inner and outer plastic cover is still intact. I’m not sure why it cracked and I’m not able to find any answers from Maytag. They will replace it for free, but it’s been 3 months since and it’s still on back order. Does anyone know why it’s taking so long for them to replace the glass window?
Hi
The strangest thing happened 2 weeks ago and my glass shower wall exploded while I was in the shower. Luckily the glass fell in a big heap on the floor in front of me. Other than a huge mess and a few nicks on one of my feet I was fine. Today, I was in my lounge room and heard a loud bang from the kitchen. What do you know – the oven door had done exactly the same thing. Oven hadn’t been used for a few hours.
I’m starting to think the house is haunted, or may be just a run of bad luck. Shower manufacturers replaced the shower wall. All we had to pay was installation. I’ll now follow up with the oven manfacturers (Ivle) and see if there are just as accommodating.
Seems this thing isn’t as rare as I first believed.
My six year old Sears range door (outer) disintegrated last night while I was two rooms away. Exploded seems too harsh a term, although some glass was found 6-7 feet away. It was similar to what other people have described. To me it sounded as if a bag of pet food had upset on the counter and the food was cascading to the floor. I went to the kitchen and found the problem and the sound continued, although I could not see any more glass falling. The Rice Krispie analogy above was appropriate. The oven had not been used in two days nor cleaned in four months. I do not remember any kind of trauma to the door. It was all very strange, but I am glad I found this site to find that I am not alone in this experience.
Our glass top Jenn Air oven that we purchase in June 2006 had the glass on the inside of the door shatter today during a self clean cycle. My husband is going to call the dealer tomorrow. It is still under warranty. I worry though that it will happen again in the future when it is not.
This morning at around 7:45AM I was awoken by a loud shattering sound…low and behold my 4 year old rarely used GE Spectra Electric Range Glass Door had exploded all over my kitchen floor. GE customer support said they would send out a tech but I would have to pay for him to “look at the problem”. NOT
I will have some pictures taken and save all the shattered glass in a brown paper bag when I get home tonight. I will submit the pictures and oven information to http://www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org
I will also not attempt to get the oven glass door replaced until we can solve this seemingly common problem.
Just this month alone there has been 7 people post about their ovens sending glass out into the kitchen. These are just the people found their way here after deciding to research the topic. I have to wonder how many others out there are staring at a gaping hole thinking that they are the only one.
I smell a recall in the future.
Our GE Profile glass front single oven jut shatered to bits tonight. We are stunned! Has GE offered to replace the ovens free of charge for any of you?
During the first hour of the cleaning cycle on my Whirlpool wall oven, the glass that is sandwiched between two other pieces of glass shattered. Since this sounds like a defect in the glass, has anyone had their appliance repaired free of charge?
In my experience no but I bought mine used so I didn’t expect anything since the warantee period was over. You didn’t say how old your oven is. Is it still under warantee?
Our GE profile’s inner glass shattered over the weekend. We are outside the warranty period, however they are replacing it for free. I told them I considered this a manufacturer defect. This problem appears to be worldwide as well. We are talking several different manufacturers in several different countries. I believe the problem lies in the quality of glass they are able to use in these ovens/showers/microwaves. Until the quality of glass is addressed I think the problem will continue to happen. Makes me very nervous with my 2 year old around!
Oh, this was our oven….
Liz
My double oven exploded last night. 3:00 am heard a loud crash and found the door had just exploded all over my kitchen. I did not even cook a dinner in it that night.
The glass was still exploding on the floor / snapping and cracking apart.
Had never heard of such a thing till I found this web site.
My question is what do you do now.
It is a double oven, do I need to worry about the bottom oven now? Do I need to replace the double ovens .
Can you replace just the glass or the whole door?
Pam,
Are you still under warrantee? I suppose it depends on the oven but in my case I could replace the glass (mine was the outer glass panel that covered the entire door not the inner glass window). I didn’t see the sense in replacing it with more glass waiting to explode all over my kitchen at some unknown later date.
LIz,
Good for you. I am glad you are getting it fixed. Perhaps there have been so many complaints now that they are starting to take it seriously. We can only hope.
I’m a 54 year old teacher/mom of three teens who was baking cookies on 3-29-07 when my 2 year old Kenmore wall oven’s front glass panel literally exploded all over my kitchen. Thought I was losing my mind until I googled “exploding ovens.” Sears rep scolded me for not buying an extended warranty. (????) Help.
Hi
This morning when I woke up and went down to the kitchen there was glass all over the floor the oven door had exploded! We had a Pizza from it at 19:00 and went to bed around mid night and came down again at 9. so It had not been used for some time. Just seemed to shatter for no reason. The Oven is a Diplomat. The downer is that we are tennants and will probably be charged for dammaging the oven.
Andy
After cooking pizza for my son and his friend, I turned my oven off for about 20mins. I then turned on the grill and put some pork steaks under the grill. I smelt a burning plastic smell and opened the oven door to check inside and everything seemed ok. Just as I shut the door and turned around a loud POP, similar to a balloon bursting,the door had shattered all over the kitchen, right up to the kitchen door. I was not hurt but very shocked, as two seconds earlier my face was right in front of the oven.My oven was a Zannussi and about six or seven years old. I had never heard of “exploding oven doors” I found this site through Google, and I will be sure to warn everyone I know about them.
Andy, you might try printing out the info on http://bringgoodthingstolife.org/ about the suit currently in progress for this problem. Perhaps your landlord will be a little understanding.
Deanna, yes I will never buy another one with the glass front that is for sure. I had never heard of the inner windows shattering till the last couple of years. I am guessing that something has changed in the manufacturing of the glass that has brought this on.
GE Exploding glass in door. Happened to me to last weekend. Same stories as everyone else. No oven abuse, no help after numerous calls to GE. My daughter got hit by the glass but not injured.
Thank you for this site. It seems GE will be of no help, but I feel better after commiserating.
Michele N
Yesterday, on June 26, 2007 the same thing happened to my stove. I was in the other room with my dog and i heard a loud crashing sound. I went to the kitchen and found that the glass panel from the oven door had shattered out.
The oven hadn’t been used for two days and it was a very perplexing experience. There was glass everywhere. I had no idea how it happened.
Now the funny thing, acually not very funny, is that my dog likes to sleep in front of the stove sometimes. Now, there wasn’t anybody in the room, but it seems to be very dangerous to me.
One thing that was very strange to me was that the glass was making a snap, crackle and pop noise. Some glass pieces were popping up in the air. I took video and pictures and you can see some pieces popping in the air.
I’ve had the exact same experience this morning. No one in the kitchen; oven hasn’t been used in a couple of days; black tempered glass door shattered; pieces were popping like Rice Krispies.
The Whirlpool customer service rep. said she’s “never heard of this” and “has no idea what happened”. Of course we will have to foot the bill. My question is, if there are 50-60 entries here of this exact happening, why aren’t the manufacters doing anything? What will it take? According to one entry here, someone was injured! Any ideas? Should we be talking to the Better Business Bureu or a consumer agency?
Sharon,
Unfortunately I doubt anything will be done until the companies selling these ovens are forced to do something. Motivation usually comes via a threat to the bottom line either from organized customer pressure or a law suit. I know there is/was such a suit involving GE but I am not sure if it involves Whirlpool. Maybe someone over at http://www.BringGoodThingsToLife.org might know more. You might consider sending your customer service rep to this thread.
Amazing, last night on July 15th 2007 my oven door exploded for no apparent reason. I am not a avid cooker as my husband works evenings and my daughter eats dinner with her grandparents each evening before I get home from work. Needless to say the oven nor stove had been used in over 3 days. Glass exploded. I was hit with flying shards 12 ft away from it. My daughter’s feet were hit at the kitchen table sitting 5 ft from it and my husband was standing next to it. Fortunately none of us were injured, but I have been given the run around from Sears whom I bought the oven from in April of 2006 (yes just over 1 year ago). Sears says it’s not their problem because I am out of waaranty yet they are sending a technician out to determine what caused the glass to explode on thursday. They wouldn’t give me the manufacturer’s phone number which was Kenmore. I looked up GE’s number whom does the “service contract” work for Kenmore and Sears and they are not claiming fault either.
All I know is that I have an oven 1 year old with no front glass. I have shards of glass in my carpet 12 – 16 feet away from this thing. I have a 10 year old daught erhowm is now afraid the microwave above the oven is going to do the same thing. AND noone wants to do a darn thing about it.
I also video taped the glass on the floor popping like rice krispies and actually lifting in the air about an inch after it popped. It is unbelievable. If anyone knows what I need to do from here, please help me. I can’t afford to just eat it and go buy a new range. I had bought all brand new appliacences 1 year ago when we built the house. I can’t just go replace them now because of a manufacturer defect.
Was asleep on the couch alone at my mom’s house when at 430 am i was awoke by loud crashing sound i thought a box must of fell over in one of the rooms so i didnt get up. About 3 minutes later heard same loud noise only this time being awake sounded like glass breaking. I thought someone was breaking into the house i jumped up turned on light and started yelling letting who i thought was breaking in know someone was home and hopefully scare them away. Then turned on kitchen light and seen glass all over floor from oven door was mostly directly below. I tried to calm down from thinking someone was breaking in but it scared me so bad i could’nt go back to sleep ( been 1 1/2 hours as of this post ). Then i thought how am gonna tell my mom and she believe that i didn’t break it. So here i am after google search “oven door glass shattered for no apparent reason” found this site. I show her site and then she know oven glass apparently can shatter on its own without anyones help.
A week ago our Westinghouse glass top stove (15 years old) exploded with glass shards flying 15 feet. We were cooking a pan of water on the stove (one burner on high). Our two granddaughters (1 and 2 1/2), son and his wife, and my husband and I had just been in the kitchen and were sitting out on the patio waiting for the water to boil for the vegetables. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but obviously we’re not the first. I’m just so grateful we had moved outside!
I am so glad you posted this! I am at the point of tears. It was after midnight and I was hurting so much from having surgery on my leg just days before, so I am in the den waiting to see if my husband is able to get on line. I heard a crash that scared me to death. I jumped up, nearly falling over, ripping my stitches, grabbing my crutch. I thought someone was breaking in the kitchen! Then I saw the oven and the glass on the floor. I could not believe it, how could the outside glass break when nothing even touched it and it was not even on? My oven had not been used in weeks. My husband was deployed to Iraq again. My daughter was sleeping, there was no one in the kitchen. My oven is a Kenmore built-in. Since this is something you don’t hear about everyday , things just got worse here. I live in Copperas Cove,Tx just outside of Ft. Hood We have been stationed here almost 3 years and we have leased our home from the same owners and never a day late, I just thought the world of them. They had me take the door to the local appliance shop, I did, now they are charging me for a new oven. I can not afford to buy a new oven. Sears has the replacement glass. The oven works fine, it is the outside glass. The owners said that does not happen, those oven doors just don’t break!! He said if it was the inside glass maybe he could see how it could happen. So how do I prove to them it does? I just Thank God my daughter was not in the kitchen when the glass went flying.
Michelle,
Take your landlord to the site http://bringgoodthingstolife.org/ There is/was a pending legal action about this very thing.
Kerry
Thank you Kerry ! I am sending this to the man who manages the property now. He is a very nice guy, I am sure he will take the time to read all the facts. Thanks again for taking the time to address this situation.
Michelle
Had this happen myself the other day. Don’t know what kind of oven it was, I’m an apartment renter and it’s just the one that’s been there since I moved in here, about three years ago.
The oven hadn’t been used in a few days and my girlfriend and I were in the other room – we were startled by a crashing/breaking noise from the kitchen and go to look and the black glass is everywhere.
It was pretty creepy and nobody knew what to make of it. I did a google search for “exploding oven” and found this page. Good to know I’m not losing my mind!
Our oven became possessed in the exact same way this evening! I wonder if having cleaned it with Easy-Off a couple days ago in preparation for Turkey Day had anything to do with it. I did not spray the front panel, but some spray did get on the front when I sprayed the broiler areas. I wiped that away right away, but it makes me wonder….
Hi: 2 nights ago I was getting a knife out of my cutlery drawer and it slipped from my hand to the ceramic floor. At almost the precise moment, my oven door shattered outward into “millions” of pieces. (The stove is next to the cupboard where my cutlery is kept) The stove is only 9 months old and I hadn’t used the oven in 2 days. I cannot remember ever banging or hitting it with anything and there are no kids here. It is a White-Westinghouse. I am a tenant and my landlord is away until the end of December. I’m hoping it’s ok to use the oven (it still has the metal interior part with the window in it. Thanks for reading.
Dude,
I can’t believe there’s actually a club with people who had their oven explode. Until it happened to me last night, I had never heard of such a thing. This stove isn’t even mine. My roommate bought it five months ago when we moved in to this apartment. I thought he’d never believe my story but thanks to you guys, now I know what to do.
Thanks guys.
We’re having a similar problem with a GE JTP28 double electric wall oven. Installed on 10/5/2007, and on 12/23 we heard a POP while dinner was baking in the oven. (Door was closed, nobody hit it, etc.) Come to find out, it wasn’t the exterior glass, but rather the innermost glass (all told, there are 3 layers on this baby.) No worries, right? It’s a DOUBLE oven. Fast forward to tonight (1/6/2008) The original replacement part broke in shipping (not real confident on the integrity of their glass) so we’re still running only one oven. That is, up until about 6pm tonight. Same story: dinner’s in the oven and we hear a pop. Now both are out of commission. What an absolute crock!
yesterday at 8pm my oven glass door exploded into pieces, nobody had touched it and it had been off for 2 hours. i have rang the manufacturers and they want to charge me £100 for them to come out and fix it. i think they should fix it free of charge the cooker is only a couple of years old and its a safety issue, what if a toddler was near it! i said all this to them but they are still not interested.
i dont know what to do next????
At 9:45pm this evening, I was sleeping and husband was watching TV. Our RCA gas oven hadn’t been used in weeks (burners or oven) and we haven’t cleaned it since we moved in in 2003 😉 The black glass front exploded all over the kitchen leaving a few chunks at the top and bottom of the frame. Sprayed for feet in front and to the sides. Luckily no one was injured. We also experienced the rice krispie effect and I captured video of it.
Scared the crap out of me.
If you post the video online I would love to see it.
I came home last night and thought someone had broken into my house through the kitchen window. When I turned on the light, I found that the black tempered glass on my GE 30 inch electric wall oven had exploded. The glass continued to pop, as others here have described. some glass still remains in the frame, but it is shattered. The glass spray was in all directions, for several feet. The oven is 8 years old and is rarely used. I will be contacting the GE website. I was very glad to find this web page, as all my friends seemed to think I was full of it.
Last night I was at my 84 year old mothers house for dinner, helping her to dish up with the oven door exploded. The glass went in all directions cutting our arms. It is a Fisher and Paykel oven. I have never heard of anything like this happening before, but it seems quite common from all these blogs. Serious stuff if there is a child in the kitchen as the glass could blind a person.
Oh my I hope you weren’t hurt bad. I will never own a glass fronted oven just for this reason. I am amazed (and thankful) that no children have been hurt yet (that we know of).
Have you contacted your oven manufacturer? There are 90 comments to this post. If you take out my comments that is still way more than there should be.
I posted my case on here last July. Guess what? Consumer Product Safety Agency came out to my house, reviewed the glass, copied my video of it and contacted Sears. Sears fixed my stove “free of charge” and Consumer Protection wants everyone to contact them directly with any and all evidence so they can get to the bnottom of it. They believe it is actually the glass manufacturers problem and not the companies selling them but the agency has to have enough evidence sent to them and believe it or not .. no one is really calling them to let them know.
CONTACT THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY AGENCY! I have her business card at home if anyone wants to contact her directly.
Ugh, this happened a few hours to us with the glass panel between the two oven doors on our JT952-30 Double Oven. Oven had been off for hours, and I was upstairs getting the kids ready for bed. I thought that the cats had spilled some kids toys or something. This is a problem for us because our house is on the market right now and a broken oven won’t look good for potential buyers.
Jennifer, I am trying to fill out a report with the CPSC, but their website doesn’t seem to be working right now. Do you have the contact info for that agent?
About 2 weeks ago I was at the kitchen sink preparing dinner when I heard a loud crash. My 4 yr old was in the kitchen with me and I immediately thought he threw a baseball at the stove. Instead I turn around and not 3 feet away was a kitchen full of black tempered glass from my GE gas oven exterior door. The glass continued to pop and sounded just like rice crispies. The glass was spread for several feet and difficult to get out of a wood floor. The oven was only 3 yrs old. I havent decided what to do but will probably contact the Consumer Product Safety agency as advised above. Any thoughts? If my 4 yr old was 3 feet closer to the oven it would have exploded all over him. That’s my biggest concern.
My daughter was frying tostones for the first time when all of a sudden my Frigidaire Cooktop shattered in a million pieces. It continued to pop and crackle for a while and then the whole thing caved in. We thought the oil got too hot. But it seems this happens even when the appliance hasn’t been on. She was not hurt but it was very scary and weird.
My Caloric (probably 15-20 years old) shattered this afternoon. I was preheating at 350 degrees. Oven window was ok. Glad my grandson not in kitchen when this happened. I will probably buy a new one and since reading on this site will not be buying one with a window or black glass. My oven door glass wouldn’t stay clean anyhow so I couldn’t see anything.
our indesit cannon gas cookers( 3 years old) glass front door exploded in the early hours, 8 hours after cooking.Indesit(the makers) informed me that the glass passes all relevant safety standards, but interestingly said that the glass is installed under tension.I intend to pursue this, with the relevant safety authorities, so will report later.
Kerry
My glass oven door just exploded today! I live in an apartment in central California. I was sitting on the couch watching tv and then I heard a big boom I went to the kitchen because it’s in eye view and when I looked at the ground there was tempered glass all over. I have not used the oven part in over a week and just had clean pans storing inside. I used the stove top about an hour or more before this had happened but it wasn’t hot. I thought something might have made this happen but its impossible I felt the stove, it was totally cold. This could happen to anyone at any time. for me personally this scared the hell out of me!!! beware because this can happen to any stove mine is a whirlpool.
We just rented a house in Virginia, just outside the beltway – and have been here, hmmm … two weeks. We are finally getting to feel a bit more settled in after a very rocky start.
Its 4:40 am right now, and I couldn’t sleep not knowing what the heck we’re going to do about this – but here it is.
Last night I prepared dinner, using the range (1 burner only), oven .. then lastly the broiler. I know this is a silly question, but in light of what happened … is that a no-no? I feel a little naive right now, but I do expect an oven to do whatever I tell it to, or at least what the dials tell me it is capable of. That was only about an hour and a half of total use. In my 44 years, I have never experienced anything like this … ever.
About 30 minutes after dinner, my husband was downstairs playing on his PS3, my eldest was upstairs in her room watching tv/and chatting on AIM, and my youngest and I were at the table … being awestruck at the wild LOUD thunderstorm that just rolled in on top of us. A typical evening (sans the T-storm) really, until POP – CRASH – Snap Crackle Pop (which continued for about 15 more minutes)!!! The Glass on the CALORIC oven range (a brand that I’ve never heard of) exploded outwards onto the kitchen floor.
Thousands of little black/clear pieces of glass fell in front of the range and a few handfuls shot left and right up to about 8 – 10 feet away.
We’re all still in shock. And I have no idea what to do.
After calling my grammie, her first question was … were there any sonic booms? I never considered Thunder (although it was amazingly loud) a sonic boom before, but now I’m wondering if the two were not related some how.
The owner of this house is an absolute *!#$%&*, which unfortunately we did not learn of until September 1st, as he was smart enough to use a reputable real estate agent to do the schmoozing. We just turned in our first months rent less a little over $400 for the professional cleaning and carpet shampooing that was supposed to have been done prior to our moving in. It was not, in fact we were unable to even move in because of the rodent filth until the 6th.
Long story short, we are having some major anxiety over what to do next. We’ve already searched the internet and the best we could come up with was that that part has been “permanently discontinued”.
Kimberlee, what a welcome to the neighborhood. I am not sure what you can really do if your landlord wants to be an @$$ about it. If you haven’t cleaned it up yet have you taken photos?
Did you read about the class action suit? Not sure what the status is on that or if the group heading that up could give you some hints. I believe it was just against GE but I would check it out.
If you don’t believe your landlord will be understanding, perhaps you could offer to buy the unit from him or find a used one as a replacement before you move? Ours isn’t pretty but IS still usable as it was just the outside decorative panel that blew.
I have thought of that (replacing it), but hadn’t even considered a used one! Brilliant upon brilliance! I will keep my eyes peeled.
Regarding taking pictures: Believe it or not, I brought down the camera … but my husband said not to worry about it, and what good would it do? LOL He said it doesn’t prove that we didn’t throw a rock at it.
Needless to say, he is already fed-up with the house. It was supposed to be a wonderful experience for us to all be together while he is stationed out here. Unfortunately, because of the condition of the house (on Sept 1.), the agent telling us that we’ve already signed a year lease, so we’ll just have to work it out with the owner, and everything else that has come up regarding the house and having to deal with the owner from h.e.double hockey sticks … My husband has taken the fed-up leaning toward defeatist attitude about such things. But on the other hand, he is looking for ways to get evicted without owing the guy $27k for the remaining part of the lease.
I told my husband that you are able to use your stove just fine, but he is skeptical on that. So I’m just going to make sure I’ve got all the extra glass pieces out of it … Then fire it up! I had just gone grocery shopping that day, and of course had purchased entire weeks worth of groceries (meats included). I’ll buy an oven thermometer to make sure its as hot as it says when it comes to cooking meats. But for the interim – That seems like the only solution. The least expensive (new) stove I could find was nearly $500, and we just can’t afford that. So, I am really liking your idea of a used one.
Thanks again, Kerry.
Ohhh, sorry .. one more thing that I failed to note …
MAKE: Caloric
MODEL: RLT307UW
YEAR: Marked on back with 1992
Searching further and further, we found Partselect.com After entering the Information above, it sends us to this page >>> for a “Maytag” replacement (entire) door part.
http://www.partselect.com/PartDetail.aspx?Inventory=1507411&SourceCode=1
Quite honestly, If that was the solution, we’d do it in an instant … but there are no specs to compare, and you can’t “call” and ask questions. The phone number is only for ordering, not asking technical questions. LOL
Does anyone know if Maytag took over this comoany? Or is Caloric really Maytag in disguise … kind of like Dodge Daytona/Mitsubishi Starion kinda thing? Hehe.
I am fourteen years old and I was going towards my kitchen and my mother’s oven glass door exploded. I got about 31 cuts on my leg, at least. My mother and sister saw that the glass cotinued to make popping and snapping sounds for about a half an hour and continued to pop out of the door after the explosion. The oven had not been used that day and no one was in the kitchen when it exploded. It is a Tappan oven and stove.
Please e-mail me if you know what I can do about the above matter at: fireghostjames@yahoo.com.
The above exploding oven glass door occurred on a tappam oven and stove.
correction: the above was a Tappan oven.
my cooker inner glass exploded STOVES 500SIDL , into small pieces , i had to pay comet £30 for a tec to come out to tell me he could not look at it as there was no glass . DOH i told them this , then comet then charged me a further £45 and £41 for the glass and a tec too fit the glass he checked my cooker and left this was the friday. today sunday the 18th october five weeks after the glass going i have waited to cook a meal and i put a pork joint in the oven with in a hour the kitchen was filled with smoke and the joint burnted to a crisp . oven wont now turn up or down to low and the heat is pretty bad .comet engineers keep saying the glass must have had a cracked bull ,. my opinon is never have a comet engineer out as they dont have a clue . if my cooker was fitted with a timer and i had left my kitchen would have been certainly on fire if not the house . I got on to comet and they first said on friday 24th october too call out , they then rang back now and saying monday 19th bit better . could anyone give me the consumer number please . sick of takeaways . i dont belive the glass explodes for no reason either the glass cant stand the heat in that case not a safty glass . the engineer told me he sees hundrends of these . not very good saftey product . and why is the consumers not putting a ban too these supposely double glazed inner glass . so i will see what he says tomor . then i will take this further as one day someone will be seriously hurt or a house on fire . let you know the outcome . ;-(((
also the new glass is brown from the heat used once since fitted as i say today 18th october . after a glass explodes it has to make a impact on the cooker its self , on gas fires that have glass too stand extreame heat why is’nt cooker doors fitted with the same glass ???
oops sorry its the 19th october
Hello everyone. My sittuation is a little different. Last night our glass shower door exploded. And as with James’ story the glass continued to break and pop for hours after the explosion. We are very lucky no one was in the shower (this took place at 11pm) glass was as far away as 8 feet. And the force was so strong that glass was imbedded in the drywall. If you have heard of any other sittuations like mine please let me know.
Nicole, I have never heard of of a shower door exploding but if it is manufactured the same way oven doors are it makes total sense. I am glad nobody was hurt.
What you all have experienced is called “spontaneous breakage”. It is certainly an attention getter.
I am including a couple links that do a nice job of explaining what you have experienced.
http://www.alumaxbath.com/tech/tgb.htm
http://www.oldcastleglass.com/design_criteria_spontaneous.php
Most oven door glass does not break from spontaneous combustion and the links you provide about nickel sulfide inclusions is more of a concern from pre-90’s. The reality is that large glass makers have virtually eliminated them and the quality of glass is better and safer now than at any point in history.
Most oven door glass breaks because of thermal expansion and lack of space for the glass to do so. A self clean cycle raises the inside temperature of the oven to greater than 800 degrees….pretty darn hot
11 million ranges were sold in the US in 2007. The number of glass breakage is less than 00.01%.
Frankly, the fact that it is tempered glass is what makes is much less dangerous. If it were like glass in your home windows, then somebody could be seriously hurt.
Sam, yes you are right most do not spontaneously explode but obviously some do. If your 2 year old were standing in front of the oven door when the glass was sent across the room I doubt you would care about the percentage of oven doors that do not shatter.
If you read through the posts here you will see that more often than not the ovens were cool when the glass exploded. Oddly enough, the cleaning cycle on mine took out the computer months before the glass exploded. I don’t know the age of all of the ovens but if I remember correctly some were fairly new (post 90’s). My oven was probably in the earlier group though I can’t be sure as I bought it used.
My guess is that there is a variety of reasons for the breakage. The thing that concerns me is the force at which the glass pieces are sent across the room. Even if the pieces aren’t large they can still do damage to a child’s (or pet’s) body should one be in the vicinity. I would gladly give up the glass window for a solid front if one were available.
Kerry,
We just had the same thing happen to our Kenmore Elite two nights ago. It is very bizarre and extremely unsettling. I fear that if any of my girls would have been in the kitchen they would have panicked and hurt themselves trying to run away. Sears is so understanding too, we get to pay to replace the glass. If I had the money we would replace the oven. I will replace the glass since cut feet will heal much better than burnt hands.
Just had the glass on my oven door explode out of the blue as well. We had not used it in over twelve hours. Thank goodness my nine year old was not in the kitchen. I rent so I am going to show this site to my landlord as well if they question what happened. I really do not understand why this issue is still occuring when clearly people have had problems with this for a few years now. Why haven’t these ovens been recalled?
2/03/09 Thank you for this blog !!! it happened to our less than 3 year old GE oven tonight! The inner door glass shattered. Our oven was on at the time. I am still shocked, that it happened to us and to all of you!
This happened to our oven (Tricity Bendix) yesterday afternoon we have only had it for two ish years, very scary!!!
Here’s another one. It happened the other night. Our Jenn-air glass outer door just exploded! Glass blew sideways about 15ft. both to the right and the left but not out front. Very strange. Thank goodness we had exited the kitchen area right before it happened. We are currently building a new home and I am so glad we did not purchase this type of door again. I will never have a full glass door again. And after Jenn-air’s response I will never purchase from them again also.
My oven door just did the same thing! It’s an Amana gas oven. I had baked bread, turned the oven off, and about 10-15 minutes later it just blew out (no one was in the room). Luckily, there is an island directly across from the stove which contained the glass. I have 7 kids, imagine if they had been in the kitchen!
The stove is relatively new – the house is only 4 years old!
I have a G.E. Micro-Oven combo and on Sunday, February 23, 2009 the outer glass of the oven door exploded into a million little, popping, crackling, and sizzling pieces. I had just put some meat in the over on 350 and not five minutes later, BOOM! The explosion was very loud and very strong. Thank God, I was not in the kitchen at the time. I have an island in front of my oven, so it restricted the class from spreading over the entire kitchen. However, there were several pieces of glass all over the top of the island.
Too my shock, GE said they would replace the glass for a discounted price of $259 instead of replacing what is clearly a defective unit. They also couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again either.
How lame is that? I will never purchase another GE appliance.
My over came with my house I purchased new back in 2000. I don’t care how old it is, this should never happen nor should these products be sold on the market. They are not safe.
My eight year old GE spectra oven exploded tonight and caught on fire. I was broiling a piece of toast, no butter or any seasonings. I had just put the toast in and heard a loud pop and the pan started banging; I saw the fire and threw baking soda in and closed the door. Later when it cooled down and I was cleaning up the mess, I saw that the entire upper broiling element had broken completely in two. This was a terrifying experience. I’m just glad it happened to me instead of my daughter. I think she would have panicked. I too will NEVER buy GE and I will tell EVERYONE I know!
Hmm…My 13 year old Frigidaire oven exploded last week. Same story…I cooked a pizza, turned the oven off, and 20 minutes later I heard a crash like a plate fell off the counter or something. There was small black glass shards all over the kitchen, along with the rice krispie effect. It looks like the glass just keeps on cracking…I videotaped the crackling, but I was stupid and erased it…sorry guys! Someone should have Tom Martino look into this…
Hi,
My mother’s Cannon oven door exploded and blew glass to about 4 metres. This happened in the night. The explosion was quite loud as my mother’s neigbour also heard it. The oven is only 3 years old and just outside the warranty period. I will write a letter to the manufacturers and cc the letter to the store where the oven was purchased and also to our consumer watchdog programme in the UK.
The oven glass has been replaced but I am concerend about the situation happenning again where there is potential for someone getting injured.
My GE Profile Microwave/Convection oven door exploded on Friday, June 12, 2009. The microwave was not in use at the time of the explosion. My microwave was manufactured in June of 2000. I discussed the situation with a retired GE service technician who has over 25 years of experience with GE appliances. He was aware of glass doors exploding and suggested I search the web for similar occurances. I was amazed at the number of people who have been affected and it appears to be a manufacturers defect. My contact advised me to call GE Customer Relations at 1-800-386-1215. I will be calling Monday morning June 15, 2009.
england here, my top oven/grill door has just exploded and yes it was still crackling on the floor after it happened, i typed in oven door looking if i could replace it and found all these entries, reading through them its very frightening i have a two little girls aged 2 and 6 and dread to think what mightve happened as any one close by and of that height wouldve been ripped to shreds i fear!!!!!! cant belive nothing in press about this phenomena.
This happened to our oven. Tricity Bendix cooker.. glass exploded for no reason this morning….it had not been on!
Just happened to us tonight. Our double wall oven (GE Profile) is less than a year old. I had baked a cake several hours earlier, but had turned everything off. Watching TV and heard the loud crash. I had never heard of this either.
I am still a little freaked out and not sure I just want replacement glass, the oven was still warm from a couple hours earlier. I would like them to replace the whole darn thing. Thankfully our kids were asleep upstairs and nobody was hurt. Very scary!
my electric whirlpool oven door exploded two days ago and i am still waiting for their repair man to take a look last year the same thing happened to my previous oven and this was the replacement and i am incredable angry that this could happen again . who do i complain to
We woke up this AM to find our GE Profile Wall Oven outer glass shattered into pieces. The oven hadn’t been used for a few days. The oven was purchased when we built the house in 2002.
My brand new Westinghouse oven innerdoor shattered a week ago.
Had only used it 2 times before this happened.
I turned it on and was trying to preheat the oven.
Stepped outside for a few minutes and on my return to the kitchen discoverd that the whole glass had shattered.
At first glance I thought the door looked all steamy. On opening the door the shattered
glass just crumbled all over the inner oven and on the top of the bottom oven and falling to the tiles.
We joined the exploding oven door club today while my daughter was baking a pizza. The Jenn Air of 15 years age was turned to about 450 degrees. The bang and the discovery of shattered glass on the floor is what followed. Jenn Air said it had reached its life expectancy and that they get calls about it sometimes. No part available. So we will be baking with a naked oven front for a while.
glad to read all the comments and know others have experienced what I was told was “Thermalshock”.
The outside glass panel of our Tricity Bendix oven door has just spontaneously shattered, about an hour after the Sunday roast finished cooking. The oven was new in May 2006. I heard my mum scream and came into the kitchen to find tiny pieces of glass all over the floor and a crackling noise coming from the remaining glass in the oven door. The inside glass panel is intact. My mum was very close by when it happened, but fortunately was unhurt. Strangely, a few years back this same thing happened to a glass salad bowl that was on our kitchen table – just moments before we sat down at the table to eat.
Thermalshock by definition requires a rapid temperature change. If you read many of the comments here and my original post, the oven had been off for some time. No hot oven, no sudden blast of cold or hot air, no change in temps. While I am sure thermalshock accounts for some of the ‘exploding ovens’, in a number of cases ovens that are sitting there minding their own business suddenly shatter, sending glass shards a number of feet ourtward in all directions. If thermalshock means the normal heat/cool cycle that ovens go through by design then glass that cannot withstand this normal usage should not be used in heat/cool cycling appliances. A no brainer really.
I have read on at lest one appliance web site where it was said that the glas breakage happens after getting bumped into, say by a falling broom handle, child’s toy etc. The glass is weakened and after some time… BAM! I say that NOTHING in my house should burst with such force after getting ‘bumped’ into or after normal usage. I can understand glass breakage after stress and impact, it is the force with which it happens that disturbs me. Thankfully I have not heard of anyone getting hurt by these events but with the force involved it is only a matter of time. I just pray there is never a small child around when it does.
Our outer oven door glass (GE) exploded at 4 AM last night. The oven had not been on for a couple of days. My husband, who was sleeping downstairs, ended up cleaning up the mess. I’m just thankful it happened in the middle of the night and not when my 20 month old was playing next to it.
I had never (until now) heard of this problem. I called GE, they said I could order a new glass replacement for $113.00, with shipping. We purchased this oven new in 2006. And it’s not under warranty anymore! I explained that I felt that this could be a safety hazard and made a complaint with GE. Not sure I want to replace the glass with new glass! I would prefer another option to replace it with… I think these should definitely be recalled! I will file a complaint with Consumer Protection as well.
Our oven door shattered this week, my son was opening the door and it went off like an explosion, showering glass throughout the kitchen, it sounded like a gunshot. It is a simpson oven, not sure how old, but will be contacting them. Seems this is not an isolated incident.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I purchased a Kenmore electric drop-in range model 790. in march 07. Outer black glass panel exploded when I opened the door to put something in. Very lucky I didn’t get a face full of glass. It also was doing the rice krispie crackle. I will start calling tomorrow and going to the recommended web sites . Doesn’t sound like I’m gonna have much luck. Glad to have found this information .
I purchased a WESTINGHOUSE oven this week with the ironic product code of (POP-667). This oven was purchased on the very same day that one of the Sydney current affair shows aired an item on exploding WESTINGHOUSE ovens. Unfortunately it was too late to cancel delivery. On just the fourth time I used it the inner glass door liner exploded with the force of a bomb. The glass shot out both the top and bottom of the door seals and now a week later we are still finding shards up to 6 meters away from where the oven was! People DO NOT BUY WESTINGHOUSE OVENS!!!! I am a professional chef and I have never heard of this happening in the 20 years I have been cooking… I have never used a WESTINGHOUSE oven before and never will again.
I have a Whirlpool electric range and the door glass shattered for no apparent reason. It was not on at the time and no one was in the kitchen when it happened. I have had it less than 18 months, if that. This seems like a defect in the product but it seems that I will not only end up buying the part but paying for service too. I’m not a happy camper.
It just happened to me! Odd thing is ,the glass is popping and moving about on the floor. Some kind of gas or magnet in there?
We just had the same thing happen.
Last night my son bumped – with his winter coat!- the outer glass door of our GE electric range. The glass EXPLODED into a million pieces and out in all directions. It covered the floor of the kitchen and adjoining rooms. We were all standing in the kitchen in complete shock! Luckily, nobody was hurt.
I have learned that the replacement part is no longer being manufactured. My stove currently looks like Kerry’s picture above.
Sigh…
Woke up this morning to find the glass all over my kitchen floor. Same thing happenend oven door glass panel in tiny peices everywhere. Although my oven is about 18 years old, never seen anything like it. I’m sure with the holidays approaching I will just keep it and use it the way it is. It is ashame that this has happened to so many people and no one has done anything about it.
My God! I guess I am 5 years too late to warn of microwave explosions! There’s more to it than meets the eye!
My friend is now seriously considering use of microwave ovens to dry his socks!
Well, there goes another glass oven door!! My husband was taking some pots out of the cabinet next to the oven, which was on, and the glass broke. Of course I said he must have hit it, or knocked into it, but after reading this I am thinking differently. (and he was denying that he hit it) We have a GE Spectra. Was wondering of any dangers using the oven without the glass.
My oven just exploded sending shards of glass everywhere accross quite a large kitchen. thankfully I was just putting my three year old to bed when it happened … it could quite easily have killed someone. My next door neighbour, who has an identical oven (we live on a new housing estate) had the same thing happen a couple of months ago! We thought it was a one off when hers went … I’ll be contacting the manufacturer tomorrow. Someone could have been seriously hurt and there are hundreds of houses on this development, most with families/children and someone could get very seriously hurt!
Westinghouse oven inner glass exploded.
3 year old and was just coming up to temp. 200 degrees C. Nearly shat myself as it went off with a bang and blew the door open at the same time.
New Zealand.
I too have a barely 5 year-old GE Monogram microwave oven glass that shattered spontaneously while we were on vacation. It was fine the morning we left (1/24/10), but when we returned 5 days later on entering the house, I noticed the shattered glass on my microwave oven. I have had a big run around with my extended warranty company initially denying the claim, but it is still pending.
Wish me luck!
Friday, February 19, 2010. My glass oven door explored. I turned the oven on to 400 degree and waited for it to pre heat. After 10 minutes I placed my hands on handle of the oven so I could place the cake in the oven and it exploded. It was the most freaky and dangerous situation I have ever encounter. I called GE warranty department to report this accident and have it repair. I also asked had this incident ever happen to any customer. The customer services was stated no and was not friendly about the situation. He asked why did I turned the oven on 400 and did I let preheat? The type of oven I have is digital setting so, I can not manuelly turn it to 400. This incident should be reported U.S. Consumer Safey Commission. This very dangerous.
As long as it is not a microwave oven I wouldn’t see a problem using it without the glass. I have been for a couple of years now. It doesn’t seem to hold the heat as well but other than that no problems.
GE Spectra Oven Door exploded in Dec 2009 during the night. Had not been used recently. GE wanted to send a repairman and charged $85 for him just to look at it after being told repeatedly I wasn’t paying for anything. Threatened with collection letters. After contacting the Ohio Attorney General, GE reluctantly returned the $85 and said it was a mistake. GE refused to do anything (other than charge $85 for nothing). Supposedly, GE is sending a glass panel at no cost which I will have to install myself. I’m worried GE will threaten my credit again and try to charge me for it. I am very disappointed at the way GE has treated their customers. I will never buy another GE product. File a Complaint with the US Product Safety Commission and your State’s Attorney General. The person at GE is Ms. Kelly Johnson (502) 452-4205. Thanks to this website, I discovered you can still use the oven even without the panel. It just looks awful.
We just had a glass door of our NEW Croydon Chicken Oven. It shattered into a thousand tiny pieces……………
my sisters whole stove and oven just exploded. Using the stove top and then the whole stove flew off the wall about 50cm oven door flew open and all the fittings on top of stove flew off, luckily noone hurt but very dangerous. what’s with gas stoves – this was in Brisbane…..
Kerry:
I have the same oven. It exploded as well and looks the same as yours. I surmissed what happened was as the oven goes through heating cycles the safety glass panel builds up stress within it. On the day it exploded, I was cutting a carrot, one peice ricocheted off the knife, hit the oven door and the glass shattered as yours did in small pieces – everywhere. The springs on the oven door were designed for the weight of the glass. I have ordered a replacement glass panel. I think the glass panel has too much residual stress in it to handle the heating cycles. I am tkniking of replacing it in the future with a stainless steel sheet metal with weigths on the door to adjust for the glass weight.
We just had the glass explode on our GE Profile built-in oven. We have had the oven for 15 years and have not had a problem until this past Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010. My husband was standing in front of the oven reaching into a cabinet next to it when the glass exploded into him. Thankfully he was not hurt but was shaken by this unexpected event. The oven was not even turned on. Imagine my surprise to see that we are not alone in this very serious and extremely dangerous situation. We have a GE Rep coming out tomorrow to look at our oven, but based on what I am reading, I am not hopeful that anything will be done. We will have to contact the State’s Attorney General and the US Product Safety Commission to let them know about yet another unhappy GE customer!
I have this exact same over. Just came across this while trying to find information on how to open the blaster oven door. It is locked shut somehow and no the lock isn’t engaged. My wife checked on something baking, went to open it up when the timer went off and the thing will not open!! I don’t want to pay the $100 service fee to look at it so this should be fun. Hopefully I don’t explode that glass when I try to open it!
MY experience of an oven door exploding is as follows. I was baking with my techniko oven and started to open the door and the interior glass smashed as i lifted the door back up the glass went all over the place.
This morning, my oven exploded… the Little sharp pieces of glass were possessed.. jumping around like pop corn kernels… I’m glad im not the only one who has this problem.. I’m definitely not paying GE 90 dollars for a piece of defective glass on a 500 dollar stove..
I was cooking lasagna in my Maytag oven for about an hour when I heard a crash in the kitchen. I opened my oven door only to see a shower of glass fragments fall from the stove door. Interestly, as many others have reported, the glass pieces were moving around even though they didn’t feel hot to the touch. The glass that was still in the stove had a large central hole that looked like it had blown outward but was limited internally by the nonglass containment. Still, it left a large mess of glass pieces on the floor.
The same thing happened to us too. Luckily no one was in the kitchen at the time of the explosion. The toaster oven wasn’t even on. It had been off for 30 minutes. We hadnt even had this toaster oven a month. It did exactly the same thing as you described. DO NOT buy this toaster oven! VERY DANGEROUS. (Kenmore Toaster Oven 1008000990A)
This happened to us yesterday while at work. What if our grandson had been here, he is ten months. I have not used the lower even for probably two weeks.
Thank you everyone for your comments,very very helpful
I have the (same toaster oven as ‘adlast 159’)Kenmore Toaster Oven 1008000990A and the door exploded about 30 minutes after I finished using it. The thing was cooled down to room temperature by then. Glass was all over th counter and floor. It was less than a year old but I can’t find a receipt to bring it back. Pretty wierd.
tonight at 8.30 pm my westinghouse glass grill draw exploded into a million pieces, i used the oven below it about two hours prior. i will contact the company on Monday morning
Our Oven door did the same today.. No one was even in the Main level when it happen. All you saw is glass all over the floor. Most of it RIGHT infront of it. I had used it the last time the other day and noone has used the stove top since yesterday evening! We dont know what caused this to happen. Lucky we live in military housing and their maintence came out and replaced our door with another one 🙂 I didnt never even hear of anyone having this happen to them at all.. My Stove was no more than 1 1/4 yr old!
Having a very enlightened read here, as I see that what happened last night to our Jenn-Air wall oven glass door, model W27200B, purchase date 1998, was an accident waiting to happen. I was walking past it, with my little 13 1/2 year old Sealyham terrier close on my heels when it just absolutelly exploded. I’m not a screamer by nature but damn, this time I did and scooped Badger up so fast. It, too, kept popping and as we cleaned up the mess we were amazed at how far the pieces were found. I haven’t attempted to call or visit any appliance places and after reading these posts, I think it will be a fruitless endeavor. I am wondering if there are any wall ovens with NO glass??
I’m glad I found this post with all these comments!
I’m in San Juan, Puerto Rico and this just happened to me. The microwave oven is about 4 months old (Brand: Avanti, Model: M07192TB). I woke up at about 5am when I heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen. When I got there I saw hundreds of little glass pieces from he microwave door on the floor. I touched the microwave and it was cold (it wasn’t turned on or anything; last time I used it was about 15 hours ago!).
This is the glass on the external side of the door. The microwave still works fine. I plan to return it to the store where I bought it since it had a 1-year warranty. I don’t want to use it without the glass (there might be some extra microwave leakage). I thought for a moment “this is what you get when you buy cheap stuff” but I’ve seen plenty of reports with GE microwaves also….
I must say this was really weird: “spontaneous glass breakage” I never experienced anything like this.
My 2 cents,
Jose
Our oven just exploded, it was on a cleaning cycle, the one that heats it up a lot, all the glass from the front is shattered, keep fighting guys! this is messed up
Yep, it’s happened to us too. An older Chef Baroness (1988 or so) had its front tempered glass blow out. It wasn’t in use and my girlfriend was working in front of it. Thankfully her back was turned and it didn’t hit her face. She was ok, just a bit shook up. We found little bits of glass seperating in other rooms of the house more than 20 minutes later. Still can’t afford a new oven. Scary stuff.
This is in Perth, Australia by the way!
Glad I found this site. Whirlpool says there is no recall and that there is nothing they can do. Our oven door exploded into a million pieces this morning around 1am. Nobody was downstairs, thank goodness because we have three young children! I had not used the range in three days! The person I talked to kept talking over top of me saying over and over, “well sometimes glass just breaks…we can’t cover someone coming out to fix it because the warranty is up”. They are lucky I wasn’t calling them letting them know I was going to sue them because their product shot glass all over my children and harmed them! All I wanted was the door replaced. Now I have to make sure my kids don’t go near the dang thing incase it explodes again….that is if they ever replace it. NOT happy.
Just happened to me!
Oven hadn’t been used for about a week, so was stone cold – front glass door exploded when I touched the handle to open it. Luckily it was the lower oven and I was wearing trousers so the glass bounced offf my legs. I found glass as far as 15ft away from the oven. It’s a Candy oven (no model number), installed c. 2002 when the property was built.
I rent the property, so will be informing the letting agents in the morning.
Yesterday night (Sept. 16th, 2011), my oven door exploded unexpectedly. Just like what others have explained, the glass door broke into million pieces. The oven had not been used for several days and the stove top was used about 3 hours before the explosion happened. Judging by the number of posting in this blog (about 100 postings), it looks like this incident happens way too many times and recall has to be done before anybody got killed, especially little kids. Nobody in my house was hurt, but this issue definitely needs to be address. It is not the price of the oven, but the safety of everybody in the house that is a concern.
Hand up here… last night around 8pm with my wife & two little ones in the kitchen – I was walking past when out of nowhere – boom! – bits of glass seemed to cover a range of at least 10 feet on either side of the oven – all over where the kids were sitting. The outer glass on the lower door of our double oven Maytag quite literally exploded – and like so many on here – it wasn’t in use & wasn’t struck – in fact, we’ve only had this range less than a year. I can also atest to the snap, crackle & pop sounds in the immediate aftermath.
I could tell it wasn’t their first trip to the rodeo when I called the following day – it’s a known problem that’s apparently been going on for YEARS as evicenced by this thread & the many many other accounts I’ve read. In fact, I elevated to issue to see if there was ANY chance we could get a metal oven as replacement – since I fully expect this will happen at some point in the future. I was told that even IF they were to replace w/ a steel one (which they wouldn’t) – it would be some cheap crappy $200 model instead of the $1,400 model we purchased. Apparently, any “decent” model is made out of glass these days because people just loooove how much easier it is to clean… which is why it seems to affect several brands. Of course, I’m guessing people wouldn’t be so quick to choose glass if they knew it could explode at any moment.
I find this to be absolutely outrageous – nobody should have ANY expectation that their over doors may spontaneously explode sending glass all over the kitchen – and if it DOES happen… to even bring UP ‘warranty issues’ is astounding…
You’re all not going to believe this (then again, maybe you will) – but please indulge me:
So, got on the horn w/ Maytag explaining the situation…. they agreed to have somebody come out to replace the glass – ok, fine…. so I ended up having to take a day off work to await the repairman – fine, so I do that – he shows up – examines the door & tells me they’re going to have to replace the glass. Well… um… yeah – I said – that’s what I discussed with the Maytag person…. So how long is it going to take you? I asked. Oh, we don’t have that part – we have to order it & it’ll take at least 10 days to arrive – then we’ll have to reschedule an appt to come out & install it. Come ON now… you make me take off work just so you can tell me I’ve got to have the glass replaced!? Um, I kind of already knew that – ya know… I was sorta clued in when the glass spontaneously exploded all over the kitchen – total waste of a precious few work days off…. thanks guys…
SO – several days later – they get the new glass in – hooray! This time, my wife has to take one of HER precious few days off work… well guess what folks… the new glass door exploded as the guy was installing it – a fresh new batch of shattered glass flug all over the kitchen – AGAIN!!! I was paranoid about the old glass ending up in my 11 month old daughter’s mouth… and now THIS!? I am BEYOND angry… I simply do not have the words to express my astonishment – it’s downright disturbing.
My camper oven glass door exploded whilst driving home two weeks ago. The oven a spinflo model has not been used for at least 2 years but my friend who had the same oven experienced the same event two years previous. I have never heard a scientific reponse to this problem and probably never will.
This had happened to me its life shocking because my friends were near the oven
Our ~ 4 year old Kenmore (model 790.4937) door exploded at the end of a cleaning cycle yesterday – 23 Oct. 2011. All the usual run-arounds with customer service people. This is entirely unacceptable. It’s an obvious design flaw that apparently has not caused serious enough injury to warrant class action liability as yet. I’m guessing that manufacturers (and there appears to be no one major appliance maker exempt from these episodes) are all purchasing these materials from a handful of low-cost providers who do little to no testing regarding stress standards (i.e. China). Appliance makers obviously do not self-regulate and will not take it upon themselves unless pressured by state or federal authorities. It really is pretty maddening.
My Samsung convection oven’s door glass just exploded! We have had this oven just over one year. I was making cookies and had the last batch in the oven. I walked out of the kitchen and heard a loud bang. When I went back into the kitchen, the door was still breaking and making crackling noises. The inside glass didn’t break…just the outside glass. There is some glass that is on the floor…because I just stepped on it as i was looking at the oven.
I had this happen to us this morning. The oven had not been on for 24 hours and suddenly exploded while I was in the bathroom. Thankfully my 23 month old had already left the house with his Daddy. The outer glass and inner glass were still intact, but the center glass exploded and then popped like popcorn. Shot glass clear across the room. Why are these companies not made to recall these and make a better product!?!
I have a tricity bendix cooker which have had over ten years. Today the door of the bottom oven just completly shattered. Nobody in the room fortunatly. Have ordered a replacement, but am concerned it may happen again. Oven had not been used for a few days. I have really looked after it and would like to know if it is because of its age.
G8kepr9,
O.K., Thanksgiving weekend our triple pane oven door explodes for no reason and after a one day turnaround trip to California our personal holiday just went south for the winter??!!! Has Anyone, Ever gotten the manufacturer’s to respond positively and making the consumer whole? Sorry, if there was anything positive I missed it. I am on a mission to at least make someone responsible feel our discomfort.
same thing here maytag oven about 3yrs. old glass just exploded cost almost 200.00 to have fixed and I am on disability.
It may not look pretty but if it is just the outer glass that exploded the oven is still usable. I couldn’t afford to fix mine either and ended up using it without the outer glass. It probably didn’t hold the temps as well but it still worked.
Last night mine exploded too! My 10 year old, Kitchen Aid oven, Model KCBs107DWH7. What makes this happen? It is the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced!
Around 4 this morning (1/10/12), we were awakened with a very loud noise and discovered it was my gas Jen-Air slide in range. I use the cook top often, but I rarely use the oven because I also have an electric wall oven. (The last time was Christmas day.) It continued to pop for a while. Glass was scattered throughout kitchen although a large part has not fallen yet. I purchased the product on 7/14/06.
Maytag oven, the glass door exploded in the early morning 12:46 to be exact. I have tried to talk to someone regarding the issue and I have to say know one seems to care or want to take care of it. When we buy ovens, I have never seen a worning, beware oven may explode at any time even when not in use. Maybe they should be selling goggles with ovens. I believe there should be some type of warning on all the ovens. They are a danger.
Last weekend, while my brother was holding the knob of our Super General 4 -burner oven to check his grilled pork, while pulling down the knob, suddenly the glass door spontaneously snapped and popped and broke into many pieces, but the inside glass door remained intack. We’re all shocked how it happened knowing it’s a thick glass and meant to be exposed to very high temperature.
Hi yesterday my husband and I were drinking coffee in dining room. Our grandchildren had left about 5min before. Heard a loud noise, checked and the glass door, smoky black color was now white on the floor still crackling. It is a Maytag bought in 2005 . Maytag just said sorry it cracked and call a dealer. I told her it shattered and was all over the floor.. someone could be hurt real bad..
The glass on our 8 1/2 year old GE oven shattered this afternoon. My 2 daughters were in the kitchen when it happened, thank God neither were injured. The stove and oven were off at the time. The oven hasn’t been used in several days. How can this be acceptable?
I had this happen at 1:00 in the morning to my Frigadere exterior oven door. Same as some of the others, the glass was making popping sounds and was spread out everywhere. Very strange and scary experience.
5 years ago we remodeled our kitchen and purchased 4 new Maytag (now Whirlpool) appliances-Dishwasher, Fridge, tempered glass stove top and built in oven. This past year we have replaced the touch pad on the dishwasher twice. Came home one day and the glass stove top had a crack all the way through it and half way across it. The vent across the bottom front of the fridge broke within the first year. Friday I woke up and walked out into the kitchen and the the front glass on the oven door had literally exploded into a million pieces spread all over the floor, on the counter tops, across the room, on the kitchen table and into the hallway. I had not used the oven 4 at least 4 days. Thank goodness no one was standing in front of it when it happened. I took pictures in to show the dealer, not to get something free, but to order a new one and because I couldn’t believe it had happened myself. He insisted it couldn’t have happened. Sadly, he told me they were made in the USA. I’ll be sure to have him Google-Exploding Oven Doors!
My 3 year old kenmore stove exploaded and she glass throughout two rooms. It wasn’t even in use at the time. Sears denies any problem with the stoves and just gives me a runaround. What the heck?
Awakened at 3:30 a.m. by the sound of glass shattering. The middle piece of glass on our Amana stove shattered and was all over the floor. Stove had been used that evening to cook dinner for some family and neighbors. Good thing it didn’t happen then and our children were sleeping!
Moments ago my Caloric stove door just exploded as I stood right next to it. Nothing touched it and the oven had not been on since 9 hrs earlier. For the next 5 min and still going the glass is laying there making crackling noises like the crinkling of cellophane. I’m afraid to touch the pieces which range in size from a quarter to an eraser tip on a pencil. I wonder if GE will even believe me.
My GE Monogram oven window exploded at 9:30 pm while we were watching tv. It hadn’t been used in two days! It’s 5 years old.
My wife woke up in the middle of the night and found the outer glass on our Maytag oven shattered all over the floor. The oven gets used almost daily and we had ran the cleaning cycle for the first time about a week ago but not sure if that led to the problem. Needless to say she is freaked out and wants a new oven. The unit is less than 3 years old and we found our receipt and believe it or not, we bought a 3 year extended warranty!! Calling the store in the morning to get all up in their face!!
Thanksgiving morning and my Tappan oven glass door explodes, leaving glass everywhere. I was in the kitchen when it happened. The oven and stove top was not on at the time. It just blew into a million pieces. Going to give Sears a call tomorrow, about replacing the glass. Hopefully it’s not costly. Thankfully, I can still use the oven and cook my Thanksgiving meals.
The inside glass of one of my Capital double ovens exploded during a cleaning cycle. The oven is less than 6 months old.
My Brand New Whirlpool inner oven glass just shattered also. I had never heard of this happening, but I guess it happens with all stoves.
Our Westinghouse pxp698s model oven door outer glass gave a big POP and proceeded to snap, crackle, pop and fall out all over the kitchen floor. I don’t see many other Westinghouse issues on here but wonder if it’s a common fault with this manufacture too?? We rent, so will be contacting the real estate peeps for the owners to replace as the oven is listed as part of the fixtures & fittings.
This morning I turned on the self-clean feature for the first time on my GE Model JGBP28SEMASS gas range that is 13 months old and within 15 minutes the inner glass blew out. GE customer relations opened a case for me and waived the service call fee and I was told that this does happen occasionally! I cannot believe this has been going on this long!
omg, my oven glass door exploded last night, wasnt on for 2 days, nobody near it just shattered like a gunshot and was all crackly noises (inner glass), how are we going to explain this to the landlord… they will never believe it, I wouldnt either if it hadnt happened to us… Westinghouse wall oven….
my Diplomat oven door has exploded, we were cooking Sunday lunch at the time. The glass shattered all over the kitchen and actually embedded its self into the wall and door.
We have had the oven about 16 yrs, so frightening, thank god no one was harmed.
The middle glass of my GE oven shattered while in the self-cleaning mode. When I called the appliance store where I purchased it they told me they said it was the first time anyone has reported the problem. Since it is still under warranty they ordered and will replace the glass. Since I was concerned it would happen again they referred me to GE customer service and suggested I ask them for an extended warranty to cover this problem.
The customer service was of NO help. They said they could not extend any warranty that this would not happen again, since it has not happened. Yes, I agree, they just gave me double talk. I then asked them if there has been any recalls or other complaints made of this problem and they too said this is the first they have heard of this happening.
They said they could connect me with extended warranties so that I could purchase additional coverage but I am on a fixed income and with the little income that I do have I question if I should be throwing good money after bad.
Has anyone had this happen to them after replacing the glass?
Probably had grease that caught fire when it hit the right ignition temp. Mine just blew (blew open door) and was on fire while preheating to 425. Can’t remember any spills since self cleaning earlier this month.
I put the fire out and proped the door open till all spoke had burnt off as I continued to preheat. House airing out.
Mike many times the ovens weren’t on and hadn’t been for a while. This was the case with mine. No preheating just BAM.
GE JBP84T0K2 WW electric range, front glass door exploded last night, was in use the day before. I decided to give it a cleaning on MLK day off, opened the out layer glass, and put everything back, explosion happened following night around 3am. Only event can possibly trigger the explosion: the racks were resting on the cabinet ( I decided to clean them later), they fell and made a loud noise. But still not convinced that vibration from racking falling can cause glass door shatter after a few hours passed.
The glass that you all are concerned about exploding is tempered glass. Tempered glass is used all over the place, car windows and sunroofs, table tops and appliances for safety reasons. Lots of small fragments when broken instead of large sharp pieces that can cause major injuries. My 2005 Impala sunroof exploded while driving. That was very loud, like a tire explosion. My Amana microwave door did the same thing late at nite. The problem is during manufacturing the glass can have an undetectable flaw. The glass is under stress and fail at anytime causing the glass to shatter. It is something you can not prevent other than don’t by anything that contains tempered glass.