At Kimball Appliance Parts & Service, we sometimes get calls from customers complaining that they cleaned their oven and now it won’t work. We’re sorry we can’t tell you to avoid cleaning your oven so this won’t happen to you, but we do have some advice for you when you’re cleaning this important household appliance.
Self-Cleaning Ovens
Most ovens today are self-cleaning. That means no more scrubbing, fumes or mess. Simply turn on the cleaning function and walk away.
If you have never had a self-cleaning oven, you may not be aware that once you turn this function on, it could be as long as six hours before it is complete. During this time, your oven door will be locked and you will not be able to open it. So avoid cleaning your oven an hour before you have to start dinner.
Tips to Get Your Oven Working Again
Some ovens allow you to cancel the cleaning function, but even then you may not be able to open the door right away. That is because when the oven is in self-clean mode, the temperature may rise above 500 degrees. You must wait for your oven to cool down before you can open the door again.
If your oven is cool to the touch and still won’t open, try unplugging it or switching the circuit breaker on and off to reset it.
If this doesn’t work, you may need to call Kimball Appliance Parts & Service for oven repair.
Common Oven Repairs
Because the self-clean cycle is so hot, it is possible that other components of your oven have become damaged, such as the wiring in the control board. Another common oven repair after cleaning is replacing the oven’s thermal fuse.
While having to pay for a service call to replace a thermal fuse or a wire is admittedly annoying for homeowners, we believe it’s still better than cleaning your oven by hand with oven cleaner year after year.
Recommendations for Oven Cleaning
Some online sources will advise you to clean your oven every three months. But as oven repair technicians, we know that every time you use the self-cleaning feature, you’re exposing your oven’s important mechanisms to extremely high heat and potential damage.
Unless you use your oven every day or it frequently gets thickly coated with splatter, you may want to limit using your self-cleaning oven feature to once a year. Or you can split the difference and clean your oven with oven cleaner in between self-cleanings.
As odious of a reputation as this chore has, the truth is that oven cleaner has come a long way over the years. When you use it, just remember to follow the directions carefully. Coat the inside of the oven completely and allow the chemicals to penetrate for the recommended time period. Rushing this job will result in some of the burned-on food particles stubbornly remaining.
Regardless of what caused your oven to break down, call Kimball Appliance Parts & Service for oven repair.