The Exploding Oven Mystery
From her kitchen, Willie Mae Truesdale heard a massive explosion. She rushed over and saw her glass oven door shattered and scattered across the floor. “You had to really see it to believe it. It was shocking,” she said.
It was bizarre. The oven wasn’t even on, yet the glass had exploded. Even more disturbing is that Truesdale isn’t the only one who has experienced this.
The Strange Story of Glass Oven Doors Exploding
A suburban mother named Cheryl faced a similar shock during the COVID-19 quarantine. She was trying to bake brownies, but they turned out with a soggy center. Her oven, only three months old, seemed off by about 25 degrees.
After the quarantine, she planned to call a repairman but decided to run a self-cleaning cycle first. Near the end of the cycle, the inner glass of the door shattered into the oven with a thunderous explosion.
Another incident involved Michelle Wheat, whose oven door exploded, scattering glass throughout her kitchen. Her three-year-old oven, like Truesdale’s, wasn’t on at the time. Thankfully, none of her four small children were hurt.
Wheat’s oven was a Bosch, while Truesdale’s was a Frigidaire, but there have been reports of similar incidents with other brands as well. Since 2019, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received over 450 complaints about this issue.
Regrettably, all three women faced difficulties with the manufacturers after the incidents. Despite her oven being off and still under warranty, Truesdale was blamed by the Frigidaire technician for the explosion and had to pay out of pocket for a new door. Fortunately, after NBC contacted Bosch, Cheryl’s oven was replaced.
Wheat, whose oven was out of warranty, had to pay the technician $100. He then informed her that the glass was damaged and that she would need to pay an additional $314 for a replacement.
Frigidaire advised her to get an extended warranty just in case it happened again. “This shouldn’t have happened,” said the frustrated mother of six. “I was trying to make that point to them.”
What Causes Oven Doors to Shatter?
According to Mark Meshulam of Chicago Window Expert, there are two types of oven glass that can spontaneously shatter. One type is soda lime glass, also known as window glass, which is rapidly heated and cooled to create a tempered surface. Oven doors are made of this kind of glass.
The other type is borosilicate glass, commonly used in scientific glassware or vintage Pyrex, which is highly resistant to heat and cold. The switch to soda lime glass has increased the frequency of these kinds of breaks because it is less resilient to heat cycles.
Another possible cause of these explosions is a tiny imperfection in the glass called a nickel sulfide inclusion. Its diameter is merely a hundredth of a millimeter.
“That small ball has some weird properties, and it’s fighting to come out over time,” Meshulam explained. “And occasionally a high-heat incident, such as an oven cleaning, can eventually cause a spontaneous failure.”
Despite these incidents, Meshulam assures customers that the self-cleaning feature of ovens is generally safe. “Most people will use the self-cleaning feature their entire lives and not encounter this problem,” he said.
He believes that ovens that explode when off are due to tiny chips and defects. The most terrifying aspect is that the door may shatter long after the original damage occurred.
Preventive Advice
These microscopic areas of damage can happen during manufacturing, transportation, or installation—situations beyond homeowners’ control. However, homeowners can take steps to prevent further damage.
Avoiding excessive force when cleaning and handling the oven gently can help prevent tiny chips or scratches that might lead to shattering.
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