Troubleshooter investigates shattering oven door window
CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Kitchen ovens are designed to withstand high temperatures. So you wouldn't think heat would cause them to explode, but one Cary man found out otherwise.
A big crash sent Steve Geringer sprinting to his kitchen the day after Christmas.
"I saw the glass had completely shattered inside of the oven," Geringer said. "Oh my gosh, if that second layer blows, it is going to blow out inside the room."
The outside window of his Kitchen Aid Oven was still intact, but inside there was shattered glass everywhere. It happened while the self-cleaning cycle was running.
"My first thing was get everybody, get everything out of the way just in case this thing blows," Geringer said.
Fortunately, nothing else happened, but Geringer was still concerned.
"I have never seen an oven do this," he said.
So he turned to ABC 11. We quickly found many similar complaints online about different models and brands and tempered glass windows exploding during the extreme heat of the self-cleaning function.
"I am concerned about the safety, this shouldn't happen to an oven," Geringer said.
We reached out to Whirlpool, which manufactures the Kitchen Aid brand. The company replaced Geringer's stove and issued this statement:
"Whirlpool uses tempered glass in its oven doors. Tempered glass is strong and heat resistant and gets its strength from a tempering process during which the glass is heated to extremely high temperatures and then cool quickly. Tempered glass is used because it is stronger and less likely to break, but also because when it does break, it "shatters" into small pieces with less potential for causing harm. If tempered glass is damaged from an impact, it is possible that the impact was strong enough to leave a microscopic surface fracture, however not severe enough to break the glass at the time of impact. Many times this type of fracture is not apparent or visible. The surface fracture can continue to grow slowly over time and then when the fracture which originated on the outer surface of the glass panel, (which is in compression) reaches the inner layer of the glass panel (which is in tension) the result produces the crumbling or shattering of the glass panel. This shattering can happen long after the initial impact that caused the surface fracture."
The best advice is to check your oven glass for any defects and protect it by being careful not to slam the door.
