My oven is on the lawn

I am an idiot. Instead of cleaning up a spill in my oven, I decided to use the oven's self-cleaning feature, which locks the oven while raising the internals to screaming high temperatures. About the time that I realized, hey, this might be a bad idea, my oven was on fire. Locked. I unplugged it and the fire grew for a while, then went out. My kids were flipping out - my husband is on a business trip this week. I kept a wary eye on it until I realized that I could smell an electrical fire and it was getting really really hot on my range. Then I called the fire department and my kids ran off and found our friendly neighborhood cop, who helped me drag the oven out to my lawn right as the fire department showed up. I live in a townhouse, so two fire trucks in our little cul-de-sac drew a lot of attention from the neighbors.

The house is fine, kids and I are fine. I suspect the oven is toast, though, and I am just so, so embarrassed. My husband is really sweet. He texted me "I've never really been all that into baking anyway."

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"The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." -- Blaise Pascal

oh no...glad everyone was okay....but I wonder what went wrong?

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The world looks less difficult when standing next to a close friend.

A few months ago I used I used the self-clean on my oven, and the neighbor upstairs came down to ask about the smell, it smelled like something was burning. Which it was, the self-clean doesn't really clean, it burns the spills into ash that we have to wipe out.

A few words of caution -- never use it more than once or twice a year. This I got from a guy who installs ovens for our local Sears. They don't insulate the brains well enough and if you use the feature too often, it can french fry the controls and wiring.

Also, not sure how current this is, but you want to be careful about using self clean if you've ever used oven cleaners because of the chemical residue. I know the chemicals can also damage certain types of oven lining/walls. The only reason I even used the feature on my oven is that it is brand new.

Glad you are all okay.

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Perspective Alters Reality

cooking is over-rated


I'm glad you and your family is okay, sending you big hugs
ps your husband sound realy sweet.

plus you get to see firemen that's always a bonus

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May the bad things get lost on the way to you door!

Oh, wow ... that must have been so frightening for you, Jublke!

I'm glad to hear that you and your family and your house are well and whole!

And, on the bright side, you can now get a brand-new, clean oven!

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"It is a rare man that is taken for what he truly is...We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream...." Peter S. Beagle

Thank heavens you're okay!

I have to admit that I've never had to deal with an oven with a self-cleaning feature. My folks bought a house with a WWII-era oven and did everything possible to keep it going. (It's still in the kitchen, though it hasn't been used for a few years.)

Still, I'll use this as a cautionary tale when I finally move into a new place!

And, this could go into your family history to show that things weren't dull with you around!

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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury

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Perspective Alters Reality

Oh dear! I was actually using my oven last night, and noticed a bad smell, and was thinking of cleaning it out -- I don't know if it has a self-cleaning option (haven't read the manual), but there's NO WAY I'll use that now!

To explain: it's not MY oven, it came with the flat I'm renting, and I didn't have to clean it out until now. So I guess it will be the old sponge again!

I'm very glad you're ok, jublke! This can be a very frightening experience!

I'd stick to my microwave (aka, the porridge machine) from now on!

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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.

with a name like that, it was bound to go wrong!!

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Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope. - HELEN KELLER

Well no wonder your oven went up in flames.

As soon as you saw it was a Spectran you should have removed it from your house. Obviously you have not been paying attention. I would think it would go right along with "never feed them after midnight" and when the demonic voice says "get out" don't keep investigating.

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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.