Exploding ovens are puzzling homeowners, here’s how to prevent the mess

It’s a phenomenon that’s not frequently discussed, but since 2018 there have been at least 900 recorded instances.

We’re talking about exploding ovens, specifically exploding glass oven doors.

Keep reading to find out why it happens and how to prevent it.

Search Facebook for “exploding oven” and you’ll find a plethora of posts showing ovens with their glass doors busted and thousands of tiny pieces of glass littered on the floor.

But how did they get that way?

Willie Mae Truesdale is just one of many who have found themselves with a destroyed oven.

“We hear this loud explosion. Like, what is that?” Truesdale told ABC11 in February 2023.

Truesdale had been sitting on her couch when she heard a loud bang in her kitchen. She got up to see what happened, and that’s when she discovered the broken oven and the mess.

“It was shocking and you had to really see it to believe it. It was like what in the world. Glass shattered, glass was out here on the floor.”

What was even more shocking was her Frigidaire oven wasn’t on.

Truesdale is far from the only one to have their oven door spontaneously combust.

Tonya Lowery turned her oven on to make dinner when all of a sudden her oven door shattered.

“Boom, and it just sounded like a gunshot,” she told ABC Action News in February 2024.

In many instances the ovens were on the newer side.

How to prevent a shattered oven door

Although many glass oven doors have exploded without warning, there are some tips to lessen the chance they’ll break.

1. Avoid bumping into your oven door with pots and pans. Even the smallest dent or nick could cause a stress fracture that could “explode” at a later date.

2. Do not slam your oven door.

3. Make sure the racks are pushed all the way into the oven before closing the door. The metal racks can scratch the glass.

4. Never use the self-cleaning feature. The high heat used to clean the oven can potentially damage the glass on the inside of your oven.

I never knew oven doors could spontaneously explode like this! This is excellent information that needs to be shared with everyone.