Oh my *Gosh*!! My oven just malfunctioned and just about caught on fire!

[Julie in CA]

I was baking ribs at 350 degrees for about an hour. I walked in and pushed the button to turn the oven off. I noticed that the oven display was flashing an error message, but when I pushed the button to shut off the oven, the error message disappeared. I tried to open the oven door to take out the ribs, and found that it was locked. Figuring that something had gone wrong and that the door would unlock as it cooled, I started on another kitchen task. When I looked at the oven about 5 minutes later I found that the door was still locked, and the oven was apparently going through the self-cleaning cycle! The ribs were smoking and very clearly seconds from catching on fire. No matter what buttons I pushed, the oven would not shut off, the display was blank, and the door was locked. I finally thought to run out to the garage and shut off the breakers to the oven. It's off now, but my house is full of smoke, and the oven is locked shut (with my char-broiled dinner inside!). Anyone know an appliance guy who could tell me what might be going on? It's a 5 year old Whirlpool double wall oven.
~Julie~

[GreenKitty]

Oh My!! I am glad everyone is ok!

I woulda been running for the fire extinguisher!:eek:

[sdWTMer]

I had to get my fridge checked out and that guy wanted me to spend 125 dollars on him just defrosting it with our own hair dryer. Are you kidding me?! :mad:

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Oh, I'm glad you're ok! How scary.

[Sparkle]

Wow, freaky! Sorry about your ribs. :(

[KristineIN]

Sorry to hear this. The best I have found for appliance advice is http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/index.php The people there are wonderful, but you'll probably have to register, but you can still read the boards and see if anyone has had anything similar happen.

Kristine

[LoriM]

How smart were you to think of the breaker!!!! Man, I'd still be running in circles in the kitchen shouting, "Help, help, the oven's on fire!"

Glad you are a genius. Sorry about dinner. Have a glass of wine. (c:

[Julie in CA]

My dh came home and turned on the breaker. Since the oven had cooled down I was able to take out my cookie sheets that had the ribs on them. Because the ribs were wrapped securely in a double layer of foil, they actually survived! The foil was charred, but the ribs inside were truly wonderful! When the breaker was flipped back on, it seems to have reset the oven somehow.
So...the good news is that dinner was saved and the oven seems ok.
The bad news is that I don't know what happened in the first place, and I don't think I can trust the oven to truly be ok.
Thanks for sharing my day!
~Julie~

[jail warden]

I'm really glad it turned out all right. What a blessing!!!

[Michelle T]

I have never even used the self-cleaning feature on my oven because I"m too scared it will light on fire! Your story will give me something new to worry about when I cook tomorrow night!
Michelle T

[Julie in CA]

Yeah, I can see the fear about using the self-cleaning feature, but I never guessed it would be scary during regular baking!

[DIY-DY]

Oy! That's scary. I'm glad you had the presence of mind to hit the breaker! *whew*

I don't know if you've already fixed the problem, but if you need some insight, I've had really good luck with The Appliance Samurai (http://fixitnow.com/). HTH!! Good luck!