Wayne Boatwright ) said...

After two such episodes and one costly repair, I would get thee to an
appliance store and buy a new one. This one seems doomed, and I wouldn't
trust it yet again.

I would agree with that. Eiher there is something that is really
malfunctioning, or there may be just a bad design that makes it easy
to accidently put it into cleaning mode.

It could conceivably burn down the house.

This borders on scare mongering, but there is a concern about fire -- just
not from the faulty operation in and of itself.

Self cleaning ovens are very well insulated - so much so that they use LESS
power to operate over a year, cleaning cycles included, than non self
cleaning ovens.

In cleaning mode, the element is basically turned on continuously -- there
is no thermostat that is cycling it on and off to maintain a temperature
setpoint. It just runs at full blast and heats the oven as hot as it is
possible - how hot this is will be a function of your line voltage, but
the design of the oven is such that at the high end of its rating (240 volts,
or perhaps a bit higher), it will reach a maximum temperature that is not
greater than the design of the unit. If you live in a highrise, your
electrical supply is likely two phases of a three phase system, so you will
only have 208 volts and the cleaning cycle will need to be longer due to
the lower temperature this creates.

Now, even though the oven will not get any hotter with a faulty control
system than it would otherwise, there is a concern about the food items
in the oven at the time. The design for the cleaning cycle involves the
oven being empty. Any food could contribute to a fire.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
- Napoleon
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