# Why did my oven door blow open?!?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 19, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999 "2012-08-19T22:04:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/1 "2012-08-19T22:04:21Z")
I’m cooking a ham, because I have two of 'em in the freezer that I’ve been saving forever, it feels like autumn, and ham sounded good. Mr. Athena made a glaze that he tells me has a fair bit of booze in it (as well as sugar, cloves, cinnamon, etc).
We put the ham in the oven at 325 degrees after dousing it with the aforementioned glaze. It’s not a TON of glaze, just enough to cover it lightly, and it’s not pooling in the pan or anything like that.
About 5 minutes after the ham went in the oven, the oven door blew open with a WHOOOSH! It was loud enough that Mr. Athena and I both jumped.
Inspection of the oven shows no damage. Oven is working as normal. Elements are not blown out. The only sign of anything wrong is a tiny piece of white plastic we found on the door when we opened it.
So WTH happened? Why did the door blow open? For the record, it’s a circa 1995 Dacor dual fuel (meaning the range is gas, the oven is electric), has been working just fine. Never had a door blow open before.
Mr. Athena’s theory is the alcohol in the glaze exploded, blowing open the door.
My theory is that we have oven poltergeists and the only way to get rid of them is a total kitchen remodel.
What say you?
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### Author:  [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/2 "2012-08-19T22:09:59Z")
I’d go with the glaze theory as well, if it wasn’t cooked first. Just my guess.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/3 "2012-08-19T22:53:22Z")
pig poltergeist
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### Author:  [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/4 "2012-08-19T23:01:52Z")
If you can eat the ham without getting drunk, you’ll know it was the [del]likker[/del] glaze.
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### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/5 "2012-08-19T23:04:49Z")
Perhaps your cooking was just too good for your oven to take?
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### Author:  [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/6 "2012-08-19T23:20:34Z")
I think that it went insane with anger.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/7 "2012-08-19T23:26:09Z")
> [@chacoguy](#):
>
> I think that it went insane with anger.
If that were true, there’d be an ovencam to document it.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/8 "2012-08-19T23:58:25Z")
> [@chacoguy](#):
>
> I think that it went insane with anger.
\*‘Cause you know it’s you Babe!
Just a Pre-heatin Query
Thought you were cooked enough
Door pops out with a puff,
I know it’s You Babe!
Givin’ me the courage
To make Ham cookin jive
(Bumpin you to 375…)
You know its true…
Babe, I’m cookin you… \*
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### Author:  [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/9 "2012-08-20T00:13:31Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> Mr. Athena’s theory is the alcohol in the glaze exploded, blowing open the door.
>
> My theory is that we have oven poltergeists and the only way to get rid of them is a total kitchen remodel.
>
> What say you?
I’ve heard it both ways.
I suspect you have alcoholic poltergeists. You tempted them with the glaze. The only way you can successfully cook anything with alcohol (or even vanilla) is a kitchen remodel.
There..everyone is happy!
-D/a
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/10 "2012-08-20T01:45:12Z")
I too suspect the glaze wasn’t cooked. It likely off-gassed the alcohol fumes, which then ignited. Also, the kitchen remodel thingy.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/11 "2012-08-20T01:53:41Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> The only sign of anything wrong is a tiny piece of white plastic we found on the door when we opened it.
If this were Encyclopedia Brown’s world, this would be the answer to the mystery.
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/12 "2012-08-20T11:30:13Z")
I’m not sure \*why \*it happened, but I betcha can’t make it happen _twice_!
> [@Athena](#):
>
> I’m cooking a ham, because I have two of 'em in the freezer…
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/13 "2012-08-20T11:32:50Z")
I had something like that, without the alcohol. What I suspect happened is some oven dirt/crud got into the area between the gas and ignitor and delayed ignition just long enough to have extra gas in the oven to blow the door open when it did ignite.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/14 "2012-08-20T12:14:01Z")
So the consensus is “complete kitchen remodel”, right? That’s what I’m getting out of all these replies.
I wonder if my homeowner’s insurance will pay for remodel-due-to-poltergeists?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/15 "2012-08-20T12:31:52Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> I had something like that, without the alcohol. What I suspect happened is some oven dirt/crud got into the area between the gas and ignitor and delayed ignition just long enough to have extra gas in the oven to blow the door open when it did ignite.
That’s the first thing that crossed my mind when “dual fuel” was mentioned. You might exactly duplicate your steps a couple of times MINUS THE HAM & GLAZE to see if the issue is mechanical vs culinary.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/16 "2012-08-20T12:59:55Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> So the consensus is “complete kitchen remodel”, right? That’s what I’m getting out of all these replies.
Absolutely. It’s on the internet, so it must be true.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/17 "2012-08-20T13:17:33Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> I had something like that, without the alcohol. What I suspect happened is some oven dirt/crud got into the area between the gas and ignitor and delayed ignition just long enough to have extra gas in the oven to blow the door open when it did ignite.
> [@lieu](#):
>
> That’s the first thing that crossed my mind when “dual fuel” was mentioned. You might exactly duplicate your steps a couple of times MINUS THE HAM & GLAZE to see if the issue is mechanical vs culinary.
I don’t think there’s any gas in the oven - “dual fuel” means the oven is electric, the gas only goes to the range. Unless there’s some sort of leak (which I’m pretty sure we’d smell), I don’t think gas is in the equation.
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### Author:  [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/18 "2012-08-20T13:30:11Z")
If you did indeed have a tiny gas leak, that would make your oven unsafe. You’d have to replace it. and the rest of the kitchen, just to be safe.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/19 "2012-08-20T13:39:44Z")
> [@Athena](#):
>
> I don’t think there’s any gas in the oven - “dual fuel” means the oven is electric, the gas only goes to the range. Unless there’s some sort of leak (which I’m pretty sure we’d smell), I don’t think gas is in the equation.
OK that is reversed on how I took dual fuel, I was thinking of gas oven and electric stovetop. In my case it was a gas oven/stove.
Could a small gas leak do that, I really doubt it as that would be repeated, I’d go back to the alcohol and poltergeist theories. There should be no gas lines near the oven area so no gas entry opportunity. So yes a alcoholic poltergeist seems like the most logical answer.
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### Author:  [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-oven-door-blow-open/631999/20 "2012-08-20T13:58:46Z")
About a month ago I had just finished cooking with the oven at an unremarkable temperature (425 or so). I shut it off, and about 15 minutes later we heard a loud “pop” and the glass on the front just shattered into a million pieces. (At least it’s safety glass so not all of it went into the floor.)
The nice lady on the phone at the customer service center said that this wouldn’t have happened if I had left the oven door open as it cools down, as I should be aware that I’m supposed to. So I was on the hook for the $150 replacement assembly. It wasn’t hard to put it–the worst part was getting the other one off without shredding myself.
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