If your oven is smoking, it’s important to determine the cause and take corrective action. Learn more about why my oven is smoking and how to fix it.
It’s a New Oven
Why is my oven smoking? There are a handful of common explanations. A typical one that isn’t indicative of a larger issue is because the oven is brand new. During the manufacturing process, it isn’t unheard of to apply an oil coating inside the oven that will burn off during first use. This is why most, if not all, user manuals will recommend a pre-burn.
This is where you’ll turn on your oven too high and let it run for up to an hour before using it to cook food. There is also a chance that bits of packing material like tape or styrofoam burn off during the first cycle, which can also contribute to smoke development. Either way – after a few goes all of this should be burned off and your smoking problem will resolve itself.
Leftover Cleaning Residue
The oily coating on a new oven isn’t the only foreign substance that can cause smoke in an oven. Perhaps you have recently cleaned yours and didn’t thoroughly enough wipe away the cleaning agent and this chemical is now smoking. Even if you think you’ve wiped off all the cleaning solution, try wiping down the interior of your oven with a damp cloth the next time you clean it to avoid this problem in the future.
Faulty Heating Element
A more concerning reason you might be seeing smoke in your oven is due to a failing heating element. If an oven component is producing more heat than it is designed to, it can lead to shorting and a by-product is a significant smoke. You can test your element by turning off your oven, letting it cool, and turning it back on to see if the piece glows red. Sometimes these heating elements will produce a buzzing sound as they burn out. If you suspect this is the case, it’s time to call a repair person.
Food Remains
A very common reason for a smoking oven is due to burning food. Perhaps some of your previous meal broke off and fell to the floor of the oven last night while making dinner. When you heat your oven in the future it will cook that food to a crisp and create a burning scent. Food can slowly build up over months of meals and really lead to a nasty smoke issue so it’s important to stay on top of this and keep your oven as clean as can be.
High Gas Pressure
If you are using a gas oven and you’ve ruled out the above possibilities, there is a chance the gas pressure in your home is too high. This would overfeed the amount of gas that is going into your oven, which causes the ovens flame to enlarge and create smoke. Consult the user manual or call your gas provider for troubleshooting measures.
Let Us Stop your Oven from Smoking
These are the common reasons people run into when trying to solve a smoking oven. If you can’t seem to solve the issue, or are in need of oven assistance, call the experts at Alpha Tech Appliance.