If the oven is still heating after you've pressed Cancel or turned the knob to Off, cut its power at the breaker. An oven that won't stop heating can overheat food, cabinets and its own wiring, so don't leave the house or go to bed with it running. First, take ten seconds to make sure it isn't just the cooling fan.
Do this first
- Press Cancel or Off again, firmly, and check the display for a timer, delay start, keep-warm or Sabbath setting that's still active.
- Tell fan noise from heat. Whirlpool notes that after a cooking cycle ends, the cooling fan may keep running for some time to cool the appliance (Whirlpool). A fan with a dropping oven temperature is normal. Glowing elements or a temperature that holds or climbs is not.
- If it's still heating, turn off the breaker. Electric ranges and wall ovens are usually on a double breaker in the main panel, often labeled "range" or "oven". If the plug is easy to reach without moving a hot range, unplugging works too.
- If something inside is smoking or burning, keep the door closed. The CPSC advises keeping the oven door shut and turning off the heat to smother an oven or broiler fire (CPSC). If flames don't die down quickly, get out and call 911.
- For a gas oven that won't shut off, turn off the range's gas shutoff valve if you can reach it safely, usually behind the range or in an adjacent cabinet. If you smell gas at any point, leave the house and call 911 and Atmos Energy at 866-322-8667 from outside (Atmos Energy).
In the next few hours
- Leave the breaker off. Don't turn the oven back on to "see if it fixed itself". A stuck-on fault often returns the moment power is restored.
- Let it cool completely before you touch racks, the door gasket or anything near the vent.
- Check the cabinets and countertop beside the oven for heat discoloration or a hot smell once it's cool.
- Use other appliances for meals. The cooktop on a range shares the same power supply, so with the breaker off it's off too.
- Leave the breaker labeled so nobody in the house switches it back on.
Before the technician arrives
Note:
- The model and serial number. On most ranges and wall ovens the label is on the frame, visible when the oven door is open, or behind the storage drawer.
- What it was doing: element glowing after Off, temperature climbing, display frozen, or fan only.
- The mode it was in, such as bake, broil, convection, self-clean or delay.
- Any error codes shown before you killed the power, and whether the display responded to the keypad.
- Recent events, such as a storm, power flicker, spill on the controls or a self-clean cycle.
What not to do:
- Don't remove the control panel or back cover. Ovens run on 240 volts, and the usual causes, a relay stuck closed on the control board or a failed switch or thermostat, are a job for a technician.
- Don't run a self-clean cycle "to test it". Self-clean runs at the oven's highest temperatures.
- Don't open the door on a fire, and don't throw water into an oven.
How to keep it from happening again
- Wipe up spills on the control panel promptly and avoid spraying cleaner directly onto it. Liquid behind the keypad can cause erratic behavior.
- Learn your oven's modes. Sabbath, keep-warm and delay-start settings can make an oven look like it won't turn off when it's working as designed. Your owner's manual explains how to cancel each one.
- Don't store items on top of the range vent or inside the oven, where they can burn if the oven comes on unexpectedly.
- Have intermittent display or keypad glitches checked early. They sometimes come before a stuck relay.
If the oven's door glass broke while it was overheating, read what to do when the oven door glass shatters. For a full diagnosis, see our oven service page.
Sources
Keep in mind: An oven that kept heating after it was turned off should stay off at the breaker until it has been checked.
Call ProFix Dallas at (469) 886-1122 to have the controls tested before the oven goes back into use.