Consumer Homes.

Question:

We’ve purchased a Whirlpool Accubake Self-Cleaning Oven 3 years ago. It broke today while doing the self-cleaning. We’ve probably used the self-cleaning about 2 dozen times in the three years we’ve had the oven (don’t cook that often). Looks like the heat exhaust on the top melted the area (plastic?) above it the protects the electronics (display panel) portion. The door is stuck in the locked position and the display panel is not working at all. Tried everything in the manual and made sure the circuit breaker was ok. In fact, reset every circuit breaker to be sure. I think one should be able to expect better than 3 years from a new oven. Our old oven was over 15 years old & we only replaced it to get a self-cleaning oven. We’ll probably pay for the repair (since the warranty is only 1 year) but it will be a cold day in hell before we purchase another Whirlpool product. My Maytag dishwasher, washmachine and dryer get much more use and are not having any problems whatever. Even though the are older. (I noticed someone else posted a similar note about their 3 year old Whirlpool self cleaning oven in this news group a year or so ago … so I’m not the only one who has had this problem). For what it’s worth – the oven worked fine until this happened. But I expect more than 3 years from a new oven. – Hank B

Response:

We just bought a new oven, the sales lady who sold it to us told us that she has the self cleaning oven and that she has to wipe it off after the self cleaning cycle and stated that it is really not needed. we did not get the self cleaning feature(probably just another thing to work on when it breaks). its a gas oven, what i dont like about the new ovens is that they all have the electronic boards on them, i just wish they had the old knobs to turn the gas on and as far as electricity is concerned a light for the oven would have been good enough.

Response:

HankB wrote >We’ve purchased a Whirlpool Accubake Self-Cleaning Oven 3 years ago. >It broke today while doing the self-cleaning. We’ve probably used the >self-cleaning about 2 dozen times in the three years we’ve had the >oven (don’t cook that often). Looks like the heat exhaust on the top >melted the area (plastic?) above it the protects the electronics >(display panel) portion. >The door is stuck in the locked position and the display panel is not >working at all. Tried everything in the manual and made sure the >circuit breaker was ok. In fact, reset every circuit breaker to be sure. >I think one should be able to expect better than 3 years from a new >oven.

There’s no reason you can’t get more than 3 years out of an oven, that doesn’t mean it will not need repairs for that whole length of time. >Our old oven was over 15 years old & we only replaced it to get >a self-cleaning oven. We’ll probably pay for the repair (since the >warranty is only 1 year)

The ‘melting’ should not be normal and you should make Whirlpool aware of your complaints in writing, not just by email or phone. When you do call someone to look at it for you, make sure they are a Whirlpool factory authorized service depot. If any concessions will be made toward the repair, they will be the ones to have to do the work. Having an unauthorized technician work on it could result in Whirlpool not even considering helping toward repairs. You can find local Whirlpool service centers at the link below. http://ng.appliance411.com/links/jump.cgi?ID=232 Dan O. – Appliance411.com http://ng.Appliance411.com/?ref411=whirlpool+oven =