Leaving your oven on while you sleep

[wishesuponastar]

Someone I know bakes their turkey while they sleep. I would be so nervous of a fire.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I don't understand what people are doing to these turkeys! Overnight? Putting them in the oven at like 5am??? Even a 25lb turkey should only take 4 1/2-5 hours to cook...

 

[lizabu]

I would never. I would worry about fire too.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I don't understand what people are doing to these turkeys! Overnight? Putting them in the oven at like 5am??? Even a 25lb turkey should only take 4 1/2-5 hours to cook...

My aunt puts her turkey in at 6 am becuse we eat between noon and one. I would never leave my oven on overnight or while we are all asleep.

 

[Art 1]

I do that and did it this mornining. How often do you hear of a house burn down due to the oven? Not enough to worry me at all.

 

[kimblebee]

It's probably no more dangerous than leaving the dryer on while you are out, or the Christmas tree, or the dishwasher. People do that all the time though without a second though. Having said that, I think I'd be nervous leaving an oven on overnight.

For the record, I don't leave a dishwasher, or Christmas tree, or dryer on while I leave the house.

 

[Kenny1113]

DH, a ff, would not even let me run the oven cleaning while sleeping.

 

[Allison]

It wouldn't worry me.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

It's probably no more dangerous than leaving the dryer on while you are out, or the Christmas tree, or the dishwasher. People do that all the time though without a second though. Having said that, I think I'd be nervous leaving an oven on overnight.

For the record, I don't leave a dishwasher, or Christmas tree, or dryer on while I leave the house.

I am terrified to leave the dryer on. My mother drilled it into my head to never leave with the dryer on and to always unplug the toaster

 

[leebee]

A stuffed 20lb turkey is going to take about 5 hours, longer for a bigger turkey, and then there's standing time. If you want to eat at noon, you need to get an early start!

I never worry about leaving small appliances plugged in. We have different wiring, grounded outlets, circuit breakers, automatic shut-off/cut-off, etc., than they did in our parents' and grandparents' days. The only thing I worry about is the iron, and that's because even when it's shut off, it still draws power. It's plugged into a power strip and we shut that off every time we use the iron. OF course, we are cautious about fire safety. No smokers in the house, change the batteries in the detectors (smoke and CO2) twice a year, several detectors on each floor, no fireplace, no space heaters or stoves. DH cleans out the dryer duct work twice a year, too. We also have fire escape ladders in each bedroom. I'm not saying we've prevented an emergency, but we try to stay ahead of the game!

 

[Accident]

I wouldn't be able to do it because the smell would keep me up and the anxiety of ruining it or oversleeping would make my a nervous wreck even more than normal. I do trust my oven though, that wouldn't be the problem.

 

[leebee]

I wouldn't be able to do it because the smell would keep me up and the anxiety of ruining it or oversleeping would make my a nervous wreck even more than normal. I do trust my oven though, that wouldn't be the problem.

"Funny" story... The first year I hosted T-giving for my family (just mom, 2 sisters, 1 brother), I had an ambitious menu. They lived a little over an hour away and mom didn't want to be at my house very late, so we were going to eat fairly early. My sister came down the night before to help me get ready. Between cleaning and cooking, it took all night! About 4am we were ready to turn in for a very few hours of sleep when we realized that we could use the time-cook setting on the oven! The turkey was still cold, the stuffing was cold, so we stuffed it, set the timer to start at 7am, and went to bed. I woke up around 10am and... sniff, sniff... I didn't smell any turkey. The time-start didn't work (although it'd worked reliably for several years)! We hustled out of bed, cranked up the oven to about 400, and we still ate around 1pm. Crisis averted!

 

[RedAngie]

Just not something I would do. But it's likely true that any danger is exaggerated.

 

[Meriweather]

I wouldn't do it because it shouldn't take that long to cook....unless you have having it for breakfast.

But it wouldn't worry me to do so.
Now leaving the house would be different.

 

[cijay]

I think if you're not a heavy sleeper it'd be okay. I'm not a heavy sleeper so it would be no different than putting the oven on and going back downstairs to watch TV while it's on (except that the bedroom is even closer). I wouldn't recommend it for a heavy sleeper or if you're drunk the night before though.

For those scared of Christmas tree fires - did anyone watch the Mythbusters' Christmas tree one where they TRIED to start a fire? They ended up with about 2500 lights on it PLUS they had to cut a fault in the cord. I'm more inclined to turn it off when I go out because it wastes energy than for a fire.

 

[Christine]

I think if you're not a heavy sleeper it'd be okay. I'm not a heavy sleeper so it would be no different than putting the oven on and going back downstairs to watch TV while it's on (except that the bedroom is even closer). I wouldn't recommend it for a heavy sleeper or if you're drunk the night before though.

For those scared of Christmas tree fires - did anyone watch the Mythbusters' Christmas tree one where they TRIED to start a fire? They ended up with about 2500 lights on it PLUS they had to cut a fault in the cord. I'm more inclined to turn it off when I go out because it wastes energy than for a fire.

Mythbusters should read this: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/investigators-christmas-tree-to-blame-in-annapolis-mansion-fire/30964600

This was an AWFUL fire in our area caused by lights on a very dry tree.

 

[Christine]

I probably wouldn't do it because I'd just not cook that way, but I seem to remember knowing people who "slow" cooked their turkey for many hours at 250 degrees and it took almost the night to do it. I wouldn't worry about my oven being on at 250 degrees. I would be worried about cooking something at high heat (450 and above) because anything that hot with some fat in it could ignite.

 

[Micca]

I don't understand what people are doing to these turkeys! Overnight? Putting them in the oven at like 5am??? Even a 25lb turkey should only take 4 1/2-5 hours to cook...

No kidding! My mother used to cook a turkey for what seemed like all day long, DW cooks ours for like 2 1/2 hours and it tastes fantastic. DW jokes about getting up early on Thanksgiving to cook the turkey.

FWIW, I don't like to leave things that generate heat or use water while I'm out of the house. Several years ago a friend who is an arson investigator brought a small hand-held device he uses around outlets to check for hot spots/faulty wiring. He really was just demonstrating how the device works, and he checked around the kitchen. The only potentially bad spot? The toaster! He recommended unplugging it when it's not in use so I have done so since then.

 

[nkereina]

Once I accidentally left my hair straightener on when I went to work. It was on from about 7am til 6pm when I got home. I was horrified and I had a small burn mark on my counter, but it was fine. Thankfully and surprisingly! Now I'm so paranoid about it that there has been times I have actually turned around to go back home and make sure it's unplugged. LOL.

My parents have also drilled it in my head to not leave the washer, dryer or dishwasher on while I'm out. My MIL once had a plastic tupperware top (dishwasher safe) fall on the heating element of the dishwasher and it was burning it during the cycle. My MIL was napping and their dog actually noticed the smell and started freaking out, so she woke up and was able to stop it before it caught fire. Anything can happen, so while chances are it would be fine, I would not be comfortable leaving the oven on overnight.

 

[Art 1]

24 lb bird stuffed with 3.5 lbs of ground beef stuffing. Just finished. 5.5 hrs at 325F.