Leaving your oven on while you sleep

[tvguy]

Back to OP's point. Since most modern electric stoves still have timers build in them to turn on automatically, then having a stove on in an unoccupied house must be considered safe. They wouldn't let them make them with timers if it wasn't, I would hope.

 

[MSLRAC]

Back to OP's point. Since most modern electric stoves still have timers build in them to turn on automatically, then having a stove on in an unoccupied house must be considered safe. They wouldn't let them make them with timers if it wasn't, I would hope.

I doubt timers are features on ovens so people can bake stuff while not being at home. I use our timer daily but I would never leave our oven on without being home.

 

[MataHari22]

Back to OP's point. Since most modern electric stoves still have timers build in them to turn on automatically, then having a stove on in an unoccupied house must be considered safe. They wouldn't let them make them with timers if it wasn't, I would hope.

I doubt timers are features on ovens so people can bake stuff while not being at home. I use our timer daily but I would never leave our oven on without being home.

So why do you use the timer to turn on the oven if you're home? Just so you don't have to walk back in the kitchen later and turn the oven on?

 

[MSLRAC]

So why do you use the timer to turn on the oven if you're home? Just so you don't have to walk back in the kitchen later and turn the oven on?

I've never had an oven timer that would turn the oven on...just off. When I bake something, I set the timer so that the oven turns off and whatever I'm making doesn't burn in case I can't get to the oven right away because I'm doing something else at that moment.

 

[tvguy]

I've never had an oven timer that would turn the oven on...just off. When I bake something, I set the timer so that the oven turns off and whatever I'm making doesn't burn in case I can't get to the oven right away because I'm doing something else at that moment.

GE Spectra ovens have the start time etc, however, in just talking to my wife, she didn't know our oven would do this. They call them Automatic Ovens, and those buttons on the left control it.

 

[MSLRAC]

GE Spectra ovens have the start time etc, however, in just talking to my wife, she didn't know our oven would do this. They call them Automatic Ovens, and those buttons on the left control it.

Does GE state in writing that it's safe for the timer to be used to turn on the oven in an unoccupied house?

I ask because the weekend that we moved into our new home, a house at the front of the neighborhood caught on fire. It was traced back to the self cleaning oven that the lady had started and then left so she could run errands. They are still fighting with the insurance (2 months later) to get the extensive damage covered because the insurance is saying it was against the manufacturer's usage guidelines to leave it unattended. They have deemed the fire gross negligence on the homeowner's part and they are refusing to cover it. I would think that using a timer to start an unattended oven would fall into that same category if there was a fire.

 

[Bilberry]

I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving an oven on and then going to bed.

I can remember years ago we had a Chinese business man fly into town to visit the company. He requested a room with a kitchen as American food tended to upset his stomach. Well, on the first day he went to cook some food in the oven or on top of the stove and while doing so he fell asleep. He was tired from the long trip. The food caught on fire, causing the hotel fire alarm to go off resulting in an evacuation to occur. Thankfully nothing or little was damaged in the room. I was not there to see what happened, but he was terribly embarrassed and giving many gifts to the hotel staff.

 

[tvguy]

Does GE state in writing that it's safe for the timer to be used to turn on the oven in an unoccupied house?

I ask because the weekend that we moved into our new home, a house at the front of the neighborhood caught on fire. It was traced back to the self cleaning oven that the lady had started and then left so she could run errands. They are still fighting with the insurance (2 months later) to get the extensive damage covered because the insurance is saying it was against the manufacturer's usage guidelines to leave it unattended. They have deemed the fire gross negligence on the homeowner's part and they are refusing to cover it. I would think that using a timer to start an unattended oven would fall into that same category if there was a fire.

I scanned the owners manual, and I sure don't see any warning about not using the self cleaning feature, or the timed cooking in an unoccupied house. I have included a link if you care to double check. It does say it auto shuts off after 12 hours, but you can override that. http://products.geappliances.com/Ma...Dispatcher?RequestType=PDF&Name=003670140.PDF

Insurance companies certainly have been known to try to get out of paying claims. While I would not leave my house with the oven on self clean, or on a timer, I suspect when all is said and done in the courts, that insurance company is going to be writing a check for the damages, and probably a nice check for punitive damages, and a fine from the state insurance commissioners office since that is how the appliances are designed to work.

 

[manning]

You may want to consider a fresh turkey.

Anxiously waiting signs of food piosoning. This 40+ years is long enough.

 

[manning]

I'm a vegan and even I know it takes more then overnight to thaw out a whole turkey. My guess is it takes a good 3-4 days.

O well

I'm a vegan and even I know it takes more then overnight to thaw out a whole turkey. My guess is it takes a good 3-4 days.

oh well. It tasted good and the wife said it was longer than that. Give me 4 turkeys.

 

[GaryDis]

I'm surprised at the discussion. Not that there would be people afraid of leaving their oven on overnight, but that there would be so many.

Growing up in a Conservative Jewish home, we never adjusted the stove on the Sabbath, and I still don't. But for most of the year, we'd have a tea kettle full of water sitting on a diffuser (for ritual, not safety reasons), sitting on a flame that was turned on Friday afternoon before sundown and left on until dark on Saturday. This was the good old days, with no smoke detectors, and a pilot light on the stove that was on 24/7. I survived.

There's also a long-standing Jewish tradition of a Sabbath stew, called cholent, which would start cooking Friday afternoon, and continue cooking overnight, to be ready for Sabbath luncheon. We weren't much into cholent and, to be honest, I don't remember what we did for warm meals, though I wouldn't be surprised if at least at times, the oven was left on overnight with tightly wrapped food.

Modern ovens often have a 12-hour automatic shut-off for safety reasons. But cholent is such a big deal that you can get high-end ovens with a Sabbath mode, which (among other things), disables the 12-hour shutoff, since it would be a pretty poor lunch if the oven turned off around 3 or 4 AM. While it's true that this would normally cook at a low temperature (typically 170-200 F), I think it's clear that the manufacturer believes it's ok to allow the oven to run overnight.

 

[scrapquitler]

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...

They are doing 'low and slow" My Mom always, always cooked her turkey at 250 degrees for hours and hours...and it was always moist and delicious.

I do it now, when I make Sticky Chicken (the recipe is on allrecipes and has thousands of great reviews) I cook it at 250 for 5 hours, and that's a regular size chicken.

 

[scrapquitler]

But what do you do if it is done at say 8:00 in the morning after cooking all night? Put it in the fridge and microwave it later? Seems strange to spend all that time cooking only to re-heat it hours later.

slice,place in an oven safe dish, cover with broth, seal with foil and reheat in the oven.
My Mom always did it to save room in the oven right before dinner time to cook the other things that also had to be baked...otherwise only the turkey fit in there.