Why Does My Oven Keep Flipping the Circuit Breaker?

What Is Going On And What’s Wrong With My Oven?

Picture this: You're making dinner for your family, and you realize that after half an hour, the oven hasn't beeped to say it's been preheated. You go to check on it and realize that the oven is off. You push a few buttons, thinking, ‘that's odd I know I turned it on’, and instead, you have an oven that won't turn on. Your breaker flipped somehow. You go to fix it and start the process all over. Weird, but not the end of the world. What if it keeps happening, though? That's when you have to question, “why does my oven keep flipping my breaker?”

There are three main causes that will make it happen. It could be that you have a faulty heating element. It could be that there is an electrical short in your home. Or it could be that there is a circuit overload in the system. We'll go over these one-by-one and help you tell how to identify between each of them.

It Could Be a Broken Heating Element 

Let's start at the most common cause of this issue. If your breaker for your oven is flipping it might be because a heating element is broken. This can either be the heating element itself or the power source to the heating element. If this happens your circuit breaker will perceive it as a dangerous shift in the amount of amperage in the circuit and trip in order to keep you safe. This is built into the system in order to prevent electrical fires.

If you do determine that one or more of the heating elements in your oven is broken you will need to do a few steps. One unplug the oven completely from the wall and if possible, pull it out a little bit as well. This is to ensure your safety. What you're doing is giving the oven the chance to discharge any and all electricity. 

Next call a technician. Going in and attempting to repair or change out a heating element on your own is it dangerous and is not something we recommend.

It Might Be A Short In the Electrical System 

Your next most common cause of a consistently tripping circuit breaker is that there is a short in the electrical system. This can occur anywhere from the circuit panel itself all the way to the heating outlet of your oven. Look out for the smell of burning rubber or plastic, whether the oven is on or not. Also, keep an eye out for smoke. (Good news! The oven smoking because you burnt the turkey is not an electrical short.) 

Fortunately, if this is the issue, not only is it less expensive, it is also easier to fix. We still recommend unplugging the oven and calling a technician in order to ensure both of your safety and that of the tech coming to your aid. 

Or You Might Be Dealing With A Circuit Overload

Your final possibility, although admittedly the least likely, is that you are having a circuit overloaded. This would mean that the circuit that your oven is on is drawing so much power that the circuit breaker believes there is an issue. This means that there are too many items consuming electricity on the same circuit. Now the trick here is to figure out whether you actually have too many items or whether your oven is not on a circuit that is strong enough for it. For this, you'll need to start by figuring out which circuit your oven is on. 

Normally this is pretty easy. All you have to do is go to your breaker box and find out which one is labeled kitchen. However, occasionally you'll be in an older home where the breaker wasn't labeled when it was installed. And so you're going to have to check one by one, switching breakers off. Once you have the correct breaker isolated, start unplugging items that are on that breaker. You want to see at what point you can have your oven on and other items plugged in. If you get to the point that you have everything unplugged and when you turn the oven on it still gets flipped off by the circuit breaker, there is another potential answer. 

That is that your oven is on an outlet that is too small or it is not high enough power. While this is uncommon, it does happen occasionally, especially if construction was rushed in your neighborhood or if the oven you brought with you from your old home is sized to a different power outlet. Fortunately, both of these are extremely uncommon, and it is far more likely that your issue will be related to one of the earlier two points that we made. 

If you have isolated everything else and guaranteed that your issue is indeed tied to your circuit breaker, then you will not necessarily need a technician so much as an electrician they will actually be the first call that you make. However, we do still suggest unplugging the oven for safety sake.

Are there any reasons for an oven to cause your circuit breaker to flip that we missed? Let us know over on our Facebook page as we would love to hear from you!

If you followed our tips and found out that yes it is one of the first two causes, feel free to reach out. We would be more than happy to help you in repairing your oven and get your home running smoothly again. You can reach out to us with a phone call or by going over to our contact page. At Appliance Rescue Service, our goal is to get your home running smoothly again.

Energy Efficient Ovens 2022

What's possible, what isn't and where you need to be aware

We're looking this week at some of the most energy-efficient ovens in 2022. Unfortunately, ovens aren't as straightforward as the dishwashers we looked at last time. You've got several different types of ovens to consider and try to see how they stack up against one another. Fortunately, that's where we come in. 

What makes an oven energy efficient? When we were looking at dishwashers, we were comparing how much electricity and water was used by the dishwasher in question to finish a normal cycle. That's not as easy with an oven because of the number of factors that go into just cooking one recipe. 

- How hot is the oven getting? 

-Is the oven clean? 

- What's the fuel source, and how is that energy used? 

So we backed it up one step further, and took a look what would be judged for an oven to be energy-efficient.

According to Consumer Reports, there isn't currently an Energy Star rating for ranges (where a range is the combination of both an oven and a stovetop.) Because the oven and the stove can have two completely different energy sources, it makes it difficult for groups like Energy Star to decide what is and isn't energy efficient. So, we're not going to be looking for which models have an Energy Star and which don't. What can we look at then? 

How about how much energy is used on a yearly basis? 

An electric oven will typically cost you 12.56 cents per kilowatt hour. Most households in Texas use their oven and stove(which gets powered so long as one section is on), for at least 7 hours per week. So, you're coming up with approximately $200 per year to run your oven, at least according electricity prices averaged across Texas. 

Meanwhile, a gas oven is only using fuel for the oven when the oven is lit. Rates currently are (approximately) .22 cents per hour to run a gas oven. So you end up spending approximately $80 per year for your gas oven. So, just based on fuel consumption, a gas oven is the better choice. 

We will point out that in a previous post, we discussed the need to be running your exhaust fan when you're using the oven as well as the stove so that you're venting any and all fumes outdoors and your hospital bill doesn't go up from the buildup of fumes in the air you're breathing. So that does kick the price up a bit to approximately $100 a year to run your oven and the exhaust fan. But that's still half of what it costs to run the electric oven. 

An important note to round this section out. Despite how they're marketed at times, as of right now, Fall of 2022,  there's no such thing as a commercial induction oven. Although you can purchase an induction range, the technology isn't in the oven. It is only used as part of the stovetop. Which is a pity as we really wanted to see how that stacked up against the gas ovens.

What if you don't have a gas oven, though? As we've mentioned before, the cost to install the gas lines and purchase a gas stove can be very high upfront.   So, we've put together several options for you to make your electric stove more energy efficient. 

1) Make sure that your food is thoroughly defrosted before putting it into the oven. If the food has to come up from 30*F to 120*F internally, it's going to take much longer than if it only had to come up from 60*F.  Letting things defrost ahead of time saves you energy. 

2) Plan your meals so that you can cook several dishes at the same time. If you're planning your dishes all at once, you can cut down from having to run the oven every night to just one or two days a week. 

3) Don't wait for the oven to "heat up" if you're cooking just standard foods. If the oven is coming up to temperature anyway, you might as well make use of that time rather than wasting the energy spent. 

**An important note here. This absolutely doesn't apply to any type of baking or technical cooking. There the precise temperature control is necessary. These are meant to be general tips, not all-the-time tips. 

4) Don't open your oven door during cooking. If you're following tip number two, this can be hard. But if you're only cooking one or two things, by opening the door, you're just making it harder on your oven. Similar to your refrigerator during a blackout, every time you open the door to the oven, air escapes that it then has to replace and bring back to the correct temperature. 

5) Use glass or ceramic dishes when possible. Both glass and ceramic retain heat well and disperse it more evenly than metal dishes do. This means that you don't have to heat your oven to as high of a temperature, thus cutting down further on the amount of electricity you're using. 

6) Keep your oven clean.  A clean oven distributes heat more evenly and effectively. 

HOWEVER. DO NOT use the self-clean button unless: a) Your oven has a steam-cleaning feature. b) You're really wanting an excuse to purchase a new gas oven anyway. 

So that’s where things stand, energy-efficient ovens, are going to be gas ovens. Do you agree? Disagree? Do you have details on new ovens that we haven't run across yet? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page! 

If you’re here because your oven is driving you up the wall, it’s smoking or not getting up to temperature, we can help. Reach out to us on our contact page or give us a call at ((214) 599-0055). We’ll work with you to find a time that works best for you to have one of our technicians come and get your home running again.

Beat the Heat

How to Keep It Cool This Summer

Break out your sweet tea and swim trunks, this summer is looking to be hot! 

Both the Weather Channel and NOAA have released reports recently citing upcoming weather predictions. The Weather Channel is predicting a scorching summer for all of the continental U.S. thanks to La Nina starting this past winter.  Paired with that, NOAA isn’t seeing much in the way of rain for us, at least through the end of May. And while May might not even be summer, we know Texas. By May we will all be melting. 

So, should we be worried? Well, maybe. On one hand,Texas is already considered to be in a  drought (yes, even with all of that snow in February). High temps and little to no rain for 2 months definitely is not going to do us any favors. On the other hand, we all know that weather prediction is an imprecise science. The Farmer’s Almanac for this year said we were supposed to get a “soggy” spring. “According to our long-range outlook, spring 2021 will be mild and wet for most parts of the country with plenty of thunderstorms, especially over the central and eastern states during late April.” So, who knows. 

What we do know is that summer is summer, and many of us would prefer to keep cooler if possible, and still keep our electric bills down.  To that end, we’ll take a look at changes you can make around your home to keep things cooler and any products you can use to help with that. 

Vent Your Attic 

Let’s start at the top of your house, and work our way down.  Hot air rises, and it gets trapped in your attic. The hotter your attic is, the more that heats up the main body of your home.  If you put a fan in your attic to improve ventilation, you’ll be keeping that air moving through the home, and keeping it cool. 

Insulate the Attic Walls

Bouncing right off the last point, insulate your attic. By insulating the attic walls fully you trap the cooler air in and keep more of the heat outside. 

Invest in the Right Fans

Let’s take a look at your ceilings next. Having a ceiling fan keeps the air circulating and not getting trapped in one ‘layer’ of the room.  However, having ‘a’ fan is only half of the equation. The other half is picking the right size for the room it’s in. 

A 15 x 15 or smaller room will only need a fan that is 52 inches. 

A room that’s 20 x 20 will need one that’s 60 inches. 

A room that is 30 x 30 or larger is going to need a ceiling fan of 84 inches. 

Now, while you need to pay upfront for ceiling fans, they will save you money in the long run. The best fans, according to industry experts, will only cost you between $5- $10  to run them for a month. By comparison, a  window a/c unit can easily cost you $120 a day, if you’re only running it for 6 hours. 

Let Your Bed Breathe

While silk or sateen might look lovely, they’re no good for summer. They both trap heat, regardless of how light they feel. Instead, opt for something like cotton or bamboo. Both are lightweight materials that breathe well to keep you cool all night. Certain bamboo microfibers are also great for wicking moisture away, thus keeping you even cooler. 

Mix Up Your Nighttime Routine 

Instead of the usual, lay in bed, read on your phone, go to sleep routine, try something new for the summer. 

An hour before bed, try washing down with a wet cloth or taking a cold shower. Keep the electronics off and curl up with an ice pack, a book, and a cup of ice water. The less you move around right before bed will let you cool off and stay cooler as the night goes on. 

Block the Windows

Draw the blinds and curtains. If you have both, great! If not, that’s ok too. 

Blinds and white-backed blackout curtains will reflect heat throughout the day, keeping you cooler. We mentioned updating your curtains back in February, as a way to keep the heat in during the winter, and that change is still just as useful now! 

Switch Over To No Heat Lightbulbs 

Have you ever touched a lightbulb after you’ve had it on all day and yelped because you burnt yourself? Well, those bulbs are also a source of excess heat for your home. Swapping them out for LED bulbs or compact fluorescent lightbulbs will cut back heat. 

Products to Bring Into Your Home

Portable AC Unit -Whynter ARC- 14S 

If you want a  portable a/c unit that can follow you from room to room, this is the best. You do need to hook it up to a window for exhaust and humidity, but it’s very easy to set up and break down. The best part is that it can pump out frigid air with 140000 BTUs. 

Cooling Mattress Pad 

What about at the end of the day though, a portable a/c unit doesn’t help much if your bed itself is too warm. There are mattress pads that are water-based that you can use to help. They can cool the water within them as low as 55* F and, during the winter, or for your spouse who wants to stay warm, as high as 100*F.  With a range like that it proves its worth in both summer and winter. 

Even if the summer months ahead are scorching, with this list, you’ve got a leg up on your neighbors when it comes to beating the heat. Do you have any tips and tricks for keeping cool? Let us know over on our Facebook page! 

Don’t forget that summer heat can cause issues in faulty wiring. If you suspect something is going on with your appliances, don’t hesitate to have one of our techs come out to do a  maintenance check for you. We want to keep your house running cool, whether you’re in Allen or Frisco, Dallas or The Colony, Appliance Rescue Service is here for you. You can reach us via our website or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055). 

Just How Green Is Your Kitchen Routine?

Do you have room to grow or are you the reigning royalty? 

How green is your kitchen routine really? Sure, you recycle some things, and you work on cutting down your electric bill. But is there more that you can do, without having to go overboard? That's what we're tackling this week with a quick true or false quiz. We'll take a look at different things in your kitchen and what you can do to start making a change in your home. 

True or False: Cooking isn't somewhere you can conserve energy. 

Surprisingly enough, this is false. There's actually a couple of different ways that you can tackle this one. You can start by just not opening your oven while you're cooking or baking. Just like with your fridge, every time the oven door is opened it needs to bring the oven back up to temperature, which means more electricity used. You can also look at reorganizing how you cook your meals. Using an instant pot or making one-pot meals both go a long way towards reducing the amount of energy you're using without being too time-consuming. You've also got batch cooking. By that we mean that you'd do most of your cooking just one or two days during the week. You'd organize your meals for the week so that you used similar components several times, in different ways, you're cutting down on both energy used, grocery money and saving yourself time. 

True or False: I know what cleaners I can make at home, and which I need to purchase. 

This one is as much about being green as it is about being safe. Some cleaners you can make at home, like everyone's favorite mix of vinegar, water and dish soap. Others, like CLR aren't something you want to try mixing, no matter what internet recipes say. Remember, chlorine is not something you should EVER be mixing with other chemicals. 

True or False: My refrigerator is performing at optimal cool. 

This is one we've talked about in the past for cutting down on your electric bill. You can help your fridge run its best, by keeping the coils free from dust, and by leaving enough room for air to circulate in the fridge. So, don't stuff the fridge to the maximum is what we're saying. By packing everything in there, your  fridge can’t breathe and needs to work twice as hard to cool everything down. 

True or False: I let my dishwasher handle the heavy work. 

You've heard it before, but letting your dishwasher run without it being full just wastes your water. If you make sure to run it at night during non-peak hours, and that it's fully loaded, you'd be surprised by how much you can cut back your water and electricity usage. According to Energy Star, you actually save 75% on your water and energy bills compared to washing by hand or running the dishwasher when it's not full. 

True or False: I know all about reusable containers.

You have your standard plastic containers, we all know those. But there are other options these days that might be more versatile to your needs. You can get beeswax reusable wraps, instead of using plastic wrap. Or you can get silicone pouches to replace using ziploc bags. You can also choose to replace your existing plastic containers for something like stainless steel or glass. You can even be really smart and use all of the glass canning jars from different crafts you meant to do off Pinterest. 

True or False: If I buy it, I'm going to find a way to reuse it. 

Speaking of Pinterest, have you ever noticed how many different ideas there are for how to reuse things? You have so many options ranging from containers made from coffee creamers to using soda bottles to make ropes. 

True or False: A leaky faucet isn't that big of a deal. 

Nope. Your blogger thought this wasn't that big of an issue either, and was summarily trounced by her next water bill. A faucet that leaks at 1 drop per second can add up to more than 1500 gallons of water per year. Which means the water isn't being utilized, and it's also costing you. 

So how did you rank? Did you learn anything new or are you the green kitchen queen or king? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page, we'd love to hear from you. We'd also love to hear any other suggestions you might have on how to green up other areas of your home. 

While we did talk quite a bit about cutting back on your electric and water bills, there's something else that you can do to help. By calling in for regular maintenance for your appliances, you also help cut back on those bills. After all, a machine that isn't running properly isn't going to be using energy efficiently. Whether you want us to take a look and give you tips, or you  have something you need fixed, we're here. We want to be the best in appliance repair for Frisco and that means doing our best by you, our patrons. You can reach out to us via our website or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055).