Mark Meshulam of Chicago Window Expert gives an explanation about why these explosions may be taking place. “There are two scenarios of why oven glass can break spontaneously,” he said. “There’s one family of oven glass that is soda lime glass, which is window glass, and it’s heated and cooled rapidly so that it becomes tempered. That’s one type of glass that is used in oven doors. Another type is borosilicate glass. It is more used in laboratory glassware or the old time Pyrex glass, and that one tolerates heat and cold very well. So, the shift to soda lime glass has brought about an increase in these types of breaks because it’s not as tolerant of the thermal cycles that the glass will go through.”
Another possibility is that explosions are caused by a nickel sulfide inclusion, which is a tiny flaw in the glass. “It’s only about a tenth of a millimeter in diameter. That little ball has some strange properties.” Meshulam said, adding, “over time it’s fighting to get out. And sometimes the high heat event like oven cleaning event can bring about that finally that spontaneous failure that was in there.”
He, however, reassures people that the self-cleaning feature of ovens is safe. “Most people will survive their whole lives using the self-cleaning feature and not really encounter this problem,” he said. He also thinks that tiny chips and imperfections are what cause ovens to explode when they aren’t on. This is especially concerning because the door can break long after the original damage happens.
These points of damage are beyond the control of the homeowners because they usually happen during production, shipping, or installation.
Using aggressive cleaning methods and applying excessive physical force can also cause microscopic scratches or chips on the glass.
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