# oven vents way too much heat



## hoteo (Dec 7, 2013)

Kenmore gas freestanding oven/range mod #790.78832601. While at a friend's house I listened to her complain about why her chicken was taking so long to bake in her oven. I observed that while the oven temp was set at 350 it was no where near that temp. Also I noticed that the amount of heat venting from the top of the stove (just under the controls) was way too much making the control panel too hot to touch. The next day I checked the temperature probe with an ohm meter and it tested good at 1150 ohms.
I started the oven and set temp to 350. It came up to temp fine however it took a while and, with a digital probe in the oven, noticed excessive temperature swings. 350 to 275 and back to 350 and so on all the while venting massive amounts of heat out the to do you have a fixp vent of the stove. This is like trying to heat your house with the windows open! So as a test I preheated the oven to 350 and blocked 3/4 of the vent with insulation. the oven imeadiately settled down to a very disirable temperature differential of about 15 degrees. I roasted a thanksgiving turkey this way and the woman was amazed. Either this oven is of poor design and therefore junk or a part in the vent is missing perhaps a baffle or reducing plate to control the amount of heat vented out. Is anybody else experiencing this same problem and if so do you have a fix for it?


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## chitownken (Nov 22, 2012)

Raise the top and verify that the flue in the center has not split or corroded. Also verify that the gasket is in place between the flue and the oven cavity. It is never a good idea to restrict the exhaust flue on a gas oven. There is a minimum amount of air that must flow through that exhaust to insure that there is complete combustion of the gas fed to the burner. Restricting that flow could result in the generation of Carbon Monoxide as there would not be sufficient air (oxygen) to allow for proper combustion.


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## hardwareman (Oct 9, 2010)

there is no baffle inside the flue, to block it and or alter the manufactures specs is asking for trouble.


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## jfrotten (Aug 14, 2011)

Is it possible that there is another air leak? Possibly the door gasket? That would allow the air to flow through the oven easier and push more of the heat out... If the flue looks to be up to manufacturer specs, there may be another leak... The thermostat and controls seem to be operating normally if it maintains temperature when you manually adjust the air flow.


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