How Long Does the Oven Door Stay Locked After Self-Cleaning

Usually, it takes from 90 minutes to 3 hours approximately to unlock the door after self-cleaning. During the self-cleaning, the oven gets heated up to 900 degrees Celcius. And it might not be safe at all to unlock the door when it is in the Self-cleaning process. So you will have to wait until the oven cools itself down a little bit.

And once it is done, the door will be unlocked by itself. But sometimes, the door refuses to be unlocked and gets jammed. But why does the door get jammed and how long does the oven door stay locked after self-cleaning? To know the answers and many more, read this article and see what our experts have to say about it.

How Long Does the Oven Door Stay Locked After Self-Cleaning

If you face issues like grease or grime with your oven, the self-cleaning feature can be very helpful for you to clean the mess up. Whether it is for Thanksgiving preparation or just a regular clean-up, this simple process is preferred by most for being so effortless and effective as well.

But before we initiate the Self-cleaning process in the first place, we need to know some important facts about the process and how it works. 

So what does the oven do when it is Self-cleaning? In this process, the oven heats itself to 800 to 900 degrees Celcius. So when you are turning on the Self-cleaning process, the oven is going to get extremely hot. And the oven tries to burn every residue like grease or fat and turn them into ashes.

So after the Self-cleaning process ends, you have to wipe everything up and clean every residue and drippings by yourself. As you can see, with the process, the oven does not clean everything up for you. It just makes the cleaning easier, so that you can do it without a lot of effort.

How Long Does It Take for an Oven to Unlock After Self-Cleaning

The ovens with a Self-cleaning feature use the mechanical interlock feature to keep the oven locked during the cleaning. As the oven is too hot during the process, it might cause burn injury, if you try to unlock it right then. So you have to wait until the oven cools itself down a little bit which might take up to 3 hours.

Some ovens have got an automatic lock system in them. So once the process is finished, it is supposed to unlock itself automatically. But if your oven does not have this particular feature, you can wait for at least 90 minutes, so that you do not get injured by the heat.

Why Can’t I Open My Oven Door After Self-Clean

There are a few reasons why you can not unlock your oven, even after the cleaning is done. To know what is behind this particular problem of yours, you can do some simple and quick troubleshooting and figure out the cause. But mainly two common reasons might be causing all these troubles. Let’s have a look!

1. The Door Lock has Failed

Sometimes due to some malfunction, the automatic door stops working or gets jammed. In that case, the door will not be open even after the oven cools down.

2. If the Oven Has Electric Safety Short Out

Usually, the ovens have electric safety short-out feature to prevent overheating. So if the oven gets heated more than it should, it will face electric safety short out. This safety short out might cause some internal damage which will prevent you from using the oven properly the next time.

For example, as the oven will not reset, although you will be able to unlock it, there will be no heat the next time you try to bake or broil something.

How Do I Unlock My Oven Door After the Self-Cleaning Cycle

We are going to talk about two different procedures to unlock the door when it is stuck for two different types of Self-cleaning ovens. 

For Auto-Locking Self-Cleaning Oven

Step 1: If the oven is not unlocking itself after the Self-cleaning, wait for another hour to cool it down even more.

Step 2: Now you can start another short cycle of Self-cleaning for about 1 to 2 hours and then hold the “Off” button or the clear button for one minute.

Step 3: Try running another short cycle and let the oven cool completely.

Step 4: Turn off the power for about 30 seconds and reboot the machine

Step 5: Turn off the oven’s circuit breaker for about 5 minutes, then try to turn it back on.

This should let you open the door of the oven automatically.

For Ovens Without Auto-Locking Feature

Step 1: Keep the Set knobs and temperature in a clean position.

Step 2: Now slide the latch gently to the left and there you will find the release button.

Why Is My Oven Still Locked After Cleaning

A few reasons like damaged wire harness or lock motors and even temperature sensors can keep the oven locked after the cleaning. Before checking what is causing the door to be locked after the cleaning, first restart your oven.

As the oven relies on its temperature sensor when it comes to unlocking the door after Self-cleaning. If the sensor has some technical issues or malfunctions, the door will be stuck. In this case, resetting might help you unlock the oven. 

However, a faulty lock motor can cause this problem for you as well. You can release the lock manually every time it gets stuck. But that will be a temporary solution. So, if you are sure that the lock motor is behind all of this, then fixing it or replacing the lock motor can be a valid option.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can oven cleaners contaminate food?

Well, it depends on what chemicals you are using as your cleaner. Indeed, the cleaner does a great job in removing the grease, residue, and spills that happen during baking. But even after the cleaning, the smell might still be there which can give you a strong and unpleasant odor the next time you cook.

Does self-cleaning damage an oven?

As the oven is allowed to heat up to 900 degrees Celcius, sometimes, the heat can cause more damage than self-cleaning is worth. During the process, some of the internal components can be damaged or burnt out. But it all depends on the particular oven that you have. 

Can I stop a self-cleaning oven mid-cycle?

Yes, you can. Press the ‘Cancel’ or ‘Off’ button on your oven to cancel the cycle immediately. Even you can use the Stop knob as well, to stop the cycle. Besides, you can try turning off the power to stop the self-cleaning oven mid-cycle. However, stopping the oven mid-cycle during the self-cleaning process will not do any harm to the machine.

Do ovens turn off after self-cleaning?

When the self-cleaning process is done, the temperature goes down. And the oven gets turned off. Then you can unlock the door if you want.

Conclusion

Self-cleaning makes it easier for you to clean your oven with much less effort before any big events. Sometimes, solving the door jamming issue can be a cause of headaches for you. But now that you know how long the oven door stays locked after self-cleaning, you will be able to find out if your oven has some internal issues or not.