Willie Mae Truesdale was startled by a loud explosion emanating from her kitchen. Investigating the source, she was astounded to find her oven’s glass door shattered into pieces scattered across the floor. “It was shocking, you had to see it to believe it,” she recounted.
“It was like, what in the world? Glass shattered everywhere,” Truesdale exclaimed. Adding to the perplexity, her oven wasn’t even in use at the time. And what’s even more alarming: Truesdale isn’t alone in experiencing such a phenomenon.
The Mystery of Exploding Glass Oven Doors
Cheryl, a suburban mother, encountered a similar ordeal during the COVID-19 lockdown. Attempting to bake brownies, she discovered they were undercooked in the middle. Despite her oven being just three months old, she realized its temperature was off by about 25 degrees. After the lockdown, she called in a professional to rectify the issue. However, before the technician could arrive, she initiated a self-cleaning cycle. Towards the cycle’s end, a deafening explosion resounded, shattering the inner glass of the oven door.
Michelle Wheat faced a similar plight when her oven door exploded, leaving glass strewn across her kitchen. Like Truesdale, Wheat’s three-year-old oven was inactive at the time. Fortunately, her four young children escaped unharmed from the shattered glass. While Truesdale’s oven was from Frigidaire and Cheryl’s from Bosch, incidents of exploding glass doors aren’t limited to specific brands. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received approximately 450 reports of such occurrences since 2019.
Regrettably, all three women encountered difficulties with the manufacturers following the incidents. While Truesdale’s oven was still under warranty, Frigidaire’s technician attributed the explosion to the family, despite the oven being off. Consequently, Truesdale had to bear the cost of a new door out of her own pocket. Fortunately, Bosch replaced Cheryl’s oven after NBC intervened.
Meanwhile, Wheat’s oven was no longer under warranty, leading to an additional expense of $314 to replace the shattered glass. Frigidaire’s suggestion for Wheat to purchase an extended warranty left the frustrated mother of six questioning the occurrence: “This should not have happened,” she asserted.
What Causes Oven Doors to Shatter?
Mark Meshulam of Chicago Window Expert sheds light on the matter: “There are two scenarios of why oven glass can break spontaneously.” He explains that soda lime glass, commonly used in oven doors, isn’t as tolerant of rapid temperature changes compared to borosilicate glass. This shift in glass type has contributed to an increase in such incidents.
However, it’s also probable that these explosions stem from a nickel sulfide inclusion, an extremely small flaw within the glass. “It’s only about a tenth of a millimeter in diameter. That little ball has some peculiar properties,” Meshulam explained, further adding, “over time, it’s struggling to escape. And sometimes, a high-heat event like oven cleaning can trigger the final spontaneous failure that was already present.”
Nonetheless, Meshulam offers reassurance regarding the safety of oven self-cleaning features. “Most people will go their entire lives using the self-cleaning feature without encountering this issue,” he remarked. He also suggests that microscopic chips and flaws are often the culprits behind oven explosions when they are not in use. However, what’s particularly alarming about this scenario is that the door can shatter long after the initial damage occurs.
Tips for Prevention
While some of these tiny points of damage may occur during production, shipping, or installation, homeowners can take steps to minimize damage at home. For instance, certain common habits can lead to microscopic scratches or chips on the glass. These include using aggressive cleaning techniques and subjecting the glass to excessive physical impact.
Share
What does it symbolize when a person who passed away shows up in your dream?
Some people dream, some don’t, or at least they don’t remember doing so.
But do dreams mean anything? Well, while people are convinced dreams are a form of messages received by forces we are unable to see or feel while wide awake, some scientists claim that dreams are simply a result of neuronal processes taking place within our brain.
While we are asleep, our brains are anything but.
Sometimes, dreams happen as a reflection of the day that passed, and other times they represent our fears. But what does it mean when we dream of a deceased person?
These dreams can be seen as part of the process of grieving or a transition that takes place in our own life. According to Healthline, it has to do with the latter.
These dreams are common when we experience certain changes, such as getting a new job, moving places, or meeting someone new.
What is most important than the dream itself, however, is how it make us feel.
Rubin Naiman, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, spent years of his life studying sleep patterns and habits. According to him, “Dream interpretation is about decoding the dream. It enlightens us and expands our awareness psychologically, [offering an] expansion of consciousness.”
So, dreaming of someone who is no longer alive may be related to the changes mentioned above and how those changes affect us.
”A lot of contemporary neuroscientists believe during REM sleep, the brain is involved in maintenance tasks, and it accidentally ‘kicks up dust,’ visually. At that end, dreaming is considered totally meaningless.” On the other hand he explains, “The other end is that dreaming is more substantial than waking. And we see this in ‘dream cultures,’ such as the indigenous people of Australia, who believe dreaming is intrinsic to our spiritual existence.”
Experts place these dreams into four categories.
- First, dreaming of a deceased person may be interpreted as the brain trying to work through the pain of the loss.
- If we hadn’t made amends with the deceased person before their passing, we may feel guilt and that might be the reason why they visit us in our dreams.
- According to Lauri Loewenberg, a dream analyst, we may be dreaming of a deceased person if we see some of their behaviors, such as substance abuse or else, in ourselves.
- There are experts who believe that these dreams represent a visitation from the deceased person, especially if we see them in a good condition in our dream, meaning they are well dressed or seem happy. If we feel good about the dream, it may mean that the deceased person says ‘Hello.’
No matter what we feel about dreams, the truth is that they offer something deep and meaningful. They often give us insight into the soul and our connection with the deceased person that we see in our dreams.
Leave a Reply