Oven Karma

Our oven died just a few days before Thanksgiving.  Over the years we've had multiple oven failures on or near Thanksgiving.  It must be oven karma.

This oven, which is a Fisher Paykel OB30DEPX1, didn't work when we purchased it new four years ago.  The problem was two wires which were crossed when it was manufactured.   And this time it was another manufacturing issue, a bad connection caused by damage to the cable connector.   The connector was so loose that it arced and built up carbon over the years until it finally stopped working all together.

It died when we were in the middle of preparing for a dinner party.  The cake was baked.  The corn bread (two kinds) was baked.  The pork verde was in the oven when it died and we had to finish cooking it on the stove top.  That worked pretty well but the consistency was changed.   And we were bummed to have a broken oven AGAIN.

Pork Verde prep

Corn bread with jalapenos and cheese

plain corn bread

 Verde ready for the oven

Verde just before the oven failed...

 John watching Steve work on the oven

It was a huge hassle when we had the original problem.  Fisher Paykel was not easy to deal with.  I think it took about a month of much time on the phone with them.  The first two techs who came could not diagnose the problem.   We had to wait a long time for parts that didn't fix the problem.  It was a terrible customer service experience.  And with a brand spanking new oven.

But finally we hit gold and got a technician who could really diagnose problems.  He read the schematic and found the crossed wires.  I saved his contact information and I sent him an email on Saturday night after our party.  When I got up on Sunday, I had a response.  I was so excited that I woke John to tell him.

And today our oven is fixed.  Ahhhh....

The oven tracks all sorts of statistics used in diagnostics.  In the four years we have had the oven we opened the door 4350 times.  We've never used the self clean cycle and the oven tracks that (it's not good for the oven).  We don't cook meat in it.  We've been good to the oven.  I wish it would be nicer to us!

Steve says he likes his job and intends to work there a long time.  We are very happy to know that.  If you can't rely on your oven, it's good to know someone who can fix it.