Normal or Broken? My Oven Takes 20 Minutes to Preheat

[Anonymous]

Our GE Profile Spectra gas oven seems to be taking longer and longer to preheat. Yesterday we timed it. It took 18 minutes to get to 350 and 20 to get to 425. It is pretty old, probably 8+ years old. I have nothing to measure this against, except the fact that we seem to be growing more and more agitated as we wait for preheat. Do you folks with similarly aged ovens wait this long? Do you folks with brand new ovens have a significantly shorter wait time? We are trying to decide whether to have a repairman come out, buy a new oven, or just mix a strong drink while waiting for the oven to preheat. What do you all think?

[Anonymous]

Repair or purchase. Way too long.

[Anonymous]

Our electric oven is 8 years old and takes about 10 mins. to preheat. from what I understand, gas ovens should heat up faster, not slower, than electric.

[Anonymous]

Is it leaking somehow? Not in the it's leaking gas type of way but perhaps some of the seals are loose?

As for keeping and fixing or buying a new one. Eight years isn't a long time. But, ovens aren't crazy expensive either, if you consider how often they are used. If you are going to stay in the house for many years to come, you might consider buying an awesome one. if you're just there a few years, see if you can fix or buy a cheaper model (especially if you would have to buy a new one to sell the place). good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I think it's possible it is leaking, as it seems to release a lot of heat through the back burners.

We did start shopping for new ovens, and I agree there are so many new features. If we get a new one, I would want a double oven with convection (with the mini oven on top, larger on the bottom) and 5 burners. Unfortunately, we only have space for a 30 inch. This is not that cheap. We're looking between $1800 and $2500. I know that's cheaper than the $5k-$8k vikings, etc., but it's more expensive than the basic $850 Maytag.

[Anonymous]

Just a note that gas ovens in general take longer to preheat than electric, in my experience.

[Anonymous]

My GE Profile is about 9 years old and takes about 5 minutes to pre-heat...something is definitely wrong with yours.

[Anonymous]

I have a fairly new gas Maytag oven (not fancy) and it takes maybe 15 minutes to get up to 425.

However, you probably don't need to wait to get to top temp before you start cooking. Most recipes won't be hurt by going into the oven when it is 200 and working up to 350. The food is at 70, and so 200 is still raising the temp dramatically. Won't work well for something that will only be in the oven for 5 minutes, but for other things...save yourself the clock checking and just throw the chicken in at 200.

[Anonymous]

I was going to post the same question! Mine does the same thing--GE Profile Performance. Takes at least 15 minutes to preheat, so I often don't make stuff in the oven anymore. It's a wall oven and is probably about 10 years old (we just moved and can't remember when the seller renovated the kitchen). I also feel like ours isn't really as hot as it's supposed to be. I.e., it will be 425 degrees but I can't get potatoes to brown after 20 minutes in the oven (even after parcooking them in the microwave)--same thing I did in our last house but I never had a problem getting them to brown.

OP - is yours a wall oven?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was going to post the same question! Mine does the same thing--GE Profile Performance. Takes at least 15 minutes to preheat, so I often don't make stuff in the oven anymore. It's a wall oven and is probably about 10 years old (we just moved and can't remember when the seller renovated the kitchen). I also feel like ours isn't really as hot as it's supposed to be. I.e., it will be 425 degrees but I can't get potatoes to brown after 20 minutes in the oven (even after parcooking them in the microwave)--same thing I did in our last house but I never had a problem getting them to brown.

OP - is yours a wall oven?

OP Here. No, ours is a stand alone unit. We are going to clean it today and have a GE repairman come out on Wednesday. In addition to the oven issue, our exterior (above the stove) and interior microwave lights are no longer working despite changing the bulbs. The microwave is GE, so we're going to have the repairman look at that as well. They charge $100 to come out to your house to assess the damage. If you decide not to undergo the repair, they give you a $100 rebate to use towards purchase of a new GE applicance. I thought that was a pretty good deal. We will see...

[Anonymous]

I have a Wolf and it takes mine a long time to heat up too. I thought that was normal.

[Anonymous]

I've got an older gas oven. Takes about 10 minutes to get to 350, and 15+ to get to 450.

[Anonymous]

Mine takes a long time too. We are in a brand new home with new appliances, all Kitchenaid. The ice maker is not working in the fridge and the wall oven took 16 min to preheat to 375.

[Anonymous]

I have a brand new GE Profile Convection wall oven. The first time we used it, it took 30 minutes to preheat it to 400º. The second time it took 20 minutes to preheat it to 350º. I don't see where this is energy saving.

[Anonymous]

I have a GE electric wall oven with hidden elements and it takes forever to heat up. I assume it's because the elements are inside the metal sleeve of the oven. I am diligently taking notes on all of you who say yours takes 5 min!