- Rack rails down the side wall
- Rack pulled out on its rails
- Control knobs along the front rail
Warning signs · Viking ovens
Why does the broiler smoke so much?
Because broiling puts fierce heat straight onto fat, and most of the smoke comes from fat that is already in the oven rather than from tonight's dinner. Clean cavity, less smoke. If it pours out even when the oven is clean and the pan is empty, something else is going on and Viking Repair Pros of Los Angeles can find it.
What you can see, what it means, what to do now
See it
Smoke rolling out of the vent within a minute of the broiler coming on, often before the food has had time to brown, and a haze that hangs in the kitchen long after you switch off.
What it means
Splashes from earlier roasts sit on the cavity floor and on the rails, and the broiler heats them harder than any bake ever did. Food close under the element does the same thing. Neither is a fault; both are avoidable.
What to do tonight
Let everything cool, then look at the cavity floor and the rails with a flashlight. Wipe off what has collected there before you broil again, and give the food a little more distance from the heat by dropping the shelf one position.
Still doing it after that? Call Viking Repair Pros of Los Angeles on (213) 652-7030. The $89 visit covers the fault-finding and comes off the repair.
Smoke you should not wait out
Grease smoke is gray-white, smells of cooking and stops when the fat has burned off. Anything else is worth taking seriously. Smoke with a chemical edge to it, smoke that keeps coming after the food is out, or smoke arriving from the back of the appliance rather than the vent all point away from dinner and toward the oven itself.
There is one more thing worth ruling out before you blame the broiler: what is on the rack under the food. A tray lined the wrong way, a dish too small for what is in it, or fat pooling with nowhere to drain will smoke in any oven, at any address, whatever the badge on the front says.
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Follow-ups
Would a clean cycle fix it?
It would deal with the residue, which is the usual cause, so yes in that sense. Weigh it against what the cycle asks of the door and the controls, though, and never start one the week you need the oven. A cool cavity and a cloth solve the same problem tonight.
Next in the reference
Signed
Birgit Halloran
- Works on
- ovens and heating
- Time served
- 24 years
