Water is leaking from the bottom of the stove, what’s going on?
Grab your tissues! Lately, it seems like your oven or stove is feeling a bit emotional and has started 'crying'—you've noticed liquid leaking from the bottom. How is this possible? Where is this water coming from? Dive into this troubleshooting guide to uncover the mystery and bring back the joie de vivre to your cooking appliance!
THE POSSIBLE CAUSES FOR THIS ISSUE:
WARNING
Before you do anything to your appliance, make sure you disconnect it from the power supply.
There is a risk of electric shock.
Wear suitable protective gloves if you need to dismantle anything.
There is a risk of getting cut or injured
Excessive condensation
The degree of condensation in an oven varies depending on various factors, the main ones being: the type of food being cooked and room temperature. Some vegetables are full of water, especially tomatoes which can contain up to 94%, and a part that is too cool may cause an excess of condensation that will flow out of the oven. For this reason, we recommend a minimum room temperature of 19 °C to limit this phenomenon.
The preheating phase of the oven is not respected
To go faster, it often happens that food is introduced into an oven without preheating. However, a cold start will promote the appearance of condensation on the walls and glass of the oven which can then drip towards the floor of your kitchen. To avoid this, simply preheat for about 15 minutes before placing your dish inside.
Cooking certain foods rich in water
Take care, cooking waterlogged vegetables (tomatoes, for example) creates a lot of condensation. Similarly, putting food in the oven that has not been fully thawed can generate excess steam. To limit this risk, remember to cook these foods in a closed dish with a lid.
When cooking is likely to produce a lot of water, it is wise to place a drip pan in a low position in order to collect the liquid.
The door seal
The door of your oven is equipped with a woven/braided gasket which allows heat to be kept in the cooking chamber. However, if excess moisture is created during cooking, and the seal is no longer tight enough, the liquid can pass along the seal to the floor of your kitchen. Visually inspect the door seal and replace it if you find that it is worn, torn, out of shape, or too dirty to clean with a bit of gently warmed up white vinegar.
Purchase a door gasket for my oven
The cross-flow fan is out of order
The tangential/cross-flow fan is used to cool the oven cavity and the glass, but it also helps to evacuate cooking vapors, usually towards the front of the device. It is important to eliminate as much moisture from cooking as possible in a working oven to avoid the formation of rust. If this part no longer works properly, the moisture will not be evacuated and you may observe traces of water in the lower part of the cooking appliance. In which case it is time to replace the fan.