GE Oven Venting Too Much Heat? Here’s Why (+ How To Fix)

Producing heat is the typical SOP of an oven. However, if your oven is venting too much heat to warm up its surroundings, it could be a sign that there’s something not normal happening inside the oven or the other oven components. 

Here are two reasons why your GE oven is venting too much heat:

• The oven has been running for an extended length of time.
• The cooling fan blower is defective.

In this article, I’ll get right down to the bottom of these issues, and how best to solve them. Let’s get started.

The Oven Has Been Running for an Extended Length of Time

GE ranges and ovens have oven temperature limits for the bake, broil, and convection bake/roast functions. GE ovens with electronic touchpad Clock controls also have a 12-hour automatic oven shut off, which should activate under normal circumstances.

Although you should expect ovens to heat up during operation, your GE oven will heat up more if you go over the temperature limit or are cooking something for hours in the oven with high heat. In that case, the vent may appear to be venting too much heat, which may also be felt in the room where the oven is.

How To Manage GE Oven Temperatures and Long-Running Hours

Take these precautions to ensure your GE oven isn’t venting too much heat:

• Ensure you operate the oven within the recommended oven temperature limits during a bake, broil, or convection cycle.
• Do not deactivate the 12-hour automatic oven shut-off as a safety precaution.
• If your oven is venting too much heat during a self-clean cycle, ventilate the room by opening the windows.

The Cooling Fan Blower Is Defective

Most built-in GE electric ranges and ovens use an electronic control panel. Since this panel is above the oven vents, it can heat up during oven operation. As such, these appliances are fitted with a cooling fan blower to dissipate heat during all oven operations.

If the cooling fan blower is defective, the heat passing from the oven through the vents will not be adequately dissipated. As such, the area around the control panel will feel extremely hot, and the vents are likely releasing too much heat.

How To Fix a Defective Cooling Fan Blower

You’ll have to replace a defective cooling fan blower. However, you need to determine first if the fan blower is the problem. 

Important Precaution! Testing a GE oven fan blower for faults and replacing it is a complex process and can be risky if you don’t have electrical knowledge. As such, I recommend that you call a trained GE oven service technician to do the job.

To test if the cooling fan blower is faulty, follow these steps:

1. Cycle power to the oven to reset it.
2. Press and hold the number “2” and “Broil” pads on the control board for 3 seconds. This operation activates your GE oven’s error/fault retrieval mode.
3. Press the number “1” key. If the fan blower is defective, your oven will display the F350/ F352 error code. This signals a fan blower that isn’t turning on or doing so at an extremely slow speed. 
4. Press and hold the number “1” and “Broil” keys again to activate the control panel ERC test mode.
5. Press the number “3” pad to run the blower in the test mode and peep through the vent trim at the maintop to see if the fan blower is turning. If the fan blower turns at a slow speed or doesn’t turn at all, you need to replace it.
6. Turn off power to the oven and wait a few minutes for any hot range parts to cool.
7. Once cool, remove the oven top panel. 
8. Check the fan blower wheel for any obstructing objects and rotate it by hand to see if it moves freely. If it does, proceed to test the blower wiring for resistance. The white to red wires should record a reading around 31 ohms and the black to white wires 47 ohms. If this isn’t the case, replace the fan blower. If the wires are sound, move on to testing the fan wires on the control board.
9. Testing the control board fan wires should be done with the oven powered and in Service Mode. The neutral white wire and the low-speed black wire should show 120 volts. If not, remove and replace the oven fan blower.

Remember that your safety is even more important than having a functional oven. So, call a professional GE oven technician any time you aren’t sure how to tackle an oven problem.