Neff Double Oven Grill

codo

We have a neff double oven. We use the top oven as a grill. When we turned the grill on it started smoking, I assumed it was just fat residue from cooking burgers the day before. The smoke stopped after about 30 seconds, I kept the grill on but suddenly a lot of smoke started coming out of the vent. The grill element became red hot and continued to smoke so I switched it off. Today I checked the grill in the main oven and the same thing happened. Both work fine as an oven its just the grill function that’s a problem but I’m confused as to why its both ovens as I thought they would work independently.  Can anyone advise what may be the problem. Unfortunately the unit is a 4 months out of warranty.

Jeepers_Creepers

Which model is it?

Do the grills have a 'temp' setting or are they a simple on/off? If the former, does having them on a low setting prevent them from going 'red hot'?

'Red hot' is quite normal for a grill on full chat, provided it's a fairly even 'red' and not localised in one area.

As for the smoke, what smell did it have? Chances are it's what you suspect - a build up of cooking 'stuff' on the elements that's getting burned off in one go. The smell of this should be obvious - as should the smell of an electrical issue.

It would be astonishing coincidence if both elements suffered the same control failure at the same time, but in that unlikely event I'm sure you'll find that Neff can be persuaded to sort it.

For the moment, however, you need to be certain this isn't normal behaviour.

codo

Thanks Jeepers_Creepers,  

It a Neff U16E74N5GB. 

Both grills have a temperature setting, it’s normally slow to get to full heat and I have never seen the grill element red hot (ironically an annoyance normally as it’s so slow to get to the heat setting required).  The element is evenly red hot on the lowest setting and the amount of continuous smoke made me feel it was more than debris burn off. It didn’t smell of burning food and was a grey colour so I was concerned it was electrical.  

It’s certainly not normal on the top grill, yesterday was the first time I have tried the grill in the main oven so not sure how it would normally behave but again red hot on the lowest setting. 

I will give Neff a call tomorrow to see what they say. It was an expensive oven so I’m not please it has become defective after just 2 years and soon after the warranty expired. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Electronic controls? https://media3.neff-international.com/Documents/9001165394_A.pdf

This makes it trickier to work out if it's the thermostat - on most ovens the 'click' can be heard clearly, and this is a good indication of whether it's working as it should. With your electronic control, I suspect it doesn't 'click'? 

On the grill setting, if you turn the temp control beyond 'max' it goes to 'Int' for 'intensive'? Kinda sounds like your grills are going straight to that! What does the temp display say? 

If it turns out to be a control fault, this won't be cheap - but I am absolutely certain you can oblige Neff to repair it FOC :-)

codo

Thanks again Jeepers_Creepers,

I’m not sure what you mean by the click but that’s possibly as you point out it may not click. 
I have just checked the grill again and initially it wasn’t smoking like it was, I set the temperature to 265 just below Int on checking the temperature button it was going up in increments started at 60 degrees but I turned it off when it got to 165 as it was definitely hotter than it was showing and was smoking again. I will call Neff and see what they say.

Jeepers_Creepers

Conventional oven thermostats are electro-mechanical (bi-metallic strip jobbies) and make an audible 'clcik' when they turn on and off, and this will represent the actual temp of the oven or grill. It's therefore pretty easy to see if it's working as it should.

So, what happens when you turn yours to the lowest setting - 60oC? That's well under water boiling point so should only be 'touch'-hot. Is it? (Tho' I don't suggest you actually touch it..)

JohnB47

I have a neff double oven and only the top, smaller oven, has a grill element. Actually I think it's two grill elements - certainly there are two grill settings. The instructions for mine say that you should keep the door closed when grilling. This seemed odd to me at first, because at low grill settings, it just cycled on and off, which to me was more like an oven. But then I realised that setting a temperature while using the grill was pointless if you left the door open. And yes, if I leave the door open, the grill element glows bright red.
How are you using yours - door open or closed?

codo

Thanks JohnB47, both my ovens have a grill. You can select full grill or centre area grill. I leave the grill door closed at all times and unfortunately at the moment it is red hot with the door closed, it doesn’t normally get red hot even when I use it at Int setting.

Jeepers_Creepers I have just set the top grill at 60C it didn’t smoke or go red. It was more than warm so I increased the temperature gauge and immediately checked the current temperature and it stated 95C so hotter than it should have been but at the same time possibly not the thermostat as I would expect it to get very hot set even as low as 60c.  I didn’t get the chance to ring Neff today but am off tomorrow so will call them then. 

Jeepers_Creepers

I don't understand, codo. You set the top grill to 60oC and it didn't go red but was 'more than warm'. 60oC is 'more than warm' - it's hot by 'touch' standards, but pretty cool by 'oven' standards. Then you increased the temp and it showed 95oC? 

I don't understand what's 'wrong' here, unless I'm missing something. 

95oC is less than boiling point so a wet finger wouldn't even 'sizzle'. It would feel hot to the touch, tho' - you wouldn't be able to keep your finger there. 

So when does the grill actually become 'red hot'? 

codo

Sorry for the confusion Jeepers_Creepers. Normally the grill element never gets red hot even on intensive setting. This evening I set the grill to 60c inside felt quite warm.  You can check the oven temperature by pressing a button on the control panel (it only shows the temperature as it warming up. If it gets to the temperature required it doesn’t show a number). I turned the knob to a higher temperature and immediately checked the temperature and it was 95C (at this point it should have still shown 60c but was showing 95c making me think it was hotter than it should have been)

The other evening when trying to use the grill it was smoking and red hot at about 130C this is not normal for the grill. It has never been red hot even when I have had it on intensive setting. 

Jeepers_Creepers

Thanks for that.

Yes, at 130oC it shouldn't be anywhere close to 'red', not even orange. 

Sorry, Codo - I think you need Neff out. I wonder what their customer services are like? You could email them with a clear list of symptoms and see what they say?

If it needs a repair, I'd be pressurising them for this being FOC; this is not a cheap oven by any standard, and faulty controls shouldn't occur for many years. 

If it's properly faulty, then you have a pretty watertight case.