Why does my oven smell when turned on?

My first thought is it needs cleaning. Anything that has spilled over will cause a smell.

I Agee with Ann. If it smells only when it heats up, then there is probably something on the bottom.

I agree with Ann & Seth. Try placing a glass bowl with about 1 cup of ammonia in your oven overnight. DO NOT HEAT THE OVEN. Remove the bowl of ammonia and the oven should be easily cleaned with hot soapy water. See if the oven continues to smell when heated.

If it was a spill, it should have baked off by now, I would look for a critter in and around the oven.

Has something dripped or burned in the oven? Have you used Easy Off and not wiped it totally clean?

The insulation within the oven's cavity may emit this odor when it's initially turned on and should quickly dissipate. If your oven is not new and suddenly smells like burning plastic, it's likely due to a wiring malfunction or melted plastic. Leftover cleaning residue can leave a strong plastic burning smell that lingers long after the cleaning took place.

You most likely have a small piece of plastic that has melted in the oven. Hopefully, you didn't have an oven liner down because they seem to be causing a lot of issues.

I would take everything out and look over every inch of the walls to see if you can find even a tiny bit of plastic. I had that happen once in my dishwasher and I thought my house was burning down.

I wonder if something got burnt inside the oven and needs to be cleaned out. Or, it's possible a critter got indoors and within the stove. I hope the latter is not the case. Try cleaning the oven interior really well and hopefully that does the job.

It's possible you have a grease build up. Sometimes it's on the door or on the shelves or the heating element itself. I'd start with a good cleaning and see if that solves the problem.

We had mice when I was growing up. They could get in our oven. And every time we turned the oven on we got a really bad smell. We finally figured out that it was the droppings burning when the oven was on. I obviously don’t know if this is why you are getting an odor. But it’s worth checking into.

Good Luck.

Does your oven have a deep clean setting? If it doesn't I would set it to broil at the highest temp it can go and let it just be hot for a couple of hours. During this time its really going to stink but it should eventually burn out whatever is causing the problem.

Hey there, Emma! When you first start the oven, it is normal to detect an unusual odor. This is caused by the combustion of gas at the burner and will go away within a minute or two. The odor of the unburned gas can be compared to the smell of rotten eggs. It is not normal to smell unburned gas in your kitchen.

Great advice, thank you

When you heat up the oven you could be smelling something similar from rancid oils if it is an old oven, or from factory oils if it is a new oven.

Hi Emma: I'd hate to think that a mouse got in there and passed away :( That happened to my brother's stove. The bottom should lift up and out so that you can see if anything spilled, and you should also be able to remove the broiler, if you have an oven with a bottom broiler.

Hi I know this has probably been dealt with but when you turn on an electric oven and it smells like fish there is a high chance of an electrical issue.

A fishy smell for no reason is the first signs of electrical issues.

Sounds like something may have dripped and continues to burn when you turn the oven on. Try giving the interior a nice cleaning and scraping up any burnt bits.

Could be the fumes from oven cleaner? Have you cleaned out the fan?