Help! Popping noise from stove UPDATE

[Teaching3bears]

UPDATE:  I think the noise is actually coming from the fan above the stove (which is not connected to the stove). I have not used it in a long time.  The noise was really loud this evening and I thought it might be birds fluttering their wings so I turned the fan on loud for 10 minutes.  
Might that get them to leave?  If they are still there what can we do?  I don’t even know where the fan vents out.  Is there someone I can call to take them out?  Can they do this from outside the house?

Original post: My stove/oven is making a loud bubbly popping noise, like movement.  It is making when off, not just when on.  It has done this the past two days.  I moved it out.  There is nothing behind it.  There is nothing inside it.  The sound almost sounds like it’s coming from the back panel where the dials are.  I don’t hear any animal noises but the moving popping sound.  I freak out from animals in the house.  Don’t tell me it’s animals.  How could they be in the panel anyways?  The stove is less than a year old.  Could it be something else? Help!

Edited April 11, 2021 by Teaching3bears
Update

[kirstenhill]

Oh! We had something like this happen and it turned out to be a mechanism that was failing.  I think it was a part that ignites the gas for the oven? For us it eventually failed all together and it was one of those "almost as expensive to replace the part as the whole oven" situations, so we purchased a new range. 

 

Eta: since yours is newer there may still even be a warranty against defects if it's a similar issue. Ours was 15+ years old. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by kirstenhill

[Teaching3bears]

Just now, kirstenhill said:

Oh! We had something like this happen and it turned out to be a mechanism that was failing.  I think it was a part that ignites the gas for the oven? For us it eventually failed all together and it was one of those "almost as expensive to replace the part as the whole oven" situations, so we purchased a new range. 

Yikes.  Ours is an electric stove.  

[kirstenhill]

1 minute ago, Teaching3bears said:

Yikes.  Ours is an electric stove.  

Oh, yeah an electric part wouldn't do the same thing. I would try unplugging it. If you still hear the noise, it's not the stove itself? If you don't hear it, then you know it's some component of the range. 

[Laura Corin]

Do you have a rotisserie function?  An oven in a rental once started making a noise and it was the never-used rotisserie. 

[gardenmom5]

It sounds electrical, as if something was shorting.  I would unplug it, and not use it until you have someone look at it.  It could be a fire hazard.

[Teaching3bears]

There is an update in the original post.

[Laura Corin]

We have had birds nesting in the fan outlet hole after the exterior mesh on it fell down. I would track down the hole. 

Check your local regs. In the UK you are not allowed to disturb wild nesting birds.

[Tanaqui]

That's the case in the USA as well - native songbirds are protected by international treaties. Interlopers, such as starlings (in the US), are fair game. There may be some exceptions if they're a serious hazard, but it's best to handle all that through a professional.

[Tanaqui]

However, many over-the-stove fans don't vent to the outside. In fact, they don't really vent... anywhere. They just sort of circulate the air upwards, which makes them wholly useless. You might still be mistaken as to the cause of the popping.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Tanaqui

[Laura Corin]

3 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

That's the case in the USA as well - native songbirds are protected by international treaties. Interlopers, such as starlings (in the US), are fair game. There may be some exceptions if they're a serious hazard, but it's best to handle all that through a professional.

The only small non-native interlopers in the UK that I can think of are parakeets. Those are really loud but haven't made it this far north yet. Apart from that it's mostly large game birds and ornamental ducks. Sorry about the starlings.

[Pawz4me]

In our former neighborhood multiple people had problems with birds getting in their vents. The ones I remember were in bathroom vents and dryer vents. You can get cage-like attachments to go over the vents to keep birds out. Luckily (for us) it happened to our neighbor first, so we recognized it early when it happened to us and got a handyman out to get out the beginning of the nest and put up a cage. The vent was higher up than our ladder could reach, so we had to get somebody to do it--otherwise, it's an easy DIY job. One neighbor had to wait until the birds hatched and left, and (not surprisingly) there was a huge clean up involved. I watched the handyman pull the nest out and it was unreal how much stuff kept coming.

But I agree with @Tanaqui-- lots of stove vents don't really vent anywhere. If yours does you're lucky, even if you do have birds to contend with!

[Teaching3bears]

I have a feeling our does not vent anywhere.   If that is the case, how could birds get inside. And it might not be birds. I will call around. I might have to wait until Monday.

[Lady Marmalade]

One morning at work, one of our ovens was making these horrible popping noises- specifically it sounded like something metallic was caught in the fan, and the flat-top attached to it was not heating up properly.  It was a terrible sound but at 5:30 in the morning, you don't just call a repair guy, you know?  We were making plans to what ovens we would use instead of that one, and how we would scramble eggs without a flat top when it occured to me to check the plug.  Rolled out the stove, and sure enough, the plug was not fully in the outlet.   Pulled it all the way out, made sure there was nothing on the prongs and plugged it back in.  Voila, the noise stopped and it was back to work.  It had been plugged in just enough to get a trickle of electricity to start to heat up, but the fan kept shorting out, which was the awful noise it was making.

All that to say, check to make sure it's fully plugged in- both to the wall and the oven itself.  Make sure there isn't any damage to the cord too.

[gardenmom5]

On 4/8/2021 at 8:19 AM, Teaching3bears said:

UPDATE:  I think the noise is actually coming from the fan above the stove (which is not connected to the stove). I have not used it in a long time.  The noise was really loud this evening and I thought it might be birds fluttering their wings so I turned the fan on loud for 10 minutes.  
Might that get them to leave?  If they are still there what can we do?  I don’t even know where the fan vents out.  Is there someone I can call to take them out?  Can they do this from outside the house?

Original post: My stove/oven is making a loud bubbly popping noise, like movement.  It is making when off, not just when on.  It has done this the past two days.  I moved it out.  There is nothing behind it.  There is nothing inside it.  The sound almost sounds like it’s coming from the back panel where the dials are.  I don’t hear any animal noises but the moving popping sound.  I freak out from animals in the house.  Don’t tell me it’s animals.  How could they be in the panel anyways?  The stove is less than a year old.  Could it be something else? Help!

 if your fan vents outside - yes, birds can get into it.  we had some try and build a nest in the bathroom fan ducting.  after resolving it, we put screen/mesh over the exterior pipes. 

for venting outside - it could be a wall or it could be the roof.

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

I have a feeling our does not vent anywhere.   If that is the case, how could birds get inside. And it might not be birds. I will call around. I might have to wait until Monday.

I don't know if they ever vent to an attic, but if so, pests can get in that way. It could also be bugs--sometimes even fairly small bugs can make a huge racket when they are in a duct. The sound bounces all around. 

[gardenmom5]

2 minutes ago, kbutton said:

I don't know if they ever vent to an attic, but if so, pests can get in that way. It could also be bugs--sometimes even fairly small bugs can make a huge racket when they are in a duct. The sound bounces all around. 

lazy builders will vent into the attic.   and in older homes it's more common to vent into the attic.  both of my daughter's bathroom vents vented into her attic, so she had to have that fixed.

[Teaching3bears]

I looked outside and there is a vent going out.  It is very high and you could fit a hand in it but not much more if you take the plastic thing off the top.  This morning they were much noisier. They were chirping a lot too.  Then I saw one outside on the fence and a couple of others.  I think they are robins.  They are quiet now.  I think they go somewhere midday.  I called a company but they can’t come for a few days so I might see if someone can come sooner.  They said they can usually do all the work from outside but I don’t see how.  I am worried they have actually gone into the fan in the kitchen.  It is a big fan and they sound so close but the woman on the phone said it might just be an echo.  Covid is super super high in my area and it is mostly new variants.  Even with a mask and windows open I think if someone comes in your home it is a big risk.  My sons have bad immune systems.