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The child had been playing with the oven door without my knowledge for some time. How to know whether the oven's door has loosened and is leaking out some energy or is as tight as it was when new?

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Unless you have a measured baseline from before your child played with it there's no 100% way to know whether the seal is as good as it was when new - you have nothing to compare it to. If you want to determine if you have a decent seal you need to use your cheek and your ear.

Oven seals not only hold in heat but sound as well, while your cheek is sensitive to heat and airflow. Put something sizzly in your hot oven and then move your head all around the closed door. If you hear the sizzle (or the fan if you have a convection oven) and feel a blast of heat in an area that's a good indication your seal is not effective there anymore. Use your body weight against the door and see pushing it closed cuts the sound and heat. If pushing it closed works it's more likely weak hinges than the seal. If there's no sound or heat leakage you are still good.

Keep in mind oven seals do degrade and some oven hinges weaken over time, if you do have a leak it may have nothing to do with your kid.

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  • Also hinges tend to be quite strong to start with - if the door opens downwards you could well be putting a heavy roasting tin on it while juggling dishes, and it would have to be strong enough to take that even if they tell you not to because the risk of dropping a hot heavy dish is so high. With a swing door (weaker hinges), look at the closed door compared to the nearest part of the frame - it should look parallel.
    – Chris H
    Jan 26, 2015 at 12:39

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