BOSTON -- You can set your oven to bake or broil --- but what about open flame?

That's what one consumer said happened when he turned on his General Electric Co. Spectra oven.

"There was what I would call an explosion," said George Kennedy. "The oven element exploded, sending sparks out onto the floor, onto me. My wife jumped. I jumped. We stood back. We were watching what we'd never seen before."

Kennedy said he immediately disconnected the power.

"It was burning like a Fourth of July sparkler event," Kennedy said. "Pretty scary."

And when it was over, the heating element at the bottom of the oven was destroyed.

A retired technical teacher and army engineer, Kennedy tried to figure out what happened to his 6-year-old oven. He discovered people online claiming similar experiences.

"I came across a couple of sites where people with similar G.E. models were having the same events that they also labeled 'explosions in the oven,'" he said.

In fact, Team 5 Investigates also looked online and discovered a number of consumers who claimed to have the same problem.

A G.E. spokeswoman explained, "these element ruptures occur on an extremely small percentage of GE ovens" and "can fail...regardless of the manufacturer." She added, "G.E. is not aware of any serious injury to our customers."

To date, G.E. has not satisfied Kennedy.

"For me, the big thing is recognizing, acknowledging the product or the problem, and dealing with it," Kennedy said.

G.E. sent a technician who confirmed the heating element in George's oven failed. However, the company is sticking with its original offer of a repair or a discount on a new appliance. So far, George has refused. He wants a new oven.