Who knows about electric ovens?

[SteelHorseHD]

I bought an electric stove 3 years ago on CL for $200. It has worked great for those three years but the oven recently quit working on it. you can set the oven to "bake" and it starts the countdown from 6 minutes until it is supposed to be pre-heated. The elements aren't putting off any heat what so ever. Does anyone know if it is normal for both the Broil and Bake elements to quit working at the same time? I can purchase the elements for about $30 a piece but I dont want to buy them if that won't solve the issue. Oh, and the the stove still works great, I can still cook mac n' cheese but no chicken nuggets! Thanks for any help/suggestions!

 

[D KRAGER]

Is it all electronic controlled? Or a manual switch to change from broil to bake?

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Is it all electronic controlled? Or a manual switch to change from broil to bake?

Yes, it's all electric. Just a little panel of buttons that controls everything.

 

[Gary S]

The electronics in ovens has a high failure rate from the heat. It is highly unlikely that both elements would fail. It is almost a sure thing that the electronics will fail.

A few years ago I had a fancy Amana kitchen range with electronic controls. It was just out of the 2 year warranty and the electronics failed. Amana wanted as much for new electronic controls as a new all-mechanical range sold for, so I junked the almost new Amana and bought a cheap Whirlpool mechanical one. The mechanical one now has 7 years of trouble free service behind it.
I recommend sending it to the junk yard and picking up somebody's plain old mechanical range to replace it. You can likely get a fully mechanical used one for under $100, and possibly for free as people want the fancy ones and will give away the old reliable ones.

 

[Milton Shaw]

You need to check and see if there are any thermal limit switches you may have one open that cuts off both elements. Look in behind the control area, and some are also located on the back of the oven/stove. It may just need a reset of that. I have also seen electronic controls that would quit, and would work when power was cut for a minute and then plugged back in. Electronics can get tricky with power line problems and some take more than a minute to drain power and actually do a reset or reboot when powered back up.

 

[D KRAGER]

You need to check and see if there are any thermal limit switches you may have one open that cuts off both elements. Look in behind the control area, and some are also located on the back of the oven/stove. It may just need a reset of that.

I don't have experience with ovens, but with other appliances I've worked on this sounds like the place I'd start. Most clothes dryers I've worked on, it's a high limit switch that is bad. If you suspect it being a limit switch, most can be wire around temporarily just to test. (Please don't leave it that way)

 

[sdowney717]

the heating element may be burned out, check it with an ohm meter

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Thanks for all of the input! I will mess with it a little bit tonight when I get home. If I can figure it out then I will just get rid of it. Like I said, I only have $200 in it so it's not the end of the world.

 

[trainer]

Look for fuses! Look for a panel or piece of trim around the control panel that will flip open or pull off to expose some screw in glass fuses.

chances are that you've just blown one.

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Look for fuses! Look for a panel or piece of trim around the control panel that will flip open or pull off to expose some screw in glass fuses.

chances are that you've just blown one.

I pulled it away from the wall and looked for fuses the other day. I couldn't find any. But of course that was after a few too many beers.

 

[Tscott]

Below is how I would approach it.
1. Verify voltage at pug (if none or down a leg, check breaker)
2. Verify voltage through cord to terminal block of oven (if none, replace cord)
3. Verify voltage to element (if none, then check t-stat or control board as best you can)
4. If voltage is present at element terminals, then pull element and ohm it out. (if open replace element)

There is not much to modern ovens, basically just a board or t-stat controlling the element.

Good luck,
Tom

 

[SteelHorseHD]

Below is how I would approach it.
1. Verify voltage at pug (if none or down a leg, check breaker)
2. Verify voltage through cord to terminal block of oven (if none, replace cord)
3. Verify voltage to element (if none, then check t-stat or control board as best you can)
4. If voltage is present at element terminals, then pull element and ohm it out. (if open replace element)

There is not much to modern ovens, basically just a board or t-stat controlling the element.

Good luck,
Tom

I checked everything last night. I have 240v coming in so I just followed the power wires to the control panel. I checked the voltave at the control panel and it was only at 54v? It has those plastic plugs that hold multiple wires on it so i pulled both of the power supply wires off and tested them. When they were unpluged from the control panel they had 240v but when they are plugged back in it goes back down to 54v. When I turn the oven to bake there is absolutely zero power at the bake element (I also checked the ohms on the element and it was good) i am thinking that the control panel is fried. I did notice some black stuff on some of the plugs that appears to be from some sort of fire. The old lady is on my *** to get it done before .... I guess I better get to ordering some parts!