Holy Moley!
WTH!!!
I was working on this month's DB challenge, happily baking along when I realized my oven was on full power!
I could smell something was just not right. Looking at the blinking control panel, I knew what was happening. Opening the oven door, I was greeted with a puff of smoke, black parchment paper and a blackened baked item.
When the heating element runs amok, the "off" doesn't work. In other words, my oven stays on... even when the dial is set to off. This happened a few times before, but I found that running the self-cleaning cycle cleared up the problem. However, this time it didn't work.
I ended up cutting the power at the circuit breaker and waited for the oven to cool before I gave everything the once over.
Great! What am I gonna do now?
If the power is cutoff, then my oven and stove top won't work without electricity.
How will I cook?
I already feel hunger pangs!
The oven is now cooled. Looking at the heating element, I see no obvious signs of damage.
I ended up pulling out the range and opened up the back. The connectors to the element looks fine. Note to self... trace the red and yellow wire. Obviously, the red wire is the main power since it comes off the terminal block.
Following the wires up the bundle, nothing seems wrong.
I end up pulling off the control panel. All the wires lead to the control unit. Of course, it's the electronics that's acting up.
Since the red wire is the power wire, I see the yellow wire plugs into the circuit board. In theory, if I pull the yellow wire, the circuit is open so the heating element should be off when I turn on the power.
That did the trick. The power is back on. The broiler and the stove top works, but my oven is out of commission.
I looked up the price of a new control unit... it was $200.
Hmmm... Since today is a holiday and there are holiday sales, I'll just buy a new range. A new range would be reliable and have a warranty. Also, buying new will give us peace of mind that new appliances shouldn't go haywire.
What a happy Labor Day holiday! :-)
2 comments:
You're a genius! Sorry about your stove. It will be nice to have a new one. I have to say... from the pics, your stove looks pretty darn clean! All that cooking/baking you do, I would have expected to see lots of gooey goop and blacked grime. Keep smiling! :)
Shawn... I'm nowhere near a genius. I just know trivial stuff (trivia = useless information). My oven is clean thanks to running the self-cleaning mode. I hate to see the electric bill at the end of the month though... it might be a shocker! Bzzzzzt!
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