I can't make logical sense of this.
We were cleaning behind the oven and when sliding it back into position I heard an arc/snap and the clock went out. Pulled the range back out and the back panel was dented in. We'd accidentally pushed the back of the range against an obstruction.
I removed the back panel and saw immediately what the problem was. The ends of the bottom element exit the range back and are connected to a red and yellow wire via push on terminals. The steel back of the range is pretty flimsy and is just under an inch away from these bare terminals. The panel contacted the red terminal attached to the element and shorted, tripping the breakers downstairs.
No big deal, eh? I pressed the panel back into shape, left it off, and went downstairs to reset the breakers. The clock runs. Blinking 12:00 o'clock with no error codes. The four stovetop elements work fine. But the bottom element won't heat. ????
Ok. I get out the circuit tester and the red terminal is getting 120. I check for continuity across the red and yellow terminals on the element and it's good. Seems the element isn't shot. I try the broil setting and the top element is not working either. So both elements are probably good. Must be upstream somewhere.
I look at a circuit diagram and there appear to be no separate fuses, fusible links, or high limit switches to replace.
Since the bake element red terminal is hot, and the yellow terminal runs uninterrupted to the main PC board behind the oven knob control, and the next circuit in line is the relay I crack the outer casing off of the relay and watch the contacts as I turn on the oven. Nothing. But neither is there action on the upper (broiler) element relay either with the oven dial know turned to broil. So the relays are probably, logically, not the problem. (The top element was not shorted out) So it's something upstream yet. The board is, with one exception of a large multipin IC, entirely "old school" with no SMDs. So spotting anything burned should be easy. All appears ok.
I also sharpened the end of a pencil sized oak dowel and used it to close the relay contacts with the oven temp selector knob turned on. The bottom element heated up just fine. Let me ask here.. is this bottom element 220? Is the relay grounding the heating element on the yellow leg and running the element at 110 off of the hot red wire? Or does the relay deliver 110 to the yellow leg thereby combining with the red to run the element at 220?
So What defies logic, to me, is that when the bottom element was accidentally shorted and the main service panel breakers were tripped the element was not energized. The temp control know was in the OFF position. Therefore the relay contacts were open. So any surge could not possibly have gotten to the circuit board beyond that relay.
I'm baffled. I'm a bit depressed about this. The range has plenty of good years in it. I had no intention of replacing it and am afraid to even look yet into the cost of a board replacement. Especially when It seems to me that the board might not be the problem.
What could have happened? The only possibility I can imagine is that a surge arced across the open relay contacts and entered the board. That's very unlikely, to my mind anyway, since it's only 120v and there is about 3mm of space separating the open contacts.
Any help on this?
