Went to make some food in our oven today, and shortly after I turned it on, there was a loud 60Hz buzz and arc flashing from inside.
I shut it off and quickly determined the Bake (bottom) element had melted open and was re-fusing together as it was cooling off.
Decided to look at just replacing the element since the oven is otherwise in good shape. I also knew that the Broil (top) element was not working at all so I decided to investigate that before I ordered parts in case I needed something else.
After a bit of probing with my DMM, I discovered the relay that controlled the broil element on the PCB was not switching or working properly. Needing to remove the PCB to investigate further, I started unhooking it. As I was doing that, I accidentally pulled one of the relays right through the board.
Its a high current relay with spade connectors on top which is what I was trying to remove when I pulled it through. This didn’t hurt the board at all, which gave me a pretty good idea what was going on. This relay controls both heating elements. They each have their own individual relays on one phase and then they both connect to the other phase through this relay.
I got the PCB out of the oven and found that I was correct. The solder was dry and cracked easily, which is why the relay pulled out without damaging the board. That blackened joint is the load side of the Broil relay. It had cracked and arced, vaporizing most of the solder.
After I saw that, I decided to desolder and remove both of the remaining relays, clean the solder off, and resolder it with fresh solder.
I also removed the solder for the spade connectors as best I could so I could put fresh solder on them as well.
And complete. I put too much [censored] solder on most of the joints. Thats something I haven’t nailed down yet is getting it just right. I start with too little, so I add some and then I usually end up with more than I need. One day, I suppose.
But, after reinstalling the board, it works great! The broil element worked for the first time in a few years I’d imagine. I discovered also, that it runs the broil element in bake mode too, so, with only the bake element, it was having to work all the time and is the likely reason it failed. I know it seemed like it would take forever at times to warm up, and if you wanted a really high temp, 450F+ it would never get there.
Also, I was looking at my pictures, and realized the pinout and spacing for the Element relay and the Broil relay are the exact same. So in theory if it were to fail again, I could source a relay like the element relay, with the spade connectors on top, and eliminate the board connections all together except to hold the relay in.
I ordered the new element, which was $55 shipped and this thing will be working like new!
I shut it off and quickly determined the Bake (bottom) element had melted open and was re-fusing together as it was cooling off.
Decided to look at just replacing the element since the oven is otherwise in good shape. I also knew that the Broil (top) element was not working at all so I decided to investigate that before I ordered parts in case I needed something else.
After a bit of probing with my DMM, I discovered the relay that controlled the broil element on the PCB was not switching or working properly. Needing to remove the PCB to investigate further, I started unhooking it. As I was doing that, I accidentally pulled one of the relays right through the board.
Its a high current relay with spade connectors on top which is what I was trying to remove when I pulled it through. This didn’t hurt the board at all, which gave me a pretty good idea what was going on. This relay controls both heating elements. They each have their own individual relays on one phase and then they both connect to the other phase through this relay.
I got the PCB out of the oven and found that I was correct. The solder was dry and cracked easily, which is why the relay pulled out without damaging the board. That blackened joint is the load side of the Broil relay. It had cracked and arced, vaporizing most of the solder.
After I saw that, I decided to desolder and remove both of the remaining relays, clean the solder off, and resolder it with fresh solder.
I also removed the solder for the spade connectors as best I could so I could put fresh solder on them as well.
And complete. I put too much [censored] solder on most of the joints. Thats something I haven’t nailed down yet is getting it just right. I start with too little, so I add some and then I usually end up with more than I need. One day, I suppose.
But, after reinstalling the board, it works great! The broil element worked for the first time in a few years I’d imagine. I discovered also, that it runs the broil element in bake mode too, so, with only the bake element, it was having to work all the time and is the likely reason it failed. I know it seemed like it would take forever at times to warm up, and if you wanted a really high temp, 450F+ it would never get there.
Also, I was looking at my pictures, and realized the pinout and spacing for the Element relay and the Broil relay are the exact same. So in theory if it were to fail again, I could source a relay like the element relay, with the spade connectors on top, and eliminate the board connections all together except to hold the relay in.
I ordered the new element, which was $55 shipped and this thing will be working like new!
