repairing control board for a range

[Donald]

We have an electric range that has a quirky control board causing the oven to shutoff sometimes. We are selling the house in the spring. Its a slide-in range that would be about $1400 new. The control board seems to be the only type of electronic board in the range. GE and the other parts website say its not available. However a place listed on ebay says they will repair any board (of that model) for around $100. Aside from not having an oven for a week, I am not sure what else to do.

Has anyone tried these places.

 

[SHOZ]

What is the make/model number of the range? I would think they can repair it, whether it's worth $100 or not is up to you.

 

[CT8]

I had a control board in the oven go out and I check all the voltages etc with the schematic and found the control board was bad . I bought a new board and put it in and only half the oven worked, I called the service guy and watched him. he did exactly what I did and said the board is bad!!! I told him I just put a new board in so he called the company[that is who I bought the board from] and they replaced the board and charged me half the labor! Call the guyu!

 

[JTK]

Had a similar situation with a gas slide-in at my mom's house. IIRC, she had some type of extended service contract that paid a portion of a circuit board replacement. Some time later the igniter went out. That too got repaired.

The Chinese circuitry is a real bummer though. Recently had our LG over the stove, vent/microwave oven go out. It acted like it had no power. Followed all the online tutorials, checked fuses, power supply, thermo cut-offs, all good. Couldn't find any swollen capacitors. Finally gave up and replaced it with a $179 Whirlpool.

 

[Wolf359]

You mean aside from buying a new $1400 oven? How old is the oven? The fact that a new one costs $1400 doesn't mean the old one is worth $1400. When buyers look at your home, they don't see a new $1400 oven because it's not.

The way I see it, there's 3 options. Get a new stove and just sell the used on on craigslist if you really need the money and do that when you put the house on the market so that people see a brand new stove. Don't fix it and hope that it doesn't get noticed. Normally in a home inspection, they just check to see if the burners work and if the oven fires up. Technically you should disclose that it's quirky and leave it up to the buyer, but if you didn't and they didn't ask, you could get away with one and end up sticking it to the buyer. Or try that $100 control board repair on an oven than may only be worth 1/2 to 1/4 of what it was worth new.

Personally as a broker it always kills me when sellers are penny wise and pound foolish. Just doing little things like painting and replacing worn appliances make a place more appealing and while the property might not net more, if it sells quicker, it may be worth the peace of mind and you may end up with lower carrying costs such as mortgage payments, taxes and insurance.

 

[Dave Hess]

Shouldn't be that difficult to troubleshoot if a person had an oscilloscope.

 

[Pete]

If the range is so old that the replacement part is not available... Just sayin'.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
You mean aside from buying a new $1400 oven? How old is the oven? The fact that a new one costs $1400 doesn't mean the old one is worth $1400. When buyers look at your home, they don't see a new $1400 oven because it's not.

The way I see it, there's 3 options. Get a new stove and just sell the used on on craigslist if you really need the money and do that when you put the house on the market so that people see a brand new stove. Don't fix it and hope that it doesn't get noticed. Normally in a home inspection, they just check to see if the burners work and if the oven fires up. Technically you should disclose that it's quirky and leave it up to the buyer, but if you didn't and they didn't ask, you could get away with one and end up sticking it to the buyer. Or try that $100 control board repair on an oven than may only be worth 1/2 to 1/4 of what it was worth new.

Personally as a broker it always kills me when sellers are penny wise and pound foolish. Just doing little things like painting and replacing worn appliances make a place more appealing and while the property might not net more, if it sells quicker, it may be worth the peace of mind and you may end up with lower carrying costs such as mortgage payments, taxes and insurance.


Well - I think the kitchen is good, but not spectacular. I suspect a new owner might redo the kitchen at some point but not immediately. But unsure if they redid the kitchen would they still want a slide-in range. I doubt we would recover the cost of a kitchen upgrade in the sale price. The range is a nice range with a downdraft vent, smooth glass top, it just needs the oven to work properly.

 

[datech]

I used to deal with repair places to repair large screen color monitors (back when they were very expensive). I have also shipped other electronic modules to repair depots. Generally they were ok.

You probably know that if there is something other than the control board that causes the shutoff you will have to deal with that, the repair depot has no control over that.

Whether the fix is worth it because you're selling possibly depends on a lot of other things, the overall condition and price level of the house, etc.

 

[Kruse]

Before you send the board off to be repaired, take a soldering iron/gun and hit every solder joint and make sure you lose any and all cold solder joints. If you do a little troubleshooting and find out that you have an open trace, substitute the broken trace with a small piece of wire. Carefully inspect any caps for bulging or burning and replace if you have any doubts. If that doesn't fix it, then send it off.
You've got nothing to lose.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Well - I think the kitchen is good, but not spectacular. I suspect a new owner might redo the kitchen at some point but not immediately. But unsure if they redid the kitchen would they still want a slide-in range. I doubt we would recover the cost of a kitchen upgrade in the sale price. The range is a nice range with a downdraft vent, smooth glass top, it just needs the oven to work properly.


Like I said, penny wise, pound foolish. It's not about recovering the cost of the kitchen upgrade, it's about selling the property quickly and making it more appealing to buyers. The oven is basically broken. There's no recovery of cost, it's already fully depreciated.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: Pete
If the range is so old that the replacement part is not available... Just sayin'.

You mean replacement boards are not available new. Most likely replacement parts that go in the board are available on the internet or at a local electrical supply place (like Baynesville Electronics in Baltimore). You have to fix the board or find a used one someplace.

 

[greenjp]

I sent the control board for our 16 year old GE double wall oven (replacement cost $1,900 or so +) to www.fixyourboard.com. The lower oven had stopped working. I think it was $140 total including the return shipping. They included a nice writeup of the diagnostic results and a list of all the various capacitors, relays, and solder joints they replaced/fixed. It's been working fine for over a year. Recommended.

jeff

 

[CT8]

Find out how much a low end new stove costs it will also show nive in a sale.

 

[raytseng]

i'd go with jeff's rec. over ebay- unless it's the same company on ebay.
In any event I'd get in contact and go over the exact make/model and get something more concrete
rather then just trusting the "we can fix any board"

 

[ecotourist]

My washing machine quit because a part on a control board was burned out. I could have gotten a new control board, installed, for only $400, but I found the fix on the internet and repaired it myself (for about $25) and before lunch too.

Sure I could have bought a new washer but (as my late uncle Wallace used to say,) "Just think how much longer the new one is going to last." - meaning the new one you will eventually have to get when the repaired one finally quits.

 

[sleddriver]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
Before you send the board off to be repaired, take a soldering iron/gun and hit every solder joint and make sure you lose any and all cold solder joints. If you do a little troubleshooting and find out that you have an open trace, substitute the broken trace with a small piece of wire. Carefully inspect any caps for bulging or burning and replace if you have any doubts. If that doesn't fix it, then send it off.
You've got nothing to lose.

+1
I've found more faults due to poor soldering, that I've literally lost count. I use a magnifier to search for hair-line cracks, cold joints and anything that looks odd. Plus it might also have been soldered with lead-free solder...some idiot enviromentalist's green-dream to eliminate all lead. These boards require hotter-wattage irons.

 

[Wolf359]

Or go over to Sears. Was just there and they have stoves that used to be $1600-$1800 on clearance for around $720.