Oven won't heat: troubleshooting electric range problems video

1. Gather the supplies you need

• Multimeter

• Hand tools

• Work gloves

• Bake element

• Electronic control board

2. Confirm the power supply

Hi, this is Wayne from Sears PartsDirect. Today, we're going to talk about troubleshooting an electric oven that won't heat.

The first thing we need to do is confirm that we have 240 volts of power going to the oven.

You may think that your oven is getting enough power if the controls light up. An electric oven needs 240 volts to heat, but only 120 volts to operate the controls. Even if the controls work, you could still have a power source problem.

Let's see if we’re getting any heat on the surface burner. That will tell us whether we're getting 240 volts or not. 

If the surface burner doesn't heat, check your house circuit breakers for the range. One of the two circuit breakers could have tripped, which could be the reason your range is only getting 120 volts.

Reset both circuit breakers and check for heat now. If you’re still not getting any heat, you could have a problem with your power socket.

Now, if the surface burner heats, you definitely have 240 volts of power to the range. 

3. Check the bake element

Our next step is to unplug the range and check continuity through the bake element. Always disconnect power before checking continuity.

Remove the upper back panel. Unplug the element wires from the electronic control board. Use a multimeter to measure the resistance through the yellow and orange wires that go to the bake element. Your meter should read about 16 ohms of resistance through that circuit. If you measure around 16 ohms of resistance, then the bake element circuit is okay.

Remove the lower back panel. Check the continuity of the red wire between the terminal block and the electronic control board. Your meter should read near 0 ohms of resistance through that red wire. If so, the electronic control is getting the 240 volts needed to heat the element, it’s just not sending it to the heating element in the bake mode.

In this case, you’ll need to replace the electronic control board. This video shows you how.

Now, if you read no continuity, when you checked the bake element from the control board, then you probably have a broken bake element or a wiring failure in that circuit. Check the resistance of the bake element directly at the element terminal ends. If your meter reads "OL," replace the bake element. This video will show you how. 

4. Check the bake element wiring

If you measure about 16 ohms of resistance through the bake element, then you know you have a break in the wiring between the electronic control board and the bake element.

Check the continuity of the wires between the electronic control board and the bake element to find the break. Repair or replace any broken wires. Take a look at this video to learn more about repairing broken wires.

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