Fried a lower oven element in a blaze of light and spark. Element leads still have over 14 volts power even though oven control knob is off. Oven cycle light is also on but very dim.
Do I need more than just an element or is this normal?
Thanx for your time.
One leg of your element is always hot (120VAC). The switch completes the other 120v to power the element. What you’re reading is probably the voltage trying to go through an almost blown-out element. Unplug the range to replace the element.
— Begin quote from magician59;205500
One leg of your element is always hot (120VAC). The switch completes the other 120v to power the element. What you’re reading is probably the voltage trying to go through an almost blown-out element. Unplug the range to replace the element.
— End quote
Thank you for your reply.
The element is in pieces. When it burned out, I turned the control knob from the 350 degree setting to off. The heavy sparking and flashing went away but there was a white hot area of melting element of which did not cool down. Instead it traveled around the only piece of element of which was still connected to one of the power leads as if the element was a dynamite fuse. The element was breaking into pieces behind this molten bead as it traveled. The section of element ahead of it was slightly glowing as if to be set on low. Only when I turned off the house breaker did this come to an end.
With the element unplugged and the oven dial set to off I was able to detect 14+ volts of power from a volt meeter. The oven cycle/power light was also glowing but very dim. When I turned the dial to 350 degrees the oven cycle/power light became bright and the volts on the leads went up sharply, as I would expect them to.
I just don’t want to put a new element in and find out that there was another problem of which caused it to burn out. Nor do I want a fire hazard, as I would expect a burnt out element to fry and stop burning, not bust into pieces and then act like a bomb fuse. I wish I had gotten video of it, it was a bit unnerving.
Thanx again for the help.
I’ll bet is was quite a fireworks display. Let us know the outcome.