Ladies 'n Gents - your help is greatly needed and appreciated:
I have a 7 yr. old 30" GE radiant cooktop that bit the dust today. My wife had complained about a smell (which I quickly identified as insulation - bakelite - burning), and while my head was in the cabinet under the cooktop, my wife turned on a burner - to "H" - and within two seconds I nearly crapped my pants as a loud "POP!" was heard, and a bright flash was seen.
After I recovered (and having scared my kids with my reaction), I checked to ensure that the breaker was indeed triggered (it was), and I pulled the cooktop out of the countertop, flipped it over and opened the back. It was immediately obvious by the charred circumference of sooty death what had happened: the terminal block had heated to melting and resulted in the Main Black Wire terminal block to arc through the bakelite insulation to the block retainer plate (the quickest path to ground), melting the whole shebang, including vaporizing the screwed down end of the Main Black Wire (is that common? The other incoming wire is Red). Pics of carnage:
The terminal block, listed as Part #WB17X10009, is $20 + shipping here and there (though it’s discontinued, and out of stock in several places), and it’s easy enough to replace (I’ll reuse the partially vaporized but still functional retainer plate because it’s another $13 if I don’t), but my question is what the #($# would cause it to melt in the first place? I don’t want to replace the part to have it all happen again. Clearly, the current wanted to get to ground badly and quickly, and that makes me question the integrity of the burner, or other circuitry. Everything else looks clean and unblemished, though, so I’m wondering how this could have happened.
Can anyone give me some direction on something else I should be looking for, or is this sort of thing not uncommon?
No one has any thoughts/feelings/conjecture/nothing about this?
I’m wondering if a component in the cooktop is drawing too much current, which caused the short at the terminal block, but I don’t know what I don’t know…
Thanks for the response, denman - much of what you said was on the agenda.
I would like to check each element to ensure that one or more of them isn’t shorting (or whatever they do when they go bad) - what should I be looking for?
The only thing that makes sense here is if an element is shorting to ground.
This sometimes happens especially with the feet on the baking element up to the point it is shorting.
Often though you would see it as part of the element will be brighter.
Did he say how long a wait you will have, if it is excessive I would be temped to use wire nuts to make the connections.
As long as they are rated for the amperage and the total wire size I cannot see a problem. I would use the bakelite (well I think it is bakelite, hard black insulator) type which has the brass insert with a screw. You make your connection and then screw the insulating part over top of this.
This would also have the advantage of you not having to crimp on new connectors to the stove’s wires.
Perhaps someone else will jump in with a reason why this would not be a good idea.
I would tend against trying individual speed nuts for this, if for no other reason than space limitations. That terminal block distributes hot into 4 wires, and common into 4 wires - it would be a clusterfook to try speednuts in that confined an area, and I can see one trying to slip out and making a hot mess of things.
I just got an e-mail from partSource dot com that the expected delivery was the 12th. I tend to think that means absolutely nothing, but we’ll see…
[SIZE=3]There are a few things you should look for. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Remove the front of the washer and look to the left of the washer. You should see a tube connected to the tub. Remove it and see if it is clogged. Often it will clog near that end; a lot of times there is grease or lent right at the end of that tube. If so unclog the hose and your problem will be repaired. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]If not start the washer and repeatedly turn the washer on and off. If the water stays on when you turn the washer off replace the water valve. If not and the tub overflows before the wash cycle starts replace the water level switch. If the tub doesn’t start leaking untill the wash cycle starts below are a couple other things that could be causing your problem. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]If they didn’t seem to be the problem it is either too many soapsuds causing it to overflow or the tub is spinning during wash. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Remove the front and start the washer as usual on a super load with the amount of detergent you would normally use. If lots of soapsuds come out the overflow pipe on the back left of the tub, change detergent types. If that is your problem you can go to HE detergent which doesn’t creat many suds at all. I don’t see this problem often on washers but sometimes it will happen. If the tub spins during wash you have a transmission problem. I hope this helps![/SIZE]
