Voltage for Oven element

kelbal

Hi. The oven stopped working last night - but the grill part still works fine. Initial suspicion was that the element was gone - but before I went and bought the new element, I just thought I'd check the electrics. I took the elements out, and just left the terminals hanging loose. With the grill on I measured 220V across the grill terminals. With the oven on I'm only measuring 12V across the oven terminals. Doesn't sound right, does it? Or am I incorrect?
Its an all-in-one affair, oven and grill elements are side by side. Took a photo of elements after I took them out, picture attached
thanks

Diggerdunne

measure the resistance of the oven element. If you are getting close to infinity or that then u know the element is gone, i'm not sure what the resistance of the element shud be, but a quick google might give u an answer...

kelbal

measured across the oven probes, and I'm getting 0.9 when the resistance is set to the max setting on my multimeter. Also get 0.9 across the grill probes, and the grill is working. I also get 0.9 when I touch the 2 points of the multimeter together, so I guess it means the elements have barely any resistance?
So, if its not the element, any idea what else could be wrong to make the oven not work?
thanks

Bruthal

If you got 12v across the connections that go onto the oven element, then its likely there is an open circuit in the actual wiring. Its possibly the stat, but test between each terminal and the cooker earth itself, and see does either terminal give 220 to 230v. If one of them does, and you only get 12 volts between both terminals, then possibly the neutral wire to the element has a problem.

As for the element itself, it should show a resistance of about 24 ohms if its a multimeter your using, which would be for a 2.2kw element. But it will likely show somewhere from about 27 ohms downwards if the element is ok, and just stay at infinity if the element is open circuit.

Bruthal

kelbal wrote: »

measured across the oven probes, and I'm getting 0.9 when the resistance is set to the max setting on my multimeter. Also get 0.9 across the grill probes, and the grill is working. I also get 0.9 when I touch the 2 points of the multimeter together, so I guess it means the elements have barely any resistance?
So, if its not the element, any idea what else could be wrong to make the oven not work?
thanks

You should set the resistance to the lowest for testing an element. It will only be 20 something ohms most likely.

From your original description, its either the oven stat, timeclock problem, or a problem connection in the wiring. I fixed this exact thing on an oven last december, and it was actually the mechanical timeclock contacts that were stuck open.

kelbal

yeah, realised that about the resistance setting alright. Set it to the lowest setting on meter, I'm getting 43ohms for the grill element and 51 for the oven. Not sure if thats a bad thing?

Between live & earth I get no volts. Between earth and neutral I get the same 12V.
Its a digital display, so time clock contacts probably wouldn't be an issue?

thanks again

Bruthal

kelbal wrote: »

yeah, realised that about the resistance setting alright. Set it to the lowest setting on meter, I'm getting 43ohms for the grill element and 51 for the oven. Not sure if thats a bad thing?

That sounds ok. The oven setting possibly uses both elements. 43 and 51 ohms in parallel gives 23 ohms. But either way, both elements are ok by the look of them ohms readings.

Between live & earth I get no volts. Between earth and neutral I get the same 12V.
Its a digital display, so time clock contacts probably wouldn't be an issue?

thanks again

Digital oven timeclocks still have contacts, and usually the hand symbol must be pressed to put it into manual, before them digital timer ovens will work. This might need to be done again if the power to the cooker is completely switched off.

Its easy enough to trace the problem by testing, for someone like an electrical person. Hard to say from here though.

Next thing to check is the stat if the timer is working ok.

kelbal

ah yeah, I'm fairly happy that I know what I'm doing with the buttons on the front - and when I turn the oven on the fan kicks into life so its obvious it is trying to turn on. I guess without seeing it there's nothing else to suggest? Thanks again for your time

Bruthal

kelbal wrote: »

ah yeah, I'm fairly happy that I know what I'm doing with the buttons on the front - and when I turn the oven on the fan kicks into life so its obvious it is trying to turn on. I guess without seeing it there's nothing else to suggest? Thanks again for your time

Yea its hard to say from here. Tracing the 2 wires from the element is the only other thing i can suggest, right back to the main terminal block where the supply connects to, with the main cooker wall isolator off.

Some ovens have a thermal overheat cutout on the element circuit as well, which can be checked.

kelbal

thanks robbie, i'm a bit more clued in now Think I'll take it to Mastercare tomorrow. Fella on the phone said they'll suss it out and only charge for parts, which is decent

Bruthal

kelbal wrote: »

thanks robbie, i'm a bit more clued in now Think I'll take it to Mastercare tomorrow. Fella on the phone said they'll suss it out and only charge for parts, which is decent

Yea they should find the problem easy enough. Stat, overheat cutout, possibly a relay for the oven element or a bad connection on wiring especially if the fan is running but not the element, are among the possible items amongst others, all assuming the element is indeed ok.

kelbal

They got back to me, the element is fine - but the stat and the fan element are gone. Gave me a price of €120 to fix it. Not sure whether to pay that for a 7 year old oven, or just buy a new one.
thanks for your advice

Bruthal

No bother.