Replies

1. 
   cabanillas3 | Aug 18, 2009 12:48am | #1

   Don't know because we have GE appliances, and they misbehave in different ways.

   Try asking over here: http://applianceguru.com/ if you can't get an answer at Breaktime. These guys have talked me through more repairs than I care to think about.

   jose c.
   --
   "Though I don't think" added Deep Thought "that you're going to like it."
2. 
   junkhound | Aug 18, 2009 02:19am | #2

   If yu have gotten het onto the control panel you likely 'toasted' the touch pad. 

   Hae picked up a couple of '90's vintage induction cooktops that were 'belly up' with quoted repair bills in the 3-400 $$ range.

   Replaced the silk screened mylar touch pads with microswitches, never failed again.  The replacement is a 'custom' job, you do need to know a little electronics and how to wire a PGA. 

1. 
   gfretwell | Aug 18, 2009 03:52am | #3

   We had a big microwave in our shop that had a problem with the electronic clock/controller. I just shot the panel IBM blue, drilled a 3/8" hole through it and put in a spring wound timer. It took a few minutes to figure out which wire to hook to the timer so all the door switches still worked but off we went. It was still therer when I retired.BTW I am looking for a 24" Whirlpool wall oven with a fried electronic panel (in SW Florida). I am going to cobble in my old electromechanical panel from the oven I have. [email protected].

1. 
   junkhound | Aug 18, 2009 04:59am | #4

   Yep, our washing machine has a 1950s mechanical timer/switch.  Original blew just after warranty, so put in something old and true.

1. 
   Karl | Aug 18, 2009 07:58pm | #9

   This post has me reassessing your character!Your statement "Original blew just after warranty, so put in something old and true."has me thinking you bought a new washing machine.If you did what inspired a new washing machine when most everything else is bought used for pennies on the dollar?Karl

1. 
   junkhound | Aug 19, 2009 05:13am | #12

   My mom and pop bought the Wash machine for us when we built the house in 1974.  You are right, would never have bought a new one myself <G>

3. 
   barmil | Aug 18, 2009 07:17am | #5

   Electric ranges are pretty cheap.  Why play with it?

1. 
   Griffin12 | Aug 18, 2009 08:35am | #6

    From an economic standpoint you may be correct. I like to fix things and if a person simply just threw out everything that was not working, I at least, would be in the poor house quickly. One of the problems we have in this country is that too many people just throw out instead of fixing so they can just fill up the landfill and buy more Chinese ####. 

2. 
   junkhound | Aug 18, 2009 10:31am | #7

   Electric ranges are pretty cheap.  Why play with it?

   Huh, Are you a billionaire??

   Also, nearly always takes less time to fix something than go find new, and the new is probably inferior quality to the old. 

    

1. 
   barmil | Aug 19, 2009 04:14am | #10

   My experience is that the most expensive replacement part of any appliance is the digital control panel. You can't fix it yourself.

1. 
   junkhound | Aug 19, 2009 05:17am | #13

   You can't fix it yourself.

    

   HUH,  wanna bet <G> -- just told how in a previous post in this thread how one can take a failed silk screened control panel, reverse engineer the setup to the PGA, and build/construct a microswitch panel that wont fail in your lifetime.

   If someone really wants to get fancy, one could wire in an FPGA and a serial port and run the range in different modes from their laptop from across the country. 

   Coffee and tea will be ready when you get home <G>  

1. 
   brownbagg | Aug 19, 2009 05:53am | #14

   if its a fridgaire, you have to set the clock before the oven will work

2. 
   barmil | Aug 19, 2009 11:00pm | #15

   I guess you could be right about retrofitting a modular panel with switches. Back in the 70's, I bought a used Toyota that had a toggle switch installed in the dash. I traced it back to the A/C clutch and realized that the previous owner had installed that to manually engage and disengage the compressor clutch when stopped or accelerating, rather than replace the defective A/C control unit. Somewhat primitive and cheap, but it bypassed the system for keeping the evaporator from freezing up while on the road. I replaced the original control module at no small expense.

   As to a range (or any other major appliance), I guess it's a matter of do you wish to hover over the thing so as to flip the switch at the right moment, or do you wish to let it manage itself?

   In my part of the country, large appliances don't go into land fills, and I believe the land fill cliche is being overused by environmentalists as a general argument supporting their opinions.

3. 
   DanH | Aug 19, 2009 11:05pm | #16

   Yeah, more likely in your part of the country, as in most of the US, large appliances (and small) are shipped to Africa or India or China to be stripped, creating an ecological nightmare.(Not that there's much you can do about this, other than to become aware of the issue and make your representatives know you're aware of it.)
   As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz

4. 
   barmil | Aug 19, 2009 11:12pm | #17

   No, no no -- they aren't shipped to Bangladesh to create more problems. They get crushed here and recycled, just like clunker cars. Maybe that's the case with some computers, but not major appliances.

5. 
   junkhound | Aug 20, 2009 01:04am | #18

   Here, they get crunched at the iron works on the pier, shredded,

   THEN loaded into containers to go to China

4. 
   xxPaulCPxx | Aug 18, 2009 06:40pm | #8

   You might want to first check and see that you have a good connection on both legs of your 220v line.

   The electric company made a goof in my neighborhood and took out one of my hots, I didn't notice it for a few days (I just though a bunch of stuff was broken). I was trying to figure out why my dryer wouldn't heat. It would turn on and spin, but no heat. Then I traced it to a bad power leg.

   Tu stultus es
   Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
   Also a CRX fanatic!

   Look, just send me to my drawer.  This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.

5. 
   DanH | Aug 19, 2009 04:37am | #11

   First I'd unplug and replug the range, and cycle the breaker. While the range is unplugged (but the breaker is on) check the voltage at the plug to make sure you have both sides of the 240V line. (Be wary of "ghost" readings with a digital voltmeter -- make sure you get something close to 240V across the two hots, and not simply 120V from each hot to neutral.)

   You might consider taking apart the unit (with it unplugged) and reseating the connections on the control board (and any other connections you can reseat with reasonable ease).

   After that I'd consider that the behavior of the control board might be an error signal of some sort. Check the owner's manual, and look online for any other diagnostic info. Consider calling the mfgr's help line.

   Also, I'd consider that maybe the control cycles the power to the lower element somehow, and you weren't probing it at the right time to pick up the voltage. Try pulling the element and checking it for continuity -- it should read maybe 10-50 ohms.

   As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz