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While cooking my chicken pie this afternoon I heard a horrible sound. It sounded like a stick welder when the electrode gets stuck to the welding surface. I run into the kitchen, yank open the oven door and find the smoldering remains of my bake element. The think burnt completely through in two places and it melted the aluminum foil drip catcher thingy. Also a spiral pattern of missing material that was blasted from the element wound its way around most of the rest of the element. Damn this thing was smokey and smelly.

Anyone know if Home Depot or Lowes sells baking elements for 19 year old Hotpoint ranges? Is this the usual way elements burn out? Is this oven a fire or electrical hazard?

Anyone know if Home Depot or Lowes sells baking elements for 19 year old Hotpoint ranges? - The elements are fairly generic and easy to replace. I usually go to a place that sells appliance parts but it's likely that HD sells them
Is this the usual way elements burn out? - Yes, they develop a localized hot spot, mels and arc - they then burn the element back until the breaker kicks in.

Is this oven a fire or electrical hazard? - Unlikely

Not sure where locally... but I had the exact same problem with our last range. Would burn out the elements about once every two years... finally ended up getting that newer one.... which might be a better option then spending $90 for parts....

But the first few times I ordered the element from these blokes.

Thanks guys.

Nfidel wrote:Thanks guys.

There is a local place in Greensboro that is awesome and has almost anything you will need. It's on High Point Rd, and called "Cashwell Appliances". I used them for old fridge parts.

http://www.cashwells.com/


Great knowledgeable people, fantastic service PLUS you're helping a small, local chain.

I would imagine that any place that sells Hotpoints would sell the elements. Though the need to sell them is prolly so low that they would need to order that part. Just a guess...

Thanks for the input everyone. I found a bake element at Advance Appliances in Winston-Salem. Here's their web-site.* Advance Appliance Service and Parts They were very helpful and had the part in stock at a reasonable price.

Just now I'm trying to burn off the horrible burnt electrical parts smell from the oven. I suppose it's somewhat toxic, but I was probably dosed much more when I was a welder. I still haven't had my chicken pie.


*They have several tips on self-diagnosing common appliance problems. This can be very helpful for them and the customer. My Dad was an appliance repairman for Sears and hated going on calls just to find out the timer on an oven wasn't set properly or the thermostat on a furnace was set to "OFF". I doubt it was very pleasant having to explain to the customer that it was company policy to charge a set fee just for coming out and turning the oven on, a "stupid" charge one could say.

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I seem to have another problem. The oven will only heat up to just below where the thermostat is set and takes forever to do that. All of the online troubleshooting guides tell me the next step in diagnosing the problem is checking that I have voltage at both terminals of the heating element. Lets see. Turn on breaker, stick head and voltmeter in oven, check live wires. If you don't hear from me soon, assume the worst.

If it's heating at all you have power. If it's not getting hot enough either the element is the wrong voltage (doubtful) or the thermostat and control switch is damaged or miscalibrated

the thermostat is in the control panel and has a thin capillary tube leading to a rod in the oven.

This is difficult to diagnose if you don't have the circuit diagram. This is often found in the control panel.

You can check the control switch without power to the oven - disconnect the wires and check continuity according to the circuit diagram.

Replacing the thermostat capillary can be a pain as it threads its way through the oven, they are also fairly expensive $100 - $180