# Solved: Electric Oven - Testing



## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

Recently my electric oven caused a short circuit and one wire had come loose and was touching the body of the oven.I've re fixed it but I'm not sure whether I fixed it correctly so first I connected it with a 60 watt bulb in series and then connected it to electric mains. when i switched on the oven, 60 watt bulb is illuminating fully and oven does not heat up. Does it mean that oven is still short circuited or that the oven is in order but the bulb is preventing it from heating by consuming most of the power?Even moving the temperature knob, which in my opinion should vary the resistance of the oven does not cause the bulb to alter its illumination.I have connected the bulb only in order to test the oven. Pl. advise. Tthanks


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Hard to say but I don't think you know what your doing and it is not safe to be fooling around. 
You got 110 for the light and 220 for the burners.

So from what you said something is not right and you even hooking 110 to the burners you do not know either.

Please be safe and call someone who knows what they are doing.

Things can be looked up in the manual also.
http://www.eserviceinfo.com/index.php?what=search
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/
http://owneriq.net/


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

thnx for advice, hewee


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I don't know what you're trying to test, but the oven requires far more current than the light bulb, so it's logical that the bulb would light up if they're wired in series, since it has much higher resistance, and so would drop a lot more voltage!

That test proves nothing.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

devagral,
connecting a light bulb in series is an 'old' way of determining if a 'short' still exists in that if the 'short' still exists, the bulb will 'blow'
however the bulb will 'light' without really letting the oven's heating unit 'get' enough power to be affected - 120 vac times [X] equals 60 watts [if that was the size bulb you used] - and [X] would, in this case, equal 0.5 amps [NOT enough current to let the oven even begin to try to heat]

but the next question is:
is it a 110 vac unit, or is it 240 vac unit?
'cause if 110 vac - not difficult to hook up - if 240 vac, did you just check one 'leg' of the circuit? or did you use a bulb on both 'legs' of the circuit?

*NOTE:*
in the us, our 240 vac is 120 vac with THREE wires - 120 vac between each 'hot leg' and ground, but 240 vac between the two 'hot legs' - [and i am *NOT* familiar with the wirings in your country - *so be very CAUTIOUS in your experimentations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

also, is the receptacle that you're plugging the oven into a 'surge suppressor' protected one? if it is, and it isn't 'popping' the little breaker, then it MOST LIKELY is wired ok, *HOWEVER*, do you have access to a volt meter so you can check it out right? 
you can just clip one of the volt meter's leads to the case of the oven, then run the other wire to a *KNOWN* good ground - such as the grounding plug of another receptacle - *if there is ANY voltage reading showing on the meter, you STILL have a problem to correct*


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

Lots of really good advice given.

Is this like a permanently installed home oven? My concern is this: Wires just don't come loose. Do you have anything vibrating in your home that could contribute to the wire coming loose?

When you say it short-circuited, did it trip the breaker feeding it, or a fuse (if it's a fuse)?

You stated it was one wire that came loose. I would think it should be a simple fix; it went back on the terminal upon which it came loose. Then, the oven either worked like before, or it didn't. 

Basic questions I know. But overall I would not think this a complex fix. So better I ask questions, than miss something or be overly presumptuous.


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

Drabd,Daniel_b2380's and JohnWill, thanks for posting your replies.I'm based in India and voltage of domestic current for all appliances here is 220 volts.
I like to do most of my work myself and I think my skills are of intermediate level.My oven is a table top model and all parts of it like heating elements, bulb are connected through 220 v. Basically, what I wanted to know is if oven or any other appliance of say 1500 watt is connected to a 60 watt light bulb in series (both are of 220 v) and then plugged into the mains, what may happen:-

1. the oven is properly wired and there is no fault in it's wiring and
2. the oven is short circuited.

In my case, the bulb glows fully but the oven does not heat up.
Drabdr, when I connected this whole thing to the mains, the breaker did not trip.

daniel, you have said that
" connecting a light bulb in series is an 'old' way of determining if a 'short' still exists in that if the 'short' still exists, the bulb will 'blow'"
exactly, my purpose was to find out if a 'short' still exists but i fail to understand what you mean by "the bulb will blow". Could you please elaborate further in light of my observation that " the bulb glows fully bot oven does not heatup at all.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

*question:*


devagral said:


> 1. the oven is properly wired and there is no fault in it's wiring





devagral said:


> the bulb glows fully bot oven does not heatup at all.


*suggestion:*


daniel_b2380 said:


> however the bulb will 'light' without really letting the oven's heating unit 'get' enough power to be affected - 120 vac times [X] equals 60 watts [if that was the size bulb you used] - and [X] would, in this case, equal 0.5 amps [NOT enough current to let the oven even begin to try to heat]


*question:*


devagral said:


> 2. the oven is short circuited.





devagral said:


> daniel, you have said that
> " connecting a light bulb in series is an 'old' way of determining if a 'short' still exists in that if the 'short' still exists, the bulb will 'blow'"


*suggestion:*
a 'short' = the current is NOT going through the proper circuit to do any 'work' [in this case - heat the oven] - and is taking a 'short-cut' - [the path of least resistance]

'blow' = bulb will 'BURN OUT'


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

In the scenario previously posted, the bulb will light and the oven will not heat. That won't change if the oven is working or is totally shorted internally. The oven's internal resistance is much lower than the bulb, and it's basically acting as a wire here.


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

Thanks JohnWill and daniel.I think I should contact some electrician.
.


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

devagral said:


> Thanks JohnWill and daniel.I think I should contact some electrician.
> .


Devagral, it's always the best option to call an electrician. However, I would still be interested to learn a little more about this situation.

For now, let's set aside the light bulb thing. :up:

You had a counter top electric oven that had been working (240V). Everything was working fine, and then one day, you determined it had stopped working.

You stated you determined a short circuit. How did you determine this? Was the breaker feeding the oven tripped, or the fuse blown?

You stated there was a wire loose. I assume you turned off the power and found this wire loose. Was the wire burned/ dark as if to be overheated? Was this wire the power coming in, or was it on the oven itself?

Sorry for all the questions.  I'm still trying to figure out what/where the problem resides.


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

Drabdr, I determined it was short circuited because one day the breaker feeding the oven tripped when it was switched on.Inside the oven I found the following terminals to which wires were connected.

4 for 2 heating elements
4+3 for on/off switch
2 for thermostat
2 for thermostat indicator light
2 for timer
2 for current on indicator
in most of the terminals, more than one wire was connected.Most of the connecting wires inside the oven has a 'lug' through which it is connected to the terminal.It so happpened that the lug of one wire connected to off/on switch had broken, wire had come unattached and it's end was touching the oven body.It was not burned, it simply got disconnected from the terminal.As I was not sure which terminal this wire was connected to, I adopted trial and error method and used a multy meter to test the continuity and short-circuiting.When I found everything ok i connected it and now it is working fine.Thanks for taking interest.


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

If all is OK and working and you got a camera then take pictures so next time your have something to look at to show what all goes where.


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

hewee, I have already drawn a circuit diagram and saved it.


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## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

Devegral, thank you.:up: I appreciate you posting a follow-up message that you are fixed, and good to go. 

Thank you for dropping by the TSG. :up:


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## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Good to hear devagral.


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## devagral (Aug 1, 2007)

Drabdr, you are welcome.


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