While visiting an elderly relative, she said her Sears electric range
- 7 YO - 2 years out of warranty, was disconnected because it was constantly beeping. Asked her if I could look at it. After turning it on, the loud beeping started and it displayed a F1 error code.
Asked her if she had tried to get it fixed - get this - the repair guys said a quick and maybe not permanent fix would cost her $150 parts + $100 labor and only be guaranteed for 30 days - a 6 month guaranteed fix would involve replacing a circuit board at a cost of $300 plus $100 labor. Oh they said if she bought a new Sears range, they would cart off the old one for free.
Disassembled the control panel of the range - found the speaker emitting the beeping noise - cut the wire powering it - put the range back together and it is functioning perfectly after a week.
Several years ago I had the exact same thing happen to an electric range of mine - did not call the repair crowd - just snipped the power to the speaker and no problems - the range is still working today.
So it looks like the range manufacturer's have discovered another way to get into our wallets - when they try to cheat senior citizens - makes me angry. Think I will call some Sears repair people and see what they say when I ask them about the F1 trouble code.
Hope this helps someone facing the same problem.