Electric Range Volt Problems

[ahaight]

I recently turned on the stove on my electric range and heard a quiet crackling noise. The range still gets electricity because the clock, burner-on light, and oven light all work. The stove and oven will no longer heat up, though. I contacted an appliance repair man who measured the volts and said there is supposed to be 220V going into an electric range and in my case, there is only 110V. He said the problem is probably not with the stove/oven---and we can't even check to see if there is a problem because there's not enough power to isolate the problem to the range---but with electric supply. I have a breaker box in the basement that I've reset to no quick solution.

Can anyone speculate as to why, all of the sudden, the range (or rather, the outlet the range plugs into) is not receiving the appropriate volts. Keep it simple for me if possible; I clearly am a beginner at understanding home electric wiring.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

How did he test? You actually have two feeds of 110 volts. It is possible that one leg is dropped out. First thing I'd check is the circuit inside the breaker box. There are two wires that feed the 220 line. I'd check to be sure each one had 110. Then I'd check the ground.

[mm]

iF HE was an electrician, did he offer to fix it? How much was he going to charge? What did he say needed to be done?

I have a breaker box

Was it obviously tripped before you reset it? Or are you just saying that you turned it off and on to be sure? That's a good idea, but I'd still like to know if it was clearly tripped before you reset it.

[ahaight]

He was not an electrician. He was an appliance repair man who is not certified to do professional electrical work.

The circuit was not clearly tripped. It was still in the on position. I flipped it off and then on to see if it would work and had no luck.

[John Grabowski]

That crackling noise indicates that you might have a bad connection. You will need to pull out the stove and open the terminal box and check those connections for tightness. If you have a receptacle behind the stove, remove the cover and check those connections. Also open up your circuit breaker panel and check the connection on the circuit breaker for the stove. Make sure that you have 220 volts coming off of the breaker. If all of these are good, then the problem may be internal to the stove.

Often the stove circuit is fed with aluminum wire. If the connections are not tight, there could be some arcing and that could cause the aluminum to melt at the point of termination and no longer make good contact.

[Justin West]

If I take a A/C Volt meter and measure from one hot leg to another hot leg on a 200V system I should see 200V. If I only see 110V then I know something has happened.

I can only forsee 2 possible problems:

1) There is a loose wire in the box you plug the range into 2) One of the 2 breakers is defective

If you can access the breakers:

Check the load side of each breaker with an A/C Volt meter. If you read 200V at this point it is probably the plug end. If your reading 110V then you have a breaker issue. Replace breaker, or have a professional do so.

If your reading 200V at your plug, call the service person back and beat with a rubber mallet. :) (won't necessarily get the problem rectified, but you may feel better :P).