Tripped oven breaker

For the second time in several years, the 40 A double breaker for my kitchen oven tripped. Oven didn't work when I turned it on. Voltmater said no voltasge at circuit breaker. Reset breaker. Oven seems to work ok.

Now what? See if it trips again? Replace breaker (looks hard and dangerous for a very old man to do)? Other?

TIA

Reply to
KenK
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Take a good look at the oven heating element. Use your fingers to feel, too. You are looking for any sign of a crack or break or depression.

When oven heating elements "go", they go spectacularly...lots of sparks and smoke. A bit like an incendiary bomb. Actually, more like an arc welder; essentially, that is what happens. Forunately, they are very easy to replace and - if you look - relatively inexpensive, $20 or so.

Reply to
dadiOH

If it wuz me, I would:

  1. Trip the stove breaker off. (This will be a double breaker.)

  1. Pull the oven away from the wall and remove the stove's back cover.

  2. Look at the wires going to both the bake element and the broil element and see if there's any signs that they're starting to burn at the connection terminals. Follow these wires to the console switches and see if there's any sign of the wires burning off at those terminals.

  1. If you don't see anything odd at the bake and broil element wires and connection terminals, replace the double breaker to the stove.

Reply to
nestork

Agreed with your first three items, but not so sure about this. He said it was years since the breaker tripped. Could be his incoming power had a big temporary voltage drop and it caused the amps to come up tripping the breaker. Or maybe he turned the oven on just as the AV compressor started taking a big load. Or some other odd ball happening.

If it tripped frequently for unknown causes, then yes, I'd replace the breaker.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Hi, It is like blaming a thermostat and replacing it when furnace or a/c unit does not work well,LOL!

Reply to
Tony Hwang

For an almost 80-yo, may be quite a lot to ask, but not terrible advice, no... :)

I was thinking of a thermally-sensitive breaker (had one on the A/C disconnect just a year or so ago) but would note also had a partial failure of a heating element just last year -- first ever experienced of just losing one side in an element instead of the (often spectacular) complete failure. Didn't trip the breaker so didn't think of it in OPs case initially. Symptom was only that oven wouldn't reach full temp if thermostat >275 or so...so if OPs "normal" operation includes reaching temp for the pizza, it's not the problem. Just mentioned in passing as it was somewhat unusual (ime, anyway).

Reply to
dpb

That would make sense if it were a motor or similar load. But an oven is a resistance load. If the voltage goes down, the amps will too.

Or maybe he turned the oven on just as the AV compressor

Think you mean AC compressor. Per the above, I don't see a mechanism whereby that results in a higher current to the oven. I can see it lowering the current....

Reply to
trader_4

Shouldn't lower the current either.

Every electrical panel is rated at a certain amperage, and the electrical panel should be able to handle any amount of current right up to the panels rated capacity.

As long as the combined starting current to the AC compressor and the current to the stove bake and broil elements doesn't exceed the panels rated amperage, it should be able to supply both appliances with the amount of current they draw.

PS: I would also look for burnt wires going to the surface elements on the stove. It's easy to check the sockets that surface elements push into. Just unplug the range (or trip the breakers to it). Pull the surface elements out and remove the drip pans under them. The surface element sockets are held in with a screw. Take out that screw and you can inspect the socket for burnt or otherwise damaged wiring.

Reply to
nestork

Of course the sudden turn on of an AC unit can lower the current in an oven. The power grid can't instantly react and supply more amps, so there can be brief, slight drop in voltage. In homes you can sometimes see it happen with lights briefly dimming when a heavy load cuts in, particularly in older homes. Even in newer homes, with a heftier service, the effect is still there. Voltage drops by evem a volt and the current to the oven drops. Not by a lot, but the point is, it can go down, but not up.

Unless you believe a power system into a house is an ideal Thevenin source or similar, it will absolutely happen.

Handle doesn't mean there is absolutely no effect, even a very brief one, from large loads kicking in. And I'd be surprised if you fully loaded that service if the voltage was exactly the same even steadystate as it is when the service only had a 1 amp load on it. Wire isn't a perfect conductor, there is resistance. There is some tiny resistance at connections, etc too. Big amps times even a small resistance and you can easily get voltage drop, per ohms law.

Sure it can supply it. But by what law of physics or man does that equate to the voltage not dipping, by even 1 volt?

PS: It's an oven, not a stove. The range is gas.

Reply to
trader_4

Do you mean like in that movie "The Green Mile" starring Tom Hanks... the lights dimming in the cell block when they were electrocuting Dale?

To be truthful, I have never once noticed the ceiling light in my kitchen dim when I turned on my oven. My kitchen light has two 60 watt bulbs. My oven has a 6000 watt bake element. I'm thinking I shoulda seen them lights dim, no?

I have seen the lights in my apartment dim on occasion, and I understand that the power delivered by my electric utility can vary substantially in voltage, but I have never seen any co-relation between such light dimmings and the operation of large electric loads, like my oven bake element. Maybe I'm just not observant enough.

Reply to
nestork

Hi, Then you should be more observant. Lights dimming when heavier appliances turn on in the house is common thing. When inductive load turns on in-rush current is higher than rated for sure.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

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