Electric ceramic hob fault

[Terry_P]

I have a 9 year old Whirlpool electric ceramic hob which has developed a strange fault. The hob consists of one halogen "ring" and 3 radiants. Generally, everything works as expected. However, If one or more of the radiants is on and I turn on the halogen the radiants then dim. This makes cooking on all four very difficult!

Has anyone else seen this behavour or can you suggest a cause? Is it some electrical fault in the halogen?

[Syd Rumpo]

I would be quite worried about this. One explanation is that you have a spurious resistance somewhere in the supply. Turning on extra elements takes more current, so this spurious resistance drops voltage causing the elements to dim. Problem is, it will also get hot where you probably don't want heat.

Check the connections, switches, screw terminals etc and see if any junction box or switch is getting warm. I wouldn't leave it unattended.

Cheers

[meow2222]

If it were a bad connection, said connection would be well & truly fried by now. You may just hahve to troubleshoot it.

NT

[ARW]

And the connections in the CU/fusebox including the ones on the main incoming tails if the OP can safely do this

[Brian Gaff]

Yes just thinking the same thing. It might be interesting to look at the line volts when the issue happens. Doing this at the cooker end and the place where its connected to the consumer unit might point to the cause. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I'd also check out the CB first. Brian

[polygonum]

I'd try to celebrate the "excuse" to replace with an induction hob...

[Terry_P]

Thanks for your replies fellas. Unless I have misunderstood your replies some of you seem to have missed the point I made about the halogen "ring". The dimming effect only happens if ithe halogen one is switched on - however light the load. The three radiants (wiithout the halogen) always work without a problem.