Heating Elements in Oven Repairs: Not all elements equal & Insurance excludes unqualified installation. Online sellers want you to buy their parts direct
New element fitted after rogue electrician work!
It's not uncommon to find all sorts of inventive ways to fit wrong parts!
01
You need to have your oven fixed! Straight forward enough... so you call your local electrician.
But not all is as it should be. Trouble is, you just don't know it yet. You pay the bill and think you got a good outcome.
Not so, as it turns out!
The image on the right is as installed by a local electrical firm. Yes it works, but they've caught the earth terminal under the mounting bracket for no good reason. The fan is not central of the element. And they have had to drill an extra hole in the oven wall to mount the new substitute.
02
It's hard to see, sadly our photographic skills on the job are a bit lacking.
The prior electrical firm, because they didn't have the right element, fitted a Chinese element with a large plate.
To do that they have bent, until it broke, a metal bridge that supports the element mounting!
This is the workmanship that most customers are unaware of until the next repairer undertakes the same work.
The main reason for getting a specialists oven repairer in to do the job, is because having the correct element is a part of being a specialist!
03
The proper genuine element for this Teka Brand Oven. Fitted on the first visit and completed as well as can be hoped after the prior butchery.
We've had to fit an additional screw at the bottom of the correct plate to stop the hot air making it's way into the back cabin.
Now the fan in centre of the element helping to ensure the proper dispersion of the air into the oven cavity!
Unfortunately we couldn't use the brass metal thread to add extra support to the element and help ensure a proper earth of the element.
We did fit the earth to the proper terminal at the rear!
Replace Heating Element In Oven
Hopefully the following will help decide which elements needs replacement
REPLACE OVEN HEATING ELEMENT
The average oven these days have 3-4 elements in them. Some you can see others you can't. Just because the one you can see is not working does not mean that element is faulty. In fact more often than not the element you can see is the Grill and only functions when the Grill function is selected!
The following symbols can normally be found on most function knobs/settings. Depending on which one you select dictates which elements will come on. Only the elements you select come on! This is not intended as a comprehensive explanation. See you user manual for further information.
Convection: This turns on the top and bottom element. No fan or other elements are meant to operate on this setting.
Grill: Only the grill element is
Bottom Element: In most ovens the bottom element is no longer visible, they are located under the bottom panel.
Fan Assisted: Top and bottom elements both on together with the cooking fan motor at the rear of the oven.
Fan Grill: Grill element with the cooking fan motor at the rear of the oven.
Fan Bottom Element: Same as the bottom element but with the fan motor at the rear of the oven.
Fan Forced: Circular element at the rear of the oven which has air forced past the element before entering the oven cavity.
High Bake: Top, Bottom and Rear element together with rear cooking fan motor. Not great for economy but heats up fastest.
Eco: No Clue! It changes per brand, but normally relies on some form of radiant heat via an exposed element.
Rotisserie: For those ovens that have this it is normally the grill element and the rotisserie motor sometime with cooking fan.
Pyrolytic: Not for the faint hearted; high heat around 500 degrees and locks you out of the oven for about 2 hours.
Defrost: Fan only during this setting. The fan produces a small amount of heat and the airflow helps to speed up the process.
Elements aren't all equal
How to tell a good one from the rest?
ELEMENTS EXPLAINED
The only way to tell is to monitor their performance. Install as many elements as you can and then keep track of the hours and temperature its operated for until it fails. Determine if other contributing factors aided in the demise of the element and then compare that to the other elements available as a substitute.
If that sound ridiculous; it is! Most customers are lucky if they have to change an element every 10 years. So for a customer to make a calculated decision about which is the preferred element for their situation is a crap shoot (excuse the vernacular). A rule of thumb such as the price of the element is almost as fraught with failure as tossing up a coin. We change probably the most element for a single technician in Australia. And that is because its almost the number one thing we do. But it takes us about 5 years of turning over a range of elements before we can with confidence say which elements have a higher failure rate than others. And we weed them out of our stocks as soon as we can confidently identify them.
For the main part, we use Italian/European elements from the top producers. Even those have a few duds among them. We also prefer 3 ringed fan forced elements of 2 ringed and swagged end for earth fault reasons. These are few of the criteria we impose on our suppliers to improve the performance of an element. Other criteria we use aren't suitable to publish a) because we don't want our competitors getting a free ride and b) because some manufacturer would not be happy.
The different elements
Some oven have up to 6 element in them
WHICH ELEMENT IS FAULTY
The most likely elements in your oven are; top dual element, rear fan forced element and single bottom element!
This is the fan forced element and resides at the rear of the oven cabinet.
The bottom element, some exposed and can be seen in the older ovens, but new ovens have the bottom element under the bottom panel.
The top dual element is a grill which is boarded by the square looking outer element which is the top oven element and works in conjunction with the bottom element.
Book now and save!
Did you know there's a 10% discount for booking online?
ELECTRIC BOOKING FORM
*** NO TAX INVOICE***
This form - and the 10% discount - is for domestic customers only. This is a booking request, not a confirmation!
If you are a Rental Property Owner/Manager/Tenant/Commercial Operator please use the Tax Invoice Booking Form.
If you use this Booking Form you will not receive a “Tax invoice”.
ELECTRIC BOOKING FORM STEPS
Contingency Bookings
If you are not sure what Contingency bookings are; then read on! It’s when a customer makes a booking, but then rings around to find another repairer who can maybe make it earlier! This is not just frowned upon, but makes up a big part of lost revenue for any repair operation. So please; do the ring around before making a booking. And then if we end up your best option, please then make a booking.
Please note* This form is for privately owned residences only. If you are a Property Owner/Manager or Tenant; please use our rental property form.
Service Call Etiquette
We ask that all our customers make themselves familiar with our 'service call etiquette' requirement in order to maintain a safe and harmonious work environment. The most important ones:
- Keep your pets restrained or outside.
- Keep clear of any work space.
- Please don't hover over the technician while they are working.
Booking online saves time, errors and provides a written record of the appointment details. We pass this saving on via a 10% discount. Please make sure your email/mobile phone number is correct, as we sms/email a time and date confirmation. If the date you have selected is not available we will continue to communicate via email to finalise a time and date confirmation. By submitting a booking means you have agreed to have us attend your property to repair your appliance and have accepted our terms and conditions. We will send you a date and time confirmation by sms/email as you choose. Your receiving the date and time confirmation does not negate your booking obligations.
Note*
We carry a selection of spares for the most common faults and should our technician not have the required parts on board, there is no additional Service Call Out Charge for the return visit. Warranty claims must be submitted in writing, and when applicable are conditional upon all accounts and payments being in order and fully settled as per our trading terms. Things go wrong! If you haven’t received your booking confirmation by the time you anticipated; call! The amount of incorrect phone numbers/ email addresses etc. we receive means you might not receive your confirmation as anticipated. Ring us before you go off making alternate arrangements. All postponements or cancellations must be submitted in writing 24 hours prior to the appointment time. Failure to do so in a timely manner will incur cancellation charges.
Smeg, Ilve, Omega, Westinghouse, Chef, Simpson
While we specialise in European ovens, we do service most popular brands!
OVEN/STOVE BRAND LOGOS
The top 6 brands are the ovens we service most often here in little old Adelaide. They're therefore the ones we carry the most parts for and have the most experience in.
Then we have the brands that we have a mix of popular and less popular; where parts are restricted mainly to the popular models.
Others that we also service, but with a 50/50 likelihood we have parts on board. In no particular order:
