Making Project #2: Fixing the Oven

This isn't really a making project at all; it's more of a fixing project.  I thought that it was interesting enough to blog about though, so here it is.

Basically what happened was that my wife heard some loud popping sounds when she was preheating the oven.  My wife opened the oven door to see what was going on ("It sounded like there was an animal in there!"), and she saw large sparks and flames!  The oven was on fire.  We shut the heat off on the oven and located the fire extinguisher, but the fire went out on its own fairly quickly.  Once things cooled off, I tested the oven and discovered that it no longer worked.

While a new oven would be nice, it isn't really in our budget at the moment, so I decided to replace the bake element on my own.  The first thing I did was locate the circuit breaker and shut off the electricity to the oven/range.  I also informed everybody in the house that I was shutting the circuit off, and that I was working in the oven.  There is a definite danger of electrical shock, so please take proper precautions. If possible, unplug your oven as well, just to be safe.

Inside of the oven.

Once the power was off, I removed all of the oven racks.  This gives easier access to the back of the bake element.

The next step was to removed the two screws that were holding the element in place (one on each side).  I used a 1/4" ratchet for this, which made the job super easy, but a wrench (or even pliers) could be used in a pinch.

Where the bake element connects to the back of the oven.

Once the screws were removed, I pulled the element forward about 6 inches, until I could see the wires that the element was connected to.  The electrical wires connect/disconnect to the element very simply, and no solder/desoldering is required.

The end tip of the bake element.

The picture above shows the end tip of the bake element.  The electrical wires end with a similar metal piece that clips down over the top of this piece.  Not all bake elements are exactly like this, but all of them are designed so that they can be easily removed and replaced.

The old, broken bake element.

When I removed the old bake element, it actually broke into two pieces.  It was definitely time for a new one.  Here are a few close-ups of the right side where the element looked the worst.

After that, it was simply a matter of figuring out how and where to buy a replacement. You'll need the make and model number of your oven unit if you want to buy a new one. This info is commonly found hiding inside the oven door, as seen below.

Not that I could actually read this thing...

The price of a replacement bake element is going to depend on your oven, but many can be ordered online for less than $30.  In my case, I ended up going to an (overpriced) specialty store because I couldn't wait to have a new one shipped to me.  I paid $40, which is not great, but that's still a lot cheaper than buying a new oven.

Installation of the new element was just as simple as removal, and I had the whole thing put back together and working within 10 minutes of returning from the store.