Oven cycling On/Off

[JustMrWill]

Recently, my oven has been acting up. I turn it on sometimes and it works flawlessly. Other times...I turn it on...the heating elements glow red for a few minutes..then you can hear it switch off...and the elements go dark. All the lights on the console show it still on...and eventually it will kick back on...heat up..and shut back down.

What can I look at/test to figure out what is going on?

Thank.

-JMW

PS - It's a Kenmore...not sure any other info....it came with the house and looked resonably new 6 years ago.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

All ovens cycle on and off. What you need to do is to get an oven thermometer and set the oven for a certain temp and when it cycles off wait untill it cycles back on and open the door and see what the temp is. If it's way off, you probably need a new thermostat. You may want to try again and see what the temp is when it turns off also.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

What LD said but there is one other item that can cause the same problem. It is the hi-limit switch. They can become weak and cause cycling problems as well. Best way to find out is take your VOM meter, set it on volts for above the 240 volt scale. When the oven is on and the elements are red, there should be 0 volts across the terminals of the stat and hi-limit. When they go dark, the one that is bad will show line voltage across the terminals providing the oven is NOT at the set temp.

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Thanks...it is not holding temp...took over 30 minutes to bake cookies last time it did it (normally take 16-20 minutes). It is an intermitant problem so I guess I will wait until ti starts acting up and try to get a volt reading...

Thanks.

-JMW

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

If it is a 220/240 volt line, it sounds as if you have a loose or bad connection on one of line feeds. Sometimes one will get hot and corrode making more resistance. Each time it will get worse. It is not allowing the proper amperage to the element.

This problem will require checking about each line terminal. A visual check sometimes will be all that it will take. Look for burnt or discolored connections. With your oven taking longer tells me that it is not getting its proper supply of elelctric. That is why the element will go from red to dark also.
It could even be a breaker going bad.

I work on a lot of commercial equipment that has resistance heating. One of the biggest problems is bad connections most of the time. Good Luck

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Hmmmm......

I wonder.

It started happening after I replaced the 220 outlet (when we re-finished the kitchen). It didn't start happening right away...like a few weeks after. I will have to pull the oven out and take a look. Probably just replace (again) to be sure.

-JMW

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Once my company got in 10 micorwave ovens. Within 2 months 10 out of 10 had problems. All had the same problem. Someone at the plant failed to tighten the terminal lugs on the plug. It woudln't have been so bad, but they used thread locker on the strain relief screws. I ended up having to put all new plugs on them. We use the pin/sleeve type by Hubbell. At over a $100 each, it got to be a pricey repair for someone not doing their job at the factory.

Hope your problem is just a simple fix. Good Luck,,,,,,,SS

 

[bigdee]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Modern day ovens do not have thermostats anymore. Instead they have a thermocouple and process controller that uses PID (proportional,interval,derivative) logarithms to reach setpoint. If you are not getting a diagnostic error code on the oven display then the loose service connection makes the most sense.

 

[JB]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Seven year old thread, bigdee.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

Seven year old thread, bigdee.

!!!!! and he said it was six years old....no wonder he wasn't getting an error code!

 

[JB]

Re: Oven cycling On/Off

My bad.:redface: I should have said five years. Does that make any difference?