Home Repair (alt.home.repair) For all homeowners and DIYers with many experienced tradesmen. Solve your toughest home fix-it problems.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,526
Default shock from electric stove

Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,586
Default shock from electric stove

TimR wrote:
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?

Hi,
All burners are like that? Or only one. If only one, then replace it.
  #3   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
EXT EXT is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,661
Default shock from electric stove

TimR wrote:
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?


Any electric leak is likely to be more than 40 volts as the burners run on
240 volts. Normally people and children don't touch the pan especially when
the stove is on. The pan is metal, the stove is metal, it all should be the
same electrial potential. The stove is (or should be grounded) so that any
leak will trip the fuse or breaker. Probably as said earlier, static shock
from someone with rubber soled shoes/slippers jumping to the grounded stove.

  #4   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 321
Default shock from electric stove

On Jun 27, 11:41*am, Hipupchuck wrote:
TimR wrote:
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.


I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. *The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.


The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. *Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? *Is it time to replace them?


Probably just static.


Faulty element and/or the element is ungrounded?
Best to trouble shoot it and perhaps replace the element as a
precaution.
But the 40 volts may be just the sensitive test meter picking up
voltage through capacitive coupling; not a real 'short' between the
element and the metal pan. Try connecting a light bulb between the
metal pan and the grounded metal stove. If it lights you have 'real'
leakage (some times incorrectly called a 'short-circuit'') through the
element to to the metal pan.
  #5   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 321
Default shock from electric stove

On Jun 27, 11:41*am, Hipupchuck wrote:
TimR wrote:
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.


I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. *The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.


The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. *Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? *Is it time to replace them?


Probably just static.


If they got a shock from the stove what were they standing on at the
time?

Or, as suggestred was it just static discharge as sometimes happens in
very dry air conditions. You walk across a room, touch something
metal, large or grounded and get a spark from your finger tip!


  #6   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,640
Default shock from electric stove


"Hipupchuck" wrote in message
...
TimR wrote:
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?


Probably just static.


That is possible, but easily checked. Static is a one shot deal. If a
second touch or holding the stove gives a shock, it is not static.


  #7   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 177
Default shock from electric stove

TimR wrote:

Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?


I just looked at our 20 year old GE electric stove and the element
casings are grounded through the strip of metal bridging the two ends of
the element. You can see that strip in this image:

http://midwestapplianceparts.com/images/WB30M1.jpg

On our stove that strip slides firmly inside a metal guide screwed to
the stove top, thus "grounding" the elemend casing. The other end of
that guide holds a ceramic "socket" connecting the elements ends to
their power source.

So, it's unlikely that the element surface would be at a potential other
than that of the rest of the stove's metal parts.....Unless maybe
someone installed an incorrect element which didn't have the right "fit"
to make the grounding system described above work as it should.

I'm no electric stove mavinn, but I think it very unlikely that any
electric stoves would be manufactured without SOME means of grounding
the element casings, for obvious reasons.

So, if the OP is measuring a voltage on the element casing with respect
to the rest of the stove metal SOMETHING isn't right and he'd better
start looking harder to find out what that is.

I'd start by unplugging the stove from its power source and using an
ohmmeter to check whether the element casings show a very low resistance
between them and the rest of the stove metal. If one or more don't,
figure out what's supposed to be connecting them to the stove metal and
fix whatever's wrong.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 177
Default shock from electric stove

EXT wrote:

TimR wrote:

Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?



Any electric leak is likely to be more than 40 volts as the burners run
on 240 volts.


Think about that again, EXT.

The heating element inside the burner casing is a resistor, and
depending upon just where along its length leakage to the casing occurs,
the measured voltage could be anywhere from zero, for a leak half way
along the length of the heating element, to 120 volts, for a leak right
at one end or the other. You'll never measure 240 volts unless the stove
power wiring has been horribly misinstalled.

All of which presuumes that whatever means the stove manufacturer
employed to make sure the element casing was connected to the rest of
the stove metal has failed or been disabeled by a sloppy repair or use
of an incorrect part.

Normally people and children don't touch the pan
especially when the stove is on. The pan is metal, the stove is metal,
it all should be the same electrial potential. The stove is (or should
be grounded)


The stove may be properly grounded, but that in itself does not insure
that the element casing is grounded. It SHOULD be, but a sloppy repair
job or installing an incorrect element for that model stove can result
in the element casing NOT being connected to the stove metal.

so that any leak will trip the fuse or breaker.

Not ANY leak, but one from near the end of the heating element MIGHT.

Probably as
said earlier, static shock from someone with rubber soled shoes/slippers
jumping to the grounded stove.



Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.
  #9   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,530
Default shock from electric stove

Years ago, I worked on a stove with a similar problem. The
answer turned out to be that the burners are SUPPOSED to
ground to the metal cook top. This one, the shocking burner,
wasn't properly grounded. I drilled a hole, put in a screw,
and then grounded the burner to the cook top with some bare
copper wire (under the cook top of course).

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"TimR" wrote in message
...
Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is
40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at
ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove.
Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to
replace them?


  #10   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 901
Default shock from electric stove

On Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:46:51 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 7:15:46 PM UTC-4, jeff_wisnia wrote:
TimR wrote:

Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.


Since 2009, everyone in the family has been electrocuted and died.....



  #11   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default shock from electric stove

On Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 7:15:46 PM UTC-4, jeff_wisnia wrote:
TimR wrote:

Kids complained they got a shock from the stove.

I put a meter on it, a pan on the burner while turned on is 40 volts
above ground. The rest of the stove metal seems to be at ground.

The burners look in good shape but it's an old stove. Burners
normally have ceramic insulation, right? Is it time to replace them?


I just looked at our 20 year old GE electric stove and the element
casings are grounded through the strip of metal bridging the two ends of
the element. You can see that strip in this image:

http://midwestapplianceparts.com/images/WB30M1.jpg

On our stove that strip slides firmly inside a metal guide screwed to
the stove top, thus "grounding" the elemend casing. The other end of
that guide holds a ceramic "socket" connecting the elements ends to
their power source.

So, it's unlikely that the element surface would be at a potential other
than that of the rest of the stove's metal parts.....Unless maybe
someone installed an incorrect element which didn't have the right "fit"
to make the grounding system described above work as it should.

I'm no electric stove mavinn, but I think it very unlikely that any
electric stoves would be manufactured without SOME means of grounding
the element casings, for obvious reasons.

So, if the OP is measuring a voltage on the element casing with respect
to the rest of the stove metal SOMETHING isn't right and he'd better
start looking harder to find out what that is.

I'd start by unplugging the stove from its power source and using an
ohmmeter to check whether the element casings show a very low resistance
between them and the rest of the stove metal. If one or more don't,
figure out what's supposed to be connecting them to the stove metal and
fix whatever's wrong.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.



I'm poring through these and this observation seems helpful, but I would really appreciate if somebody could explain exactly what is meant by the term "element casing". That's a mystery.

Thanks.
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Electric shock, faulty earth terminal. Bill UK diy 10 November 6th 07 08:43 AM
She had been killed by an electric shock caused by a rat that hadchewed through the power cables leading to her bathroom. ggg Home Ownership 1 April 2nd 06 12:49 AM
Electric Shock ? [email protected] Electronics Repair 32 February 16th 06 02:21 PM
Electric Shock Device Jonathan Britten Electronics 7 September 7th 04 04:03 AM
Electric Shock with RCD Andrew Barnes UK diy 25 October 29th 03 11:22 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:09 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 DIYbanter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about DIY & home improvement"