Grill element
 

Just moved into a new house, and the swine failed to inform me of the
brokeness of the grill. Now, the element is a bit bent so I suspect it
will be the culprit. It looks like it will just unscrew, but there are
only two tests I can think of doing with my multimeter:

1) is the element open circuit? - if so, it's broke. If not, what should
its resistance be?

2) do the teminals supply volts? - if not, further investigation
required (aka a trip to Comet I suspect).

Any other suggestions, or am I on the right lines?

And... best place to get a new element? I found one for £20 delivered
from http://shop.ezee-fix.co.uk/index.html but I can't find a model
number on the rather old oven. The one they supply *looks* right, and is
for a single oven AEG, but I don't have anything to go on. Do they tend
to be standard in terms of their power rating / output?

Many thanks,

john

1) is the element open circuit? - if so, it's broke. If not, what should
its resistance be?

That's all you need to test the element. Heating elements of this type don't
change resistance much when hot like light bulbs. Expect to see around the
mid to late twenties in ohms. Possibly a bit more for a top oven. Generally
they are either spot on, open circuit, or (very, very rarely) a dead short.
It isn't normal to have an intermediate, but wrong, resistance.

2) do the teminals supply volts? - if not, further investigation
required (aka a trip to Comet I suspect).

Probably, unless there is some clever control electronics. No need to check,
though. The element test above will be enough to determine if the cooker or
the element is broken. If the element is blown but doesn't start working
after replacement, it may have taken a fuse or something (like a
switch/thermostat) with it.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:
1) is the element open circuit? - if so, it's broke. If not, what should
its resistance be?


That's all you need to test the element. Heating elements of this type don't
change resistance much when hot like light bulbs. Expect to see around the
mid to late twenties in ohms. Possibly a bit more for a top oven. Generally
they are either spot on, open circuit, or (very, very rarely) a dead short.
It isn't normal to have an intermediate, but wrong, resistance.


2) do the teminals supply volts? - if not, further investigation
required (aka a trip to Comet I suspect).


Probably, unless there is some clever control electronics. No need to check,
though. The element test above will be enough to determine if the cooker or
the element is broken. If the element is blown but doesn't start working
after replacement, it may have taken a fuse or something (like a
switch/thermostat) with it.


Thanks Christian,

The element is hanging from a kind of white ceramic teminal block which
has a screw on each side. It looks as if when I unscrew it, those
screws are going to fall into the back! Do I have to unscrew, or do they
usually just pull out?

John

Hi John,

JK wrote in message ...
Just moved into a new house, and the swine failed to inform me of the
brokeness of the grill. Now, the element is a bit bent so I suspect it
will be the culprit. It looks like it will just unscrew, but there are
only two tests I can think of doing with my multimeter:

1) is the element open circuit? - if so, it's broke. If not, what should
its resistance be?

2) do the teminals supply volts? - if not, further investigation
required (aka a trip to Comet I suspect).

Our oven or grill (or is it "grille" - dunno) is on at least once every day,
hence they seem to blow every 2 years or so.

I have replaced the oven element about 3 times now, and the grille once
before - all easy enough to do if you have some time and don't mind
making sure that the power is definitely off before you start dismantling.

Once you get the old element out (presuming it is the element that has failed)
the place where it has shorted to the outer sheath is quite spectacular.



Any other suggestions, or am I on the right lines?

And... best place to get a new element? I found one for £20 delivered
from http://shop.ezee-fix.co.uk/index.html but I can't find a model
number on the rather old oven. The one they supply *looks* right, and is
for a single oven AEG, but I don't have anything to go on. Do they tend
to be standard in terms of their power rating / output?


In my experience, more or less identical. Shop around (I guess you may have
done so already) - the price difference is quite remarkable from some
retailers.

Mungo

Mungo Henning wrote:
Hi John,

JK wrote in message ...

Just moved into a new house, and the swine failed to inform me of the
brokeness of the grill. Now, the element is a bit bent so I suspect it
will be the culprit. It looks like it will just unscrew, but there are
only two tests I can think of doing with my multimeter:

1) is the element open circuit? - if so, it's broke. If not, what should
its resistance be?

2) do the teminals supply volts? - if not, further investigation
required (aka a trip to Comet I suspect).


Our oven or grill (or is it "grille" - dunno) is on at least once every day,
hence they seem to blow every 2 years or so.

I have replaced the oven element about 3 times now, and the grille once
before - all easy enough to do if you have some time and don't mind
making sure that the power is definitely off before you start dismantling.

Once you get the old element out (presuming it is the element that has failed)
the place where it has shorted to the outer sheath is quite spectacular.



Yes, you're right it was a right mess!




Any other suggestions, or am I on the right lines?

And... best place to get a new element? I found one for £20 delivered
from http://shop.ezee-fix.co.uk/index.html but I can't find a model
number on the rather old oven. The one they supply *looks* right, and is
for a single oven AEG, but I don't have anything to go on. Do they tend
to be standard in terms of their power rating / output?



In my experience, more or less identical. Shop around (I guess you may have
done so already) - the price difference is quite remarkable from some
retailers.


I found the price ranged from 17 to 70 quid, there's some tricky people
out there. ezee-fix have been really helpful and were the cheapest, I
would recommend them.

John