What's wrong with my electric range?

Well, I’m going out to my sis’s b-day party this afternoon. Maybe someone will show up by the time I’m ready to go further. I have 3 burners, and that’s one more than I had earlier in the week!

Have you tried the RTFM method?

@Seek RTFM?

1. It does not come up to heat quickly.

2. Heat modulation is challenging at best.

3. It’s impossible to fully concentrate of the quality if your cooking if you are worrying about things such as sliding your pan on the glass surface.

RTFM “read the fucking manual”
Although that won’t be in the manual. The ckt schematic is usually pasted inside the appliance somewhere if at all. Can’t really troubleshoot something thats not in front of me. You can start with giving us the make and model

Look for broken wires inside cable connector.

Now that I know, I have “RTFM”, several times.

MAMU Code for manuals are mostly useless. haha

What is the make and model?

Amana AER3850 VAW 1. To reiterate: The large surface elements stopped producing heat. Upon physical inspection it was apparent that they had each burned out and needed to be replaced. I ordered the two appropriate parts, and replaced both elements. The right element was hot in seconds. The left one didn’t warm at all. I unplugged the unit. After I ”RTFM’ed”, I took my trusty little multi-meter and checked the continuity, first through the coil (continuity OK), then through the switch (no continuity). I ordered and replaced the switch…still no heat although there is an appropriate reading of continuity. So… how would I verify or disprove continuity between the switch and the coil?

I could not bring up a schematic for it but having it powered and no heat on the coil obviously means no continuity somewhere. Not going to be able to help over the internet without more info but don’t leave it like this.

Did you check the continuity from switch through the harness to the element ?

I don’t know that oven. But, often there is a thyristor or HEXFET or relay that does the actual high current switching. The heating elements and on-off switches might be fine but if the “relay” is bad you will not get any juice.

Thyristors and Hexfets have high impedance inputs Sometimes they are damaged by lightning storms or even stray electrostatic charge. Check it out.
For diagnostic purposes you can temporarily take them out of the picture by shorting across the outputs.

@Tropical_Willie, @Lucky_Guy, sounds like my next step.

Just be darn sure there there is not a loose wire with voltage on it.

@Are_you_kidding_me I learned a long time ago to treat all circuits and wires as if they have voltage. Electrical Safety 101.

240 Volts can kill you, 120 can wake you up. ^^^^

It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the amps.

240 Volts is usually hooked up to 30 or 40 AMPS.

Still, any electrician will tell you there’s no such thing as a dead circuit.

@LuckyGuy, The high voltage switch in this model is a mechanical bi-metal strip, which is adjusted when the dial is turned to the desired setting (Low, 1–10, High). I know the switch works. I placed it into the right front circuit, and it worked fine. I did the same with the element, with good results.

To recap: Element is good, switch is good, good continuity between power feed and switch, good continuity between switch and element (both sides). Still no heat!