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After noticing a burning smell in the kitchen and then smoke from the back of our GE Range, my wife and I discovered that the terminal block was incredibly hot and melting on one side. We unplugged, no fuses blew. The wires from the terminal block are not discolored but there is discoloration from heat around the oven element connections, the insulation around the leads is slightly charred. Can I safely replace the block and expect normal operation or is the discoloration around the element leads indication of a greater problem?

ArchonOSX
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Jeff Robinson
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1 Answers1

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Things don't just start malfunctioning for no reason at all.

The smoke and discoloration from heat means something is broke or you have a loose connection.

It is possible that the connections to the terminal block were not as tight as they are supposed to be and created a high resistance connection over time.

Sounds like you may need to replace the terminal block if it is badly damaged. (If it is not that damaged, there is nothing much to go wrong with them.) At that point, when you remove the leads to the heating elements you can check the elements for resistance to make sure they are still good.

If all the elements and leads are good then reinsert the leads and tighten the connections into a new connection block. If any are open or shorted then replace them. Then test each of the ranges functions to verify it is in good working order.

Good luck!

ArchonOSX
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  • Loose connections will cause this problem. Many industrial plants have there controls inspected with thermal cameras to identify hot spots and tighten before the failure causes damage. + @ArchonOSX – Ed Beal Mar 17 '16 at 13:01