Saving Thanksgiving.

Ok this not exactly woodcraft related but none the less an important event. Yesterday I got a frantic call from my wife informing me our oven of 2 1/2 years decided to stop working 2 days before Thanksgiving. She was calling me from Sears after already shopping around for a replacement which of course even if we bought a new one it could not be delivered until next week. There was not much I could do from work but I assured her I would look at when I got home.

So the status of the oven when I got home was no oven, no broiler, the range top burners worked as well as the lower warmer oven. After much internet searching I didn't find much helpful information and after playing around with the settings as suggested by the manual with no luck I decided it was time to open up the back. Mind you I am a trained professional so don't try this at home. I first measured the power coming into the stove and was getting a good 235V so that wasn't the problem. On the back of the unit was a handy schematic of the unit left for repair technicians and since I am an engineer I figured I was qualified to use the guide. I thought I was getting an error code showing an open temperature sensor so I disconnected the cable and measured the sensor but it measured fine. I continued poking around and checking for loose connections. I decided to try firing up the stove again and low and behold it started working. Figuring I had stumbled across a loose connection I buttoned up the back and pushed the unit back against the wall. Only now the oven did not come on again. Frustrated I pulled the stove back out, opened up the back again and continued to poke around until this time I was checking on the control board and to my dismay found the delay timer relay ended up in my hand. This relay switches both the oven and broiler elements on so I knew I had found the problem. Luckly the fix was pretty simple as the relay had just fallen off the control board due to very poor solder joints. Needing four hands to re-solder the pins I asked my wife to help me and in a short time the relay was firmly re-attached to the control board. And this time after pushing the stove back in place it continues to work. Thanksgiving dinner saved!

So tomorrow I can look forward to my wifes wonderful cooking which will include of course a turkey, a ham, mashed potatos, oven roasties potatos to die for,  corn, carrots, bread rolls, Yorkshire puddings and probably more! I must say I am looking forward to it and it will taste extra special this year. We are even having our wayward teenage daughter over for diner.

-Edwood