Cooker oven shorting out

[Minder]

I spent several hours cleaning the oven on my cooker at the weekend. I used a caustic spray on the lining and wiped clean with a wet cloth. Now the oven shorts out when switched on. The problem is only with the oven functions, grill and gas ignition all work fine. I have since removed the light cover and bulb. Any ideas how to cure this? The service engineers want a lot of money to come out.

 

[Sleepyhead]

Make and model is a good place to start.
Is it gas? electric?
Shorts out? Trips the RCD or an MCB?

 

[JohnD]

I am going to guess that the thing that trips is an RCD (it has a "Test" button on it and the number "30mA" or "0.03A")

And that the cause is water in electrical parts.

In which case it will probably dry out in time if you leave it open, kitchen well ventilated, sun on it, etc.

But you will have to say if my first guess is right.

 

[Minder]

Thanks for the replies. There is nothing like the threat of having to pay some guy £110 to focus the mind. I turned off the power to the cooker and removed the back panel. There were three elements and a light. I disconnected each in turn, switching the power on between disconnections until it stopped tripping my fuses. With the short element isolated, I turned on the other elements and that dried out the problem. 45 minutes and £110 saved.

 

[trap0001]

There were three elements and a light. I disconnected each in turn, switching the power on between disconnections until it stopped tripping my fuses.

That's ok as long as the one you disconnected wasn't GREEN/YELLOW in which case... have you made provisions for your family in the event of your death.. or theirs?

 

[Minder]

There were three elements and a light. I disconnected each in turn, switching the power on between disconnections until it stopped tripping my fuses.

That's ok as long as the one you disconnected wasn't GREEN/YELLOW in which case... have you made provisions for your family in the event of your death.. or theirs?

I have three heating elements, one at the top, middle and bottom of the oven. There is also a light. Each heating element and the light have a live, neutral and earth connection. One of the four is shorting, causing the RCD to trip. I disconnect all connections from each one in turn. Finally I find that the middle element is causing the problem.

With all other connections in place, ie live, neutral and earth connections made to the light, top and bottom heating elements - and the middle element disconnected completely including earth connection, I turn on the power and heat the heating elements. The heat drives the moisture away. I turn off the power, allow the oven to cool and reconnect the middle heating element. Finally, I test the oven function on all heating elements. The oven is no longer shorting. I replace the back panel and can use the oven.

So honestly, what am I missing?

 

[JohnD]

I think from what you said (although you did not tell me if my guess was right) that it is not Shorting, but has an earth leakage. This is common on oven elements as they age, leading to nuisance tripping, and for this reason cooker circuits are not usually put on the RCD. Therefore, it is better to have cooker switches without a socket on them, since sockets should be RCD protected.

If you really are getting a short-circuit, this indicates a severe fault, perhaps the element is damaged.

 

[Minder]

JohnD - Yes it was an earth leakage rather than a short. Seems short is a common misuse for all electrical malfunctions. My mistake.