As we prepared to broil our steaks last night, apparently the broiler element in our oven burst into flame. Now broiler no worky and steaks were pan fried (and still quite tasty!). Closer inspection of the element shows a small hole melted through the metal.
A perfect opportunity for me to see if I can fix it! or take it apart at least. side note: as I was taking my parents' rechargeable minivac apart to see if the batteries were replaceable, my mom noted how I always took apart my childhood toys but never put them back together. I said it's so much harder to put them back together! My motto is I'm never afraid to risk destroying something to attempt to fix it. Only about two childhood toys survive today. A Hotwheels car and a Winnie the Pooh minus an ear.
Back to the oven!
Usually I disassemble something with no idea what to do. This time I did some research in a Big Book of Home How To.
I first made sure it was really broken by trying the broiler again. Yup brokey.
Now, CUT THE POWER! I looked for the power cord but unfortunately looks like the oven is hardwired. So I quick trip to the circuit breakers, flip off one conveniently labeled stove and of course not taking anything for granted I turned on the oven to see if it was off. Yup, off.
Using my Craftsman socket set (gift from dad prob 20 year ago) I removed the bracket supporting the element. Then removed the two screws holding the element and carefully pulled it out. The book said to be careful that you don't pull the wires off the element so it doesn't accidentally fall back in the oven. I unbolted the wires from the element and removed the element from the oven.
Now to look for a replacement element! First went to Sears, then to Sears Service Center...Oops, no model number. GF wisely told me to find model number on stove. Model number doesn't match to anything online! A quick call to GE and they give me the repair part number. Then did a search online, a little price comparison and ta daaa! part ordered!
To be continued once I get the part...
