New or Repair?

[Patriotic]

Looking for any and all advice. I have a 30 year old Jen-Air Stove top/oven, model#88370, serial #37-225642. My wife said the fan quit working. Some years ago I had replaced the wire harness near the fan switch to solve the problem so I suspected the same problem. Especially since the fan came on in "convected oven" mode.
I took apart the switch and found nothing obvious. So I turned the breaker back on to start checking voltage flow. When I did that the breaker popped and the switch became blackened. I replaced the switch and reassembled. Again the breaker popped. After taking the face plate off the front of the entire stove, there are dark electrical carbon stains on the two left burner reostats (under the knobs that control the burner heat). Also several wire harness connections are burnt so much that the wires are disconnected. My questions are:
1) How do I tell if the reostats (2) that control the left 2 burners are still operable?
2) What would cause this?

I have an electrical tester-voltage/ohm meter.

The fan motor is so deep in the unit I doubt I can observe it for condition. I don't mind rebuilding the wire harness, but don't want to spend several days on this and still find out there is a different problem.

If I go the new route, my wife is interested in a gas stove/oven. Does anyone make gas that has a fan that vents down like the existing Jen-Air. There is no space for an above hood fan (a microwave fills that area). The other option for new would be a glass-top electric stove with
downdraft oven. So I would need to find a manufacturer/model that meets this description.

Thanks in advance for any and all help on this.

[Dan O.]

1) How do I tell if the reostats (2) that control the left 2 burners are still operable?

They're infinite heat switches (see the following link) not rheostats.

LINK > How an electric range infinite heat switch works (Adobe Acrobat .PDF file)

The following link shows some testing that can be preformed while on a bench (ie. out of an appliance).

LINK > Troubleshooting electric range infinite heat switches (Adobe Acrobat .PDF file)

Note: Just because those tests check out doesn't necessarily mean the switch is "good". Such switches can only be tested for proper functioning while connected in a range.

2) What would cause this?

A loose connection, a bad contact in a switch, grease or moisture getting into the components, deterioration due to age. There are probably other possibilities as well.

JMO

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
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