Need help repairing GE wall ovens from the 1980's

[Snakeskii]

Hello,

Thank you for being patient with me. I found this site after lots of internet searches, but I am very new to your community.

About a year ago, we bought a house with a great set of vintage ovens. They worked great until a few weeks ago. The power flickered, there was a pop, and both ovens stopped working. My husband said some smoke came out of the bottom of the unit. No one I have contacted seems to have any clue how to repair them.

I hope to get some answers here. We really don't want to replace them, but we need working ovens too!

I have included some photos, very grateful for any information you might have. Thank you!

 

[goatfarmer]

A "pop" and smoke usually means short circuit. All the fuses or breakers good?

 

[retro-man]

Doesn't sound good but not fixable. I would think that you would have to remove the units from the wall and look where the pop and smoke came from. Possible connection issue. Make sure power to them is turned off at the breaker before removal. Upon inspection you should be able to tell where the problem is at. Let us know what you find and I am sure someone will be able to help you.

Jon

 

[DADoES]

 
No power? -- both ovens don't work (heat), the clock stopped, lights in the ovens don't work, etc -- would be something common to the entire unit.  Pull it from the cabinetry, check for a burned/shorted wire on the incoming power line (it's probably hard-wired to a junction box at back of the cavity), open the control panel, check for a wire problem in there.

 

[volvoguy87]

Ovens.

Likely fixable with relative ease. If BOTH ovens are dead, you may have a wiring issue. I would look for where the main power connection is. Perhaps a terminal on the wiring block loosened up and shorted. The heating elements can also fail, but are pretty easy to replace. Test each oven on bake then broil to determine if it is totally dead, or if only one component is malfunctioning. Also, find the circuit breaker for your ovens in your main breaker box / fuse box and reset it.

Your oven is far from dead,
Dave

 

[firedome]

good repair advice above...

FYI: to that I'd add that while I don't have a model # guide, based on the handle design and roller digital clock this model is probably early to mid '70s. Being that our resident GE range maven is not around at present, does anyone else know for sure?

 

[ken]

VF= November 1979

 

[Snakeskii]

Thank you all so much. I have some updates. We replaced the bottom heating element on the lower oven. Previously, the clock was getting power, but the ovens were not. Now, the ovens are getting power and the lights turn on, but things are still wonky.

The ovens won't turn on unless both our on, and they are heating a little bit. They are kind of getting up to crock pot level--no where close to full power.

I have a beat on an repair place that refurbishes older appliances. I am gonna try them next. I do want to pull the unit from the wall, but it's not something I can do myself.

When I opened up the clock area, I found some trouble shooting documents, are they something that would be worth scanning for the community here?

Thanks again!

 

[Snakeskii]

More info

I am finally on my desktop instead of my phone. The best match that I have been able to find has been this:

http://www.partselect.com/Models/JKP27!2AJ2/#Symptoms

JKP27*J2 is also listed on Sears website. As near as I can tell, that diagram looks pretty much identical to the one I have.

I have found the model in catalogs from the 1980's which is why that was my guess. 1979 seems like a solid answer. We believe they were put in in 1982.

Thank you all for your help here. My next question would be about asbestos wiring. How dangerous is it? The oven most definitely has it, we've been careful not to disturb it too much, but with an 18-month-old at home it is a concern. The wiring behind the control panel looks fine--it was all in good shape and I didn't see anything obviously burnt or discolored.

 

[coldspot66]

Sounds like you are not getting full power to the oven