There are more and more appliances in the house, you involuntarily begin to think that it would be nice to be able to repair even simple damages yourself. This article will help you, where it will be considered how to repair the cooking surface of the stove with your own hands. Please note that if the equipment is under warranty, it is better not to touch it at all. All that is possible in this case is to replace the network cord. In other cases, it is better to contact the service. Well, if there is no warranty for a long time, you can try to repair the hob yourself.
Types of cooking panels
Electric and induction stoves with a ceramic or glass-ceramic coating are called a cooking panel (surface). Under this coating are the heating elements of the burner. These burners can be of different types:
- induction The principle of electromagnetic induction is used in the work. For the correct operation of equipment of this type, it is important to choose the right dishes, since it forms a single electro-oscillating circuit with the burner, which emits heat. Without suitable dishes, the induction cooker simply does not turn on.
- Spiral. The principle of operation and the heating element of these burners are very similar to ordinary electric stoves. There is a spiral that is heated by the current passing through it. The heat released is transferred to the cooking panel above the burner, and the dishes are heated from it.
- Corrugated tapes. The processes that take place and the principle of heating are the same as for spiral plates, only the appearance of the heater has changed.
- Halogen infrared lamps – based on HaloLight technology. The heating element is a tube filled with halogen vapors, which emit heat during the passage of current. Their advantage is that they heat up very quickly – in 2 seconds. Minus quickly fail. Therefore, such plates are usually made with two types of heating elements – heating elements and halogen tubes. During the warm-up period, the halogen tube is turned on, then the heater works.
As you can see, the burners are different, different processes are used to prepare food, but the general device of the cooking panels is the same. To make it easier to find faults during the repair of the cooking surface, you need to know how the equipment is arranged.
Arrangement of the cooking panel
The main elements of the cooking surface are the burners and the control panel. Each burner has contacts for connection and a control relay (thermal relay). Through the contacts, the burner is connected to the control panel, and the thermal relay monitors the surface heating temperature and turns off/on the power supply. Problems with burners are most often associated with incorrect operation of the control or weakened contacts.
The control unit and burners are connected to each other with the help of wires. This is another source of problems. You can deal with breakdowns of these devices without special skills. You will need a multimeter and a soldering iron. Since if an element is damaged, it will have to be soldered out, buy a good one in advance to install it in place.
When carrying out these works, you should not rely on memory. It is best to photograph everything before starting work. Later, in the process, also periodically take photos. In any case, every time before changing anything in a node, take a picture of it. It will be easiest to install a new element or replace the old one
The most difficult thing to understand is the breakdown of the control unit. This requires serious knowledge of circuit technology. If they are not there, it is better to contact a specialist on this issue.
The location of the parts, their shape may be different and depend on the manufacturer, model, but in general, the structure of the panel with electric burners is very similar.
Management problems
The most difficult case is problems with the control board. There is little you can do on your own.
How to understand that the control unit is to blame for the breakdown? PROC e indicates the absence of a signal when pressing the buttons. If the power is turned on, but there are no sounds or visible state changes when setting the operating modes, most likely there is a problem with the control. In this case, the repair of the hob consists of the simplest actions.
If the stove “disobeys” you, first thoroughly clean the surface – dirt can be the reason for this behavior. Next, you should check the power settings. Too low voltage in the network can affect the operation of the control.
If the voltage is normal, and there are no changes, try to reload the programs. To do this, de-energize the cooking surface. If it is connected through an outlet, remove the plug. Shutting down with a button is not enough. If you connected the stove through the terminal block, it is easier to turn off the machine on the shield. The stove should be de-energized for at least 10 minutes. Then you can turn it on and try again. If there was a simple control “glitch”, it helps, if the problems are more serious – no. If all actions did not give results, call the wizard.
If the burner does not turn on
If the burner does not turn on, there may be several reasons:
- burning or weakening of contacts;
- malfunction of the thermal relay;
- problems with the wires going to this burner;
- burning out of the heating element.
All these problems can be eliminated with your own hands.
Repair of the hob begins with its disassembly. It must be disconnected from the network, disconnected from the tabletop. Transfer the hob to a table covered with a clean cloth, turn the glass down, unscrew the bolts located on the sides, carefully, holding the ceramics, turn over and remove the ceramic panel. So we get access to the insides, and you can repair the cooking surface with your own hands.
The next thing to do is to inspect the wires that go to the non-working burner, check the contacts. Violation of the integrity of wires and burning of contacts is a very common cause of breakdown. In private houses, the wiring can be gnawed by mice, and the contacts catch fire due to insufficient quality assembly.
If visually everything is fine, pull the wires, checking the quality of the contact. If traces of soot are visible somewhere, disassemble the contact, clean it to clean metal, pack it back, install it and clamp it well.
The last stage of checking wiring and contacts is measurement. We take a multimeter, check the wires for integrity (we make a call) and for insulation breakdown (on the case and between each other).
If no deviations are detected in the wire, we inspect the thermal relay. It is located next to the burner (electromechanical), covered with a plastic cover. In some models, the relay is moved to the control unit (electronic). Then, to determine which relay is responsible for heating the desired burner, we trace it along the wires.
If the relay is electromechanical, pry open the cover with a screwdriver, inspect the contacts. There may be charred, bent or fused contacts. All of this is subject to replacement. If the relay is electronic, there is no point in opening it. We measure its resistance, compare it with the serviceable ones standing next to it. There is a deviation – replacement is required.
If everything is fine with the relay, the burner may have burned out. To check, we measure the resistance. If it is large or there is an infinity sign (discontinuity), the problem is in the spiral, TEN, etc. To find a replacement, we look for the burner number (written on its body). With this number, we go to the store or search on the Internet.
Next comes the repair of the cooking panel — the replacement of the burned-out burner. We unsolder all the wires, remove them, put a new one, connect them.
If the stove does not turn on at all
If the equipment does not turn on at all, check the voltage immediately. With low voltage, the hob may not turn on. To avoid such situations in the future, it is advisable to install a stabilizer. This will significantly extend the life of the equipment, since electronics are very sensitive to power quality, and electronics are the most difficult (and expensive) to repair.
If the voltage is normal, start the repair of the cooking surface by inspecting the mains cord. Oddly enough, many breakdowns are related to its damage – frayed, bent, pressed, burst/melted insulation, etc. First, we inspect the cord (disconnecting it from the network), then we call for the integrity of the wires and for insulation breakdown (each wire to the ground and to each other).
The next step is to check the contact in the terminal block. A loose or oxidized contact can cause the hob not to turn on. What to do in this case? Unscrew the contact, clean it of oxides, tighten it well again.
If the stove still does not show signs of life, find a fuse. It stands at the entrance, burns out during power surges — to protect more expensive parts from damage. It can look different, but most often it is a glass or ceramic tube with metal caps on the edges.
We found the fuse, then we take a multimeter and measure its resistance. It should be small. If the device shows a cliff (infinitely large resistance), the fuse has blown. Another way is to put the multimeter in ringing mode and touch the probes to both ends of the fuse. The device is silent – it has burned out.
We remove the blown fuse and replace it with a similar one. Exactly the same one – with the same parameters (specified on the case). It is not recommended to put a “bug” or a fuse with a lower sensitivity – with the next voltage surge, the damage will be much more serious.
Of the easy checks, one remains – to check whether power is coming from the terminal block to the control unit. Maybe the wiring is damaged or the contact is loose/detached somewhere. This is done using a multimeter. We check the integrity of the wires (by ringing them, by measuring the resistance) and the presence of insulation breakdown (on the case and between them). If all parameters are normal, you can turn on the power and carefully measure the voltage at the input of the control unit. The voltage is normal, but the hob still does not turn on – problems in the control unit. Further repair of the hob is related to this unit.