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PSA: That 'self-cleaning' oven cycle can fry your control board
I learned this the hard way last Tuesday after a call to a house in Elmwood. The customer said their oven stopped working mid-cycle. I figured it was a blown thermal fuse but nope. When I pulled the back panel I saw the control board had a burn mark right next to a relay. Turns out the self-clean cycle generates over 800 degrees and if your oven has any poor solder joints or a weak relay that heat spike can just melt things. I found a repair forum post from an old Whirlpool tech who said he saw this on like 60% of self-clean failures. Now I always warn customers to skip that function unless they absolutely need it. Any of you guys see this pattern with certain brands more than others?
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jordanc684d ago
Bet the heat cycles weaken the solder joints over time, not just from one use.
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anderson.spencer3d agoMost Upvoted
Honestly, I think that's the real risk here, not some one-time thermal shock event. But is it actually the solder cracking from expansion, or is it more about the lead-free stuff getting brittle after enough cycles? Has anyone actually run a test with a thermal camera to see how hot those connection points really get under load?
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