[ozone]

This is a ceramic flat cook top range. It works perfectly.

I removed the range to tile the kitchen. While I was putting the oven back in, I reached underneath it (with the bottom drawer out) to try to position the anti-tip plate. The soft part of my forearm touched the metal chassis and I got a little shock. At first I thought the sharp edge was just cutting me a little, but it was clearly a shock. I was on the floor and not touching or grounding anything else. It was a fairly minor shock, I couldn't even feel it with my hand, only with the soft part of my inner forearm. My wife unplugged the range, no shock. This did not seem right to me, so I checked for problems.

Here is the information:

It is a three wire ac connection. Red, black, white. From either red or black to white I get 115 VAC. From red to chassis, I get 5 VAC. From white to chassis, I get 115 VAC. From black to chassis, I get 230 VAC. I would have thought that from white to chassis would be the low one and I would have expected 0 VAC. From what I can tell from my wiring books, the white wire is not connected to the chassis because it is a neutral current carrying wire.

From a resistance point of view, red, black and white all measure open circuit to chassis. At one point, when I measured from red to chassis I did get a short with the rear metal panel installed. It was touching a terminal to the oven light. When I bent the terminal away from the rear panel and measured open circuit, I presumed I had the problem fixed and it made sense since I used a dolly to move the stove it's possible the panel bent inward a little even though it looked fine, but when I plugged the range back in, I still got a shock.

I started looking for other problems. With the back panel removed I turned on each burner in turn and observed. As mentioned, they all work fine, but on the back of each burner control, when it was trying to control the temperature, I could see arching across the contacts. This happened on all of them. I presume this is normal, although I would have thought they would put a cover on each of those controls since open arching just seems odd to me.

Wall outlet receptacle checks out ok. 115 from red or black to white, solid connections clean contacts.

So, my thoughts are:

1. There might be a problem with my household grounding.
2. It might be normal to have a small voltage on the chassis since it is not tied directly to ground with a "grounding conductor."

Interesting facts. With the circuit breaker at the circuit breaker panel flipped off, I checked at the receptacle with my multimeter to see that it was indeed dead before working on it, I measured 1 VAC from both the red and the black to the white (neutral). Bad breaker? It's a tiny voltage, but shouldn't it be 0 VAC?

When I measured from chassis to the ground with range plugged in,(literally stuck my digital multimeter probe on the tile floor or just loose in the air), I measured 25 VAC. I know you can't really measure this way, but usually the multimeter would just blink 40.00 when it has no reading, but this actually gave me a pretty steady 25 VAC. Weird.

So I know it's been a long post and I apologize, but it boils down to essentially two questions:

1. Is there a problem at all?
2. Is it normal for the contacts on the burner controls to spark when they are regulating the burner temperature?

Thanks for listening. I hope someone can help.

[denman]

If code allows 3 wire stove hook up, then the neutral must be tied to ground/chassis

If you have it check your installation directions
There may be a ground strap that was left hanging
Some places require 4 wire to a stove so they have the luxury of a separate earth ground.

As far as the meter just ghost voltages

[ozone]

Here is the schematic of my stove.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...93_56_full.jpg
The ground circled in red is nowhere to be found and I've checked to see if the back panel intentionally shorts to it or something, but no go. It's not there, which is probably why it's shocking me. Do you think it was built wrong?

However, after disconnecting the wiring at various points along the way and essentially using the "shock" test, I located the source of how it is getting onto the frame. The bake burner element inside the oven is elevated off of the floor of the oven by three metal stand-offs. When I lifted it off of the floor of the oven, no shock. Set it down and shock.

So does that mean that the bake element is bad? It looks fine, but that doesn't mean anything.

I have the manual and there are no installation instructions. Just plug it in and go.

Thank you for your response.

[ozone]

Ok, I'll try this again. I posted and when it didn't show up I tried to post it again and it said it was a duplicate, but still no post. I apologize if the information is repeated.

Anyway, here is the schematic of my oven.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...93_56_full.jpg

The ground circled in red is no where to be found and I was careful to check for unorthodox means of connecting it.

By disconnecting wires and tracing through the system I finally located the means by which the frame is getting electrified. The bottom baking element is held off of the floor by metal stand-offs. When I isolate them from the floor of the oven, no shock. Put it back, shock.

So do you think this indicates a bad baking element? It looks fine, but I guess that doesn't mean much.

Thank you for your response.

Oh yeah, I have the manual and there are not installation instructions. Just plug it in and rock.

[ozone]

My posts don't seem to show up. Is there a delay or something?

[ozone]

Ok, I seem to be having trouble posting with links, so I'll just put it in as text.

Ok, I'll try this again. I posted and when it didn't show up I tried to post it again and it said it was a duplicate, but still no post. I apologize if the information is repeated.

Anyway, here is the schematic of my oven.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/2384000-2384999/2384093_56_full.jpg"unorthodox means of connecting it.

By disconnecting wires and tracing through the system I finally located the means by which the frame is getting electrified. The bottom baking element is held off of the floor by metal stand-offs. When I isolate them from the floor of the oven, no shock. Put it back, shock.

So do you think this indicates a bad baking element? It looks fine, but I guess that doesn't mean much.

Thank you for your response.

Oh yeah, I have the manual and there are not installation instructions. Just plug it in and rock.

[ozone]

Ok, I'll try this again. I posted and when it didn't show up I tried to post it again and it said it was a duplicate, but still no post. I apologize if the information is repeated.

Anyway, here is the schematic of my oven.

memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/2384000-2384999/2384093_56_full.jpg

The ground circled in red is no where to be found and I was careful to check for unorthodox means of connecting it.

By disconnecting wires and tracing through the system I finally located the means by which the frame is getting electrified. The bottom baking element is held off of the floor by metal stand-offs. When I isolate them from the floor of the oven, no shock. Put it back, shock.

So do you think this indicates a bad baking element? It looks fine, but I guess that doesn't mean much.

Thank you for your response.

Oh yeah, I have the manual and there are not installation instructions. Just plug it in and rock.

[denman]

Congratulations on a great detective job

Not wanting to be out done I did some investigating myself

Here is a link to your unit
RF378PXG Parts List

Item 37 from the chassis diagram is labeled ground strap
Perhaps the person for responsible for installing it was on a smoke break when your stove went through

I just checked my stove frame to chassis I get about 10 mV on the 200mV scale

I think you need to install a ground strap and a new element
I would not do it though till I had both items
Just install a ground wire might cause an arc & spark
Just don't touch the stove and your sink at the same time, if you have copper plumbing

Again Congrats and have a great Xmas
PS: Nice car

[ozone]

Hey, thanks for the reply. I'm a first time user here and didn't realize all the parts were exploded like that. Thanks for showing me.

And yup, that ground strap is NOT on my oven. Guess someone WAS taking a smoke break that day, haha.

I was using frame and chassis interchangeably. What's the diff?

I agree about installing the two parts together, to be safe. Plus I don't like the idea of a (or another) constant current draw. No need to waste electricity.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays.

PS if you're interested in the car, you can see more about it on my website. They are both works-in-progress. New Page 1

[ozone]

Ok, I figured out the shocking thing, but I can still hear arcing when I used the burners. I don't recall hearing that before. Any suggestions?