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I saw a similar question with a fridge Is it normal for the voltage tester to beep when touching the refrigerator frames?

But in my case, no matter where I put the stick on my oven, it will beep. It's a double oven, and the bottom, the top, the handle, all of it will trigger the detector

Here's a video. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mn3_-TzgqkkN6-i-669dF6aaNUrcyaW_/view?usp=sharing

The oven still works, i had an appliance guy and an electrician "look" at it, but nobody opened it up or anything. I've also never been shocked

Should I be concerned at all?

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  • Fridge, stove/oven, washer/dryer are all the same. Voltage plus amps on the frame you put your hands is not good. Most modern appliances have the frame grounded so should not be any voltage readings. If frame does have voltage, you should only get a shock if you complete a path to ground(do not try by testing with skin), touching metal sink, etc.
    – crip659
    Commented Dec 30, 2022 at 20:36
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    I will take a SWAG and say there may be a very small amount of leakage from one of the switches to the heating element. That covers a huge area and could radiate enough to trip your tester. It is sensitive and will show power when its is well below the point where it will hurt you. Handay indicator but it does not really tell you anything except a AC field is present.
    – Gil
    Commented Dec 30, 2022 at 20:40
  • Does the oven use a 3-wire connection? There are failure modes which will electrify the chassis of the oven. It might be exactly what it says on the tin.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Dec 31, 2022 at 1:23
  • if you have a toaster, test that, if that triggers the detector too there may be something wrong with you floor,
    – Jasen
    Commented Dec 31, 2022 at 12:34

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Non-contact voltage testers are notorious for beeping in response to static. Mine will beep on dead wires if I move it around a lot or drag it up and down the insulation or even the wallboard.

Test with a real multimeter between the handle/frame and a known good ground (the ground pin of a nearby outlet will work fine). You should see 0VAC (or more likely, a minuscule amount of volts AC quickly dropping to 0 as static dissipates).

If you see a voltage that stays above zero, you can be worried and keep searching for an issue with your appliance. If the number is zero, you are fine - the non-contact detector is just beeping at static.

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  • Thanks for your answer! would this still work if the ground pin I'm using of a nearby outlet isn't on the same circuit? I ask because the Oven is on it's own circuit, so there is no ground pin accessible for me on the same circuit
    – A O
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 20:20
  • Yes, if your house was built after the 1960s or so when grounded outlets became common. The equipment grounding conductors for every circuit are tied together at the service entrance so every grounded surface in the house is at the same potential (allowing for minute amounts of resistance in the wire and connections, but we're talking milliohms there).
    – Chris O
    Commented Jan 3, 2023 at 21:44
  • So bad news actually @Chris O, I got a multimeter and tested it between ground and oven... 87.4V AC seems high? One probe was on COM and one probe was on V (there is a third probe option for A, but pretty sure that doesn't matter) I think I should probably remove the entire oven? assuming if i touch the oven and something grounded i could get hurt?
    – A O
    Commented Jan 15, 2023 at 7:16

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