Frigidaire oven smells smoky and turned itself on to bake. Safe to use cook top?

Question

My brother's wife is working in remote Canadian town – just her in condo, no pets. Condo has electric Frigidare Model No. CFES3025LW4 with 4 element induction cook top. I can't find pic on Google Image.

1. This morning 6 AM, she felt the house got too stuffy. Then she saw the oven turned itself on. She never pushed 'Bake' button this past week! She didn't use range yesterday. She turned them off by pushing "Bake" again. For more safety, she turned off branch circuit breaker for whole range (cook top and oven).

2. She never used oven, but it smells burnt and smoky.

Anyways repair person can't come until Nov 20 (next Wed). He needs order parts. Undeniably she must cook herself before then. She can't eat out every day! Thus is it safe for her to use just the cooktop? She will turn off branch circuit breaker after each use!

Answer 1

I would say it is safe to use both the induction rings and the oven provided your in-law is in the kitchen. I would not use any timer function on the oven.

The main risk is the cooker starting a fire. If your in-law is in the kitchen, she will probably smell burning insulation, and be able to turn the power off, before an actual fire breaks out.

I would continue to turn the breaker power off when the cooker is not in use, particularly when she is out or asleep.

Answer 2

In your several other questions, you discussed turning the range circuit breaker off while the range is not in use. For the short term, i.e. a couple of weeks, that strategy is fine. Breakers are definitely safe to use dozens of times.

• Can you use them thousands of times (daily for 20 years)? Maybe. It depends on the breaker's rating. A long time ago, certain models of breakers were rated for switching (commonly used in industry to switch all-day lighting). Today, most breakers are rated for switching. I would expect it in a new breaker. Which costs $10, by the way.

As long as the oven is attended while the breaker is on , then you shouldn't have a problem from that. (and obviously don't put flammables in bad places, Dad, Dad, do not put the coffee maker on a burner "but it's off" still don't do it)

Keep in mind there are other range dangers I cannot vouch for; particularly if the range has a 3-wire connection and the neutral has a problem, it will electrify the chassis of the oven with lethal voltage. I can't promise you the problems aren't related; maybe a voltage spike from a lost neutral is what made the oven controller glitch.

Answer 3

Does your in-law have a cat by any chance? My mother's cats have managed to mess with the touch controls of her range more than once!

It's hard to say with this because you don't know the cause, however if it is just an oven control issue then there should be no problem using the induction rings.

Answer 4

I wouldn't use the oven if I were you

The most likely failure situation that could cause an electronically-controlled oven to get "stuck on" is if the relay on the control board that switches power to the bake element failed due to the contacts being stuck shut. This sort of failure, even if it appears to straighten itself out when the oven is left alone for a while, will not get better, and can progress to the oven being unable to be shut off save for by the breaker, so I would avoid using the oven until the control board is replaced by a competent person, lest the malfunctions become more severe.

However, the cooktop should be fine

Generally speaking, the oven control is separate from the cooktop control on an electric range; this is partly because it's harder to replace a simmerstat with electronics vs. a simple oven control timer, and partly because the two modules have different requirements as well. I would be OK with using the cooktop under these circumstances still, provided it is attended of course.