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Will the stovetop on an electric stove work if the oven is broken?

Meaghan Stascavage

last year

Last night, the bake element in my oven blew. I proceeded to cook on the stovetop just fine. When I was done, I disconnected the element. This morning, none of the burners are working. The light comes on to indicate that the stove is on, but none of them heat up. Is there a connection between the two or is this just a strange coincidence?

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Comments (3)

dadoes
last year
There shouldn't be any direction relation between the oven element and burner elements. "Disconnected the (bake) element" ... did you properly position, anchor, shield the loose/bare wire connectors so they don't touch the frame or some other part and short-out something, possibly trip the breaker? It's 240v with a double breaker is involved, could be one of the two tripped so the unit isn't getting full voltage.
Meaghan Stascavage thanked dadoes
jwvideo
last year
last modified: last year
>>>" Is there a connection between the two or is this just a strange coincidence? "<<<

Could be either. You are more likely to get a better answer if you specify the brand and model number of your range. In the meantime, do check the breaker as Dadoes suggested. Some stove makers, such as GE, do say on their website that the stovetop electric burners should be usable even when the oven elements are removed.

FWIW, some years ago, I had a similar sounding experience with a GE range, which did not end happily. The range's electric oven's bake element burned out in the middle of dinner preparation. I finished cooking with the stovetop burners. The following day, I removed the burned out baking element to get a replacement from a local parts warehouse. When I got back with the new element, but before I installed it, I found the range's display panel would light up but nothing worked - not the clock, not the stove top burners, nothing. Installing the new baking element did not change that.

Turned out the stove had come with a wiring connector defect for which GE had issued a recall notice. GE sent an authorized repair tech to replace the connector. Tech said that when the harness connector failed and shorted out, the failure had cascaded back to the range's main control board. GE overruled him, saying the connector failure (for which it had issued the recall) may have contributed to or been caused by the baking element burn-out but claimed the control board failure was coincidental and out of warranty.
Meaghan Stascavage thanked jwvideo
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dadoes
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As jwvideo states, including the brand and model number of the appliance is hugely helpful when asking questions, for researching the details of it. An acquaintance once approached me at the grocery and asked about a problem with her washing machine. I asked what's the brand and approximate age to get an idea of the probable mechanical design (I didn't expect she'd have memorized the model number). She pondered a moment, said "it's white." Yeah ... no, that doesn't help, LOL.

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