Amana Oven Slow To Preheat

[scanor]

I moved into a house that has an Amana 'The Big Oven - Capacity 5.14'. The model number is ACF4225AB. The year on the label of the stove states that it passed inspection in 2001.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
I am having problems with the oven reaching the proper temperature in a reasonable amount of time. This is the test I performed with an oven thermometer. I set the oven temperature to 350 degrees. <o:p></o:p>
After 11 minutes the preheat light turned off. The temperature was less than 200 degrees.<o:p></o:p>
At 15 minutes the temp was 250 degrees.<o:p></o:p>
At 20 minutes the temp was 290 degrees<o:p></o:p>
At 30 minutes the temp was 325 degrees<o:p></o:p>
At 35 minutes the temp was only 340 degrees.<o:p></o:p>
I ran out of time and had to stop the test at this point.<o:p></o:p>
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I know preheat in ovens that have the baking element covered should usually take between 10-20 minutes, so this seems a bit unreasonable.<o:p></o:p>
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I removed power to the oven and tested the resistance of the bake and broiler elements using an ohmmeter as recommended in the Amana Technical Information – Component Testing Procedures. Both the bake element and broiler element had the correct resistance 20 ohms and 19 ohms, respectively. I also tested the voltage across the bake and broiler elements, when the oven is first turned on and the voltage is 240 V.<o:p></o:p>
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I also tested the resistance of the Oven temperature sensor with an ohmmeter. The resistance was 1100 ohms at room temperature. So it also looks like it is within spec.<o:p></o:p>
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What does the control limit switch do? I have tested it and it always appears to be in the closed position even after the oven has reached 235 degrees?<o:p></o:p>
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Do you have any idea what is wrong with my oven? Why does preheat turn off before the oven is up to temperature? Is it the Electronic Range Control? Or the control limit switch?<o:p></o:p>
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Are there any other tests that I can perform to determine the part that is failing? Does anyone have a schematic of the electronic range control?<o:p></o:p>
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Any help would definitely be appreciated – thank you in advance.<o:p></o:p>
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[Jake]

First let me just say that if you used a regular round metal type oven thermometer like you can buy at any store for about 5-10 dollars, they will read low until the oven is stabilized, the best type of thermostat to use is a digital kind that is connected to a volt/ohm meter, where you put the special lead probe wire into the oven.

The control limit is a thermostat that tells it to shut down if it goes over the set temperature.

Did the bake element stay bright red the whole time it was pre-heating?

Jake

[scanor]

Hello

I removed the bottom cover to expose the bake element and I set the oven to 350 degrees. Neither the bake element nor the broil element ever got red.

I did hear a relay from the electronic range control clicking twice (open then close or something like that) about once every minute while the oven was preheating.

You are correct, I am using one of the round oven thermometers. It does seem to be very accurate once the oven has stablized. You may be correct that it is reading low when the oven is heating up. However, I can tell from cooking that my oven is not up to temperature when the preheat light turns off.

Thank you for responding.
Sincerely scanor

[Jake]

I myself would check the bake element with the power on to it with a volt meter to make sure its getting 240 volts to it. It should get red when its heating.

When the temp. comes up to where it should be, does it bake fine? or is it too low?

Jake