How to repair your hob

Increasingly, instead of a stove, a hob and a separate oven are installed in the kitchen. Built-in appliances fit better into the interior and have a more modern look. Today we will talk about how to repair such equipment, namely, hobs. They are electric, induction and gas. Each type has its own damage, but there are some common points. We will tell you more about the repair of various types of hobs further.

Electric hob repair

In the event of any breakdown of the electrical and induction hob, the first step is to check if the power supply is normal. They start with basic things.

• The first step is to check the presence of power in the outlet and the voltage that is supplied. This can be done with using a multimeter... Low voltage can cause poor heating of the hotplates and, in general, incorrect operation of the control.
  

  Repairing the hob can often be done by hand.

• Next, check the plug, electrical cord for integrity. It is advisable to ring with the same multimeter (for the integrity of the wires, for the breakdown of insulation to ground). If there is visible damage to the insulation, it is better to replace the wire.
• The next step is to check if the contact is loose on the plate where the cord is attached. Remove the protective cover, inspect visually first (the stove is unplugged). If there is no visible damage to the insulation (blackening, melted sheath), you can pull and pull the wires. They should not move, should not jump out. If there is even a slight backlash, tighten the connection). If a wire jumps out of the terminal, it must be repaired.

Only after you have checked all these parameters is it worth moving on. Repairing the hob should start by determining the exact nature of the malfunction. According to it, one can assume what may be the reason.

We disassemble the hob

In order to further repair the hob with your own hands, it must be turned off and dismantled, and then disassembled - remove the front panel. Turn off the power to dashboardby turning off the machine and the RCD on this line. If a cord was used when connecting, remove it from the outlet. After that, we put a sharp object into the gap between the hob and the countertop, raise it.

By removing the ceramic plate, we gain access to the electrical components

If you connected the hob directly or through a block, you must unscrew the wires. To do this, remove (lift or unscrew) the cover that covers the wires. Before you remove them, sketch or better - take a picture of how the wires are connected. This will make it easier to put everything back in place.

After that, the hob is transferred to the table (cover it with a clean cloth so as not to scratch the front panel) and laid face down.

Next, unscrew the fasteners along the perimeter of the panel. After that, you can remove the ceramic plate.

Hotplate problems

If all the burners do not heat up, there may be problems with the power supply, but we would have already identified them. What else could it be? Power circuit fuse blown. This happens with power surges. Find where it is installed and examine or call, replace if necessary. It costs quite a bit, it is easy to replace - remove the old one from the holders, install a new one.

If problems with heating the hotplates begin immediately after hob installation, perhaps the reason is that the selected wire is of insufficient cross-section. Read this article and choose the correct section, connect a new cable or cord.

If one of the burners does not heat up (or does not heat up slightly), the following breakdowns may be the reasons:

• The heating element is out of order (when measuring resistance, it shows an open circuit). This is treated only by replacement.
• Bad contact in the connection circuit. We again visually inspect the wires that go to the broken burner, pull them, twist / solder them if necessary. We take a tester, carefully measure what voltage is supplied to a poorly working burner. If it differs from 220 V, we look for where the problem is in the power circuit.
• The temperature sensor or relay for turning on the heating element of the burner is out of order. They are usually not repaired, only replaced. How can you tell if it is defective? Disassemble it and assess the status of contacts. It is easy to understand - pry off the plastic cover with the tip of a screwdriver, while pressing the latches.
  

  The temperature sensor can stand next to the burner

  There is a thermocouple inside - a pair of contacts that open / close, maintaining the required temperature. They can burn or melt (as in the photo below). You can try to clean them up. For some time, it is possible that efficiency will be restored, but not for long. Therefore, while it is working, look for the necessary thermal sensors (thermal relays), since a replacement will still be needed.

• The situation is similar with the temperature controller (control relay). Inspect it, clean the contacts, measure the reading and compare with the regulator on the adjacent burner. If there are differences, it is better to replace. They are most often located under the control board. They can also be white, gray, but usually located on the board.
  

  Where to find the thermostats on the hob

  These are also small plastic boxes with contacts inside. They also burn or melt. And they can also be the cause of a non-working state or problems with turning on / off the hotplate.

Most often, various problems with the burners are associated precisely with a malfunction of the temperature sensor or control relay. If one burner does not turn on, after some time it turns off spontaneously, on the contrary, it does not turn off until you turn it off ... all this and other similar problems are caused by the incorrect operation of these sensors on a specific burner and you should first look there. There is another option - control problems (processor). But they will be described later.

Touchpad problems

Sometimes a malfunction of the hob is caused by incorrect operation of the touch panel. It is possible to understand that the matter is in it by ear. Its correct operation is accompanied by sound signals. If they are not there, then something is wrong. The panel does not respond. This may be due to the fact that the surface and panel are dirty and simply cannot understand that they are being accessed. In this case, it is necessary to wash the panel, wipe it, then try everything again.

Sometimes the control board can "glitch". To eliminate the problem, de-energize (turn off the power completely by pulling the plug from the socket or disconnecting machine gun). We are waiting for 20-30 minutes, turn it on again. A hard reboot occurs, the problem may be resolved.

One of the options for the hob control panel

If all this does not help, it is necessary to disassemble the surface, check the power supply in series, then the existing element base - capacitors, varistors, a transformer. If there are no problems here, the repair of the hob is over for you, since the remaining reason is the microprocessor, but testing it is a job for specialists.

Repair of induction panels

The peculiarity of the induction hob is that the heating is turned on only if there is special cookware on the burner. It stops immediately after the dishes are removed.That is, you can check whether the burner is working only by placing a suitable pan on it. But, in case of some problems, a message about the state of the device and an error code are displayed on the control panel. We look at its decoding in the instructions, so we determine the approximate nature of the damage.

Heats up only if there is a certain type of metal cookware (magnetic)

If the surface does not work

If the stove does not work at all, it is worth starting the repair of the induction-type hob, as described above, by checking the power, cord, contacts, etc. First you need to exclude the simplest options, and then look for damage further.

If during the inspection nothing was found, and the induction hob still does not work, turn it off, transfer it to the table with a spread cloth, laying it face down, remove the glass-ceramic panel from it (unscrew the fixing bolts). Most of the problems with induction furnaces are related to the power block and breakdown of the elements. This is due to voltage surges and it is best to install a stabilizer to prevent such problems.

We start the check by dialing the power unit. These are diode bridges, transistors and a fuse. There is only one fuse - it's not difficult to find and check it.

These are holders for installing a fuse - a glass bulb with a wire inside

Diode bridges and transistors are located next to the radiator and burner control keys. We turn on the multimeter in the dial mode and check the diode bridges and transistors.

Repairing the hob: ringing the transistors and the diode bridge

If there is a breakdown, we will hear the device beep - this element is faulty and must be replaced. We solder the old one, install the new one. If it is impossible to find a spare part of the same company, select with similar characteristics. But there can be problems when soldering, as they can have different dimensions. This is not so important, the performance is important.

When replacing, it may not turn out very nice

After replacement, we check all power circuits for breakdown and short circuit. We especially carefully check the part that is associated with the punched elements - there may still be faulty elements. If there is no other damage, we assemble the panel, connect it, test it.

For details on the repair process of an induction hob from AEG (Elektrolux), see the following video.

Other problems

The device of this technique is more complex and there are many possible malfunctions, as well as reasons. Here are the most common problems and how to fix them.

1. There is no communication with the control panel. Most likely the problem is in the power supply or poor contact. It is necessary to carefully examine the right or left side, depending on which one does not work. Then check the presence of power on the control board and all wires that lead to it.
2. One of the burners “does not see” the cookware. It is necessary to check the sensor responsible for this hotplate.
   

   Most of the problems with an induction cooker are associated with the wrong selection of cookware.

3. The hotplate switches on by itself. Remove metal object from stove or clean surface. Such a false alarm can be caused by salt residues. Wash everything well and wipe dry.
4. The water in the pot does not heat well. Most likely the problem is in the pot. It does not conduct heat well.
5. The hotplate overheats and switches off. In most cases, the problem is also in the dishes. If others react normally to the same cookware, check the sensor for the “defective” hotplate.

Most problems can be avoided by carefully studying the operating instructions and powering the equipment through the stabilizer. Then the repair of the induction-type hob may not be necessary at all.

Gas hob repair

In a gas hob, you can only repair the electric ignition and the gas control system yourself. With them, in principle, the main problems arise.Since the gas hob with electric ignition is also connected to electricity, in case of general problems with the electrical part (piezo ignition does not work at all), first check the presence of power in the outlet, inspect the integrity of the wire. If everything is fine here, you can go deeper.

You can repair the gas hob yourself

The electric ignition button does not work (no spark)

Electric ignition is a convenient thing, but from time to time the spark stops "skipping" and the fire on some burner does not ignite. You can light it by pressing the button of another hotplate. They are connected in parallel and when you press one, there is a spark on all burners. But this situation is abnormal and the spark must be restored. Repairing the hob in this case is not very difficult. There are several reasons:

• Candle is clogged with grease, dirt, detergent residue. It must be thoroughly cleaned and wiped dry.
• Check the power wires that go to this candle. To do this, you need to remove the burners, the top panel. If it is glass ceramics, it can be planted on a sealant, we cut it and remove the front panel. If it is metal, unscrew the fixing bolts. Under the front panel, we are interested in the power wires. It is necessary to check for insulation breakdown to ground (to ground). To do this, you can press the ignition button several times, if there is a breakdown, a spark will jump in that place. If there is no visible damage, we ring the wires with a multimeter for integrity and for a breakdown with the ground. We replace the found faulty conductors with similar ones.
  

  It is necessary to check the integrity of the wires and their insulation

• If the conductors are intact, the contacts are normal everywhere, the problem may be in the button. We disassemble it, clean it, put everything in its place.
• Another reason is problems with the electric ignition transformer. O has two windings, each of which feeds two cooking zones. If the resistance is measured between two opposite burners, it should be about 600 ohms - this is the resistance of the transformer windings. If it is lower, most likely the reason is a stuck (dirty) button. We disassemble them, clean them, put them in place.

What else can you do is check the contacts and soldering. If necessary, tighten the contacts or clean them from dirt, solder, if they are cold, re-solder. How to tell if the soldering is cold? If you pry the tin with something hard (the end of the probe of a multimeter, for example), it moves or flies off, there may be cracks in it. In this case, we warm up the soldering iron, re-melt the solder.

The flame goes out on the burner after lighting

Many modern gas stoves or hobs have a gas control function. There is a sensor near each burner that monitors the presence of a flame. If there is no flame, the gas supply stops. The function is useful, but sometimes problems begin - after ignition, when you release the switch knob, the flame goes out. The fact is that the sensor - the thermocouple - is dirty or out of order and "does not see" the flame.

Where is the thermocouple in the gas stove

First you need to try to clean all the sensors. During operation, they quickly become overgrown with fat, so they periodically require cleaning. First, turn off the power, remove the burners, remove the handles, unscrew the front panel. We find a thermocouple on an inoperative burner. This is a small metal pin that sits against the gas burner. In some models of gas hobs, it can simply be inserted, in others there is a lock. It is necessary to remove the sensor from the socket and clean it from dirt. Use regular kitchen dishwashing chemicals or something stronger. It is important to get results. We wash the sensors, dry them, put them in place. You can check the work.

Sometimes it happens that even after cleaning, some of the burners do not work. This means that the thermocouple is out of order. In this case, the repair of the gas hob is the replacement of the thermocouple.You already know how to get to it, but it turns off simply: you need to remove the corresponding wires from the block. We take out the old sensor, put a new one. We put the cover back in place, check the work. This, in fact, is all.

One important point: if your equipment is under warranty, you should not repair it yourself, otherwise you will be refused warranty repair.