September 28, 2016

Wall oven won't heat: troubleshooting thermal switch problems video

Troubleshooting thermal switch problems on a wall oven.

If your Kenmore, Frigidaire or Electrolux wall oven won’t heat after you run the self-cleaning cycle, the thermal switch might have tripped. Most Kenmore, Frigidaire and Electrolux electric wall ovens have a safety switch—called a thermal switch—on the back of the appliance that trips if temperatures in the oven get too hot.

Sometimes, the self-cleaning cycle in your oven can accidentally trip the thermal switch because it uses high temperatures to burn off grease and food residue. It's easy to reset the thermal switch, but getting to it is a bit trickier. Watch this video to see how to get to the switch, reset it and get baking again.

Check out our wall oven repair help page for more troubleshooting tips and repair guides.

Parts and tools needed

Screwdriver
Work table
Work gloves
Thermal switch (if needed)
Wall oven removal tool, right
Wall oven removal tool, left

Self-clean cycle can trip the thermal switch

Hi, this is Wayne from Sears PartsDirect. Today we're going to talk about what to do if your wall oven won’t heat after you ran a self-cleaning cycle. The culprit in this situation is often a tripped thermal switch on the back of the oven. Most Kenmore, Frigidaire and Electrolux electric wall ovens have a safety switch to keep them from overheating.

The problem is that this switch sometimes trips when you self-clean the oven, because of the high temperature used during that cycle. The self-clean cycle heats the oven to 800 degrees to burn off spills and residue.

If this happens, you can reset the thermal switch by pressing the red reset button. Pressing the button is easy. Getting to the back of the oven is a bit harder. Disconnect power to the oven by shutting off both circuit breakers. Most oven circuit breakers are double breakers.

Remove the oven door to reset the switch

Open the oven door. Remove the mounting screw that secures the oven to the right side of the cabinet. Repeat the process to remove the mounting screw from the left side of the oven. Some models use brackets to hold the oven in place. In that case, you won't see mounting screws. If your oven has these brackets, you’ll need a right-bracket removal tool and a left-bracket removal tool to take off the brackets.

With someone’s help, carefully pull the oven out of the cabinet and rest it on a sturdy worktable. Remove all of the screws that secure the back panel to the oven frame. Support the panel as you pull out the last screw to keep it from falling. Lift and remove the back panel from the cabinet.

Check and replace broken wires

Press the red button (that’s the thermal switch) to reset it. Before you put the oven back together, take a look at the wiring and make sure none of the wires are broken or damaged. Here’s a video that shows how to repair wires in an oven correctly.

Reinstall your oven in the cabinet and restore power. See if the oven heats. If it does, you've probably fixed the problem. Keep in mind that repeated tripping of the thermal switch will weaken this component. Replace the thermal switch if it won't reset or if it trips repeatedly during normal oven operation.

Keep an eye out for burned cookies to make sure that oven’s not overheating. If the oven overheats in the normal baking mode or doesn't heat after resetting the thermal switch, then you'll need to have a service technician examine the oven and repair the problem.

Hey, I hope this video helps you out today. Be sure to check out our other videos on the Sears PartsDirect YouTube channel and subscribe to learn when we post new videos.