How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board

At home one night, as my wife was getting things ready for dinner, we ran into a slight problem – lo and behold the oven wouldn’t pre-heat for our kids fish sticks!  Houston we have a problem!

How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board – The Background

We use our oven probably five or six times a week.  This was definitely a big deal.  We did have a smaller counter-top convection oven unit, but it wasn’t really big enough to prepare some of our dinner meals.

Before this whole problem started, my knowledge around oven science was pretty lacking.  The thing was pretty much a “black box” to me – literally.

When we set it to bake, broil, or pre-heat, the temperature would level out somewhere around 120F – 145F.  Too cold for much of anything.

How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board – Troubleshooting

From having a general engineering background, I guess that the problem could be one of three things:

1. Bad heating elements
2. Bad temperature sensor
3. Bad oven control board

So, I started a process of elimination to try and determine what item was causing the problem.  Because I didn’t have a multi-meter, I had to go a little bit of guessing.

After pre-heating for 30 seconds, I noticed that the top element wasn’t hot at all.  I reasoned that if the bottom element were working 100%, then the oven would still be able to increase it’s temperature, it would just take longer.  Because the oven couldn’t ever get higher than 145F, this would mean that both oven heating elements had to go bad at the same time.  What are the chances of that?  I decided it would be safe to cross this one off the list.

The other item that could have failed was the oven temperature sensor.  I reasoned that if this went bad, the oven would probably be getting too hot vs. too cold.  Also, the top heating element would at least come on and get a little bit hot.  Wouldn’t it?  Also, the temperature readout seemed to match up with what the oven felt like when I opened it.  Hmmm… let’s cross that one off the list.

That left me with a bad oven control board.  This seemed to match up with the symptoms that I was experiencing.  If the board was bad, it might not be sending full current to the heating elements…

How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board – Getting Parts

I found the oven control board I needed from www.RepairClinic.com.   The part ran about $140 delivered.  Would it be worth the risk to order this part if it wasn’t the problem?  I reasoned that I should give it a try for two reasons:

• RepairClinic gives you a 365 day no-questions-asked return policy.  So if the board wasn’t the problem, I could get my money back (less shipping)
• Getting someone out to troubleshoot and fix the stove was going to run me about $400 – $500!  I could buy a whole new oven for $800 or less!

In the end, I decided to try it myself.  And I’m glad I did…

How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board – Great Success

I chose to replace the oven control board myself, and it solved the problem!  It was a little of a pain in the butt (I had one damn wire that was being extremely stubborn to remove), but I would do it again if given the chance.

I saved $300 – $400 in the process and only took about one hour of my time.  Plus, I made this awesome video on how to replace an oven control board for my YouTube channel!

How to Replace Electronic Oven Control Board – Final Thoughts

Replacing an oven control board was pretty easy overall.  I had one or two minor hiccups, but to save $300 – $400 it was well worth it!  If your oven ever decides to give up, I’d suggest you give DIY repair a solid consideration!