Replacement oven element - earth connection?

[Lobster]

I need to replace an oven heating element, having just been contacted by a
tenant of mine to say that said element has died.

The oven is a Baumatic B100SS-B, and I seem to have found a replacement
online OK (18 GBP from an ebay seller). However, while searching for this
item at different retailers, I came across some info in customer reviews
which worried me somewhat.

All of the 6 or 7 pictures of the replacement which I've just seen show
this element has two terminals. However, at least two customer reviews
suggest that the original had three terminals, and that a bodge was
necessary to fit it.

eg http://tinyurl.com/kqw7mpa "Unfortunately this element is not exactly
the same as it is pictured. It is missing the middle connection for the
ground wire however with a few adjustments I was still able to use it"

and http://tinyurl.com/nz3dpcg "Easy to fit, this has no earthing point
like the original but just re-route this connection to the main cooker
earthing point"

Obviously ideally I'd dismantly my own oven to check it out; however being
in a rented property, if possible I'd rather jusr buy the element and then
go round once to fit the thing. So I wondered if anyone could shed any
light on what might be going on here? Would you expect an element to have
an earthing point, and if so, why would it be omitted?


--
David

[MM]

I've never seen an oven element like this with an earthing point. I've
replaced both in my Hotpoint double oven and neither had an earthing
element. Both look similar to the ones in your links.

Maybe the original designer was being super careful, but it was later
found to be unnecessary.

MM

[fred]

In article <XnsA4785959CBA9Cd...@81.171.92.236>, Lobster
<davidlobs...@hotmail.com> writes

>
>Obviously ideally I'd dismantly my own oven to check it out; however being
>in a rented property, if possible I'd rather jusr buy the element and then
>go round once to fit the thing. So I wondered if anyone could shed any
>light on what might be going on here? Would you expect an element to have
>an earthing point, and if so, why would it be omitted?
>

I've recently replaced both the circular fan oven element (covered) and
the grill element (exposed) on my oven.

The oven element didn't have a separate earth, making contact through
the mounting flange and screws but as it was covered, that may remove it
from risk of accidental contact and so require less stringent earthing.

The grill element had no earth tag but did have a separate earth eyelet
under one of the fixing screw providing a dedicated earth connection in
addition to the metallic connection to the oven body (which was already
earthed). As it is possible to make accidental contact with the exposed
element I wonder if they wanted and extra safeguard.

In your place I take any additional earth wire to an eyelet under one of
the element fixing screws.

Watch out for the fixing plate being the wrong size/shape or the holes
being out of place. In the case of the oven element I had to open up the
bracket holes to get a fit and in the case of the grill element the
plate was a little short but good enough.

--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

[tabb...@gmail.com]

If the element is screwed in place to a metal oven there's no need to earth it separately. However some elements have a 3rd tag that's used for mounting, and sometimes misdescribed as an earthing tag.


NT

[Lobster]

On 10 Apr 2015, fred <n...@for.mail> grunted:

> In article <XnsA4785959CBA9Cd...@81.171.92.236>, Lobster
> <davidlobs...@hotmail.com> writes
>>
>>Obviously ideally I'd dismantly my own oven to check it out; however
>>being in a rented property, if possible I'd rather jusr buy the
>>element and then go round once to fit the thing. So I wondered if
>>anyone could shed any light on what might be going on here? Would you
>>expect an element to have an earthing point, and if so, why would it
>>be omitted?

> The oven element didn't have a separate earth, making contact through
> the mounting flange and screws but as it was covered, that may remove
> it from risk of accidental contact and so require less stringent
> earthing.
>
> The grill element had no earth tag but did have a separate earth
> eyelet under one of the fixing screw providing a dedicated earth
> connection in addition to the metallic connection to the oven body
> (which was already earthed). As it is possible to make accidental
> contact with the exposed element I wonder if they wanted and extra
> safeguard.
>
> In your place I take any additional earth wire to an eyelet under one
> of the element fixing screws.

Well, I've just dismantled the oven concerned, and bugger me; there is
indeed an earth tag on the old element.

The new element - ie with just the L/N terminals - has an earthing symbol
stamped on its mounting plate in place of a tag, implying to me that an
earth is indeed necessary. Bizarre or what?

I think I'll probably drill the mounting plate and bolt on my own tag;
there's not much room to attach the earth wire via the element via one of
the mounting screws.

(Looking at the dis-assembled oven (which has a separate earth wire) there
should be electrical contact between all the components via mounting screws
anyway - is it just belt-and-braces to have a separate earth tag on the
element itself?

--
David

[tabb...@gmail.com]

If there is a point to that, I sure don't know what it is.


NT