I Am Avenged

I have just reclaimed my manlitude by repairing the oven, which kept coming on by itself. Yes, by itself.

The control had come loose inside the control panel while the oven was turned on: if you turned the knob, you didn't actually turn the potentiometer that controls the oven temperature. It has a multi-part shaft, so while you thought you were putting the knob back on properly, you weren't actually engaging the control. The intermediate shaft wasn't seated on the final shaft and so turning it didn't do anything.

I had to figure out how to take it apart so I could get at it. Every other gas stove I've ever fiddled with had a cooktop that lifted like the hood of a car: this one wouldn't.

I couldn't find a manual online, so I went to Sears and looked at a similar range. The salesman didn't know how to open it either, so we looked in the manual:

"COOKTOP IS NOT REMOVABLE. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LIFT OR OPEN."

Well, that was a fine how-do-you-do.

Anyway, I came home and eventually figured out how to get at it, what was wrong, and fixed it. With NO manual. So there.

M