Princess Stove/oven

[turand_1]

Originally Posted by poshman

I just want the forum to know that I was able to fix the oven. Here's a summary for the next boater who has a similar problem. My Princess Stove/Oven is a 1987 electric.

You may recall that a friend of mine isolated the problem to a lack of continuity in the power wire going from the stove/oven selector switch on the far left of the control panel to the oven thermostat on the far right of the control panel. Several inches from where the wire attaches to the oven thermostat was a small rocket-shaped metal object. Under a magnifying glass, I could make out the word Microtemp® 141C. Turns out, this device was a thermal fuse designed to break the circuit and shut off the oven once the wire reached 141°C (I think that is 286° F).

The first time I ever used the oven to roast a chicken, I stupidly had the stove-top cover down. This meant that the oven vent, which extrudes from the center of the rear burner, was blocked. The blockage of the oven vent likely caused the wiring to exceed 141C, thus blowing the thermal fuse and rendering the oven inoperative.

The fix was simple. I found a similar thermal fuse on Amazon, and purchased a pack of 10 for less than $6.00. The fuses arrived on 23 December, and I was able to use a metal butt connector to fit a new thermal fuse into the wire. I reattached the wire to the thermostat and the selector switch, and the oven was operational once again.

On Christmas Day 2015, I roasted a 10lb Butterball Turkey to perfection, and cooked many great fixings along with a gravy on the stove-top. So, the fuses came just in the nick of time.

Thank You All for Your Great Assistance.

Poshman, you just saved my a$$ big time! Thank you for contributing to this thread and for all the detailed information.

I have a 3342-1126 SeaWard Princess 120 volt that developed the same issues. I had just finished cooking a nice steak and baked potato, when I went to warm up the oven again for dessert, no light came on and the oven would not turn on. I immediately went into repair mode and for the life of me I could not figure it out. I tried searching the Owners Manual for a thermal fuse and could not find one, I did continuity testing, I unscrewed and pulled out the oven element to look for burnt wires, I traced the wiring and came to the conclusion it must have been the "Top Burner"s" (should just be burner)/Oven" toggle switch that had a fuse within it (on te side of the switch it says 15A).

A few days later I did further research online and came across this thread which you detail, "wire attaches to the oven thermostat was asmall rocket-shaped metal object." THIS WAS KEY! After further examination, I noticed a wire hidden BELOW all the other wires and a protective sleeve over a portion of the wire TUCKED WAY UNDER the Thermostat. I pulled the wires metal butt connector out of the Thermostat, pulled down the protective sleeve, and to my amazement revealed, you guessed it, the rocket shaped fuse!

After looking online for a replacement fuse, I decided to go to my local hardware store instead, they referred me to the appliance store, who in turn referred me to a small hole-in-the-wall electrical store. They had plenty in stock, the connector pieces and all, total damage was $4 and my time and energy.

Amazon had one listed for $7.24 https://amzn.to/2GwgSvF

Thank you again for your insight. From looking through the previous owners receipts, I see this had been a problem in the past and cost him well over $60 to try and figure out, he bought new switches and a new left female burner assembly.

Cinnamon buns (other day's dessert) are in the oven now!

[poshman]

Cinnamon buns (other day's dessert) are in the oven now!

Turand, I only just came across your March 2018 message; to which I now belatedly reply.

I haven't been on this forum since the summer of 2017, and have probably since changed my email address. Hence, no notifications. I'll update my info. today.

Having said that, I am delighted to know that you were able to fix your Princess with some help from me.

Like you, I too was gratified to have had the assistance of others to work through this problem.

It's funny, but the only reason I came back here was because I happened to do a deep clean of the stove today. I decided that, since I had everything open, I would do a video on the thermal fuse problem for any future owner of my vessel. I wouldn't want that owner to go through what I went through.

Just for the heck of it, I put my Princess model #3342-1113 into Google and got a result that included this link. It's been so long ago that, at first, I didn't even realize that I was reading a thread that I started. I was just reading the text and not the poster info. I was thinking: "Wow, this guy had the same problem I had with the thermal fuse." Then, I a saw that the poster was me in 2015! That gave me a laugh.

I was just about to leave the thread, when I saw that it had a second page. I clicked on Page 2 and was delighted to find your thoughtful contribution.

I'm sorry for the multi-year delay in responding, but I am very glad that I was able to assist. Indeed, you made my day of hard grunt work rewarding.

Thanks Again and Best Regards

[AdamMac]

Thanks so much for the help poshman! I spent several hours scratching my head over this issue with my oven in my new-to-me 1972 Concorde motor yacht. I made a quick video for anyone who has a similar problem, the temperature diode is really small and tucked way out of sight, so I hope I can help someone and pass the good karma along! https://youtu.be/w8sQFs0BGWg

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Adam.

[AdamMac]

Thanks Gord, glad to be aboard!