Oven latch repair?

Hi Greg,

Is the buzzing/vibrating sound during the self cleaning actually an alarm or is it the heating elements? I imagine that during the clean cycle the oven ramps the heating elements up to 100% capacity and they draw a large amount of current. If one of the elements has a loose connection it could start to vibrate at 60Hz and even worse the connection could start to heat up and melt or catch fire.

As far as the latch goes it sounds like its working the way it is supposed to. When the self cleaning cycle is started the latch should prevent you from opening the oven until it is cooled off or some predetermined time delay has passed. Its a safety feature. Or are you saying that now the latch will not open at all?

burnin

I would go to a store selling the type/brand of appliance that also does repairs and nicely describe the problem and see what reaction you get. Manyh places are happy to help potential customers. You might be pleasantly surprised. I also have a local universal appliance parts store a few miles away, and they are a fountain of knowledge about common appliance problems. Treating them nicely has saved me big $$$ over the past couple of decades.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

Sounds like the latch solenoid is vibrating, it could be as simple as a loose or misadjusted mechanism. I'm not sure where it is on a Whirlpool oven but I worked on GE ranges in an apartment complex at one point and the solenoid was located in back above the oven and actuated a lever that ran through the body to the latch. It was a fairly common failure.

Thanks for the input. The door DOES unlock after it cools down, so I guess the lock is working but the latch sensor is bad. Because of the error code displaying I assume I am hearing an alarm and not just a loose vibration.

I will check w/ a nearby appliance repair shop, but I cant afford to spend a lot of $, so I hope I can replace the latch thing myself. I've never worked on an appliance like this, so I also hope someone can point me to some illustrated instructions.