Zanussi electrical oven started tripping the RCD

DoItMyself · Oct 17, 2024

Hi All,
I am new here.
I searched the forum regarding this issue and most professional advice was that the heating element should be at fault.
I am a DIY person and I would not have a problem replacing it myself, only that a new heating element costs £45 on Zanussi.co.uk and I would not want to pay for it if thats not the issue.
It started tripping 4 days ago, sometimes starts working on fan or grill+fan for a bit -(more or less 1 min) then trips. Other times trips the circuit straight away.
1 year ago I might have sprayed oven cleaner on the element while cleaning but if that would cause something I assumed it should be sooner rather than later.
I opened the back of the oven intending to remove the heating element, so I noticed some burns to some of the wires (pictures attached) - the wall connection looks ok.
Could somebody kindly advise if it’s worth to replace the heating element or maybe is a situation where I need to look for another oven?

brianmoooore · Oct 17, 2024

The wall connection most definitely does NOT look OK. The cable clamp must be clamping the black outer sheath of the cable, not the three individual wires.
The burn marks on the wires may just be discolouration caused by hot gasses leaking through from the oven. If the insulation is still flexible and feels similar to the parts of the wires which haven't discoloured, then they're fine, but if the insulation is cracked or brittle, then the wires need replacing.
Chances are that an element is the problem, but this could either be the grill or the oven, so unless there is visible damage to one f them, IR testing is really required to determine which.
Aftermarket elements are usually available, which tend to be much cheaper than OE.

DoItMyself · Oct 18, 2024

brianmoooore said:
The wall connection most definitely does NOT look OK. The cable clamp must be clamping the black outer sheath of the cable, not the three individual wires.
The burn marks on the wires may just be discolouration caused by hot gasses leaking through from the oven. If the insulation is still flexible and feels similar to the parts of the wires which haven't discoloured, then they're fine, but if the insulation is cracked or brittle, then the wires need replacing.
Chances are that an element is the problem, but this could either be the grill or the oven, so unless there is visible damage to one f them, IR testing is really required to determine which.
Aftermarket elements are usually available, which tend to be much cheaper than OE.

Thank you very much for your advice brianmoooore.
I see what you mean, with the wall connection I meant no burns on the cable or no visible damage; I can rewire and fit the main cable on the wall cable clamp yes.
The cables behind the oven are not brittle or cracked, they are still flexible, so it should be discolouration as you said.
Do you know how much is an IR test? It might not worth it, if it is way more expensive than the £45 element

(Probably I could buy a second hand oven with more or less £50 as well)
I will also look for aftermarket elements, thanks for the suggestion!
I can only test the element via a multimeter (I read that this should be enough to tell if the element is good or not) but the IR test is out of my league…

DoItMyself · Oct 18, 2024

brianmoooore said:
The wall connection most definitely does NOT look OK. The cable clamp must be clamping the black outer sheath of the cable, not the three individual wires.
The burn marks on the wires may just be discolouration caused by hot gasses leaking through from the oven. If the insulation is still flexible and feels similar to the parts of the wires which haven't discoloured, then they're fine, but if the insulation is cracked or brittle, then the wires need replacing.
Chances are that an element is the problem, but this could either be the grill or the oven, so unless there is visible damage to one f them, IR testing is really required to determine which.
Aftermarket elements are usually available, which tend to be much cheaper than OE.

To my untrained eyes the heating element looks ok