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I have a freestanding gas hob and gas oven cooker. Today I was doing some baking and there was a loud pop sound, the oven turned off and the electronic display turned off. Initially I suspected the oven light bulb had blown but on checking it was fine. I checked the circuit breaker and that was fine, not tripped. I checked the socket that the cooker plugs into for ignition, again seemed fine and a separate electrical blender worked correctly when plugged in. Finally I had eliminated everything so then replaced the plug fuse. Reconnected everything, mains back on etc then plugged in and as soon as I switched the plug socket on at the wall a loud pop followed by hot/burning metal smell. No flash or smoke visible, however the oven was now on and operating and the display lit correctly. Surprised, I turned everything off, checked everything over but found no evidence of loose connections or scorch marks. I reconnected, turned the cooker back on and all was fine, no pop or burning. Cooker working fine again.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to what happened? And why did the circuit breaker not trip or the fuse blow when it popped?
Planning on calling an electrician tomorrow but it would be handy to have an idea what may have happened.
It sounds like an element has gone.
I presume the plug fuse had blown first time?
The element is just a piece of resistive wire, surrounded by sand in a metal tube.
If the far end of it breaks, and then touches the metal tube body, then it may, or may not blow the fuse/circuit breaker. You see, there is enough resistance in the wire to allow it to continue to work, if the broken end is touching the metal casing, the earth will act as the neutral.
If you have an rcd for this circuit, that cannot happen, as the rcd will trip, but if it isnt RCD protected, it can buzz away happily, with you knowing no difference.
The second time you turned it on, the wire jumped again, causing an arc, then settled into a position where it wasnt touching the earth. The flash was so fast, the fuse or circuit breaker didnt see it. I've cut through my hedge trimmer cable before, and not tripped the circuit breaker.
Id' be looking at the element that was in use when it popped.
Gas cooker?
Is it possible there was unburned gas when you switched on with the new fuse, and that caused the pop?
Guess: a capacitor failed in the power supply or ignitor circuit and shorted the incoming live to neutral, blowing the fuse. Second attempt just popped the remains of the component off the board.