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Why is my Kenmore oven control board not working? Five reasons why and what to do about it…Can it even be fixed, or should I shop for a replacement?
The oven control board (panel) is the brain of the appliance. You’ll input your desired settings through the board, and it will then communicate it to the oven’s components through electrical power and signals. But why would such a critical component stop working?
A Kenmore oven control board can stop working if it has design or manufacturing defects or is old. Besides that, exposure to hard impacts, excessive moisture, extreme heat, and electrical current disruptions can also cause it to fail. Lastly, a failure in one of the individual components on the board can also prevent the whole thing from functioning.
The oven control board is a complex component. This guide will help you understand everything you need to know about why it fails and what you can do to get your oven working again.
Why Is My Kenmore Oven Control Board Not Working?
Although your oven’s control board is concealed behind the appliance’s panels, it can still suffer from issues that cause it to stop working.
Whether you have a brand-new or old oven, here are the most likely reasons you’ll face that problem:
1. Design Or Manufacturing Defects
Kenmore is one of the leading home appliance brands in the country, and they’ve earned a reputation for producing high-quality ovens. Still, they are not immune to design and manufacturing defects in their products.
That certainly applies to their ovens and the control boards they install into them.
A design or manufacturing defect can cause an oven control board to stop working without any apparent reason or explanation.
The defect could have been there from the design stage, or it could have occurred at the factory while assembling that particular control board.
That’s why manufacturers like Kenmore offer warranties on their products. For example, suppose the oven control board was to stop working during that warranty period. In that case, the manufacturer is liable and will replace it free of charge.
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Unfortunately, some defects only become apparent later down the line. For example, suppose the board malfunctions or stops working too late after you purchase the machine. In that case, you’ll have to get a repair technician to replace it.
Oven control boards typically aren’t repairable or serviceable, which means a complete replacement is the only available solution.
Read: KENMORE Oven Is Not Heating? How To Fix It?
2. Normal Wear
Ovens typically last approximately 10-13 years. That’s especially true if you’ve maintained it well and performed any necessary repairs during its lifespan.
Your oven is more likely to experience problems as it approaches the end of that lifespan. So, another reason its control board stops working is that it’s too old, having experienced too much normal wear and tear over its many years.
When troubleshooting oven control board problems, be sure to consider the age of the oven itself. You might find that the oven is so old replacing the board doesn’t even make financial sense. But, of course, that’s assuming they still manufacture replacements for that particular control board.
If that’s the case for you, upgrading to a newer-model oven might be the better way.
Read: Kenmore Oven Shows F10 Error Code And Beeps. How To Fix?
3. Physical Damage (control board not working)
Defects and regular wear are common reasons an oven control board will stop working. However, you must also consider the possibility of human error in the form of physical damage.
Although the control board is kept away safely in its concealed compartment, there are scenarios where it is hit so hard that it stops working.
For instance, you or a technician might have removed the board for inspections and repairs, only to drop it on the ground by accident.
Besides, the oven might have hit a hard object or surface while it was in the truck, being transported to or from your home.
These scenarios might not seem like such a big deal at first. First, however, you must remember that the control board consists of tiny electrical and electronic components attached to a printed circuit board.
The board is sensitive to impact, so it won’t take much of a knock to permanently damage it.
When a board is damaged so much that it stops working, you’re better off replacing it with a new one. Repairing it is no longer worth it, assuming that’s possible.
Read: Why Oven Not Cooking Evenly?
4. Heat, Moisture, Or Electrical Damage
As you read above, your oven’s control board is a printed circuit board. That means it has electrical signals and current flowing to and from the board every time you use the appliance.
Aside from being sensitive to physical impact, the control board can also suffer damage from excessive heat, moisture, and electrical current disruptions.
Suppose your oven was to overheat for whatever reason. That heat could raise the temperature of the oven control board to dangerous levels, causing indirect damage to it.
The same can also happen if water or moisture somehow penetrates the control board’s compartment.
Lastly, remember that electrical components like the oven control board are susceptible to unstable electrical currents. Power surges or voltage dips can also damage the whole board and render it useless.
Unfortunately, preventing these forms of damage is quite impossible. While they don’t happen often, there’s not much you can do to stop them in the rare scenarios they do happen.
As you can imagine, a replacement board will be necessary. However, you must first resolve the root cause to ensure that it doesn’t damage your new control board as well.
Read: Oven Cooling Fan Noise. What Causes And How To Fix It?
5. Individual Component Failure
Believe it or not, it doesn’t take total damage or failure to cause your oven control board to stop working.
Remember: the board consists of many tiny electrical and electronic components. Just one or a few of those components can cause the whole board to stop working when they experience a component failure.
Component failures like that can happen for the very same reasons listed above. For example, an individual component might:
- Have a design or manufacturing defect
- Worn out expectedly
- Experienced a physical impact
- Experience excessive heat, moisture, or electrical voltage
A component failure, however minor, could stop electrical power from flowing through the control board as it should. As a result, the board stops working.
How Do You Fix A Kenmore Oven Control Board That Isn’t Working?
When troubleshooting your oven problems, the control board is the last thing you want to check. That’s because you should rule out all other possibilities first.
But when you check the board and confirm it’s no longer working, the only practical solution is to replace it with a new one.
Repairing individual components can be quite challenging, more so for some brands and models than others. Sourcing a replacement for a specific component will be challenging and likely not worth the effort.
However, whole control boards are much easier to find and purchase, and a new one will get your oven working normally again.
Final Thoughts
Your oven control board (panel) is a printed circuit board with plenty of electrical and electronic components attached to it. The board can fail and stop working due to design and manufacturing defects and physical impacts.
The control board can fail when exposed to excessive moisture, heat, or electrical voltages.
Lastly, remember that the tiny individual components on the board can also fail and cause the whole board to stop working. That’s because a failed component can stop electrical signals and power from moving through the board as they should, thereby stopping it from working.
