Element, Broil

This was easy and I'm glad I didn't go to the trouble and expense of hiring an appliance repair person. I'm reasonably handy, but I really have no experience in this kind of repair. I'd like to mention that the part I ordered arrived in just two days and it was exactly the right part, so I was very pleased in that regard.

After turning off the circuit to the wall oven and confirming that the power was off, I had to remove the oven from the wall in order to access the wires and connections in the back. Normally, this wouldn't have been necessary because usually the broiler element can be disconnected from the clasps that connect it to the electric source by simply unscrewing the defective element from the roof of the oven, pulling gently on the connection ends from inside the oven cavity in order to "pull out" an inch or two of the electric source wires and the metal clasps that accept the "male" connecting ends of the broiler element. Once the a bit of the wire and the metal connecting clasps are exposed and able to be held with pliers, the element can be disconnected from the connector clasps by simply pulling on the prongs of the element (hard).

But in my case, one of the metal connecting clasp for one of the wires had melted, presumably when the element burned out, and that clasp could only be accessed and replaced from the back of the oven. Also, I would imagine that the wires and clasps could "slip" back behind the unit when they're disconnected if that's not done carefully. However, removing the wall oven was pretty easy for me -- even as a one-person job. I just put a tall table in front of it and slid it out so that it rested on the table.

If you have to replace a metal connector clasp, they're inexpensive and available in the electrical departments of hardware/home stores.

In my case, there's a metal panel at the back of the oven that had to be unscrewed and removed so that I could access the areas where the electrical source wires connect through the back wall of the oven to the broiler element. This was just a matter of removing a few screws and then removing the metal panel.

Once the metal panel at the back of the oven was removed, I was able to replace the melted connection clasp by using a wire cutter/stripper and then pliers to secure the clasp on the end of the exposed wired by deforming the clamp with the pliers. Once that was done, I simply removed the screws that held the broiler element to the top of the oven cavity, disconnected the remaining three clasps that connect the element to the source wires (the fourth clasp was the one that had melted and that I'd replaced), removed the defective element, inserted the four "male" prongs of the broiler into the four clasps that connect them to the source wires, replaced the metal panel at the back of the oven, screwed the new element back into the top of the oven, slid the oven back into the wall cavity, turned the circuit back on, crossed my fingers, and everything worked like a charm.

I saved a money, but more importantly (for me) I saved a lot of time that I would have had to have spent waiting around for a repair person.

I followed instructions from the videos provided on the Part Select site. As with many such appliances, parts are interchangeable between brands. this unit is a KitchenAid but Whirpool,Kenmore parts interchange...Access from the front is all that's needed however and the only tool required was a phllips head screw driver...the only negative surprise (which the video warned about but I ignored) was the risk of the element leads drawing back through the holes, which 2 did. Save yourself that trouble by securing the wires to the back oven wall with a small strip of duct tape until you're ready to re-attach them to the new element. This necessitated removing the oven entirely for access to the back; the most time consuming aspect being removing/replacing what seemed like 20 odd screws holding the back cover in place! If not for that mistake, entire job would have been under 30 minutes. Well worth the effort and would do it again!

Removed back of oven. Disconnected 2 connectors on each side of element. Removed screws that were too rusted to use screwdriver with vise grips. Removed old element, inserted new element through holes in rear of oven.Installed 1 screw on each side of element in rear and 2 screws in front where brackets support the front of the element.Put back panel back on. Push oven back in place, plug back in outlet.It works great and I didn't have to pay service man.

There were 4 screws to remove and 2 wires to disconnect. We placed the order on line for replacement. It arrived the next day. We simply installed the new element by connecting the 2 wires (very easy) and putting the 4 screws back in place. It works like new and was sooo easy.

Our double-oven is wall-mounted, so accessing the backside to change the wires (as shown in the instruction video) was not a practical do-it-yourself option. After turning off the circuit breaker and disconnecting the broken broiler element, it is pretty easy to pull the four connection wires through the backside of the oven, which allowed us to disconnect the slide clips. We attached twist-ties to each clip/wire before disconnecting to keep the clips/wires from pulling back behind the oven wall when moving the new element into position. We found it necessary to crimp a few clips onto the new element to make secure connections, but the rest of the project went pretty much as shown in the video and the new element works great.

The Youtube videos for this particular repair, using part number PS11747304, indicated that the whole oven unit should be pulled out of the wall while working on it, and the electrical clips removed and re-attached from the back.

Because I was doing this as a one-man job, and didn't have anything to place the oven on while working, I turned off the circuit breaker, and performed the entire element replacement from the front.

1. I was very careful after unscrewing the 4 mounting screws (two in the back, two on the top) to gently pull the attaching wires while still attached to the old element.

2. I had 4 mini vice-grips that I clamped (gently) on the insulation of the 4 wires before detaching them from old element. The vice grips prevented the wires from disappearing to whence they came.

3. After completing the old element removal, I replaced it with the new element, attaching each wire where they had been attached to old element, only then removing the corresponding vice grip.

4. With all 4 wires reattached, I carefully pushed the element ends back into the back of the oven... also avoiding the protruding temperature sensor. The element needed to be held in place by hand until the first overhead screw could be re-screwed.

5. The most difficult part of the procedure was actually getting the screws to line up with their holes in the oven body. .. Returning the screws in fact took about half the 30 minutes the whole job took, because their alignment wasn't "keyed" such that the holes easily just lined up. My order was "Top right" - "Back Left", "Top Left", "Back Right".

Once the 4 screws were all satisfactorily tightened back in place, I turned the breaker back on, and hit the pre-heat function on the oven... It smoked a very little (my hands may have been a bit oily) but that quickly dissipated, and the job was complete. I am very thankful that I didn't have a professional come out. My baker wife has used the oven 10-20 times since then, and it seems as good as new.

Removed oven door for easy access. Removed 4 phillip head screws that held broiler element from top of oven. pulled wires a couple of inches out from back of oven and used flat screw driver to help separate the wires connecting the broiler from the oven. Did the opposite to install the new element,.
The best part of this operation was the fact that the part arrived from Part Select by Fed X the next day after ordering it all for a shipping cost of $8.75. Great Service Highly recommend Part Select.

Remove the oven from the wall
Remove the rear panel
Remove the 2 bottom panels
Lift and fold back the insulation
Remove the element enclosure
Replace the element
Reverse the steps to assemble

* the oven would not preheat and the top elements were working

good, used tie wire with a hooked end to fish one wire out of the back, to keep from removing the oven

Turned the breaker off to the stove.
Removed 4 screws holding the element in place.
Disconnected the electric connection from element.
I had to replace the screws which were corroded.
Connect the new element electric connection.
Replace the 4 screws.
Turn on the power.
Turn on oven to burn off the smell of the new element.
You are done.