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Why is my stoven always on?

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jeff88

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May 28, 2024
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San Jose
I have a stove/oven combo. I recently installed the Emporia energy monitoring system and it shows that my oven is always using power. I know the clock is on, but half a kWh seems a little excessive and I would think it would be flat. Does this seem normal? What is causing these peaks (We aren't using the stove at 3AM!)?1000000114.png
 
jeff88 said:
I have a stove/oven combo. I recently installed the Emporia energy monitoring system and it shows that my oven is always using power. I know the clock is on, but half a kWh seems a little excessive and I would think it would be flat. Does this seem normal? What is causing these peaks (We aren't using the stove at 3AM!)?View attachment 226294
Click to expand...

You have a timer on that thing ?
So it auto cook somting ?
Looks like that is the problem.

Set your brand of your combo oven
 
Give or take a watt it looks like it's using 5 to 6 watts just to keep the clock and whatever computer is has on. That part seems normal.

But using ~500 watts for 6 hours straight does seem out of line. Something on your "Stoven" would be warm to touch, if that was actually going on.

What does it use when it's running?

You might swap CT's with a another load and see if the problem follows the CT or the behavior stays the same.
 
That looks like an oven lighting element? This is a gas stove? I might guess that lighter element is randomly turning on without any gas flowing? Might be a bug in the computer chip, or something has gotten corrupted? You might try opening the oven door when the oven appears to be running and look for a dull-red glow from the bottom of the oven.

You might try unplugging the stove overnight, and then reboot the stove's chip the next morning. If a clean copy of the firmware is running, maybe this issue will go away.
 
Sounds like a phantom load alright.
I'd suggest unplugging it or putting it on a power bar but then you'd lose your clock setting.
 
jeff88 said:
I have a stove/oven combo. I recently installed the Emporia energy monitoring system and it shows that my oven is always using power. I know the clock is on, but half a kWh seems a little excessive and I would think it would be flat. Does this seem normal? What is causing these peaks (We aren't using the stove at 3AM!)?View attachment 226294
Click to expand...
To start with i wouldn't think it's interference or a bad ct meter as that normally gives large spikes not constant prolonged readings. Looking at your graph and looking at Temprature graphs for San Jose CA they seem to correlate, maybe a bad thermostat on the oven maybe a chip but for sure I don't think it's normal behaviour. No appliance should use 4kwh a day for no reason, make sure the thermostat is set to it lowest setting and any other mode selectors are set to off and see if the problem persists. If it does then warranty or scrap, rough estimate for your area the thing is costing you $600+ a year doing nothing.
 
Is your range a gas or electric? I don't see it mentioned anywhere. Maybe post a model number or a picture of the serial number plate? Usually that is found on the side but not in the oven area when you open the door

Just like others suggest - is the interior of the oven/broiler area staying warm?

It depends on age and model if it is worth fixing if it is broke - I've found most times when I fix my home appliances I can do it for less than the cost of a service call. Often times a LOT less - think $6 part and 30 minutes to replace verse $300 to get someone out here where I live.
 
OzSolar said:
Give or take a watt it looks like it's using 5 to 6 watts just to keep the clock and whatever computer is has on. That part seems normal.

But using ~500 watts for 6 hours straight does seem out of line. Something on your "Stoven" would be warm to touch, if that was actually going on.
Click to expand...

Yeah you wouldn't even need an infrared camera to find the extra heat from something drawing 500 Watts all night!

I had a similar thing with a small plug-in induction cooktop that would fool a CT load monitor into reading 3 Amps when it was off. No part of it ever got warm and the current reading went away when I unplugged it. I chalked it up to power supply weirdness.
 
If it's a traditional electric (not induction), it could be a faulty infinite switch on one of the burners. When they start going bad they can cause the burner to turn on / off all by itself. Usually you'll notice it though, as a burner turning on/off all by itself can be quite alarming.

They are easy to replace and not terribly expensive if that's what is happening.

If you want to verify it's a burner, and don't have time to watch it all day, just leave something flammable on top of them.. it will be hard to miss. 😈
 
Last edited:
cs1234 said:
If it's an electric, it could be a faulty infinite switch on one of the burners. When they start going bad they can cause the burner to turn on / off all by itself. Usually you'll notice it though, as a burner turning on/off all by itself can be quite alarming.

They are easy to replace and not terribly expensive if that's what is happening.

If you want to verify it's a burner, and don't have time to watch it all day, just leave something flammable on top of them.. it will be hard to miss. 😈
Click to expand...

well, if the cooktop is induction they could all be cycling on/off and you would never really notice anything. Or one of them could be stuck in the on position and unless you had a metal pot sitting on it you would never know.

To many unknowns.
 
robbob2112 said:
well, if the cooktop is induction they could all be cycling on/off and you would never really notice anything. Or one of them could be stuck in the on position and unless you had a metal pot sitting on it you would never know.

To many unknowns.
Click to expand...
I don't know enough about an induction cooktop to know if it uses infinite switches or not for the "burners". I also have no idea how much electricity it would consume if malfunctioning and turning on / off. A regular cooktop could certainly use a heck of a lot if it was turning on / off randomly.
 
Is it induction? I wonder if they used rectified and/or inverter power supplies.

An inverter mini split can read 200VA idle amp draw, but it's actually just like 10W at .05PF. It's possible induction cooktops suffer a similar effect.

As for whether Emporia readings are power factor corrected, I've never heard a good answer. You have Emporia saying for years now yes they adjust for PF now but then all these forum posts of users saying they're getting raw VA readings.
 
bolhuijo said:
I had a similar thing with a small plug-in induction cooktop that would fool a CT load monitor into reading 3 Amps when it was off. No part of it ever got warm and the current reading went away when I unplugged it. I chalked it up to power supply weirdness.
Click to expand...

Amps doesn't have to mean W, could mean VA. That is, feeding an inductive load, current is 90 degrees out of phase, delivers power half of a phase, storing energy in magnetic core. Takes it back first half of next phase.

But would expect steady-state, not cycling like OP's
 
I have a gas stove that was converted to propane. Pretty disappointed that it takes 400W all the time the oven is on. That ignitor is in series with the gas valve. Ignitor breaks and the gas shuts off. I have never used my oven and I converted the burners to 12V operation Hard to imagine they leave it on all the time just to have instant lighting. If it is on all the time, it should be visible.
 
time2roll said:
Could the fridge be on the same circuit? Otherwise unplug the range and see what floats out.
Click to expand...
An electric stove/cooktop would normally have a dedicated 240vac circuit wouldn't it? That would be something if somebody managed to get a 120vac fridge or any other appliance onto the circuit. 🤯

Not a bad idea to unplug the stove/cooktop and see if the problem goes away though.. first part of isolating the issue I suppose.
 
Last edited:
efficientPV said:
I have a gas stove that was converted to propane. Pretty disappointed that it takes 400W all the time the oven is on. That ignitor is in series with the gas valve. Ignitor breaks and the gas shuts off. I have never used my oven and I converted the burners to 12V operation Hard to imagine they leave it on all the time just to have instant lighting. If it is on all the time, it should be visible.
Click to expand...

I've heard about those.

Real Goods once asked, "Which uses more electricity to cook a potato: a Microwave, or a Gas Oven?"

My furnace has glowing bar ignitor, which I replaced once after finding it cracked and in contact with a cremated mouse.

It has a flame sensor, which operates by "Flame Rectification".

When it wouldn't remain lit, I replaced the sensor but no luck.
Washed the control PCB in IPA (rubbing alcohol, not beer) and it worked for a short time.
Bought a new aftermarket control PCB and it is back in business.
 
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