The dial is not evidence. The technician leaves a probe in the cavity across a preheat and two cycles and reads the log before saying a word about a sensor, a board or an igniter, because on a range the wrong part is usually the expensive one.
$95 run-through · oven & range repair labor from $249 · part on its own line · how the money works
Electric ovens fail at the bake element, the sensor, the relay board and the door — roughly in that order of likelihood and reverse order of cost. Gas ranges give trouble at the igniter first, then the spark module, then the valve, and a burner that is slow to light or burns yellow is read at the flame before anything is ordered. Induction cooktops are read zone by zone with a pan on and the meter clamped, because half the “dead cooktop” calls turn out to be one zone and one board. Pro-style ranges — Wolf, Thermador, Viking, BlueStar — are ordinary work with dearer parts and the card is written against that fact.
Natural gas runs down the Folly Road corridor and through most of the Country Club and Stiles Point streets; the beach, Sol Legare and the outer Johns Island roads are on propane. A range that came out of the box set up for natural gas will burn orange on propane, blacken the pans and take its time lighting, and the fix is a conversion done properly — orifices, regulator, and every burner’s flame checked — not a new igniter. The card says which it is before a part rides along.
Downtown, the peninsula kitchens west of King Street run modern ranges on wiring that was extended three times and upgraded once, and a range that reboots, trips or bakes unevenly on that supply is metered under load before any board is suspected. When the house is the fault, the card says so and the readings go to your electrician. Induction is arriving in the renovated Riverland Terrace and Avondale kitchens, and those get a zone-by-zone read before anyone says the word “board”.
A door locked since the self-clean is a latch motor or a thermal switch, not a mystery, and the technician frees it on the visit. A hinge that has let the door sag is a heat leak that makes the sensor look guilty; hinges and gaskets are on the run-through for exactly that reason. Older wall ovens in the Fort Johnson and Harbor View ranches are mostly worth keeping — simple, heavy, parts still available — and the card says so when it is true.
The likely, inexpensive cause is measured before the unlikely, expensive one is named.
| What you notice | What gets read first |
|---|---|
| Bakes cold | Probe log across two cycles; sensor, calibration, relay |
| Bake element dark | Element resistance, relay board, wiring |
| Burner ticks, no flame | Igniter, spark module, valve, gas type |
| One induction zone dead | Zone coil, board, pan test on the neighbours |
| Door stuck after self-clean | Latch motor; thermal switch; board — in that order |
| Yellow flame, sooty pans | Fuel type against jetting; regulator; air shutter |
Yes — the sensor most often, the control’s calibration sometimes, occasionally a relay. The probe log across two cycles says which before a part is named, and the card carries the reading.
Almost certainly still set up for natural gas. The orifices and regulator get converted and each burner’s flame is checked afterward. If the tank is low or the regulator is tired, that is a separate line on the card.
Switch the range off at the breaker now. A switch or relay that has welded closed has no place in a kitchen, and the technician replaces it on the visit — the run-through checks the neighbouring zones while the top is open.
Natural gas down Folly Road, propane on the beach and the outer Johns Island roads, century circuits south of Calhoun.
Induction slide-ins on forties circuits.
Modern ranges on century wiring, metered under load.
Propane conversions done properly on the River Road side.
Tell the office what it is doing; the run-through does the rest.
$95 run-through, any machine, any street on the map · labor from-rates published · parts on their own line