Well, looks like another fairly large event over here. Started making up dinner only to find that even though the clock is still functional none of the heating elements were working on the stove. Luckily we were able to wing the recipe, but this stills seems to be a fairly serious problem. After dinner I pulled the unit away from the wall, unplugged it, and took off the two back covers to see if there was anything obviously wrong with it like a blown fuse or possibly a thermal limiter of some sort that might have blown out. I was able to trace all the wiring without too much difficulty but as far as I can tell there was neither any form of easily accessible replaceable fuse nor any other form of breaker that might have flipped internally. I also checked the circuit breaker to make sure both sides of the oven switch were in the "on" position. I put the stove back together and plugged it back in. Just to test again if there was any power coming to the heating element I turned it on again, full power to each eye. I heard a faint popping sound from the circuit breaker and went over to investigate. As I tapped the breaker more toward on to make sure it hadn't tripped I heard a loud crackling noise. the breaker hadn't tripped but needless to say that was a clear indication that something was wrong, especially considering that upon close examination I could see a tiny little puff of smoke (barely visible at all). Now, my gut instinct on this combined with the research I've put into this over the past hour or so says there's a decent chance I may have a short circuit in the stove (or bad wiring but I REALLY hope that isn't the case, would be a pain to fix being in a condo and all). As far as I can tell my options are as follows-
1) Dive back into the oven and see if I can find some wire that might be broken. This might take some time and I have no guarantee I'd be able to find anything. Also if I took this route I'd definitely need to get around to getting and learning how to use a good quality Volt Meter (as I have none at all and am not keen on getting electrocuted). As far as I can tell looking over craigslist and local commercial websites getting an appliance technician to look at it would cost more than just replacing the old thing.
2) Find a $100-$200 used unit on Craigslist and replace it entirely, hoping that the problem is indeed with the stove and not the house. The only issue with this is that I'd have no real clue what to do with the old stove at this point. I'd love to try to find a metro Nashville trash site and take it to them, but i have no idea where such a place would be or if there is such a place whether they would take large appliance junk. I think there's a "Leave on the street for pickup" option but from what I can tell reading the website I think that may apply only for houses, not condo units. Another option I might have for disposal would be hiring one of those junk removal organizations, but it seems like those are tailored to the "too lazy to do it myself" crowd and most likely fairly expensive.
3) The extremely lazy I-want-to-punch-myself-in-the-face option of just going to the local home improvement store and getting one new (*ouch*). It looks like a bottom of the line oven/range would be in about the $300-$400 range after tax but it would include delivery and (I'd assume) old unit haul-away. I know I'm supposed to be fixing up the place as part of my zero-rent agreement but I can't fully convince myself that a new unit would add any more value than a decent working used one.
At the moment I'm leaning in the direction of #2 but was hoping some of you might have some experience with just how much trouble it actually is to get rid of an old appliance.