Is the element bad? They usually have a burned spot in them when they are bad.

 I would look for a broken wire first. Don't start throwing parts at it.

The sensor on the bake element is the lock thermostat and over heat protector for the oven, if the element needs replacing you remove this thermostat and mount it on the new element.

These early P-7 ovens were very good but complicated , if it does not heat at all it could be a bad sensor, bad selector switch, bad responder or circuit board depending on which system your oven has, bad heat relay, bad sensor on the bake element, bad transformer, bad lock switch and of course a bad wiring connection.

John L.

Hi Sarah, The 2nd generation GE P-7 ovens around all had a little control board in the temperature control circuit, they were fairly reliable.

The 3rd generation P-7 ovens went to a dual range mechanical thermostat that had sodium potassium filled capillary bulb, this system was used from the mid 70s till they went all electronic controlled ovens for the p-7 ovens around the mid to later 80s.

This 3rd ten system was the most reliable of the three major control systems.

John L.

Hey John L, interesting info.

Perhaps you can shed some light on the P*7 wall oven here.

I bought this 1941 house in 1997. Looks like the kitchen was remodeled in the 70's or 80's. The P*7 wall oven is original, although I replaced the Harvest Gold oven door with a stainless steel version I got about 15 years ago off Craigslist.

I am wondering what generation this oven is.

It's Model JK190R3HT.

S/N RT644340G

4.6 Amp at 220 V.

It works perfectly although the temp probe and rotisserie accessories are missing.

Hi Rich, I can not get that model # to come up, GE was sometimes funny on older model #s, if you post a picture of the controls I can better answer your question and date the oven.

There are no JK models usually would be a JKP if a P-7 oven in that time period, a JKP19 has electronic touch controls, is that yours, maybe post a picture of the model tag, they also never made a P-7 oven that had 220 volts on the model tag.

John L.

John,

OK, here are the photos.

It is definitely a "JK" model, with no "P".  You can also see that it's a P*7 model.

I got the voltage wrong; it's a 120/240 model (which is how this house is wired).

Let me know.

Hi Rich, Your oven has the simpler 3rd gen oven control system with the mechanical thermostat, it should be mid 70s to early eighties, the only thing electronic was the temperature control for the meat thermometer. 

I probably have all the stuff for the rotisserie and a meat probe for this oven if you need either.

These were very good ovens, the next generation GE wall ovens went to an electronic oven control system and used a lot of Roper parts as GE had acquired Ropers manufacturing fascicles, the ovens were never as sturdy or well built after that.

Julia Child used a double oven version of your oven when they filmed her book, The Way To Cook which I consider her best work.

John L.

Thanks, John and Sarah.

Yes, this oven, despite being about 40 years old, still works great. The only thing I've done with it is a slight adjustment to the temperature dial (easy).

I confess I don't use it all that much. Since I've gone low carb I don't bake bread much any more. And for roasting meat I use a rotisserie propane grill set outside in a covered patio area. But you never know. For frozen pizza I use a largish french-door bench-top Oster convection oven, which works fairly well if a bit unevenly. I just rotate the pizza half-way through to get more even browning. Also use the Oster for stuff like frozen pre-cooked chicken wings and shrimp.

Mostly in the past few years I've used the GE wall oven for cleaning cycle decontamination of burner grates and drip trays for the Frigidaire "Gas On Glass" 36" cooktop.

However recently I bought a big frozen beef lasagna at Costco, and it will probably be prepared in the P*7 once the weather here cools down. I could use the Frigidaire Compact 30 out on the enclosed patio, I suppose, but I've never calibrated that one.

Combo/JohnL,

Yes I'm interested in the temp probe and rotisserie stuff.

Was the first generation P*7 totally mechanical?  In the video, the engineers refer to an "electric thermostat" rather than a "hydraulic" one.  Now NASA having inventors submit ideas for a probe that can explore Venus that has to be heat resistant and some designers are going with an all-mechanical design because electronics cannot survive in the heat.  

Also, with some modern self clean ovens, won't using the SC cycle fry the electronics?  

John Lefever,

Did you get my email?

Hi Rich, I emailed you this morning, but a warning to all I take a long time to respond to Emails if at all, message me here on AW you will get a faster response.

John L.

John,

Got the email.

I will email you back.

John,

My error. The model tag says 240, not 220.

By my latest count, I have about 20 washer/dryers/dishwashers in my collection, not including the stuff I use regularly in the main house, and not including ranges of one sort or the other.

Couldn't find the harvest gold door off the original wall oven. Doesn't mean it's not hiding somewhere in the junk heap. Unlikely that I junked it, but of course anything is possible. Probably I stuck it on the one I got the stainless door from, just a matter of finding it. I just got a bit overwhelmed counting the 20 that I did just now. Next time I'll bring a pad to record all the particulars.

Hmm.

This house I purchased around 25 years ago has pretty much the same P7 wall oven. It's always worked fine, not that I use it much. Aside from that, I cannot figure what's wrong with the one you shared, other than it looks like someone tried to replace the heating element and then quit.