The internal light of our GE Advantium oven went out a few weeks ago. It seem like is should be a simple enough task to replace a bulb. However, upon closer inspection, there did not appeared to be a way to get at the burnt out bulb from the inside of the oven. We figured we would give GE tech support a call to see if we were missing something obvious. The person at the GE service desk was very nice, but they got confused and thought we were asking about the lights under the unit. Once we made it clear that we were inquiring about the light which should come on when the door opens, they "explained" that it was not a "user-serviceable" part. If we would like to schedule an appointment, they would be happy to send a techician out to change the bulb ...for $200.
The obvious question to ask was..."just how many GE technicians does it take to change a light bulb?" They apparently did not see the humor in that question and the conversation soon ended. We thought there was no way we were going to pay someone to come and change a light bulb even if it was free, let alone for $200! If a technician can do it "in the field", then there must be an easy way to get at the bulb.
With the AC plug disconnected and the power to the unit verified "off", we went to work. As the bulb was located at the upper part of the inside of the oven, taking the grill off seem to be a sensible first step.
There were a few machine screws accessible from the top of the unit. The two front ones anchored the grill in place. Removing them loosened the grill, but for some reason it would not lift free. There was one more screw in the right front of the grill which was somehow holding on to the grill. When we loosened the screw, we heard a "pop." The screw would not come out, but we were able to free the grill.
Looking inside the uncovered compartment, we saw a large screw holding a metal panel in place. The panel did not appeared to be removeable, but we were able to lift it sufficiently to see the bulb socket. The assembly did not look like it was screwed down and with a little bit of fiddling we were able to extracted it. Readers with large fingers may have difficulty fishing out the socket assembly, but our interns have small hands so it was not a problem.
The bulb was a standard 120V/20W G8 JCD-type halogen. Prices of these bulb varies greatly ($20 @GE parts store, $5.99 @Home Depot, $1 @EBay). We had purchased a bunch of them on EBay ($1.15 each + shipping) a while back as they are commonly used in many of the lighting applications around our office.
Upon closer inspection of the light socket, we realized it was held in place by the spring-like cover. This realization made it easier to get the the assembly back into position. All we needed to do was to slide one side in place and use a long thin tool to lightly push the other side until the tab went into the slot.
We did do a quick test of the bulb before putting the assembly back into place. One thing to remember is that halogen bulb get VERY hot very quickly. Definitely let everything cool down before touching any part of the socket. Unlike the removal, the reattachement of the grill went without any problems. We didn't even have to mess with that screw in the front. This project only required simple tools, but as we had stated...small hands will make it easier to fish out the light socket.
We can understand that some readers may be uncertain about sticking their hand into a bunch of wires and fishing around. For the few brave souls who are comfortable doing DIY projects around the house, this is certainly a manageable repair task...especially at a savings of $200! [Permalink] - Advantium Bulb Replacement
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