Frigidaire ovens are some of the most reliable on the market. There are, however, cases where the appliance may have a couple of problems, just like any other electrical machine.
The Frigidaire ovens are installed with the latest technology to display error codes when they experience a malfunction. For example, the F31 error on a Frigidaire gas range indicates a specific issue that needs fixing before you continue using it.
What does error code F31 mean?
The Frigidaire F31 fault code means there’s a shorted probe connection. It means that your oven is experiencing an issue with the RTD (Resistance Temperature Detector) sensor probe or the wiring harness between the control panel and the probe connector.
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How to troubleshoot the F31 error on a Frigidaire oven
When the F31 error code appears on the display pad, the oven beeps continuously and stops working.
However, there are a few troubleshooting solutions you can apply that will get your oven working again.
1. Test the RTD sensor probe
If you suspect that the probe circuit is shorted, you can try to test the sensor. If it is good, the control board or short wiring may be the one experiencing the problem. Testing your oven’s sensor is an easy procedure.
If the reading is far from the above scale, you should replace the sensor. The role of the oven temperature sensor is to send the temperature reading to the control board knows how to heat the oven. This test works for most common temperature sensors.
You should first check the resistance at room temperature on the two prongs at the end of the sensor connector. Then, disconnect the sensor from the wire harness to measure its resistance. If it is less than 500 ohms, you should replace the RTD sensor probe. Normally, the sensor should read approximately 1080 – 1090 ohms at room temperature.
If the sensor measures near 1,080 ohms of resistance, you should replace the wire harness because it keeps the oven’s control board from measuring the proper sensor resistance.
If the oven temperature sensor is broken, find the correct one for your oven, depending on its model number. Once the electrical parts have been replaced and the problem solved, you can screw the back panels back into the oven and plug them into the power supply. Then, when you turn it on and the error code has disappeared, you have fixed the problem, and you can resume baking operations again.
2. Reset the Frigidaire wall oven
If you feel like the above procedure is difficult, you can also try to reset the oven hard. You can do this by unplugging the oven from the main socket and waiting for about 20 seconds before plugging it back into the power. This solution is good enough to reset the control board and get your oven working again.
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3. Check the control board
Check whether the control board has any burn spots or if there are any burned or damaged wires. If available, you can use a multimeter or ohmmeter and check the oven’s broil and broil elements for continuity.
4. Damaged wires
The oven may be displaying the F31 error code because its wires are pinched or damaged. This affects the sense of wire insulation and causes them to experience short circuits.
However, if the wires and sensor probe are in good condition, it means that the control board incorrectly detected the bad sensor and is damaged. The control board, therefore, needs replacement.
How to check the oven sensor probe
- Unplug the oven from the mains power and let it cool to room temperature if it is hot.
- If you have a gas range, you should turn off the gas supply.
- Unscrew the screws at the back wall of the oven.
- First, inspect whether the sensor probe is tightly connected to its wire harness. It is located at the top right or left corner of the oven’s back wall. If not, connect it to the harness and screw the panels back to the oven.
- Connect the oven to the power supply and check whether the error code has disappeared. If it has, you have fixed the problem. If not, check the entire wire harness using the purple wire that connects to the control board.
- Unplug the wire harness that controls the purple wires connected to the oven’s control board. Then, using a multimeter, measure the purple wires’ resistance at the plug where they are connected. It should be 1,080 ohms at room temperature.
- Before this, you need to test for the ground to the metal range cabinet since aground in the sensor wiring to the cabinet may cause the F31 error.
- Check each purple wire’s resistance at the back of the range. If it measures OL, there is no short-circuiting to the metal cabinet, and the wiring is good.
- If the multimeter reads OL between each purple wire and metal cabinet, the control board is faulty and needs to be replaced.
- Otherwise, if it measures 0 ohms of resistance between one or more purple wires and the metal cabinet, you should find and fix the wire damage that is causing the sensor wiring to be in contact with the metal cabinet.
Contact a professional repairer
If you cannot repair error code F31 on a Frigidaire gas range or cannot identify the problem, you should contact a professional repairer to diagnose the problem. You can also contact Frigidaire Customer Service and explain the problem in detail.