Question about those fancy induction cooktop testers

I was dead set against buying a $200 induction cooktop tester for the van... thought my basic multimeter was fine for checking element continuity. Then last month I had a service call where a Frigidaire was acting up and I spent almost 2 hours chasing a ghost. Turned out the element had a hairline crack that only showed up under load. The repair shop owner down the street let me borrow his tester and it flagged the issue in 30 seconds. So I finally caved and ordered a Fluke F18 last week. Honestly, that thing has already saved me from swapping out a perfectly good control board on a Whirlpool. Has anyone else found a cheap alternative that does the same thing?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire44317d ago

That Fluke F18 is solid but yeah, the price tag hurts. Did you try a simple incandescent test light in series before you bought the tester? I've had mixed luck with that on cracked elements, curious if it ever works for you.

thomas10517d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly I used to think the incandescent test light trick was just old timer nonsense. Figured if you had a crack you'd see it or meter would catch it easy enough. Then I had this oven element that measured fine cold but would short out once it got hot. Threw the test light on it in series and the bulb barely glowed until it heated up. Changed my whole view on that method. So yeah I've had it work a few times since then, mostly on hairline cracks that open up with heat. Not perfect but worth trying before dropping cash on a meter.