Should these thermocouples be free to rotate or not?

[william_]

Hi, I'm reassembling my oven and I have a question about the thermocouples, as seen in the images below. Regarding the images of section "B": in the top-left picture of this section, notice the little 'disc' on the shaft that sits between the two nuts; my question is whether those nuts should screw right up to that 'disc' or not. If they do screw right up to it then the thermocouple is then fixed fast and can't rotate: the images of section "C" demonstrate the rotation through which the thermocouple can rotate otherwise, if these nuts aren't screwed on all the way. The top-right picture of section "B" shows the left-hand nut having been screwed on all the way; the right-hand nut of this particular thermocouple can't screw on all the way because this particular thermocouple is a little damaged. When I was disassembling the oven, I noticed that these nuts were not screwed on all the way, leaving the thermocouples freedom to rotate; but I thought that this could possibly have been a mistake of the manufacturer's, or else that the nuts had become loose over time and needed to be tightened up again.

Section "A" just shows how the thermocouple fits in general with the oven.

 

[3DDave]

The images are still too large to clearly miss all the details; just enough to be nearly useless. Make them smaller so no detail is visible.

The typical installation requires the thermocouple to be in a particular location to best be exposed to the flame. This would not be done by leaving the mounting hardware loose. They would not loosen over time. If you get the parts manual it may show the orientation of the thermocouple, but it won't show just how much the thermocouple should be extended from the bracket. I suspect someone else f'd with this before you did, but I am unsure you did it any favors. It is very important to carefully manage any bends in the housing to avoid crimping or breaking it as your previous images showed was the case.