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How E38 tends to show up
Inland suburbs hit by long heat waves have air conditioners running most of the day. When the compressor starts, the lights dip for a moment, and the cooktop may flash E38 or stop a zone. Cooking on a cool morning is trouble-free. The correlation with the air conditioner starting is the best clue you can give us. Seeing the code only when the air conditioner starts separates a supply-sensitivity story from a failure that would show on every start.
Older service panels with shared circuits show this more often, and so do homes that added air conditioning after the original wiring.
A heat wave tends to push every system near its limit, so a code that appears only during one may be a stress marker. Record the outdoor temperature if you can. It helps the technician decide whether the code reflects the house, the cooktop or both. If the dips are visible in the lights, an electrician can also check the main panel for loose lugs, which are a common cause of voltage sag when a large motor starts. That is separate work from ours, and we are glad to share what the cooktop’s side shows.
Reading the code
E38 is not confirmed to have one definition for all Bertazzoni cooktops, and models use different tables. Which generation you own decides how such dips are reported. The supply dip is what we investigate, and the model number tells us whether this generation reports such events with the code.
First assemblies in line
The supply to the cooktop comes first, including the breaker, the connections and the voltage under varied load. Then the board’s response is checked, since a healthy board rides out a brief dip, and a weaker one does not. The wiring terminals are looked at for heat marks.
Outside checks
- Note whether lights dim at the moment E38 appears, and write down the time.
- Cook at a time when the air conditioner is off or idle to see whether E38 disappears.
- Check for a warm breaker or a buzzing noise from the panel and tell us if you notice either.
Why a technician is needed
If the house supply sags during motor starts, an electrician should look at the service and wiring. If the cooktop is unusually sensitive to normal dips, our technician measures its response. Neither is a task for owners, and the estimate separates the two causes. Measurements taken while a large motor starts show how deep the dip goes, which is the figure that separates the two causes.
Frequently asked questions
When it starts it draws a large current, and the supply may dip, which some cooktops report.
Possibly. If lights dim visibly, an electrician can check the service.
Time, whether lights dipped, what else was running and the outdoor temperature.
Model compatibility: Bertazzoni reuses codes across series and model years, so E38 may mean something different on another appliance or generation. Confirm this against your model’s documentation and record your full model number before acting.
