Electric stove element switches

[Ken1]

Hi, Is anyone familiar with the switch/thermostat units on electric stoves made these days? I have an Amana stove about 5 years old and 2 of the top element switches need replacing. 1 is on a 6" element part # 3148952 5.4-7.8A rating and the other is on an 8" element part # 3148954 10.0-11.5A rating. My question is: Have they changed the technology in these and is it essential that the replacements have the exact electrical specs an the defective units? These new types also are a lot more expensive than the old universal replacements and I also see a large selection of these modern units with specific makes, part numbers and current ratings listed even though physically they all look the same. On my old stove all the switches were the same part number regardless of element size.

 

[gary350]

Technology has not changed for the turn knob controls. The quality of the stove determines how long the parts last.

There are 3 different grades of stoves. Contractor grade is low grade. Medium grade and Higher grade. You can tell the grade of your stove by the number of turns on the electric burner coils.

The high grade stove has 9 turns on the burner coil, low grade has 5 turns and medium grade has 7 turns on the burners.

I own several rental houses when a stove goes bad I strip it for parts. All the parts are interchangeable only difference is how the parts mount in the stove and the knobs and quality. Johnson Controls makes most for the parts for all the different stove companies. I throw away all the 5 burns coils they are trouble and replace them with 9 burner coils. I replace 7 burner coils with 9 too.

You can probably find a junk stove on Craigs List for parts. You can get parts at appliance repair stores be sure to check prices some places are 3 times more expensive than others. Ebay use to be a good place to get low price parts but not anymore sellers have learned to increase there prices to make a bigger profit.

Control knobs are usually OFF in the down or left position. I reciently replaced the controls of burner #4 with salvages parts from a different company stove the position of the knob was in the wrong place 90 degrees to the right of the OFF position. Color code wires are almost always the same for all the different company controls but if not you can test parts with the ohm meter.

 

[Ken1]

Hi Gary350,
I replaced the switches with the old square type made by Robertshaw; they both work perfectly! I have a collection of these that I salvaged many years ago from discarded stoves at the local dump. I had these on hand for my old stove. I never bought a top element switch in my life as used ones were always available. I finally had to give up on the old stove 5 years ago as the oven cavity was rusted out around the racks and the racks would not stay up anymore. It gave my family about 40 years of good service.