# how old is your electric stove?



## namelessone (Sep 28, 2012)

After checking the date code of SN, it's 25 years old.(model: Whirlpool RF390PXWN1) I am shocked. The internet says the average lifespan of electric stove is only 15 years. What? How do they determine the stove is dead? Just because a burner stopped producing heat? That's an easy fix!
Recently, one of the burner receptacle broke. First Intermittent heat then it completely quit. As a band-aid solution, I took one from a never used burner beside it , and replaced the broken receptacle. I used wire nut to make connections and electrical tape to protect the connections. I'll keep an eye making sure the heat won't melt the electrical tape/wire nut. After 1 day of heavily use, it seems the under of the stove doesn't get hot enough to melt electrical tape. 
The burner I used regularly is working again. I think it'll work for at least another 5 years. I also purchased a brand new burner receptacle from Amazon for $20. If the swapped one broke again, I'll have a new spare one. Then good for another ? 10 years? i was thinking about spending $700 to get a new stove since the oven on current one doesn't work but I never needed to use the oven. Also, it's looks ancient. But I decided to keep using the current stove. 
Do electric stoves last forever? It seems to be the case. There's no complicated electronic inside.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

Don't buy a new appliance. Buy a re-conditioned one that is 15-20 years old. All new appliances have so much digital /electronic gizmos built in, they are lucky to last 5 years without a repairman.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

I have no idea how old it is (we live in a rental) but I can tell you it's ancient. From the 80's at least.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Ours is about 13 years old and has been fine except for two things: 1) the oven thermostat stopped working last year; that was a $30 repair, and 2) the clock/timer display doesn't work anymore, which is a non-issue as far as we're concerned.


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## youngdad3 (Jun 29, 2013)

12 years old ceramic top, never had to repair anything on it.
Only issue is water takes forever to boil, but it has been this way since day 1, we learned to live with it.


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## saskstu (Oct 21, 2013)

One month. Had to replace our 1986 model after many DIY repairs over the years like, Burners, thermostats and elements. Final straw was randomly blowing fuses and circuit breakers


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

We replaced the appliances in our home in Newfoundland this summer that was 23 years old and still working.


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## Retired Peasant (Apr 22, 2013)

Ours is 28 years old - Frigidaire and still going strong. We replaced a switch on one of the burners a couple of years ago (easy to do and part was cheap from Amre Supply).

We also have a 1955ish GE stove with push buttons on it. We don't use it but it still works.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

The current one is only 5 years old. But the previous one lasted nearly 35 years. Oven & range-top burners and burner sockets can be replaced. But now that most controls have gone electronic, ranges have become uneconomical to repair (or impossible because of lack of parts) if the controls have gone bad. Same problem with most large appliances. Referring to OP's repairs, great caution must be taken in using wire nuts or electrical tape. They are not designed to withstand the temperatures that can develop under the range top with the oven and burners on.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

Our house was built in 1963. The cook-top and wall ovens are built in, and original. They are both problematic and if they were not built in we would have replaced them years ago. But it's a big deal to replace them and as long as they function, they stay.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

As long as the control switches don't break or wear out, a stove will last indefinitely. Elements are easy and cheap to replace. A 40 year old stove may well be heavier and better built than the ones they get from China today.


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## AirPro (Mar 31, 2014)

steve41 said:


> Don't buy a new appliance. Buy a re-conditioned one that is 15-20 years old. All new appliances have so much digital /electronic gizmos built in, they are lucky to last 5 years without a repairman.


^^^This. 5 years is a bit pessimistic but not unusual. We recently got rid of a 27 year old electric coil cooktop and it was still fully functioning at that point. Over its life I replaced 2 control switches @ ~$15 each and 1 element socket ~$8 IIRC. Today a control failure will mean a whole control board replacement at $250-$350 for the board and another ~$200 labour. A $500 repair on a 10 year old appliance when you can have a nice shiny new one for $1000 doesn't make sense to most people.


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## namelessone (Sep 28, 2012)

OhGreatGuru said:


> great caution must be taken in using wire nuts or electrical tape. They are not designed to withstand the temperatures that can develop under the range top with the oven and burners on.


Thanks for the warning. 
The wiring itself is covered by a thin layer of plastic. This layer of plastic can be easily melted by open flame such as lighter. If this wire plastic won't melt under the cover after decades, the wire nut sure won't melt. Remember, there's huge piece of metal under the cover. The cover itself is also metal. Both act as heat sink to dissipate the heat. But I did check the wire nut and electrical tape, there's not even bit sign of softening from heat. They just get warm. The connection is mainly protected by wire nut, covered by huge piece of plastic, much thicker than the wiring plastic layer. The replacement receptacle from Whirlpool also include a pair of wire nut to make connections.

We don't use the oven. The door is broken. Our family is also a very light user of burner top. We only use one burner.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

The older stand alone ranges can last a long time. Not uncommon to see 40-50yr old ones working just fine. An electric element is one of the most basic things around. Once you start adding bells and whistles, things can go wrong.
We bought a reconditioned range once. It would have been 5 yrs old. From a company that repairs and specializes in reconditioning. Worked fine for a few months, then started randomly beeping in the middle of the night, flashing error codes. They replaced the board, free (a warranty was included with the reconditioning). then a year later it started doing it again, off warranty this time. I went to sears and bought a new one - no issues since then. Someone was actually willing to buy the old broken range from me for $100 or so.


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## NewBrunswick (Nov 30, 2015)

Mine is only 5 years old, I'll be jumping for joy if it lasts half as long as some of yours.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> As long as the control switches don't break or wear out, a stove will last indefinitely. Elements are easy and cheap to replace. A 40 year old stove may well be heavier and better built than the ones they get from China today.


I have to agree. Mine is 22 years old and the only things I have replaced on mine is a bottom oven element (due to splatter from baking a pie) and the oven light bulb. It was inexpensive to buy, reliable and very inexpensive to repair. 

I laugh when I see these newfangled induction heating stoves that cost thousands to buy, have complicated electronic induction elements and a central micro controller board
to control them. When these fail, you just can't go down to your local CTC, and pick up a new element and install it yourself. 
You have to place a service call and hope that the service call and repair is under $500.


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## AirPro (Mar 31, 2014)

namelessone said:


> If this wire plastic won't melt under the cover after decades, the wire nut sure won't melt.


Use the black high temperature ones http://www.idealind.com/prodDetail...._temp&div=0&l1=twist-on&l2=wire-nut_high_temp


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## namelessone (Sep 28, 2012)

I just received the Whirlpool replacement receptacle today. Even though the regular wire nut and electrical tape didn't melt after couple days of use, I decided to change it and do it properly as a long term solution. The replacement receptacle is well built: the wiring has heat resistant layer, way better than original wiring on the range. It also comes with 2 porcelain wire nuts which make it much safer and last longer. The reason I used 4 wire nuts at the beginning is because I cut the wire too short and have to borrow a section from adjacent burner. Since the replacement receptacle has long enough wiring, I no longer need 4 wire nuts. 2 are sufficient. With heat shrink tube,it looks much more elegant. See attached pictures. As you can see, the electrical tape has no sign of melting. However, I didn't try using the oven and burner at the same time for extended period. That might melt the electrical tape and soften the wire nut plastic. For long term and safe solution, porcelain wiring nut + heat resistant wiring + heat shrink tube is the way to go.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

namelessone said:


> I just received the Whirlpool replacement receptacle today. Even though the regular wire nut and electrical tape didn't melt after couple days of use, I decided to change it and do it properly as a long term solution. The replacement receptacle is well built: the wiring has heat resistant layer, way better than original wiring on the range. *It also comes with 2 porcelain wire nuts which make it much safer and last longer.* The reason I used 4 wire nuts at the beginning is because I cut the wire too short and have to borrow a section from adjacent burner. Since the replacement receptacle has long enough wiring, I no longer need 4 wire nuts. 2 are sufficient. With heat shrink tube,it looks much more elegant. See attached pictures. As you can see, the electrical tape has no sign of melting. However, I didn't try using the oven and burner at the same time for extended period. That might melt the electrical tape and soften the wire nut plastic. For long term and safe solution, porcelain wiring nut + heat resistant wiring + heat shrink tube is the way to go.
> View attachment 7354
> View attachment 7370
> View attachment 7362


Looks ok. For high temperatures encountered such as under burners, always use the porcelain (marrette connector twist connector) that will withstand temperatures up to 1200F. 

Generally, the wires in stoves should be the Fiberglass braided heat resistant type, such as the single conductor mica/fiberglass MGT, is rated up to 450C.


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## NorthKC (Apr 1, 2013)

My parent's stove is 26 years old and still going strong. We've replaced the oven element twice in last 5 years as it got overheated but that was a $10 fix each time. 

After hearing so many problems with the new stoves nowadays, they're not budging on buying new stove as the current one is still very functional!


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