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We have a electric stove which looks like it was designed in the late 1980s or early 1990s, and probably was made in ~1995.

It has physical knobs that you turn around to change the heat for each plate. Four plates. The plates are metallic and separated from the white "backplate". (That is, there is a height difference. It's not one of those fancy, modern stoves with a fully flat glass plate which were just starting to appear in ~1995.)

Anyway, a family member mentioned recently that she thought that it had started emitting heat in the front and generally "around" the designated metal circles. I have also noticed this, and verified it today by touching it with my finger, quite a bit away from the actual circle, and it was super hot. Not just a little warm. Really hot.

This seems like it's somehow got damaged. Is this a common problem? Is it dangerous? Perhaps critically lethal? Will it blow up any day now? Will it start electrocuting us soon?

I tried to search for this online but found nothing, but that says nothing because I never find anything no matter what I search for.

Would really prefer to not have to deal with buying a new stove or even have this one replaced. Perhaps it's always been like this and I've just not thought about it before she had to mention it?

It's this specific model: https://rensavinden.s3.amazonaws.com/datas/49040/original.jpg?1584311806 ("EKE 6100")

J. D.
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  • How far away from the burner is "around"? How long had it been on? Has it always done this? Is it when just one specific burner is turned on or any of them? If a heating element under the burner is damaged it can easily be replaced (on most stoves). If it were damaged to the point of failure, the burner wouldn't get hot at all and you might trip a breaker, so I would say it's probably not dangerous. – jko Mar 03 '21 at 13:06

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The manual is on line at manualslib.com. The manual gives some suggestions for cleaning the elements. You might try the tests to see if the problem is confined soley to the one element or is normal to all elements.

The heating element may be nearing the end of its life. The elements are supposed to have shut off switches (fuses) to protect from shorts or over heating. Your unit may have a short that is not tripping the protection.

The Sears site has a search option for replacement parts based on the model number. With the age of the unit, you may or may not have luck finding the part, let alone finding instructions on a DIY method to replace it.

When in further doubt, contact a reputable service tech for further help. Websites can only tell you so much, and your investigations will only give you as much confidence as the skills and tools that you already have at your disposal.

Jeffrey J Weimer
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