There are many upsides to choosing an electric stove over a gas stove. For one thing, they tend to cost less, and installation is much simpler. But even if you have found the perfect electric stove for your home or business, that still doesn’t mean it will always work perfectly every time you use it. There are several common problems with using an electric stove that can cause inconvenience in your everyday life. Here are just a few of the most common problems with electric stoves:
Malfunction Indicators – Sometimes your electric stove will be perfectly functional but you won’t know it because the malfunction indicator is on. This can often occur if dust has accumulated inside the stove and is interfering with the sensor that signals when to turn off/on, or if food particles have gotten caught in there as well. If this happens a lot, a thorough cleaning of your electric stove may be required.
Inconsistent Surface Heat Distribution – Electric stoves heat up very differently from gas stoves because their elements are not exposed directly to flames/heat. As a result, heat distribution across the cooking surface tends to be less consistent and it can take much longer to bring water to boil compared to heating up a gas stove.
Hot Spots – Because the heat distribution across electric stove surfaces is less consistent, there are often small areas that get much hotter than others. These “hot spots” can be either beneficial or detrimental to your cooking; if you need a quick burst of intense heat for browning something, this can be very useful. On the other hand, if you’re trying to cook something evenly over low heat and it’s not working because the area right above one hot spot is 20 degrees hotter than another part of your cooking surface, then you might end up burning the food in that spot while leaving the rest raw and undercooked.
Detached Elements – This problem occurs when an element pops out of its socket and hangs halfway off the stove surface. When it comes to cooking, heat is heat and there’s no way around it – if an element does not sit flush against your stove surface, you will be losing heat output in that area.
Burner Shapes That Are Not Usable For Your Pans – The best cooking surfaces are the ones that allow you to use all of your pans without having trouble with hot spots or other problems. Make sure that whatever kind of electric stove you decide on has burners that are small enough for the size of your pans but also large enough for even heating across their entire surfaces. This can sometimes be a difficult balance to achieve, but worth looking into when buying an electric stove because there are certain designs available which make the task much easier.
Inconsistent Heat Output – Although this problem can also be attributed to malfunction indicators, it is often simply due to the electric stove’s heating element itself. This part will need occasional replacement to guarantee that your stovetop heats up evenly every time you use it.
Under-powered Circuitry – After years of using your electric stove, you’re bound to notice that it takes longer and longer to heat things up as time goes on, even if everything seems like it’s turned all the way up to max capacity. If you notice anything like this happening with your stove, an electrical system upgrade may be your best option for restoring full functionality.
With the right maintenance, your electric stove should run smoothly for years. However, there are some common problems that can arise if you don’t take care of it properly. When this happens, call us to help diagnose and repair the problem before something goes wrong with an essential part of your kitchen! We are here to help you with your stove!