Why does my stove burner go to maximum heat on low?
Stove heating elements fail on to maximum heat regardless of the low setting because of a broken infinite switch. This malfunction makes it impossible to simmer food or control cooking temperatures properly, forcing owners to either replace the switch or buy a new stove entirely.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Replace the infinite switch yourselfDid this help you?
- 2Clean or refurbish the carbon deposits on the switch contacts with sandpaper or an emery boardDid this help you?
- 3Buy a refurbished stove or replacement partDid this help you?
- 4Call a professional appliance service technicianDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Does anyone know why the heating element goes full heat on low settings ?”source ↗
“Had this happen to my glasstop Samsung... twice! Same burner. I hate that it fails ON to MAX.”source ↗
“This literally just happened to my whirlpool stove (which looks the same as yours according to the picture) and I bought a refurbished one instead. Glass top. That one is doing the same thing on two burners.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why does my oven keep heating past the set temperature?
- 2Why does my stove burner click, get too hot, and spin in circles?
- 5Oven heating element is sagging and touching the bottom
- 4Oven igniter glows bright orange but gas won't turn on
- 4Furnace lights up briefly then hums and shuts off
- 4Why does my air fryer heater keep clicking off?