Quote:
Originally Posted by egrand
Why can't a heating element last 50 years or more? There are plenty of stoves and other appliaces out there that still have original elements that still work. Most stove elements are a coil of nicrome or resistance wire incased in ceramic and inside a metal tube. Sounds an awful lot like a resistor. There's plenty of old tv's and radios that still have their original resistors.
So long as the nicrome stays incased in the ceramic and not exposed to air where it can oxidize away, it should last a long, long tmie.
And, legally a lifetime warranty only means the average lifetime of the appliance, not the owner. So, probably not more than 20 years was it's reasonable expected lifetime.
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You are quite right as to the longevity of burner coils and oven elements in electric stoves. I said in another post (and put my foot in my mouth in the process) I thought the wiring to the thermostat and heating elements in electric roasters (the large white ones often found in church kitchens in the 1950s-'60s) would crumble after fifty years; turns out these roasters have asbestos-insulated wiring (as the person who responded to my post informed me), and yes, the elements should last a very long period of time before burning out. It is probably more likely that the mechanical timer clocks in 50-60+ year-old stoves wore out first, with the burners still in as good shape as they were when the range was new. Many of these ranges are still in use today, the timer clock having stopped or jammed years or decades ago; but the stove's owner probably doesn't care, as long as the stove itself still works.
You also make a valid point regarding the definition of "lifetime" as applied to electric range burners. I did not realize that the term in this context referred to the average life of the appliance; in any event, you are correct. However, since burner coils (and oven baking elements) are made of nichrome wire and are encased in a rather thick spiral enclosure, they should, in theory anyway, outlive the owner of the appliance by many years. As I stated in the last paragraph, it is more likely that the timer clock and/or the temperature selector switches, or the oven thermostat, will fail long before the burners.