DTDerekson wrote

Five or so years ago I bought a new [Maytag] electric
range of middle-of-the-line quality. ...

I have had to have "switches" behind the burner knob
controls replaced twice What happens is a nasty
sparking sound comes from behind the knob while
the burner is on and sounds like something has
shorted out ...

It's happened with two different burners

Both switches for both burners or just one switch for one burner then
one switch for a different burner??

and now the second one is going again in the same way. ...

Is this normal on today's stoves?

It happens.

Why would a stove do this?

The switches are now made in Mexico? (which they likely are BTW)

Did they just get a batch of defective switches
and now those are swirling around the industry?

It's possible the actual switch manufacturer (which is *not* Maytag)
is or have had problems with the longivity of their products at one
time or another. Moisture could also effect switch longevity if any
happended to get in there (like from cleaning, etc.). There is not
usually anything in the range which could cause such failures.

you just can't get good parts anymore?

That's a big part of it, consumers looking for cheaper and cheaper
products to purchase and/or manufacturers looking for cheaper and
cheaper sources for components.

Looking at another $170

You could replace it yourself as a common replacement switch (like
linked below) is less than $50. I don't know if the one shown below is
compatible with your range without knowing the exact model number off
it.

http://www.appliance411.com/data.php?rc=2614

it seems to me my best bet is to express my displeasure
with the unit to the manufacturer and replace the entire
stove with a completely different brand.

If you think you'll get better components on it, you are probably
mistaken. There are likely 2-3 stove surface burner switch
manufacturers in the whole world (4 including the maker of the
switches for glass top stove elements) and all the appliance
manufacture's use the same ones (with slight specification changes
like shaft length, ,ounting, etc.).

Depending on the type of switch used in your model, it *may* be able
to be replaced with a slightly different design switch possibly from
one of the other switch manufacturers but there's no guarantee it'll
absolutely last any longer.

At the very least you should probably be grateful that its electronic
control didn't fail which would probably cost $170+ just for the
part!!

JMO

Dan O.
-
Appliance411.com
http://ng.Appliance411.com/?ref411=Maytag+range

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