1961 GE Liberator - Burner issues/needs

[gia]

Hi

I bought this amazing, beautiful J408 Liberator. It's the conversation piece of my home.

There are a couple of issues:

1. The right rear 8" burner is damaged as shown. It still works on high but the full coil does not light up red. It def needs to be replaced. (Pic - right-rear.png) - is there a something I can swap this out with?

2. The Sensi Temp burner (left-front.jpg) does not come on at all with buttons or grill. Left rear works fine with the push buttons. Guessing the 8" was a replacement burner since the calrod sensor is missing in the center. Not sure where to start looking to get it working. A shame because it came with the grill in seemingly unused condition.

Everything else works great. Clock, buttons, timer, timed outlet, all lights, both ovens. (Missing the thermometer for the oven)

Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

[coldspot66]

8" Burner with ring attached? part # wb30x354. I believe I have one.

 

[gia]

Hi

Rings not attached

 

[luxflairguy]

Sensi-Temp burners are rarer than hen's teeth! Good luck finding one!

 

[coldspot66]

Are you looking for a sensi-temp burner, or a 3 wire 8" burner without the ring?

 

[gia]

I'm just looking to get one or both of my 8" burners working so open to whatever works

Does not have to be sensi-temp as I understand they're impossible to find.

The front left burner has 4 prongs (not sure if that's the right term!)
The back right burner has 5 prongs

 

[gia]

I guess it's 4 prongs and 6 prongs that are attached to the ceramic blocks

 

[gia]

One more thing...I can hear humming when I push the button on for Grill or just the burner for the Sensi-Temp one but no heat.

 

[pulltostart]

The burner with the 6 connections to the block (I think it's the Sensi-Temp burner) allows the burner to function as either a 4-inch, or 6-inch, or 8-inch unit.  Seems like the control for that is on the backsplash.  The "Grille" button locks the front and rear burner together so the grille gets uniform heat front-to-back.

 

I had this range (in white) in my last home in Atlanta.  It was a beauty and was definitely the center of attention in the kitchen.  This one does have the Tilt-Lock burners with separate trim rings.  The standard 8-inch burner should be an easy replacement.  Search/watch Ebay or do some internet searching.

 

lawrence

 

[combo52]

1960 61,40 inch GE range

The right rear burner is a fairly easy replacement, and can be readily found.

The senseatemp burnera little more complicated. The sensor has been removed by someone the burner itself is OK. The best way to fix this is to remove the dial control for the burner and install an infinite switch. That way you’ll be able to fully utilize the three size feature of the burner and the griddle feature.

You need somebody who is familiar with working on electric ranges to do this unless you’re very handy with electrical things yourself you may be able to do it. It’s not a difficult repair GE used to offer a kit to do this, but the parts are readily available to make this work.

If you were in our service area this is an easy repair. I’ve done it on dozens of ranges.

It should cost if you pay someone to do it somewhere between 180 and $300

The humming noise you hear when you try to turn on the left front element is the transformer that operated the control and sensor for the burner, the humming sound is normal. If you converted using an infinite switch the transformer is disconnected and not used anymore.

John
John.

 

[gia]

Thank you @pulltostart and @combo52 for this excellent info! Really appreciate it. I'll do the right rear one and find someone to do the sensi side. I saw two clipped wires under that burner and assuming they belonged to the

THANK YOU

 

[gia]

@combo52 - is this what gets replaced with the infinite switch when you say:
"The best way to fix this is to remove the dial control for the burner and install an infinite switch."

 

[combo52]

Yes, the control behind that knob gets replaced with a standard infinite switch, when GE used to have a kit to do this they also had a dial that was labeled from high to low with your range. You may have to actually take a sharpie and re-label that dial carefully just marking it from high to low.

For somebody familiar with electric ranges. This is a fairly simple conversion, no rewiring, particularly and then you can use all three sizes of the burner and the griddle function.
John

 

[gia]

Thank you so much for all your help, John!