Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Coil Burners not heating up enough on "Simmer"

I have a tenant that has a Kenmore range and when she puts the burners on "simmer," the heat is so little, that you can pretty much put your hand on it, but there IS heat. Also, the burners perform properly on "high."

With experimentation I have found that putting the dial almost on "medium" is real life simmer.

All 4 elements are doing this. This is a Kenmore that looks like it's 15 years old or so.

What is the problem? Do the elements need replaced? Is it an internal problem perhaps? I ahve searched these forums and couldn't find anything like this problem.

Thanks in advance for any replies!! -Tony

And all 4 elements glow cherry red on high, as they should be?

I've never ran into this problem before (I'm the guy who has to go to rentals and fix everything in lots of rentals) and sounds so unlikely with all 4, if there is 240 volts. What they do is jumper a wire from switch to switch to switch to switch. I really doubt all 4 burners are messed up some how that they all lost low heat, in each burner - or even in each switch. I think you lost one of the 120 "legs".

Yes, the burners get bright red on "high." And the oven performs perfectly too; I put a thermometer in there to test it.

So, would you normally replace the burner when something like this happens?

-Tony

Never have run into such a weird scenario before.

I would never replace anything on a guess. It's against my constitution. I'd ohms test each burner. Are these the 2 prong plug in type?, or the kind that have split rectangular ceramic or plastic insulators at the ends that you have to take apart?

IF each burner ohms out correctly, then it's time to get into the control panel and analyze the wiring going to each switch (control knob).

*I* have 27 ohms on an 8" element, and 45 ohms on 6" element, on a two-prong plug-in style. (Tested each twice to make sure same readings twice.)

Well, I told the tenant to put the dial two notches below medium to get simmer (from my experimentation). So I don't think I'll be troubleshooting it any more unless she calls me again about it. Thanks for the reply. -Tony