Rival Crock Pot Parts: Some simple TLC can keep your Crock Pot cooking

Some simple DIY service and maintenance (and a few replacement parts) can mean a long life for the Crock Pot in your kitchen.

You know, when I recently became more aware of this whole 'world' of Crock Pots, I assumed that most Crock Pot owners were probably so attached to their Rival slow cookers that they would be motivated (when necessary) to seek out replacement parts to keep their Crock Pots in perfect working order. Well, when I visited a few different forums out there on the world wide web and read through some of the comments and questions from people discussing their Crock Pot appliance I was surprised by how many of them were asking about where to find the best deal on a new CrockPot simply because of relatively minor issues with their existing slowcooker appliance. I read comments from people who had resigned themselves to purchasing entire new Crock Pots just because of a broken lid or a cracked removable liner.

Wow. A damaged removable liner? A damaged lid?

Shouldn't it be obvious that in this day and age you can find so many things online if you really want to? If someone is not internet savy and doesn't know how to find things online, fine, but if someone is capable of visiting a support forum to find out something about their slow cooker, you would think that they are also capable of using the internet to find replacement parts, right? Huh, go figure.

So many of the smaller problems one might face with their slow cooker are easily managed by acquiring the appropriate replacement part. In addition, some of the bigger problems might be dealt with even after the warranty period has passed, by doing some searching to find out if your model of slow cooker happens to be on any existing product recall list. It is surprising just how many popular brand name appliance manufacturers will periodically put out such a list to inform their customer base of any issues with their products that need to be dealt with. However, I don't want anyone to take my comments the wrong way and think that I am suggesting that Rival has regular ongoing product recall issues; they are like all other large, diverse brand name companies in that they have the occasional product issues that might necessitate the occasional recall of a product.

Many of the more basic service and maintenance issues that might arise can be dealt with by the consumer themselves; something such as a cracked or damaged crock pot lid can easily be replaced. You might not find much in the way of replacement crock pot parts in your local region but that is not really a problem considering the large number of retailers with an online presence that can supply you with any needed replacements. Both ceramic and glass replacement crock pot lids are available for Rival crockpots ranging from the 2.5 quart size upto the 6 quart size. Some of the more common 5 and 6 quart models of crock pot, such as model #s 3351, 3355, 3504, 3550, 3656, 3760, 3845, 3850 and 3950, are all sold with a round glass lid that is replaceable with replacement crock pot lid model # 230-332. Crock Pot model #s 4745 and 5445 come with a lid that is replaceable with replacement lid model # 5445-bc. If for some reason your crockpot lid is in fine shape but the knob attached to your lid needs to be replaced, replacement knobs are also available for purchase.

I already hinted at the availability of replacement crock pot liners and sure enough these are available, too. The inner stoneware liner of the Rival crock can be easily replaced if the necessity to do so should arise. Rival Crock Pot replacement liners are available for crock pots in the 3.5 and 6.5 quart range. There is a replacement liner available for the Rival Smart Pot that is divided, allowing for preparation of more than one meal at the same time in the same Pot! This divided liner is also dishwasher safe, scratch resistant, and microwaveable to boot!

It really is impressive to me just how much maintenance or servicing of a Rival crockpot can be done by the owner of the appliance him/herself. And as I said, a quick search online with Google, Yahoo or MSN will reveal a long list of Rival crockpot replacement parts dealers and retailers ready to supply you with any particular part that you might need.

** UPDATE **

After a number of comments here asking for more suggestions or solutions regarding where to find a variety of rival crock pot parts, I decided to write a new post on the subject outlining my ideas on how to find those elusive rival crock pot replacement parts that you might be hunting for. Well after I wrote that post I realized that because of the way the internet works, many of the visitors that I may be lucky enough to get to this site might arrive here on this page and not see me more recent post, so ... I decided to summarize here briefly some of the more salient points of the post.

Besides the official crockpot.com website, there are other alternatives to find crock pot parts online; you can try sites like ebay, amazon, craigslist, kijiji, and any relevant forum for people who might be offering up their used crock pot for sale; they might be selling it in working condition assuming that anyone who buys it would be doing so to use it as acomplete crock pot slow cooker, however you would be buying it for parts. As well, you could try the opposite approach on some of these sites and post a note saying that you are looking for a used slow cooker appliance to in fact buy it for parts - you might end up with someone's castoff on the cheap because they were about to just throw it into the trash or give it to charity thinking it had no monetary value.

You could also consider trying a variety of different brick and mortar alternatives: liquidation stores, auction/bankruptcy merchandise stores and charity shops are all possible answers in your quest for that replacement slow cooker lid, handle, stoneware liner or knob. You could also try taking your existing crock pot slow cookers to the local kitchen appliance store/retailer and seeing if it is similar enough to a newer model which might have replacement parts available if your model does not.

Okay, I hope that this public service announcement has been of some help to you. Happy hunting!