VINTAGE STOVES ARE RIDUCULOUS(LY EFFICIENT)

If you are a flaming anti-vintage-stove fanatic (I did NOT plan that pun.  Wish I had), I have no idea how you ended up here, but since you are,  let me guess on the reasons for your viewpoint.  I'll make this as quick and painless as possible.

Your issues with vintage stoves probably center around three things:  it's unsafe, it's far less efficient, the oven is too small.

I cover safety elsewhere, as well as the insanity of granting "Energy Star" ratings to ranges that in 10 years will end up as metallic chips being shipped back to China to be re-formed into brand new "Energy Star" appliances, then shipped back here. 

For now I'd just like to start by backing up a bit up and getting one thing out of the way:  the overall negative connotation surrounding "vintage".  As in "Ma!  Ya got a vintage stove!  I'm gonna get that clunker outta here and get ya a modern stove."  Vintage meaning "old" and Old = Bad?

With parachutes, medicine, diapers, a gallon of milk, I'm sure we all agree:  old is bad.  What about wine, cheese, Mozart, a '66 Mustang GT, the Grand Canyon?  Picasso?  You would never discard any one of them out of hand, just because they are old.  Dear old Ma might be a pain, but where would you get Ma's chocolate chip cookies from, without Ma?

So we're agreed?  Old can be good?  Great.  Let's move on to efficiency.

It's not a myth, it's simple math:  the energy efficiency of a Chambers compared to other gas stoves is off the charts, easily understood by pointing out a few numbers.

First and foremost:  R value, the capacity of an insulating material to resist heat flow.  We are talking massive R value here from the mineral wool insulation - the same stuff used to insulate kilns - that is densely packed into the jacket surrounding the oven (and ThermoWell).  No other stove has this.

Chambers stove insulation

Even when a Chambers oven is used conventionally - just turning the gas on and letting an item cook - very little gas is needed because the densely packed mineral wool prevents the heat from passing through the oven walls, far better than a thin layer of fiberglass used in other stoves.
Utilizing the Chambers Retained Heat cooking feature ratchets up the thermal efficiency to an even greater degree (No, really, that just slipped out.  No pun was ever intended).  Normal ovens have a "passive" inlet and exhaust system, basically holes in the floor and sides, which creates the air flow necessary for the process of combustion.  This flow of cool air into conventional ovens occurs all the time:  it cannot be stopped.  Even when the gas is turned off, as long as the air in the oven is warmer than the air outside of the oven, the flow continues, rapidly cooling the oven.  A Chambers, however, controls the airflow via an "active" airflow system.  When turned on, the oven's "on/off" lever opens inlet and exhaust flaps.  When turned to "off", the flaps close.  Cool air can't enter, hot cannot escape.  This sealed, highly insulated thermos is what makes retained heat cooking possible.  Chambers marketing materials claims that CWTGTO uses about 1/6th of the gas of a conventional oven.

The third gas saving measure of a Chambers oven might be the least obvious, but it is quite significant.  It's actually shared by most stoves made before the mid 1960's:  the small size of the oven.  A Chambers oven measures 18" deep, 18" wide, and 12" high.  The volume works out to only 2 1/4 cubic feet, compared to modern 30" ranges, with 4.2 to 5.8 cu. ft.  So with less than half the volume of the majority of today's stoves, it's no wonder why this is the foremost "deal killer" objection I hear about keeping or purchasing a Chambers.

But think about it.  Is the "small" oven really a problem?  Or is it a misconception?

Consider all the times your oven has been used in the past year.  Of them, how often has it been heated up to warm, bake or roast a small item?  Think about how much gas and time it takes to pre-heat that large oven, how much gas it takes to keep that huge oven hot in order to cook a small item?  How few times have you actually used it's total capacity?  How much space do two or three cookie sheets take?  How about a pizza?  A large turkey roaster?  The "small" Chambers oven can handle them all.  You see where I'm going:  the "small" Chambers oven requires half the gas, and can easily handle 90% of items put into a "normal" oven in the course of a year.  So if it covers most of our needs, why call it "small"?  If a "normal" sized oven covers so few of our needs, why call it "normal"?

How about we change "small" and "normal" to "optimal capacity" and "extra capacity" to get a better sense of what's going on. 

A Chambers' "optimal" oven has enormous energy saving benefits over an "extra" capacity oven due to faster pre-heat and less gas volume required for pre-heat and for cook time.  Add to that the Chambers' mineral wool insulation, active air flow controls, and the thermal mass of its cast-iron oven bottom, and you can see how a Chambers' oven makes total sense, not just for responsible stewardship of our environment, but for practical, convenient, everyday use.

When buying a car, we make very conscious decisions around optimal use, and purchase accordingly.  Regarding size, sure, a full-sized van might handle any and all needs for however many people or things we might need to move from one place to another, but most people don't need that capacity every day, and/or are unwilling to pay for the extra fuel it consumes.  Does it make sense to own and use something every day that uses so much fuel, if we only need it's capacity once in awhile?  Why not look at stoves the same way?

For the times when extra capacity is needed, check out my post of 11/9/15.

CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR GRIDDLE

Of all the features Chambers offers, most of the calls I get concern the In-A-Top Broiler/Griddle.  And of those calls, the most common question is "My griddle is disgusting!  How do I keep it clean?"

Well, "Clean" is a relative term, and like Beauty, all in the eye of the beholder. 

Let's start with the Model B we've got in our kitchen.  Bacon and pancakes has always been our son's favorite breakfast.  He's 14, so I've been cooking that meal on that griddle about twice a week for over a decade.  Plus, I'm always using the broiler for roasting red peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and occasionally animal flesh.  

How's the griddle look?  Judge for yourself:

The griddle, broiler and burners of a vintage Chambers stove model B, as well as the folding cover.

Not exactly pretty, but since I use it so frequently, and the rest of the cooktop is in original (well-worn) condition, I'm fine with how it looks.

The blackened griddle covering the broiler of a vintage Chambers stove model B

Now check out the griddle of my friends Tom and Nancy.

I think Tom and Nancy don't just cook on their griddle:  they must live on the darn thing.  When I first worked on their stove and offered to clean the griddle, I was blown away when they declined.  They didn't just say "no":  they were adamant that I not touch it.  They love it just as is. 

A polished griddle on a restored vintage Chambers stove model 90c

Then there's my buddy Jim.  Believe it or not, THIS griddle isn't new:  Jim and his wife have been cooking on it for themselves and their kids, keeping it this good looking for almost a decade.  How do they do it?  More on that soon.  

My point is, every Chambers owner perceives and likes things different.  Depending on one's tastes, the condition of the cooktop, how one cooks on the stove, etc., it's hard to give out a single line of cleaning advice that applies to everyone.  So, I'll offer maintenance suggestions for just a few situations and hope that satisfies most of anyone looking here for help.


 

Front view of Model B Chambers vintage stove with black cooktop showing broiler under griddle and pots in Thermo-Well

CHAMBERS' ORIGINAL SOLUTIONS:
If you REALLY hate to clean, you couldsimply own what we in the biz call a Stealth:  a Model A, B, or BZ with a black porcelain cooktop instead of chrome.   All six versions of each model sport a nifty folding cover:  when done cooking, it folds down to conceal not only the griddle, but the entire cooktop, hiding lax maintenance from view.  The three Stealth versions go one further:   the black cooktops do a great job of making  blackened, baked-on surface grime practically invisible.  How awesome is that?  With filth thus concealed, hubby would be none the wiser that his lovely house spouse, in crisp pressed apron serving canapés to his dear old mother, was literally a slovenly Mrs. Hyde.


All that changed with introduction of the model C in 1949, when Chambers deprived deceptive cooks of their easy outs:  the folding cover AND black enamel cooktop option were gone.  The "Aristo-Mat", a skimpy little sheet of stainless steel to cover just the griddle, was all they were left with.  

Sure, it did its job, but the rest of the shiny chrome cooktop  was now 24/7 open to scrutiny.  No wonder female angst was about to explode in the Women's Liberation movement the next decade.  Yes, Aristo-Mat covers can still be found, but they are almost always pretty beat up.  Better than nothing, I suppose, in the same way as a bad toupee.

So what's a Chambers house spouse to do, now that it's 2015?  The icecaps are melting, people actually think a rich reality TV personality should lead the hope of the free world, and we are still worried about what our Chambers griddles look like.  Are we geeks or what?

The most effective place to start is also the easiest:  make sure, after every use of any cooktop burner, that you wipe off the griddle with dish soap and clear water.  Same thing right before use of the griddle/broiler.  Browned or blackened schmutz stains on your griddle will be avoided if the schmutz isn't there in the first place when that monster is fired up.  As for other griddle maintenance strategies, I offer the following:

ONE POLISHED
Just gotta go glitzy?  Fine, but you must first get your griddle polished, by a professional.  Don't do it yourself:  you are not good at it, and it involves dangerous machinery.  Send it to me:  I'll take out all the dents and warpage and return it looking brand new.

As for maintaining the shine, I have absolutely no clue, because I've never practiced that religion.   I'm am sure one should not touch it with metal utensils, abrasive pads or scouring powder.  Actually cooking on it?  Probably a bad idea.  

Restored Vintage Chambers stove model 90C highback set in a vintage kitchen with subway tiles and cork floor.

Yes, my friend Jim says that he uses his griddle all the time and it somehow emerges from the sink as shiny as the day it was polished, but c'mon, look at his kitchen:  I'd bet that every speck of cooked food in that house has been delivered.  I like Jim and trust him on everything else he tells me, but we all have one dark secret so I let him slide on this.

ONE POLISHED
For those with newly re-chromed cooktops and messy and/or lazy kitchen habits, you may want to go the way many of my clients have gone.  Opt for two griddles:  a working griddle for actually cooking on, and a polished "show" griddle, never to be cooked on, kept for when judgmental company or in-laws come over.  This might seem excessive to some, but if I had a re-chromed cooktop, I'm not sure I could stand having a work-a-day griddle sullying up so much prime real estate while the stove was idle.

ONE "WORK-A-DAY" 
For the majority of Chambers owners with original condition cooktops, a spangly griddle might have the lipstick-on-a pig-effect, making the rest of any work-a-day Chambers look worse.  So be content with your one working griddle.  It's really fairly easy to keep it clean by doing what the Chambers owner's manual suggests, with a slight revision.  

The manual's basic philosophy is to clean the griddle after every use, while it is still hot.  Not blazing hot, right off of the fire, but hot enough that you definitely need hot pads to take the thing off and set it in your sink filled with dishwater.  

The manual suggests using Brillo pads, but I've found 3M Scotch-Brite scrub sponges to have the best balance of scouring/polishing qualities:     The yellow sponge portion of the pad holds plenty of dish soap, while the green scouring portion of the pad is aggressive enough to abrade off most hardened or semi-hardened grease from the griddle.  Yet it leaves the aluminum smooth enough so that the "seasoned" quality of the surface remains, ensuring that eggs, pancakes and the like won't stick.  (Of course you still need some sort of fat, in or under whatever you are cooking, to keep it from sticking).

This method, or at least the half-hashed way I go about it, never gets every spot off the griddle, and eventually, just like the cooktop surface itself, the grunge spreads and builds up.  Once or twice a year, fed up with how disgusting it all looks, I turn toward modern chemistry to make my life as a Chambers house spouse more meaningful and rewarding.  

Easy-Off oven cleaner is the way to go.   Not the nasty stuff in the yellow can:  that Alien blood works fast but is so noxious and scary you don't want to mess with it.  Protective clothing?  I'm thinking Haz-Mat gear. 

The Easy-Off you want is the one in the blue can.  It works a lot slower, but it is very low fume, so one may actually inhabit the house while it's working.  And yes, wear rubber gloves, safety goggles, long sleeves etc.
  
Stick your griddle in a plastic garbage bag, spray it down with the product, then close the bag to let the griddle soak (the stuff only works when it's wet), from two hours to overnight, depending on how crusted your griddle starts out.  Add the action of the Scotch-Brite scrubber, and you've got your nice clean griddle back!  You will have to re-"season" the griddle at this point because that layer of fat has been chemically and physically removed from the griddle's surface, but that just requires you to cook a mess of bacon (or moderately heat the griddle after rubbing in some Crisco or bacon grease).  When using Easy Off in the blue can, remember that the less time the better, because the cleaner tends to turn exposed aluminum grey.  Do not let the stuff dry on bare aluminum:  that's really hard to clean.
     
ONE GRUNGY
Now, for those of you who never clean your cast iron pans, don't want to use any chemicals, or have opinions around aluminum contacting your food, you can do what my buddy Tom does:  never clean your griddle.  Well, never thoroughly clean your griddle.  I can't imagine such an approach to cooking, but I've seen enough blackened griddles to know that plenty others can.  Layer by layer, meal by meal, the grunge gradually coats the aluminum to the point where it looks like cast iron, and probably weighs just as much.  Who cares what your judgmental friends and relatives think?  It's been ages since they swore off coming to your house for dinner anyway.  

D UGLIEST CHAMBERS EVER MADE

The Model D, also more appropriately known as the MR-9-H

Since first laying eyes on Chambers' visual tragedy many years ago, I've been loath to grant the Model D any respect.  Aesthetically, if such a word even applies, I consider it the Edsel of the Chambers brand.  After decades of minimal changes to a warm, timeless design, the folks at Chambers seem to have taken a flying leap into steely cold Bauhaus pop.  Well actually, likely NOT the folks at Chambers: my friend Todd White, keeper of the Chambers Stove Lovers website, writes that Rangaire had taken over by 1964.  So the new owners probably felt the need to make their mark.  Just like dogs make their marks on trees, if you ask me. 

There might be uglier stoves out there, but considering how nice looking and un-gimmicky Chambers stoves had been for so many years, even the plainest model D gives me a headache.  Then there's the top of the line Stainless Steel and Ivory Imperial shown here, trimmed with airbrushed Avocado.  It simply shocks the senses.  The squared structure, multiple facets of varying colors and surfaces, yards of channel trim, and wacko, uncomfortable handles on the broiler, oven door and service cabinet.  Hard to keep clean, unpleasant to touch...  And the looks - like fingernails scraping on chalkboard, while chugging a castor oil martini!
The many years and service calls that have passed since that first encounter have somewhat tempered my revulsion.  They are still ugly - no yielding on that - but I realize that the basic concept and layout remains true to that of the A, B/Z, and C.  While Rangaire had obviously decided that a visual update was needed, it seems they were confident enough in the unique character and value of their acquisition to leave the basics alone.  Let's see:  I believe that the model A originates in the early 1920's, when American farms still had way more horses pulling plows than tractors.  40 years later with the model D, we are blasting off to the moon, yet the Chambers stove had not been significantly altered, avoiding the yearly "ALL NEW!" marketing path followed by every other appliance (and car) manufacturer for decades.  Not abandoning Cooking With the Gas Turned Off (CWTGTO)?:  gotta give Rangair some credit on that account.

The electric version. Still ugly, more stupid.

Designed (and written) by Yoda. Of course!

Also, I must say that the D's oven safety system is quite impressive, in terms of functionality and well-built components.  

The most significant technical change of the D from the C is also it's most dubious characteristic: incorporation of the Auto Timer, designed to automatically turn the oven on and off at pre-selected times.  Why dubious?  First, the Auto Timer only applies to conventional oven use:  it cannot be used for CWTGTO, the primary feature setting Chambers apart from all others.  That's like putting an electric motor on a Harley.  Secondly, my investigations of the D's Auto Timer reveal that Chambers now shared a safety flaw that had previously been the sole provence of all lesser makes with similar systems.  From this comes my obligatory warning to Chambers D clients:

DANGER:  If an electrical power outage occurs with the ThermoStat dial turned on and an "Auto Start" time selected, the loss of power to the Heater Valve Solenoid will open the Heater Valve, prematurely turning the oven on.  Similarly, since electricity is required to close the Heater Valve (which turns off the oven when the ThermoStat dial is turned on),  a power outage while "Auto Stop" is engaged prevents  the oven from being turned off at a selected "Stop" time. 

Yeah, sounds scary.  But for current and wannabe D owners, it's hardly a deal killer.  First of all, the chances of a power outage while using the Auto Timer are slim, though not impossible.  Secondly, by not using the stupidly irrelevant Auto Timer system, the scary irrelevant problem is avoided altogether.   An ancienttechnology - used on other makes since the early 40's - practically useless to anyone sold on the CWTGTO pillar of Chambers marketing.  Why it suddenly appeared on a Chambers in the 60's is anybody's guess. Rangaire probably wanted to attract potential purchasers who were used to this feature on other brands they had owned.  Why hadn't Chambers incorporated Auto Timers earlier?  Here's a quote from a 1940's Chambers brochure that reveals their confident and reasoned wisdom:

(Cooking With The Gas Turned Off) is a feature of Chambers Ranges that is not to be confused with automatic timing devices becoming more widely advertised. There is not much logic in buying a fine refrigerator to preserve food and then leaving perishables in a room tempera­ture oven where the heat is not set to come on until 3:00 or 4:00 o'clock in the after­noon. With the remarkable Chambers method, no bacteria can develop because food starts to cook before you leave home; the cooking Finishes on retained heat and the Chambers oven and Thermowell act as sealed warming closets until it suits your con­venience to serve the meal. Cook the food first - the Chambers way - and play safe!

Ha!  Rangair thought it knew better.  Looking back, their confusion - or cluelessness - made evident by the Model D, was the first, clear indication of the decline of the Chambers brand. 

Despite it's bizarre looks, increased complexity and ridiculous Auto Timer, the D for the most part inherited the same well thought-out functionality and build quality as previous iterations. Chambers purists may scoff at the fact that D's have electric controls (for the oven, if the Auto Timer is utilized), but beneath this and the D's visual changes, the heart of the same old Chambers is still beating.  Sure, the oven's Auto Timer operation does require electricity, but its CWTGTO and conventional operations function safely and normally, by choice when not using the Auto Timer, or by default in an electrical outage.
Would I have a D in my kitchen?  Not a snowball's chance in a pre-heated ThermoWell,  but if I run across one whose owner has requested some TLC, I promise to be polite and stifle any opinions I may have about their baby's looks.

TECH HINT:  Has your Model D oven stopped working?  IE, does it refuse to light when you turn the dial on?  If so, first be sure your oven's pilot is lit.  If it is, there's a good chance your Auto Timer is malfunctioning.   Try unplugging the stove's cord from the electrical outlet.  You should hear an immediate "click" from inside the service cabinet.  Unplugging the cord de-powers the Auto Timer and puts it into default "Manual" mode, which opens a valve between the oven thermostat and oven burner.  A handy remedy when the Auto Timer switches start malfunctioning.  

DON'T GET BURNED

THIS ISN'T ABOUT A KITCHEN ACCIDENT.  It has nothing to do with a Chambers stove.  It's about avoiding "getting burned" when selling anything for cash.

Remember when Cash was King?  Well, sorry to say... things have changed.  Have you noticed how common it is for grocery store and other cashiers to check your cash by holding the bills up to the light, and/or swiping them with those yellow highlighters?  They don't do it to annoy or insult you, they don't do it just for fun.  They do it because they are motivated by the everyday reality of fake currency.  It's worth a cashier's time so that their drawer isn't "short" at the end of their shift.
If you're selling a stove, a vehicle, or anything worth significant cash, make sure you research and know how to tell the difference between the counterfeit and real stuff.  It's so easy to learn the distinguishing characteristics of the most common fakes (via watermarks, security strips, reflective ink, serial numbers, etc), that there's really no excuse not to know.  Here's one great website. 

I recently got burned by phony bills selling my old stove-hauler van via Craigslist.  Talk about feeling like a chump!  The fakes were obvious, but only IF I had known what to look for.  Rather than let shame and revenge get the better of me, I'm trying to see things like this as a life lesson.  It certainly meets my three sure signs that an education has occurred:

1. it cost money

2. it hurt

3. it took time

Okay, so now I know better…  What good is that really gonna do me?  By the time I get around to selling my new van 10 year from now, I'll have forgotten all of this.

Well, no point in keeping this "valuable" education all to myself.  So here's a School of Hard Knocks lesson for the benefit of anyone who can use it. 

The cops and Secret Service say this scam is a common one:  the guy arrives on foot or public trans (no car or license to trace), offers some kind of sob story to gain your sympathy (get your guard down, lower the price), refuses to sign the title ("My wife's the one with the good credit/driving record.  The title will be under her name"), and pays with a mix of fake and real cash.

Then they drive away and sell it on Craigslist a few weeks later, effectively "laundering" the counterfeit bills.  The mix of fake and real cash you've received makes it likely that it will be awhile before you, or some store or bank that you hand the cash over to, will notice that some of your bills are fake.  (YOU could be in big trouble paying with fake cash).  AND, once you've spent some or most of the "evidence" and you realize you've been had, you are in an awkward situation.

Read on.

Won't the Secret Service or cops arrest the scammer?  Well, sure…  Maybe.  The Secret Service told me that unless the fake cash amounts to $3000 or above, it is the jurisdiction of the local police.  

The police told me that, to file a police report, I'd have to hand over all the money, even the real stuff, because it is useful evidence.  The choice was mine:  file a report, lose the little bit of real dough I had left, MAYBE have to show up in court to testify IF they ever find the guy (it was inferred to me that, among other types of local crime, this is not a high priority), MAYBE the case drags on for years and MAYBE the case is unsuccessful.  Was it worth it my time and money to try to nail this guy?  Gee whiz, don't we think that the scammers have figured all this out and know it's unlikely they'll be caught?

To save YOUR time, effort and money, know how to avoid the scam!  Take a few minutes to research the latest on identifying counterfeit money.  Then, set up the sale to protect yourself:  Before you agree to have a prospective buyer show up, make sure you tell them that they MUST agree to the following if they show up and decide to purchase the car.  (Explain to them that, while these demands might seem harsh, they benefit any legitimate buyer by motivating them to closely inspect their cash before spending it to avoid trouble from unknowingly passing fake cash, and to be prepared with the proper information for the two documents they will fill out (Title and Bill of Sale) that protect both parties (Illinois and other states do not require a Bill of Sale, but it can benefit BOTH parties):

• They will allow you to closely inspect their cash

• They agree you will call 911 if you find ANY fake cash in their payment

• They agree you will keep the ENTIRE payment until the cops arrive to sort things out.

• It the cash checks out OK, they will hand you their ID and let you write down all the info.

• They will let you photograph them.

• They will print THEIR name, address and phone number (must match ID) on the Bill of Sale.

• They will put THEIR signature (not ANYONE ELSE's) on both the title AND a Bill of Sale

If a prospective buyer objects to ANY of these demands, just say "No thanks" to the likely scammer and wait until a legitimate buyer calls.  Just like a diligent grocery store cashier, it's worth your time to make sure you don't get "shorted".

PS:  I am not a lawyer, cannot provide legal advice, and am providing this information for entertainment purposes only.

THERMOSTAT FAILURE? MAYBE NOT...

Last week it happened again:  I returned from a service call without installing the newly rebuilt Thermostat I had deemed necessary for a malfunctioning oven.  Great for the customer, but I was left holding the bill for a rebuilt T-Stat that was all dressed up with nowhere to go.  That's twice in the last 6 months.  Time to pass on some hard earned wisdom:  the next time your oven won't light, or is difficult to light with burner flames that don't get very high resulting in a 24 hour slow cooker rather than an oven, don't jump to the conclusion that your 60-year-old thermostat's gotta go.   

To keep things simple and understandable for the qualified gas appliance repair professional you have engaged to fix your oven, I will lay out the basics of the problems I encountered above.

One stove had been in storage for a year or more.  When the owners hooked it up, they immediately realized their oven had a problem.  The other oven had been in everyday use when it "suddenly" stopped working. 

One stove had a Constant Pilot Safety System:  it's pilot light was doing fine, and its oven burner would light, but the flames were very small. 

The temporary pilot in the oven without the Safety System would light, but not the burner:  there was absolutely no gas going to the burner.

The common symptom:  both had difficulty passing gas.  This is actually good news:  the signal that something other than the Thermostat may be at fault. 

The very first thing to do with this symptom is to isolate where in the system gas is being restricted, and the very first place to check is the Thermostat.  Why the Thermostat?  Since there are many places in the system where obstructions can occur (between the supply pipe entering your kitchen and the gas jet entering the oven burner), the highest-priced component in that pathway is the Thermostat.  So have your repair person isolate and test that first.  If human breath can be made to flow freely through the completely disconnected Thermostat, then the restriction lies elsewhere:  in the pathways supplying or exiting the device.

In my client's stove that had been stored before use, insects had somehow entered the system and completely clogged the aluminum tube immediately before the oven burner gas jet (the oven pilot, running on its own small-diameter gas line from the Thermostat, was not affected).  After determining the cause of the problem, I cleared the line with a pipe cleaner).

In the other client's stove, the clog was at the tip of the gas jet itself, an accumulation of mineral deposits:  it was cleared by simply loosening the cap and using a toothbrush to clean the tip.

In my experience, a malfunctioning Thermostat is most often characterized by an oven that easily lights but who's heat is high and uncontrollable by the Thermostat dial.  If your oven won't light easily or won't light at all and has very low temperatures, look to obstructions that are restricting the gas supplying or exiting the Thermostat.

REGULATIONS AND THE REGULATORS THEY BEGET

In the past five years Chicago residents have witnessed one of the largest, most widespread and often irritating infrastructure improvements in the city's recent history:  the upgrading of the natural gas distribution system by the local utility People's Gas.  Streets and parkways are torn up, parking can be disrupted and restricted for weeks, gas meters are relocated from inside to the outside of many houses, often requiring rerouting of inside gas lines.  To top it off, the different phases of the work in any block can be spread out through a year or more, with very little communication provided on what work will be done and when it will happen.

For many owners of vintage stoves, including Chambers, the change can have drastic implications.  This is due to the fact most vintage stoves built prior to the mid 1960's do not come equipped with built-in gas pressure regulators.  People's Gas employees are directed to disconnect any stove not so equipped.

Here's the back story:  All gas stoves and other gas appliances are manufactured to operate with a uniform standard pressure of gas:  If that pressure is exceeded while the stove is being used, the burner flames will be drastically higher.  If the stove is not being used, certain components of the stove, mainly the valves used to turn the gas on and off, can be overpowered and raw gas will escape past them and into your kitchen. 

Avoiding this problem was originally the sole responsibility of the gas utility, which utilized the "gas supply regulator" installed on a home or apartment building.  It's a disc-shaped device (about 10" wide) attached to the building's gas supply pipe just before it enters the building.  You can see it in the photo on the upper left.

Some old regulator installations are inside the building.  There may be a meter between the regulator and the building, or the meter may be inside. 

The purpose of the regulator is to "regulate" (decrease) the pressure of the gas from the high pressure "street" supply, to the lower standard pressure for a building's gas appliances.  It also prevents any accidental "spikes" or "surges" of "street" pressure from entering a building's gas lines and appliances.

Since the mid 60's, all gas stoves (as well as furnaces and water heaters) must by law have their own regulators built-in for safety redundancy.  The reasoning is this:  if the utility company's supply regulator fails, allowing high pressure gas into your house's gas pipes, the stove's regulator prevents the surge from entering and overwhelming the stove's components.

Many old neighborhoods in Chicago still have low pressure gas supply systems that date from the original installations of the late 1800's to early 1900's.  For various safety and efficiency reasons, those and many mid-century systems are being replaced with a new high pressure supply, and when they are being replaced, new exterior "supply" regulators and meters are being installed.  It's at this point in the process when your vintage stove will be tagged and disconnected.

When the gas company upgrades a building, they must first turn off the gas supply, attach the new equipment, then turn the gas supply back on.  Before they leave the building, the utility's personnel are required to enter each residence to relight any pilot lights on water heaters, furnaces, and stoves.  They must also check any vintage stove to check to see if it has its own built-in regulator and modern flexible connector (stainless steel or plastic coated).  If not, the stove is summarily disconnected, the supply to the stove plugged, and the owner is told that it cannot be reconnected until one or both have been installed.

Fitting a regulator to your Chambers is a fairly straightforward job that any plumber should be able to handle in an hour, two at most.  If you don't have a modern yellow plastic coated flex line and an on/off valve between your stove and the pipe coming out of the kitchen wall or floor, now would be the time to update everything.  You can buy all the parts for about $100, though regulators are not usually available at hardware stores:  check professional appliance supply stores in your area. 

Of course if you are not qualified to work on gas systems, leave this upgrade to a professional.  If you need this work done and you haven't had your Chambers looked at in a while, please give me a call. 

IN-A-COUNTER COOKTOP ENCOUNTERS

Having serviced quite a few Chambers "In-A-Counter" cooktops recently, I've come to appreciate their unique characteristics, compared to their free-standing sisters.  Typical Chambers design and build quality, together with distinct features, makes it clear why Chambers cook top units were so incredibly popular from their introduction in the 1950's until the company's demise in 1987.  Anyone considering a cooking appliance should take a close look at the "In-A-Counter" cooktops.
 

(For clarity, this post is discussing full size cooktops, rather than non-griddle units like these).

Our family shares ownership of a farm near Dodgeville, Wisconsin.  The farm is in what's called the "driftless" region of Wisconsin, a very hilly area that the last few glaciers didn't plow through and render flat, like most of my Illinois homeland.  Us flatlanders are easily impressed, and particularly enamored with this part of Wisconsin:  the contour plowing, classic farm buildings, and winding blacktops provide a beautiful quilt of color and textures.  The farm's former owners nurtured Sugar Maples and apple trees near the farmhouse, and we strive to keep up their tradition of bringing in the harvest.  So this recent weekend we and our farm partners spent our post Labor Day "vacation" as we often do:  working like dogs processing our crop of apples into cider.   

Apples being cleaned in water prior to pressing into cider

This year's crop was particularly abundant, and fortunately, our farm partner's son brought three of his college buddies along to share in the harvest work.  The farmhouse has a horrible electric range, which we all hate, and in the remodel of the kitchen that we've been dreaming about for years we've of course known that it will include a Chambers range.  However, while feeding the Apple Cider Gang of ten, with the In-A-Counter cooktops on my mind, it became clear to me that the Chambers range just won't do:  it will have to be a Chambers cooktop and wall oven.

Besides not having an oven, the basic difference between "In-A-Counter" cooktops and stoves is that cooktops do not have a ThermoWell.  Some Chambers purists argue that the lack of such makes a cooktop less than a "real" Chambers.  Everyone's entitled to their opinions:  I absolutely prefer the aesthetics of Chambers stoves, and love the unique fact and function of a ThermoWell.  To my eye, cooktops come across as visually cold,  even stern, compared to their more colorful and curvy companions.  But two nifty things I'm admiring about the cooktops are its four surface burners, and the extra space around each of them.

Photo showing vintage Chambers In-A-Counter cooktop with vintage range hood in a modern kitchen

As the one doing most of the cooking back home in Chicago, it is annoying how the crowded burners on our Chambers Model B range will not allow large pots and pans to all sit centered on their burners.  It's not due to the range's small size.  Ask anyone who's had to accommodate their existing cabinetry to a Chambers range:  37" side to side, compared to the standard 30".  It's the placement of the Griddle/Broiler on the left of the range resulting in the burners on the right being crowded quite close together, so much so that large skillets and pots will not be centered on their burners. 

The In-A-Counter units still have the standard countertop depth as ranges, and gain only 1/2" of extra space between the back burners and the backsplash.  Not much, but it is an improvement.  The big difference is the increased width, devouring even more prime countertop real estate than a range:  a massive  forty two inches!  That extra width, and placement of the Griddle/Broiler at the center of the cooktop, between the left and right banks of surface burners, results in much easier placement of large pots and pans on a busy surface.  

I love the look of our white Chambers B, and whose heart doesn't skip a beat at the sight of a gorgeous red hiback Model C?  But when push comes to shove, when ya gotta feed alot o' pancakes, eggs and bacon to alot o' hungry people, you want to do it easy and fast.  Give me that spacious In-A-Counter cooktop!   

One perceived issue with Cooktops (and most vintage gas stoves) is their bad "idling" habits, requiring two to three pilot lights:  one for the left bank of burners, one for the right burners and griddle, and a third if the unit has a "Burner with a Brain."   If you want to prevent this amount of heat from escaping into your kitchen and melting the polar ice caps, you can do one of two things:  turn off the pilots and use a hand-held grill starter to ignite the burners, or seek out the last In-A-Cooktop versions that utilized electronic ignition.  Very nifty, very simple and robust. 

Apples being pressed into cider by boy and father

As an ardent Model B fan from day one, I'm certain to have guilt pangs when looking at that cold, soul-less, stainless steel In-A-Counter cooktop some future morning after we've remodeled the farm's kitchen.  But while enjoying it's extra capacity and conveniences cooking up the huge breakfasts and dinners required to feed our workers, er, guests, at harvest time, I know those pangs will be forgotten.  

And who says that the new addition can't accommodate both a cooktop AND a stand alone stove???

A TIMELY ITEM

For many years, anybody who'd listen has heard me spout on about how great a stove a Chambers is:  Retained heat cooking, the Thermo-Well, the cooktop griddle and broiler.  Oh yeah, and that great little dial timer too.  

A Chambers Model B timer, all cleaned up.

Four months ago I removed our timer to fix it and, well, you know the old saw about a cobbler and his kid’s shoes:  we’ve been without the thing ever since. Its absence has been conspicuous, and very enlightening about the role it plays not only for cooking on the stove, but for our family dynamic.  The effect has been so noticeable that my perspective about the timer and the stove has totally flipped. Now I tell people that a Chambers is a fantastic timer, which just happens to have a great stove attached.  Here's what that new perspective is about.

Free-floating Lux timers, or kitchen timers (some people call them egg timers) aren't anything new or rare:  they are absolutely ubiquitous, have been around forever, and as far as I know Lux still makes most of them.  But just where is yours at the moment?  Mine?  Well, I do have one somewhere around here.  Uh, let's see, where’d I put it last?  Hmmm, not on the countertop, where it's supposed to be.  Maybe the "miracle" drawer.  Nope, at least not in the top layer.  Maybe behind the toaster.  Nah.  Well, my son used it for his science homework...  Oh, right, he's not home.  No way I'm gonna go in his room:  a water buffalo would be hard to find in there by sight or smell.  Let's see... did I leave it in the basement workshop?

You get the point:  rather than the convenience they are meant to provide, those free-floating little buggers are so easy to misplace that they become a stress generating nuisance! 

Now, that same timer, attached to a Chambers…  It makes all the difference in the world, an incredibly ingenious convenience.  But to those who don’t own a Chambers, that timer dial is sorta like George Smiley, of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy:  so common looking, so mundane, so invisible.  But so very, very affective. 

I had no idea about that ten years ago when my wife and I first installed our Chambers.  As we lived with it, we of course loved it, but until the timer's recent absence we really didn't fathom the specific elements of our appreciation.   But boy, we sure did use that timer a lot:  thirty minutes for piano practice, son.  Having a tantrum about it?  20 minutes time out, mister!   Okay, gotta rustle up some grub:  Rice will be done in the ThermoWell when the timer dings in ten minutes.  Just the right amount of time for pre-heating the broiler.  Pop in the chops and for another 8 minutes and it'll be time for dinner.  Please set the table!  30 minutes until the Bull's game starts.  

Now, having lived four months with the goll-blasted free floating egg timer, we realize how perfectly simple, predictable, reliable, and reachable the Chambers timer is, and what a quantum leap in usefulness over a free-floating timer these qualities provide.  Absolutely no amount of psychic stress precedes or accompanies its use.  It can be located and set blindfolded.  It's there...  We set it...  We don't even think about it.  At home, the rhythm of our lives depends on it.  

That's not all.  Another infinitesimally perceptible quality about the timer, as fantastically mundane as it is profound, is this simple fact:  

It requires only one hand to operate.  

Not impressed?  Let me put that another way...  Let me "quantify" that:  it requires 50 percent fewer hands to operate than a free-floating timer.  

Laughing, are you?  Well, before you guffaw too much, let me set the scene: 

It's Saturday, 5:15 pm.  Meatloaf’s for dinner so my hands are full of raw eggy, raw meaty, soggy bread-crumby meatloaf schmutz.  I suddenly remember that I MUST call my car mechanic before they close in 15 minutes to make sure that they have put my wife's car outside the shop for her to pick up tonight, so she’ll have it for work for Monday morning.  But first I gotta get this mess o’ meat into a pan and in the oven.   Here are my choices:

Scenario A:  Chambers stove timer:  Grab a paper towel with my right hand, set the Chambers timer for 10 minutes, live to see another day. 

Elapsed time:  10 seconds.  Stress level:  1 on a scale of ten.   

Scenario B (free-floating timer):  Scan the kitchen countertops.  Well, scan the chaos on our kitchen countertops.  Scooch the piles of school papers, bills, magazines, toys, glasses, gloves, cat toys, photographs, etc. around with my elbows.  No good.  Rummage with either hand for the timer through the Miracle drawer, spreading gobs of weapons-grade salmonella throughout.  Spy the timer. Pick it up with one hand, set dial with the other, schmearing it thoroughly with death slime. 

Elapsed time:  5 minutes plus.  Stress level:  6 on a scale of ten.    

Scenario C (free-floating timer):  scrape meatloaf mix off both hands, wash thoroughly, search for and hopefully find the timer, then forget what the heck it was I wanted it for in the first place.  Until we are at the table an hour later and my wife sits and ruins a perfectly cooked meatloaf dinner by asking if she can pick up her car at the mechanic’s. 

Elapsed time:  eternity.  Stress level:  Off scale.   

You can now appreciate the beauty of a Chambers timer:  knowing absolutely where the timer is, and the unfettered ability to set it by one hand. 

We’re still not done.  Did I mention acoustics?  Give me a classic mechanical egg timer any day over a digital version.  I like their sound, enjoy their action, and value the fact that they do not require or consume batteries.  However, stand in a kitchen and listen to a free floater, then a Chambers timer.  The difference is significant. Some may say that it is more a matter of esthetics rather than practicality.  Well, sure, but, between a toy violin and a Stradavarius, what would you prefer?  Doesn’t the phrase “Quality of Life” apply here?

I would also argue that the sound of a Chambers timer does offer practical advantages.  It is, after all, attached to a 475 pound, 2’ deep by 3’ wide by 4’ tall hollow metal sound box.  The reverberations from that timer have lots of surface areas and interior spaces to resonate within and project from.  Its sound is way louder and more far reaching than any dinky, plastic, free floating timer. 

There you have it.  The real perspective on why owning a Chambers timer with attached stove is the timely thing to do.  I better take a few minutes to get that thing fixed and back in place.