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Post by whiting on Feb 17, 2013 13:52:50 GMT -5
We’ve had an unrestored 1950s white 61C for about 5 years.
We light the oven with a match – it’s on LP –
In the last few months, more or less whenever we use the oven, we get a black mark (which I think is soot) up the front oven door.
The soot seems to be coming from the narrow horizontal opening below the oven door. We think the marks appear immediately as we light it (with the whoosh noise), but they could appear while the oven is heating up. The marks more or less wipe away easily.
For what it is worth our oven thermostat does not work – and hasn’t for a couple of years.
Anyone out there know:
1. What’s causing this? 2. Ways to prevent this from happening. Bonus points if you can shed light on: 3. Why now – we didn’t get these up until a few months back – nothing else in our use has changed.
Many thanks for any help --
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 17, 2013 14:47:03 GMT -5
I think soot generally means incomplete combustion of some sort. Have you checked out your flames to see if they're burning correctly? The air ratio is kept by tightening the screw on the flap...perhaps that loosened some how. Is your piece of mica missing from the hole beneath the oven? I don't think anything should be coming out of there. Hopefully others will contribute who may have experienced this.
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Post by sporko on Feb 17, 2013 14:48:32 GMT -5
Hmmm... When you say "horizontal opening below the oven door" ... can you elaborate?
Normally that is a window, not an opening. Can you peek and see if there is a see through piece of mica there? Or is it wide open?
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Post by sporko on Feb 17, 2013 14:49:12 GMT -5
Doh! Vaporvac beat me by 1 minute!
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Post by pooka on Feb 17, 2013 15:53:54 GMT -5
The mica sight window may have been broken for some time, but you didn't notice it till now, because of the pilot light or the main burner getting out of adjustment. That's the only scenario that seems to fit what you're describing.
There's a post not long ago about where to get the best deal on a new piece of mica, & we can walk you through how to replace it. Also, if you need help adjusting things, we can point you to directions & assist you on getting it done.
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 17, 2013 16:00:40 GMT -5
Casler online had the best price, by far.
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Post by whiting on Feb 18, 2013 9:15:32 GMT -5
Hello – Thanks very much for the speedy and helpful responses – '
I just checked . . . indeed there is a piece of mica there – it’s in one piece. Not broken or missing.
Will check the flap to see if the screw(s) is loose.
Our oven flames do burn yellow – about a third of the flame. We understand that’s not right.
Perhaps that’s related to the black marks issue.
Any other assistance on adjusting the flames would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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Post by pooka on Feb 18, 2013 11:21:28 GMT -5
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Post by cinnabar on Feb 18, 2013 14:25:20 GMT -5
Just a few days ago all the flames on the stove and oven were very yellow, now they are correct. I had done nothing to the air and gas mixture. Sometimes the gas is a little weird, nat.gas does fluctuate at times. Not sure to what extent the lp might do when the tanks are changed out, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. I would fiddle with the air/gas and see if it fixes the yellow flames/ soot problem. cinnabar
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 18, 2013 16:46:27 GMT -5
I, too had thought of that Cinnabar, but I only have experience with NatGas. I believe the pressures changes in cold weather, sometimes rather significantly. Maybe some LP people can comment.
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Post by Chuckie on Feb 18, 2013 23:20:01 GMT -5
Just a few days ago all the flames on the stove and oven were very yellow, now they are correct. I had done nothing to the air and gas mixture. Sometimes the gas is a little weird, nat.gas does fluctuate at times. Not sure to what extent the lp might do when the tanks are changed out, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. I would fiddle with the air/gas and see if it fixes the yellow flames/ soot problem. cinnabar W-O-W!!! That just happened HERE today!! ALL the flames on our burners were out of sorts--more yellow than blue. There is a carbon monoxide detector RIGHT NEXT to our stove, and it was reading zero. Once when I was painting in the basement and another time I was putting on varithane the burners did that. This time we had done NODDA!!! They were working just FINE later. Things that make you say "hmmmmmm".... CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 18, 2013 23:22:35 GMT -5
do you have LP or NG?
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Post by Chuckie on Feb 19, 2013 0:03:12 GMT -5
We are NG. Again, had it been ONE burner, I'd of thought somehow it got out of adjustment, but ALL of them were! And then FINE later on... CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 19, 2013 13:35:01 GMT -5
I think it's cold snaps change the gas pressure icoming into the house, and of course the orifices and air ratio are designed for a set pressure when we set up the stove . I follow a heating blog (don't ask!) and this comes up once in a while regarding boilers.
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Post by cinnabar on Feb 19, 2013 16:58:18 GMT -5
LOL, definitions of cold snaps ... current temp 3, warmed up from earlier today. We had no yellow flames back when it was -29 go figure. Prolly something with the line pressure from the utility company. Seen it in the summer too.
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Post by vaporvac on Feb 19, 2013 17:02:44 GMT -5
Oh well, so much for That theory!
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Post by whiting on Feb 21, 2013 0:31:26 GMT -5
Thanks very much for the links and photos on adjusting the flames – Will attempt and report back –
The possible connection with the cold is interesting – we live pretty far north – it’s cold out there. The LP tank is also far from the house – line is underground for about 60 feet or so. Not sure how the cold is connected or related – does the cold affect the pressure or flow?
For what it’s worth - we were away for a few weeks in January and when we returned it took forever for the pilot on the stove and well to light – longer than it has in the past when we've been away. Is there any way to measure the pressure?
I am not sure if these black marks happened before we went away – last fall for example- they certainly are very regular now and were not in years past.
Will look into adjusting the flames –
Thanks again
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Post by whiting on Feb 24, 2013 10:34:01 GMT -5
After looking at the suggestions, photos and the owners manual, we did a bit of tapping and adjusting (in other words, not much), and now the flames seem to have adjusted themselves properly, and the whoosh/soot thing has also disappeared -- maybe the mysterious pressure-cold-LP line dynamic sorted itself out. Thanks for all your help!
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