|
Post by vaporvac on Aug 22, 2014 14:42:07 GMT -5
Those are classic pics! It's amazing that the mop was exactly the correct length, and who would have though one could fit under the stove! I often joked I should have installed Althea with a bungee cord to pull it in and out, or at least casters! I'm just glad I left the thin boards covering the floor until I was CERTAIN everything was good. I'm seriously considering casters for the C as it will be between cabinets, although with a tile floor I'm not as worried.
|
|
|
Post by lwagne on Aug 22, 2014 18:40:02 GMT -5
Okay you two, I'm not sure I would FIT under my stove, but I swear I am going to try it. Maybe we should make a poster - Under a Chambers!!
My Chambers is less than seven inches off the ground - nothing of mine fits under there!! However, I found the screw, could not turn it. I sprayed it down good for future tussling. I put a washer under the bolt holder and that seems to help, also I think I turned it just slightly sideways. It seems to be better. Actually, as I have used it over the months, the entire door seems to be better, not perfect but at least it does not spring open when it gets hot like it did. Heating it up must expand something.
|
|
|
Post by cinnabar on Aug 22, 2014 21:37:46 GMT -5
We could all fit under mine!! Just like when we were kids. Just watch out you don't knock your head on the Tdome rods and such.
|
|
|
Post by Rebekah on Aug 22, 2014 22:08:49 GMT -5
At this juncture, I think I'll share the T-shirt concept that my husband came up with:
|
|
|
Post by pooka on Aug 23, 2014 2:09:45 GMT -5
I like that! But I'm not a black T-shirt kinda guy. At least not since the rock concert days of the 80s. I'd have to have a natural or ivory colored one with black lettering.
|
|
|
Post by karitx on Aug 23, 2014 14:45:27 GMT -5
Love the t-shirt, Rebekah!
|
|
|
Post by chipperhiker on Aug 23, 2014 22:33:43 GMT -5
I'm not particularly big, but there is no way in hell I could fit under my stove! At only 4.75" off the floor, I'm pretty sure my head wouldn't even fit under there. I'd need to go find some potion in Wonderland to manage.
Yikes, Rebekah, you are a truly dedicated woman!
|
|
|
Post by Rebekah on Aug 24, 2014 21:49:33 GMT -5
Mine has a 2x4 on either side under the legs, which are on top of 3/8" ply ... So it's an extra couple/few inches higher than the 6 or so that it'd be on its own legs alone ... It was still VERY awkward. I abandoned attempting to adjust the door at the back. The nuts are only accessible when the door is closed. When the door is closed, the spring is not under any compression. Adjusting those nuts would mean that when the door is opened, the springs are under lessor (loosening) or greater (tightening) compression. Unless I'm really missing something, no adjusting here will have any effect on the door in its closed position, because when it's closed, the springs are not compressed. In essence, it doesn't really matter where the nuts are when the door is closed. I looked at the sides of the door and saw some rockwool looking back at me. I'm guessing (hoping?) that this is the problem ... though I'm somewhat dubious, as the rockwool should theoretically be pushing the frame towards the oven, rather than away from (which is my problem). Oh well. I'll try that next. lwagne - you said that your door was springing open when it got hot ... it wasn't a problem with the door keeper being too tight? I had to use my husband's chainsaw driver/wrench gizmo to unscrew mine during the rehab. That tool was the only thing that was long enough (but not so long as to bump the open oven door) and strong enough to withstand the torque. Even after greasing it, it's a toughie to turn. melissaf - the only thing I can think of with your success on a better door seal after adjusting those nuts, is that perhaps by the door opening too far (I'm presuming that you tightened rather than loosened), it was pulling the entire door out of alignment. By stopping it being pulled out of alignment, the door was able to settle into the correct spot. That my door makes a tight seal at the top and the bottom leads me to believe that there's something else going on here. It's almost as if the sides are warped away from the oven. But then again ... perhaps my door is opening too far too, but it's showing in the form of a different manifestation. On a positive note, I did get all of the screws put back into their places, so springs aren't catching on lose bits of sheet metal anymore. That's always a plus.
|
|
|
Post by pooka on Aug 25, 2014 1:14:11 GMT -5
The seal may settle in after a while of regular use through the heating & cooling cycles. I wouldn't be too concerned with it. We're only talking about a few thousandths of an inch. Not a significant enough a leak to make that much difference. You could try scouring the seal with an abrasive scratch pad to remove any surface rust or crud especially along the top, but I don't think it's enough of a problem to be too concerned with. Use the stove & enjoy it & stop being too troubled about the little details. You've done a tremendous job breathing new life into the old girl. Rest on your laurels for a while & have a little fun with it.
Embrace the concept of Carpe Diem. As strange as it may sound, just as I wrote that, It appeared on my TV screen on a collapsed awning on a damaged building in southern California behind a CNN reporter. It must be a sign.
|
|
|
Post by melissaf on Aug 25, 2014 2:03:03 GMT -5
When the door is closed, the spring is not under any compression. Adjusting those nuts would mean that when the door is opened, the springs are under lessor (loosening) or greater (tightening) compression. Unless I'm really missing something, no adjusting here will have any effect on the door in its closed position, because when it's closed, the springs are not compressed. In essence, it doesn't really matter where the nuts are when the door is closed. Adjusting the door stop nuts does have an effect on the door in both the open and closed position. The adjustment nuts change the length and position of the door stop rod, not the spring compression. When you tighten the nuts you are in effect shortening the stop rod which changes the position of where the door stop comes through the slot in the front of the oven box. With the door stop detached from the door frame it is very easy to see how adjusting the nuts moves the position of the door stop. When you tighten the nuts the curved end of the door stop is raised up and back. Loosening the nuts lowers the door stop and pushes it forward. My stove is completely disassembled now so there are no panels, latch bolt or latch keeper on it. With the door closed but not latched, there is a gap at the top of door. When the nuts are loosened, the gap is about 1/2". With the nuts tightened, the gap is only about 3/16". When I first started trying to adjust the door, I did the paper test. The paper would just fall out on the right side. On the left side, the paper stayed in place but could be pulled out pretty easily. The top held the paper fairly well. When the door was open, it looked like it was parallel to the floor and it wasn't opening too far. After playing around with the adjusting nuts, I did the paper test again and the seal on all sides is much better. I think the adjustment nuts were tightened down just a little tighter on one side than they were on the other. Even though it wasn't enough to notice just looking at the door, I think it was enough difference to get the door just slightly out of alignment. The spring compression is not affected by changing the position of the nuts. My boyfriend and I had this same discussion when I was trying to adjust my door. Since we had differing opinions, we had to test it. The spring tension when opening the door felt the same no matter where the nuts were on the stop rod. Since the spring is only visible when the door is closed, we tied a string to the end of the spring so we could measure how far down the spring compressed when the door was opened. The spring is about 8-1/2" long and sits inside a metal sleeve that is the same length. The stop rod runs through the sleeve and spring. First we tightened the nuts all the way down, opened the door and marked the string where it came out of the sleeve. Then we did the same thing with the nuts loosened all the way to the end of the rod. The compression was the exact same. Regardless of what position the adjustment nuts were in, the spring was fully compressed down to 5" when the door was opened. If you have insulation sticking out between the inner and outer door panels, this can cause uneven pressure on the door which could affect the door seal as well.
|
|
|
Post by lwagne on Aug 25, 2014 15:53:45 GMT -5
Also, Rebekah, be careful thrashing around with that insulation. Someone told me earlier that there is an insulation channel that these hinges/springs/rods ride through. I think I compounded my problem when I poked around in the insulation with my kabob stick And, it is interesting to me that all of us that are having problems with the door are having problems with the "A" model. Mayby they do need a little refresher sanding after 60 or so years or maybe the fit of the door was improved with the later models. Also, I did manage to loosen the door keeper and put a washer in there. That IS what finally fixed it. But, the little dent that the latch fits in to is very slight and slides out easily. I might try to dremel it out some day. For the time being, slghtly crooked seems to do the trick. We "A" people gotta stick together. Who are we, Rebekah, MelissaF and me?
|
|
|
Post by mach12 on Aug 25, 2014 22:52:18 GMT -5
And another A Series here...
|
|
|
Post by lwagne on Aug 26, 2014 8:28:30 GMT -5
Here's 4. Mach12, do you have trouble closing your oven door??
|
|
|
Post by mach12 on Aug 26, 2014 14:16:10 GMT -5
I'm just getting ready for reassembly so haven't cooked with the oven yet but I'm pretty sure it's good. Before I disassembled it I ran chalk around the seal surface of the door, and then closed the door and reopened it to see how well it mated and it transferred chalk all the way around. That was cold so I don't know what effect heat will have but hope to find out before too much longer. The guy I bought it from said that it baked and held heat for CWTGTO just fine except that the thermostat needed to be calibrated.
Edit: The door opens and closes just fine and I didn't mess with the adjustments and don't plan to ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it...").
|
|
|
Post by pooka on Aug 26, 2014 17:16:28 GMT -5
I'm not sure my stoves qualify model A's or not even though they were made in the same time period. I did the paper test on my model 74 the other night. It's snaps tight all the way around. I often wonder how much it was used in the 50 or so years it was in service before the original owner stopped using it & the family put it in storage for 25 years before I bought it. It's one of those rare ones that was used or owned by the same family since it was new until I got it.
|
|
|
Post by Rebekah on Jan 3, 2018 10:40:46 GMT -5
Just wanted to post a quick update on the ol' lady.
1) I became so annoyed with the griddle getting "dirty" that I stopped using it. I'm really not a huge fan on high maintenance. I crocheted a huge blanket to put over it so it wouldn't get food splatters or scuffed by plates/pots (gasp!!!!). Since then, I bought two non-stick silicone oven mat thingies from Aldi (they're the perfect width, but you have to overlap them lengthwise to extend fully). It's far more hygenic than crocheted fibers, and the cleanup is SUPER easy.
2) Last summer, I finally got around to adjusting the nuts on the door rods. To my disappointment, my initial suspicions were confirmed, and the only thing that changed was how far the door would open. Tightened, the door wouldn't open to 90 degrees ... loosened, the door would open more than 90 degrees. I really had hoped that it would work. I still need to get back there to tighten the nuts back, as I nearly lost a full pyrex dish that I placed on the door which began to slide off. Woops!
3) My griddle height lift popped off of something last year. Darn thing wont lock in place on any of the higher positions. I know there's a thread in here, so I'll revisit that eventually. I'm fairly sure that I'll have to pull the top off though. Boooooooooooooo.
So there you have it!
|
|
|
Post by mach12 on Jan 3, 2018 23:42:21 GMT -5
Is the griddle lift spring that goes down the back of your stove broken? That's be my guess if the griddle doesn't stay up on an A series. This picture is one I took to show the spring brackets for the folding top on an A series Standard heater so yours should be the same as this except you won't have a firebox for an incinerator. Just to the right of the right red arrow is a long spring with a piece of blue painters tape. That's the spring for the griddle lift and it's adjustable at the bottom end. I see all kinds of fixes where the replace the broken section with loops of wire and so on so it's pretty common for them to be broken. I bought a replacement for one of mine just the other day at Tractor Supply, so that's one source if you have one near you and need one.
|
|
|
Post by vaporvac on Jan 4, 2018 13:09:29 GMT -5
I'll have to investigate to see if the B lift is the same as the A. It wasn't a hard fix, but did require removing the side panel, which in my case was already off. Bummer! My stove had similar issue with the oven and it ended up it was a broken pin (or something). I did post on it and dwayner and I figured it out, so it was able to be fixed. I did have to remove the entire oven surround, but again, I was in the middle of a semi-rebuild anyway. Bigger bummer. Regarding the griddle; that is a shame. Perhaps you can just find a cover so you don't have to take such meticulous care of it or find a substitute one. Many of us use the Nordicware griddle which fits perfectly and allows one to still lift it to light. A #8 Wagnerware cast iron griddle is also a perfect fit. Of course, the beauty of the original is that one can use the broiler and griddle simultaneously. My issue with the original is sticking!, but with use that seems to have lessened, or perhaps my "feel" for the correct temperature has improved. P.S. Did you ever get a T-shirt made?
|
|
|
Post by mach12 on Jan 4, 2018 14:25:04 GMT -5
Man, Dwayner definitely knows the different lift mechanisms! I wish I knew half what he does. When he was here last time we tinkered with A's, B's, BZ's and C's and even did a video on a C. I think the plan is to do a video showing all of them and the differences when he comes back. I was planning to post the videos on that evil site that decided they wanted a fortune to use their site, Photobucket, so need to find a better option. Might just end up posting on YouTube, though VGY.ME says they're going to offer video posting.
|
|
|
Post by vaporvac on Jan 5, 2018 13:12:27 GMT -5
Dwayner is definitely THE MAN!!!! Caveat: I know absolutely "0" about video, but notice there are various options for linking them under the "reply" setting. There are sites I've never heard of, so perhaps one of these would work. I'm sure you're familiar with them, but I'm totally out of that loop. Dropbox also has some free space still.
|
|
|
Post by mach12 on Jan 5, 2018 15:48:11 GMT -5
Dwayner is definitely THE MAN!!!! Caveat: I know absolutely "0" about video, but notice there are various options for linking them under the "reply" setting. There are sites I've never heard of, so perhaps one of these would work. I'm sure you're familiar with them, but I'm totally out of that loop. Dropbox also has some free space still. It's a learning curve for me, too. I was relying on my granddaughters husband to help me but he kind of went off the deep end with PTSD after their last mission (he was one of those Air Force guys who rescue downed pilots and stuff like that) so am learning it myself in my spare time, spare time being the challenge lately. Dwayner and I talked about YouTube but with everything both of us have going on have both put it on the back burner. Speaking of back burners, did you ever notice that some stoves label the back burners as rear burners but nobody puts a project "on the rear burner"? Chambers stoves have back burners, not rear burners, so they have it right. Again.
|
|
|
Post by dwayner2 on Jan 13, 2018 9:13:05 GMT -5
I really do want to get those videos done, been talking about it for a few years now. I think Vaporvac has the right idea to do several smaller clips showing the different restoration techniques. Here's my plan of attack.... -How to inspect/choose the Chambers right for you, things to consider -dismantlement of a B/BZ and C model -parts cleaning and restoration -reassembling the stoves -gas valves and the control assembly -broiler box repair -dismantling the oven box -dismantling the thermowell -testing/calibrating the thermostat -adjusting the burners/pilot light ignition I hope to do the smaller videos here and do the bigger ones with Mach12's help up there in WA. One day we will have to do some videos on your incinerator stoves. Chuckie and I could have done some on his Imperial I guess but there would have been too much editing out of all the curse words we used figuring out where all the parts go back together.
|
|
|
Post by nana on Jan 13, 2018 11:41:21 GMT -5
I hope to do the smaller videos here and do the bigger ones with Mach12's help up there in WA. One day we will have to do some videos on your incinerator stoves. Chuckie and I could have done some on his Imperial I guess but there would have been too much editing out of all the curse words we used figuring out where all the parts go back together. Don't edit those out! You need that R rating to sell tickets!
|
|
|
Post by vaporvac on Jan 14, 2018 14:55:36 GMT -5
Don't forget "How to move a Chambers"! and changing to different gases. I think someone mentioned refridgerator moving straps. Having just participated in watching that process, I think it's a good idea.
|
|